Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Tax plan to benefit jail needs honing

Commissioner Ron Rankin’s acknowledgment that passing a sales tax may not be the only option for addressing our overcrowded jail is a step in the right direction. In fact there are many options to consider once we move from the very narrow premise that historical prisoner population growth leads directly to the number of prison beds we should build right now.

Children born in this decade are the most likely occupants by 2015. Are there preventive measures such as improved education, more and better drug use prevention or recreational activities we should consider? Prisoners convicted of drunk driving and driving without a license (usually revoked as a result of drunk driving) take up nearly half of the jail beds. Could they be better sanctioned by ignition interlock devices on their car, electronic home monitoring or mandatory treatment? The list of alternatives is extensive but largely unconsidered in our rush to build a jail.

So what is wrong with the way we have been doing business? Maybe nothing and after considering all of the options this community will decide to make no changes at all. On the other hand the voters may decide we have failed to inform them of all of the costs and benefits, neglected consideration of available options and respond by simply saying no.

The jail has been overcrowded and understaffed for a long time; but to use that fact to create a crisis atmosphere may continue the problem. It would be more productive for the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee to take a step back and do a better job of preparing the case to be presented to voters. A solid yes vote in November would be better than a no in May. Jerry Shriner Coeur d’Alene

Rankin right regarding increase

It seems to me that if Fred Glienna had stopped to think before writing his letter (Jan. 8) regarding the proposal to fund an addition to the county jail with a half-cent increase in the sales tax, he might have reasoned that this is the best option. Using half of the revenue raised by the sales tax to reduce property taxes will mean that landlords will not feel a need to raise rent. There are far more middle to low income homeowners than there are “people with expensive homes.” They will certainly welcome a reduction in property taxes. Glienna’s Democrat governor, Cecil Andrus, pointed out that property taxes are the most onerous of all taxes. They must be paid regardless of the family’s income. With a loss of income, or a decrease, families can, and do, lose their homes.

Another factor Mr. Glienna overlooked is that increased property taxes result in increased prices for products including groceries and necessities. I believe that Commissioner Ron Rankin is a “public servant truly interested in the public good.” He understands taxation better than most people, and he knows that paying for new jail facilities with a bond would cost everyone more due to the huge amount of interest paid on a bond. Dee Lawless Post Falls

Hotel can’t get special consideration

The article that appeared in your paper regarding the Hope Hotel and its closing struck me as not being the full story. The hotel renovation and opening was only made possible by the fact that the Ellisport Bay Sewer came into existence. No sewer, no hotel. I cannot question Mountain West Ventures’ financial reason for closing, however, to blame the closing on the Ellisport Bay Sewer District’s sewer assessment on the structure is a specious argument.

Everyone who has built or renovated in Hope in the past few years has been made aware the sewer was coming and that hook-ups, in many cases, would be mandatory so that raw sewage would no longer run along the streets of Hope in the winter and spring. The EBSD board has done everything within its legal power to work with the Hope Hotel in easing the financial assessment. It’s this simple: If the hotel is given the special consideration it is requesting, then homeowners and others in the district will be required to take up the revenue slack anticipated and their individual assessments will go up accordingly.

The loan for the project must be repaid, all parties must pay a full-assessment value even though they may be snow-birds and go south for the winter. I encourage those within the district to support the current board members who have given hundreds of hours of their time, commitment and energies to see the sewer project completed. My congratulations to all of them. L. Scott Hancock Hope, Idaho

Most residents can’t shop like tourists

Re: “A Changing City,” (Jan.6). I think you are overlooking the obvious. Most people in Coeur d’Alene and the rest of Idaho make such a lousy wage they can’t afford to shop like the tourists. Maybe it’s time Idaho and Coeur d’Alene started looking at improving the lives of their citizens. I think it would benefit both the businesses and the people of Idaho. Paul W. Carter Newport, Wash.

Education more important now

Kudos to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne for his declaration of “The Generation of the Child.”

Consider, that the demands of the American work place and current congressional priorities do not seem to favor working families with children. For one thing, jobs which allow a single parent to provide for a family are not so common. Consequently, most mothers must work, and many children`s developmental needs are being shortchanged, compared to previous generations. Of course, single working mothers are really on tight budgets.

Why do two people have to work to support a family? Wages are low and expenses are high for many reasons. The United States has the most expensive and inadequate healthcare system in the developed world, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Congress skims a massive amount of money off the economy and redistributes it, actually increasing income inequality in this country. Home prices of $100 per square foot are high, partly due to trickle-down economics.

