Letters To The Editor

IDAHO MATTERS

Everyone wins by saving pool

There are many wonderful reasons why the city of Post Falls should do all in its power to purchase and save our pool. Not only for all the people who come from outlying communities to use the only public pool in the area (revenue), but also for the swim teams from our schools the synchronized swim team, the lap swimmers, the aerobic swimmers, the senior swimmers and all those who need to swim for therapy.

I believe that with the proper management and scheduling, the pool can prosper as well as our community business from people who will come to our town for a swim meet or synchronized swim show. These people will stay in our hotels, eat at our local restaurants and shop in our stores. It’s a win-win situation! Linda J. Seed Post Falls

SCHOOLs AND EDUCATION

Education beneficial to all residents

All Idahoans benefit from an educated populace and all Idahoans should invest in schools. Property owners should not be forced to pay for educating every Idaho child, no more than new arrivals should use the supermajority to hold our schools hostage. A strong economy, new business, low crime, and a settled population are all dependent on the quality of education provided our citizens.

There should be no loopholes in the state sales tax (or income tax for that matter). There are more than enough uncollected taxes to fund new school buildings. A blue ribbon planning commission could approve austere designs for a half dozen sizes of school buildings. These buildings would be built on the basis of need, funded entirely by the state.

The outbuildings, athletic facilities, annual operating capital and other programs should be approved by voters through levies written at the local level. These should be voted on only during the general election (when there is the largest turnout) with a 60 percent - not 67 percent - majority required for passage.

How our legislators can shy away from providing school buildings for our state’s children is beyond me. If Idaho continues to entice immigration, larger classrooms must be constructed to accommodate the additional children. Likewise, local municipalities must use zoning laws and impact fees to keep residential development from overrunning current infrastructure.

Schools are the most important component of a community’s infrastructure. The quality of education provided each Idaho citizen will determine how effectively Idaho answers all current and future problems. Jim West Post Falls

Time for schools to spend state money

As a parent with one child starting kindergarten next year I have been talking with other parents whose children already attend the school my child will go to. I have discovered that the elementary students are bused to the junior high school to eat lunch, (the elementary school doesn’t have a kitchen), the school building is in disrepair, and even if local taxes were raised, the patrons could not pay off the bond levy before the new building would require renovation.

So what to do? Well, if one takes a lingering look at the funds given to each school district in this state, it becomes readily apparent that previously when endowment funds were collected they were meant to be given to the local schools. Now this money goes to a central account and is then divvied up by number of students. You don’t need to be smart to understand that if the local schools had received all endowment monies meant for them they could have been rebuilding all along. But they didn’t, so now when we need new schools the rest of the state is saying, `Tough.’ Well, hey, you’ve been spending our money for quite a while now, and I personally think it’s time for us to spend yours. Gregory A. Dean Orofino

Don’t shortchange our children

Can you believe it? Now our government is trying to say it’s not their job to provide appropriate, financial assistance for the construction of decent, upgraded facilities so that we may educate our children so that they may survive in the upcoming millennium. It’s not bad enough that this same government keeps making more cuts, and more cuts to social services needed by the disabled population and the retired, now they are attempting to take it out on our children! Their excuse: We are “too poor of a state,” and the cuts are needed. Exact words spoken directly from U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth’s office and U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s office.

How about all politicians take a pay cut, not a pay raise. You may be getting away with abusing all of us older folks, but you’d better not try to abuse our children! If you deny our children’s education, we will deny you reelection. Kurt Scholz Osburn

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Strike pulling down area economy

I have been on strike for three months. For the nine months prior to the strike, my family had spent an average per month of $613 for groceries at various stores. Gasoline: $89. Restaurants: $70 (no tips figured in). Hardware, dry goods: $113.

Since the strike, the figures are: groceries, $347; gas, $45; restaurants, $34 (this figure would be less, but we eat in Spokane when we picket) and hardware and dry goods, $49.

Projected on a one year total, we would spend $10,283 if we were not on strike. The projected one year strike total would be $5,880. The difference is $4,403.

