Letters To The Editor

Y2K

People need information to prepare

Good point - the government can not take care of our community’s 500,000 people, as stated in Michael Guilfoil’s Dec. 27 article on the front page of IN Life. But his view of the impact the year 2000 poses seems far too narrow. Y2K will be a global event and it will arrive on time.

I am concerned that news agencies and federal, state and local government offices are seemingly complacent about the looming century change. Yet the American Red Cross has set up a Y2K Disaster Services website; http://www.redcross.org/disaster/safety/y2k.html They suggest a supply of food, water, alternative heat, cash, etc. and advise people to be ready to “relocate to a shelter for warmth and protection during a prolonged power outage ….”

You may be surprised at how much information is posted on the Internet by “official” agencies (sites ending with .gov, .mil and .org) that aren’t very public with their knowledge. Remember this; neither the unpretentious person to the most sophisticated thinker knows the outcome for Jan. 1, 2000.

Although I agree with Guilfoil’s summary that “last-minute hoarding” can worsen the situation, I see an increasing awareness that is too late. The public needs definite information to be prepared emotionally, personally and as communities. It would be refreshing to see The Spokesman-Review publish intelligent, fact-filled articles instead of someone’s summary of quotes and opinions. It’s not a joke. Cindy Scinto Greenacres

Plan with community, neighborhood

We were disappointed in the editorial board’s response to citizens’ Y2K fears as described in John Webster’s Jan. 3 editorial. While we certainly agree that using common sense and staying calm should be encouraged, some practical suggestions would be helpful, given the predictions of many knowledgeable people in government, business and academia. We hope the local newspaper will provide some concrete steps people can take to provide for their basic needs should general systems fail.

No one knows what will happen as computer clocks turn to “00.” But this is an excellent opportunity for individuals and neighborhoods to prepare for any situation where basic services to households are interrupted for any length of time. The ice storm of 1996 is a recent reminder that local systems are fallible!

Y2K is like knowing the exact date of an earthquake. Knowing it’s coming, only a fool would not take steps to provide for his/her basic needs.

Y2K is an opportunity for neighbors to plan together how they will provide themselves with water (does anyone have a water filter to filter river water?), heat (who has a wood stove?), and food (does anyone have a root cellar or cold storage?). Who in the neighborhood has special needs? Who has special skills? Use this as an excuse to get to know your neighbors! The consequences of community building could out-last Y2K.

John Webster is right about one thing; humankind will likely “muddle along” no matter what Y2K brings. But think how much easier it will be with a little planning should the doomsayers be right! Linda Moulder and Jerry J. White Cheney

Use knowledge to prevent the worst

Re: “History says Y2K won’t be end of the world” (Opinion, Jan. 3).

It’s absolutely amazing to me how the least knowledgeable people on the Y2K subject seem to downplay it the most. Don’t (you) editors want to warn the readers of the seriousness of the Y2K situation, or are you just ignorant of the depth of this problem and choose to bury your heads in the sand? Ignorance is bliss, and your editorial tops them all! Don’t you read the newspaper you write for?

Did you know that Avista, Bonneville Power and WWPPs all stated (at the Y2K Expo) that they can’t guarantee being Y2K compliant in time? Just try asking them for a guarantee in writing!

The Spokane Police Department and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have already told their officers not to plan any leave time from December 1999 until March of 2000. (What are they preparing for?)

The U.S. Coast Guard has notified their reservists that they should be ready to be called into active duty because of the Y2K situation.

Lloyds of London is predicting over a trillion dollars of litigation over the Y2K problem! (Lloyds of London isn’t into scaring people.)

A “60 Minutes” TV special claimed that some computer programmers (who are supposedly “fixing the problem”) are preparing for the worst.

No, Y2K won’t be the “end of the world” as you sarcastically put it, but neither was the Great Depression. But who wants to go through that kind of turmoil again - especially unprepared?

An ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure! Curt Brennan Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Ownership an earned right

In his Jan. 1 letter, Gary S. Remington professes to “dream of a society in which housing is deemed a fundamental right belonging to every person.”

