Letters To The Editor

LAW AND JUSTICE

You bashed the wrong attorneys

Your pointed editorial cartoon, “Lawyers for breast implant cases, Dec. 7,” got the situation exactly backward. While the lawyers for the makers of implants probably billed for piles of cash, the lawyers for the women often receive nothing beyond their expenses, which they had advanced in the first place.

Similarly, the Dalkon shield case featured lawyers for plaintiffs who never received anything, but the lawyers for the manufacturers of the shield, A.H. Robins Co., certainly raked in big bucks.

As an attorney in general practice, I have been reading too much propaganda lately orchestrated by the insurance industry or the manufacturers of these tragically flawed devices. It implies that breast implants were only a matter of a woman’s vanity - if they leaked a little silicone into women’s bodies, they did not do any harm.

I think more research is due by both contributing cartoonists and your editorial staff to make certain that your facts are correct, and that you are going after the appropriate villains. In the Dalkon shield case, grievous harm was done to thousands of women worldwide who died, who were permanently damaged mentally and physically, and who were made incapable of bearing children. The attorneys who tried to help them in their battles against huge corporations should not be mocked, nor should the attorneys trying to help the women with leaking breast implants. Bliss O. Bignall Coeur d’Alene

Beware of setting bad precedent

Re: Shirley A. Smith’s letter of Dec. 21, “Fairness requires vote on censure.”

Is it fair to let a person accused of a felony to dictate, if found guilty, what his punishment will be? Wouldn’t most felons enjoy that privilege?

Our Constitution does not mention “censure.” Neither does it mention “hanging.” If we can ignore the Constitution today, what will keep others from ignoring it at another time? Hank Eller Veradale

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

To thy better instincts be true

As we walk through our daily lives, many of us have goals and ambitions which we strive to achieve, which we tell ourselves nothing will stop us in our just path. We may be afraid or we may be confident. We may be logical or we may be emotional. We may seek solace or we may seek solitude.

We are always aware of the force which propels us toward this end, but sometimes do not want to easily identify it. Sometimes it is love and sometimes it is money. It may be identity or perhaps it is to be more holy.

As we walk these roads, we should also endeavor to ask ourselves how we affect others. Will we be brash, overbearing or mean? Will we steal, cheat or lie? In the end, we have to ask ourselves if it was all worth it. Did we do the honest thing? Do we still have integrity?

You see, it is not what we do to achieve success, reduce our pain or to help ourselves to the great pleasures of life but how honest and forthright we were toward our fellow human beings.

If we could all see that at the end of the day, no matter how we love our family and friends, the only thing we have to live with for the rest of our lives is ourselves. Craig Ambacher Veradale

WWJD, anyone?

All these rabid “Christians” calling for President Clinton’s impeachment need only ask themselves, What would Jesus do?

The answer was clearly given when he told the woman accused of adultery, “Go then, and sin no more.” Dorothy E. Carter Spokane

Multiple births no great blessing

What is wrong with people? All I’ve heard is how the birth of eight children is such a blessed event. Does Nkem Chukwu have rocks in her head? Does her gynecologist?

I can understand how a woman might want a child or two, but this is ridiculous.

To be sure, this family of 10 will be showered with all kinds of freebies for a while, but after the novelty wears off, reality will set in. At some point, the whole burden will fall on the family. Free groceries and clothes won’t last forever.

I don’t think many people realize that eight pairs of ordinary shoes will cost in the neighborhood of $240. How about eight bicycles or eight new school outfits? The list is endless.

This planet is headed for the day when there won’t be enough food and shelter for everyone, and it won’t matter how wealthy an individual might be. Money can’t buy what doesn’t exist.

I cannot be glad for multiple births. E.B. Hanson Airway Heights

FIREARMS

Sue the cities right back

Front page headlines state, “Cities to sue gun manufacturers for city violence.”

They’re attacking our civil rights: Article II. It’s not guns that kill, it’s our sinful nature. I’d like to hear some input on this.

What do our city leaders expect, when they cave in to the American Civil Liberties Union? The leaders take the Ten Commandments off our school walls. One of the commandments is “Thou shall not kill,” yet our leaders allow doctors (who are supposed to save lives) kill our babies through abortion.

We all need to set better examples. I think maybe we should send $10 each to the National Rifle Association for lawyers, to sue our cities for violating our civil rights.

Maybe gun courses should be taught in schools to teach our kids how to use guns right. But the real problem is our inner man, not gun manufacturers. Until we deal with the inner man, we will always have violence. R.E. Yates Spokane

Yet another evil anti-gun offensive

“Cities target gun makers with lawsuits,” reads The Spokesman-Review headline as the gun-hating media gleefully detail the latest scheme to ban guns.