This money is not going into the local economy. Factor in the 250 steelworkers in the Coeur d’Alene area and you have a loss of $1,100,785 in spending for goods and services in the area.

Communities should pressure Kaiser and the Steelworkers to do everything they can to settle the strike so this money can come back into the area’s economy. Kaiser parking lots are full of cars with Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, California, Wyoming and Kansas licence plates. Where do you think the scabs are sending their money?

One person can make a difference, 250 people can make a lot of difference, too - well over a loss of $1 million. C. David Lamphier Coeur d’Alene

Hurwitz greed behind Kaiser position

In the Jan. 9 article, “100 days and still on strike,” company leaders say Kaiser is “a small business struggling to compete.” This, according to officials, is why Kaiser wants to eliminate more than 400 jobs.

Kaiser leaders want us to believe they are a beleaguered group fighting for corporate survival. Unfortunately, some numbers do not support their corporate whining. At $250,000 per employee, Kaiser has the highest revenue-per-employee among major aluminum producers. A comparison of five-year earnings per share growth rates reveals Kaiser’s growth is second only to Maxxam Inc. in the whole aluminum industry.

Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Ashe once commented that Charles Hurwitz is not an issue. That statement alone qualifies Ashe for a room in the Home for the Criminally Unreal. Hurwitz controls Maxxam and Maxxam controls Kaiser. According to a proxy statement filed in April 1998, Maxxam’s executive compensation committee adopted amendments very lucrative for two people - Hurwitz and Maxxam President Paul Schwartz. One amendment “Increases the maximum aggregate annual award payable under the executive plan to any participant with respect to any fiscal year from $3 million to $12 million…”

Since Maxxam derives a large portion of its profits from Kaiser, it seems fair to say a healthy portion of their bonus will come from proposed reductions in the Kaiser work force. This is not a sensible action for a company that says it is “struggling to compete with much larger players.” It is an example of avarice at the expense of a dedicated work force. Thomas L. McArthur Spokane

Kaiser doesn’t need escort service

On Jan. 10, the Steelworkers held a family day along Trent. Steelworkers and members of other unions, friends and families lined the street from Evergreen to Sullivan. We stood with our children, waving to passing cars and holding signs.

We must have looked pretty ominous, since the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department had two cars escorting each of Kaiser’s hot metal trucks from Mead to Trentwood. The county is already asking for more money to man the picket line to “protect Kaiser.” Is it going to be an escort service, too?

A deputy told me it costs $1,000 to put such things as radar in cars - equipment they now switch between cars. The more than $55,000 spent so far for Kaiser would have equipped 55 cars with radar or put more police on the streets. How much additional money will it cost taxpayers to continue this escort service every time Kaiser snaps its fingers?

Looks like the new sheriff has his work cut out for him. Wendy S. Wise Hayden, Idaho

Promise is freedom, not a rose garden

The clergy, Chamber of Commerce, school teachers, attorneys, etc. what, if anything, do these groups know about running an industrial manufacturing business in today’s global economy?

Industry must eliminate jobs. This drives the individual to a higher skill to compete in an ever-changing global industrial environment, i.e. the machine to manufacture needles, the wooden wheelwright and the buggywhip makers - all these changes eliminated many thousands of jobs.

We are in an era when individuals greatly desire security. To many, it’s the first requirement to make any future attractive. This is remarkable, since it’s new to Americans.

The founding fathers didn’t value security. Security was the thing they renounced when they came here to get what to them was a much more desirable attainment: personal freedom.

Now, many an American concludes that if he has a hot dog in one hand, a beer in the other and a tank of gas in his car, he is free of responsibility. If any of these things are missing, he feels that the government should take steps to supply it.

Perhaps this is a natural development of a prosperous people. Our ability to survive is in our ability to produce. If we do not do it faster, better and cheaper, we will no longer be in a position of power but pawns of the stronger more productive nations.