Remington lacks imagination. If were going to dream of the various things we can “deem” to be rights, why not throw in Lear jets and vacation retreats in Tahiti? But, alas, rights are not the sort of thing that can be arbitrarily deemed to exist, since they attach only to those possessions to which people hold a valid title - meaning those things they either produced, discovered or brought with them into the world.

If you build a house then you certainly have a right to it. But you cannot have a “right” to a house built by someone else, or a “right” that someone else build you one, since these imply either a right to expropriate property someone else has labored to produce, or a right to enslave someone.

I’m sure that, rather than kidnapping a carpenter to build him a house, Remington would prefer to steal a few dollars, via government, from each of his fellow citizens and then pay the carpenter. Perhaps multiple counts of petty theft would trouble his soul less than a single count of kidnapping or armed robbery. But he cannot further soothe his conscience by deeming this pilferage a right.

Robert Heinlein once dubbed armed robbers “freelance socialists.” Remington’s adopted conception of rights is a similar attempt to rationalize predatory behavior. Let’s hope he wakes up soon from this bad dream. G.E. Morton Spokane

Story brought friends together

Recently, you ran a story on military-brats.com, a new website for people who grew up as military brats and had lost contact with people due to the frequent moves that this lifestyle entails. Without much hope or expectation, I decided to check it out.

Those of us who were teenagers stationed overseas have a sort of experience and history that is very alien to most people. And, especially at that time in one’s life, it is easy to lose track of people.

A few minutes ago I got off the telephone after talking with my best friend from high school. I have connected with several other people that I went to school with in Turkey and France, and I have more to contact. With a few inches of print you have irrevocably changed and enriched my life, giving me my history, a community and friendships that have survived 30 years. All those with whom I have communicated so far share with me a sense of wonder, awe and joy at the miracle that has brought us back into each other’s lives.

This wasn’t a particularly sexy, exciting story and I am deeply grateful to all those who participated in the decision to run it. Daily I experience something that makes me glad for the circumstances that brought me back to this city, but this really is icing on the cake. J.S. Davis Spokane

BELIEFS

Theologian off in interpretation

I read with interest Diana Butler Bass’ column “Congress got its theology wrong,” (Opinion, Jan. 3) in which she praises Hilary Clinton for her forgiveness of her husband instead of Congress’ “biblical judgment.”

It’s difficult to understand how a professor of religious studies could misunderstand biblical writing as much as she. It seems that she, not Congress, is the “lousy theologian.” She calls God, as written in the Old Testament, a “stern God as judge,” and that conservatives feel He’s a “God who is a wrathful deity” and that God of the New Testament “makes us holy - no matter how bad or sinful we have been.”

God, as told about in the Old Testament, is a loving and forgiving God who time and time again pleads with His people to keep their devotion to Him and their morals high. He forgives them and gives them a new chance many times. In return, their bullheadedness leads them into a sinful life time and time again.

Christ’s reaction to high religious and political leaders who continually said one thing and did another was very strong - strong enough to make them kill him.

Great men, half who had theology degrees, created for us a wonderful Constitution which would prevent such people from continuing to govern us and leading us into self destruction.

It’s wonderful that a lady forgave her husband for cheating on her, but it’s way past time to remove a deceitful, lying, law-breaking president from the highest office of our land - no matter how good the economy is. Laurence R. Morgan Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Clinton’s lack of morals did him in

Self-serving, ideological posturing from House Republicans aside, the debacle in the House of Reprehensibles is about sexual ethics. President Clinton was impeached because of his moderate positions on abortion and gays, and his own relaxed sexual code. For the “religious” extremists who hold the Republican Party in a death grip, these issues solely define character, regardless of what evil or good one may accomplish.

That the president may have lied under oath is a convenient vehicle for the pursuit of their goal, the removal of the president.

The greater moral questions are left for lesser minds to ponder. For the “Christian” Coalition currently “wagging” the GOP, no area of moral or ethical conduct twists their collective skivvies tighter than deviations from their biblical interpretation of permissible sexual activities. To illustrate their point, they want to oust our president. And with their Republican lackeys in lock step, they don’t even need God on their side.

The neo-Puritans’ ideal of sexual morality has always been honored primarily in the breach; removing the president won’t change that. They can take pride, however, in their continuing contribution to a windy American tradition: we proclaim our moral rectitude more than any other people of whom I’m aware.