Thwarted at the ballot box in their effort to disarm honest citizens, the neo-Bolshevik gun ban lobby has now turned to lawsuits.

Never mind that handguns are legal for hunting in almost every state, thwart some 2.5 million crimes annually and have saved thousands of lives.

The press prints lie after lie about the gun issue, while ignoring the fact that the huge decline in crime is being partly attributed to 31 states allowing licensed citizens to carry concealed handguns. This immensely successful program has really “taken a bite out of crime.”

Likewise, the media have been deafeningly silent about the success of Richmond, Virginia’s, Project Exile, which specifically targets gun-carrying felons under existing federal laws.

Gun abolitionists, from our Constitution-trashing president to propagandists in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and Pullman, hail the worthless Brady Act, a law that has jailed only a handful of criminals during its several years of existence. It’s a federal felony for a criminal to attempt to purchase or even touch a firearm. These felons are not being arrested as federal law requires.

It’s clear that a powerful anti-gun lobby, backed by the media and a network of urban socialists, is working on a final solution for guns: a total ban on all privately owned firearms.

There’s a name for nations like Cuba, North Korea and Red China, where only the police and military have guns. They’re called police states. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

HUNTING

Anti-hunting sentiments wrong

As a certified hunter, safety instructor and National Rifle Association instructor, I take strong offense at Mary Cosentini’s letter of Dec. 11 against hunting.

Hunter education involves teaching young people the responsibility of safe firearm use and hunting ethics. Hunting helps to keep the big-game population under control, along with natural forces. Hunters spend many tax dollars on out-of-state license fees, special draw tags and once-in-a-lifetime hunt fees.

The parents of these young girls are not permissive; they accept the full responsibility of molding their daughters into becoming fine adult hunters who are taught responsibility and self-respect. Raymond Layton Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Now, for the real story

Re: Chris Sartain’s disparaging message to striking Kaiser Steelworkers to “quit whining” and “grow up” (Letters, Dec. 24).

Sartain says he has been hauling freight out of Kaiser for 15 years. He asserts that the replacement workers are getting his truck loaded in less than an hour, whereas the Steelworkers were making him wait from three to 12 hours. His waiting time is “without pay.”

The gentleman’s comments are telling, indeed.

First, the temporary workers apparently aren’t able to produce the same volume of metal the Steelworkers were producing. Ordinarily, Kaiser’s downsized shipping department would be buried in finished product needing to be inspected, wrapped, banded, labeled and loaded.

Second, although he fails to acknowledge it, Sartain desperately needs union representation. No human being should be expected to donate hours and hours of unpaid time to his employer. That concept went out with slavery.

If he were being paid while he awaits his turn to be loaded, his employer would make darn sure he didn’t wait long. The freight company would pressure Kaiser management to beef up its shipping department, not slash it to the bone.

Instead, Sartain allows himself to be victimized by what he refers to as “the real world.” He forgets that the real world is whatever we dare to make it. Christy McIntyre Post Falls

`Turnabout is fair play’

My dad is a striking Steelworker who is on the picket line at Kaiser. My dad has worked at Kaiser for 20 years and has always put 110 percent into his job. I feel now it’s Kaiser’s turn to give back to their employees. Turnabout is fair play. Tami N. Sorensen Spokane

U.S. AND THE WORLD

We’re causing lots of innocents to die

Every 10 minutes, an Iraqi child dies directly because of us. Every citizen of this country is to blame.

Some may look elsewhere to assign blame for this atrocity, however, every American citizen should look no further than the mirror.

Eight years of economic sanctions against Iraq have left the country in shambles and on the brink of complete ruin. These sanctions represent eight years of failed American foreign policy. The rest of the world community and many in the intellectual community within America are realizing the economic sanctions against Iraq truly are a bitterly inhumane double standard.

If history has taught us anything it should be that economic sanctions are ineffective for instituting change in foreign governments. Cuba serves as a prime example of the general ineffectiveness of economic sanctions. The arguments in favor of economic sanctions are without merit. They are based on false assumptions and inferences that can not be logically drawn.

Now, some may ask, “Why am I to blame? I don’t support sanctions.” Well, fellow Americans, the truth is that until these economic sanctions are lifted, every American should have a guilt-ridden conscious.

We have a representative government. Our leaders must listen to the electorate or face dismissal. Our voice and vote are powerful tools. However, if we fail to use them, they might as well not exist.

Failing to speak out and let your opinion be known is akin to either not having an opinion or simply agreeing with current sentiment. Matthew John Zuchetto Spokane