The pilgrims did not come to this great land to get a job, they came to start a business - the greatest economic experiment the world has ever known. Jack H. Bunton, president, CEO Ram Re-Manufacturing and Distribution, Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Clinton worst president ever

I’m getting tired of people saying they are tired of this Clinton mess and will hold it against the Republicans for the rest of their days.

First of all, at least 90 percent of them are Democrats and the other 10 percent don’t know what they are. They also say Clinton is doing a good job as president and most cite his balanced budget as the reason. Let’s face it - Clinton and the Democrats don’t want a balanced budget. As a matter of fact, Clinton vetoed the balanced budget three years in a row and only signed it the following year because the Republicans said they would use his veto against him in his bid for a second term.

Where were all these “tired” people when Richard Nixon was on trial? All Nixon was guilty of was a cover-up - he didn’t do the actual break in. Clinton not only lied to a grand jury, obstructed justice and abused the powers of the president, he was the main person in all this!

Nixon was indeed a “crook,” but he had enough common decency to resign.

Clinton is the most immoral, untrustworthy president we have ever had and doesn’t have the common decency to resign!

I just heard Clinton is considering pleading “Nolo contendere” - which means “I’m innocent and won’t do it again.” Phil Lindemann Kingston, Idaho HEALTH AND SAFETY

Motorists ride roughshod

Spokane roads are safe for motor vehicles but not for pedestrians, their pets and their human- and animal powered transports. Before streets had sidewalks, motorized vehicles respectfully shared streets with humans and animals. In less than 100 years, cars and trucks have assumed more importance than their nonmotorized counterparts.

Each winter, snow and ice are eradicated from major streets. But little effort is made to clear sidewalks. If pedestrians try to escape hazardous icy walkways and travel along the edge of the street, they are often harassed, if not challenged, by drivers. This malicious behavior toward pedestrians is outrageous.

Driver education classes spend hours teaching students the importance of sobriety and traffic safety laws. Little class time is spent conveying the rights and safety of nonmotorized vehicles. These include, but are not limited to, bicycles, horses and humans.

Humans and pets are more vulnerable than any motor vehicles and more important than any inconvenience. To support the rights of human- and animal-powered vehicles, and to impress them into the minds of malevolent drivers, a small “slow-moving vehicle” sign could be attached to such vehicles. Frances Crabtree Spokane

Gun residuals are a public expense

It is not public officials who are picking the pocket of low-income smokers, as alleged by D.F. Oliveria in the Jan. 8 editorial. Instead, it is Big Tobacco that has duped people, disproportionately poor and minorities, to waste their money on products that worsen their health and shorten their lives. The deceptive business practices of the tobacco industry, especially around advertising and promotion, have been definitively proven in the litigation brought by public officials and private individuals.

Now, as the editorial grumbles, public officials are turning their attention to another dangerous product, guns. There are allegations of similar business tactics. Also like tobacco, the costs for care of the health consequences from guns are often borne by the public. Doesn’t it make sense that industries that make products that kill, maim and cause illness contribute to those public costs? Kim Marie Thorburn, M.D., M.P.H. health officer, Spokane Regional Health District

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

It’s time for a female president

This country needs a woman president. The good old boys have not done a good job.

We need a woman who can lead and stand up to the male teams of the past. Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher proved she could come from the wrong side of the political and economic tracks to win and stay in office for 12 years.

If Elizabeth Dole decides to run, it will be good. The only problem is, some would say Bob Dole would be the pursestrings. Bull roar! She would be an excellent leader and I would vote for her. If women voted by gender, they could outvote the male population.

Some fear women would not be as rational as men. Again, that’s false. Many well-qualified women could run, win and serve this country well. Women should show their mettle and run for the White House. Sherwood Wile Veradale

Keep children’s programs local

It is my understanding that irrespective of the polls showing a majority of our questionably intelligent population favors President Clinton, most senior citizens do not. So now comes Clinton with a plan to cut Medicare funding in favor of giving money for children’s activities and grants for children. I wonder if there is any connection. While these may be admirable social programs, they should be the responsibility of the community and not Big Brother in Washington, D.C. Ralph E. Hallock Hayden, Idaho