My personal vision of Hell has Buchanan as president, Robertson as secretary of defense, and Bob Barr as secretary of state. In that scenario, the only thing that might save us is Larry Flynt as attorney general. Roger T. Bogley Nine Mile Falls

Decide fate through a trial

If Legislators are not morally fit to hold office, then let’s get them out. The argument that “everyone has something in his/her past and no one will want to serve” just isn’t true.

When they know they have to have a clean slate or reveal their “sin” before they run for election, men of honor will step forth to fill the need. Isn’t it better to teach our young that their futures may depend on how they live their lives instead of the “anything goes” attitude?

As for President Clinton, the facts are there. senators, both Democratic and Republican know in their hearts what needs to be done. They just lack the courage to do it. They justify telling us it will take too long for a trial. Nothing will get done.

Thomas Sowell has written that what has happened in Washington is like holding a mirror up to the American people (paraphrased). Another writer says Congress is like a bunch of old women indulging a spoiled child.

As the old Russian proverb says; “The fish rots from the head down.” Let’s begin taking our country back by putting the facts on trial in the senate. If he is found not guilty, so be it, but we will have done the right thing and followed the Constitution which was formed under the harshest of conditions to ensure our liberty. If we don’t act now, what sort of country will we leave for our children and grandchildren? Ethel Hurst Athol, Idaho

Clinton’s a slick hustler

What is all this seemingly panic-driven rhetoric and concern about partisan political pursuit of William Clinton and his removal from office? There seemed to be no political concern when the politicians voted Nixon out of office. If Clinton should expire before the impeachment trial, would the world be in sudden turmoil? I think not.

Then there was the declared panic of his removal when our military personnel were sent into harm’s way while he was commander in chief. Why is it no one seems to have questioned Clinton’s concern about the well-being of our military personnel in Vietnam when he was demonstrating against them not only in this country, but in Europe? He further demonstrated his cowardice and lack of concern by refusing to serve his country with those same military personnel. It seems, however, he has no qualms about sending military personnel into harm’s way when it serves his personal benefit.

Clinton is a slick hustler, no doubt about it. He and his war party certainly know how to herd the public. We must deserve him and his party, since they’re in. Dr. Goebbels, if still alive, would be green with envy., William H. Turner Deer Park

Clinton accountable to God

Re: Bob Walker’s comment in the Jan. 5 Spokesman-Review, “There’s something in the Bible about judging others and I’m not a Bible scholar.”

Walker is right on both counts.

First of all, the Bible does say, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged … First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5), which simply means not to hold a higher standard for others than you are willing to be held to yourself. I, for one, want to be held accountable to being true to my future wife and to being truthful.

Walker simply refers to a Bible verse that suits his needs without knowing the Bible’s full range on the subject. The Bible calls Christians to hold each other accountable. In fact, Paul even uses the word judge in relation to Christians with Christians - “Do you not judge those who are inside (Christians)? But those who are outside God judges” (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).

Bill Clinton attends church, carries a Bible and claims to be a Christian. That gives other Christians the responsibility not only to pray for him and to obey his leadership, but to hold him accountable to the law of God. Jeremy T. West Spokane

REMEMBERANCE

It’s sad Claypool is gone

Re: “Activist put a face on AIDS” (Dec. 27).

I was saddened to read of the news about Joyce Claypool and can fondly remember times spent with Joyce, Kara, Dale and Chris. The work she did for Girl Scouts of the Inland Empire made one of the largest and continuous impacts on girls and women in this society.

This last week, as news spread of Joyce’s death, other Girl Scout executive staff from throughout the Northwest have reflected on the time when they had the opportunity to meet the Claypool family in a conference organized for the Association of Girl Scout Executive Staff.

As for me, I remember sharing time with fellow staff of the Inland Empire council, painting the railroad abutment across from the Monroe Street Bridge, in the waning light of the late afternoon. It seemed like a somewhat covert action at the time; we didn’t know how those messages appeared overnight and if we needed permission to paint. But it was our way of announcing and celebrating Joyce’s 30th birthday. We wanted Spokane to know it was her birthday and through her efforts she brought us all close enough to touch.

Goodbye, my friend. Donna Rhoda consultant, Girl Scouts of the USA, New York