The world economy is changing, with increased competition from foreign commodity producers and manufacturers, thanks to congressional fiscal policy favoring capital. Traditional jobs have moved overseas. The U.S. rural economy needs to restructure.

For this reason, education and child development are more important than ever. One thing is for sure: Congress seems increasingly irrelevant, with the exception of taxes. S.S. Howze Sagle, Idaho

OVER THE LINE

Reject uniformity at the bottom

Re: “Put community of interests first” (Opinion, Dec. 29).

I agree with interactive editor Doug Floyd that residents travel about the region guided by choices that have more to do with personal preference than political jurisdiction. But Floyd wrongly asserts all standards should be set at the lowest common denominator, for the sake of cohesiveness.

He lamented that nude dancers and men seeking lap dances must travel to State Line, Idaho, now that Spokane County Commissioners tightened regulations.

State Line Councilman Keith Warner and attorney Fred Gabourie should have been more concerned about the impact of a nude dance club on the community and region. Statistics and our own experience with Deja Vu prove that obscene dancing and sexual public conduct is not a victimless crime. It exploits, degrades and injures women. A recent study by FBI researchers of 36 serial killers revealed that 29 were attracted to pornography.

A serial rapist-murderer on the loose in Spokane is only part of the problem that can be connected to this type of “entertainment.” Neighborhoods are ruined, sexually transmitted diseases are spread and it injures the moral fabric of society.

I think that by frequenting places where erotic behavior is flaunted, men and women are dramatically more likely to engage in adultery, prostitution and sexual addictions. Nude dance clubs devalue marital intimacy and breed disrespect for women. If Floyd is concerned about improving the region, he should be trying to protect our community standards rather than degrade them. Penny A. Lancaster Coalition for Better Community Standards, Spokane

We are grateful to so many people

Recently, our 3-1/2-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia. We were devastated.

Standing in the intensive care unit at Deaconess Medical Center, we realized some real changes were going to happen. My wife would quit her job and we would literally do whatever we had to do to save our son’s life. We owe a great deal to the staff at Deaconess Medical Center, whose understanding and patience we couldn’t live without.

The Leukemia Society, the Cancer Foundation and our own community angels seemed to come from everywhere. Thank you to the Lake City Jaycees, Family Health Center of Post Falls, Dr. Jon Cutting’s staff and family, Mr. Tux, ABCD Daycare staff and family, Lake City High School, Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Hauser Lake Fire Department, the Dream Store, Coeur d’Alene Resort Catering Department, Norm’s Utility Contractors and all who worked together so I could be at the hospital. Their prayers and generosity overwhelmed us.

Thank you. To all the friends I never knew I had, I don’t know how we’d have coped without you. Thank you, boss, for the magical horse that came by and brightened a little boy’s day.

I’m sure I haven’t listed you all, but with this much support, I know Josh can win his fight with cancer. David S. Swanlund Rathdrum

MONEY

`Whole life’ half-baked as investment

Your usually reliable columnist Frank Bartel missed the mark badly in his Sunday column, “Longevity pushes limits of insurance.”

While longer lifespans may skew actuarial tables, Bartel’s quoting of local salesman Gene Bronson amounts to nothing more than a commercial endorsement for the products Bronson sells. “You never outgrow your need for life insurance” flies against conventional wisdom!

Life insurance is necessary to replace income lost by a wage earner who dies. Life insurance is also recommended to provide liquidity to an estate facing immediate estate tax bills. People with no dependents and people without large estates probably do not need life insurance. My wife and I are in our 40s and consider ourselves self-insured.

Bartel also quotes Bronson that “a traditional whole life policy will outperform … any combination of stocks and bonds that an investor is likely to come up with.” Total hogwash! Conventional wisdom says that while the insurance policy’s tax advantage will help, it will not overcome the drag that the front-end “load” or commission hangs on the product.

Additionally, insurance products must subtract out the cost of insurance protection. Meanwhile, stock index funds are quite tax efficient and inexpensive to own. Has Bartel seen contrary studies?

The bottom line, as always: If you need insurance, buy insurance. If you need to invest, buy investments. Bill Boaz Liberty Lake

IN THE PAPER

Your Slicer is a bounder, too

Time and again I have been disgusted and completely put off by the remarks made about women in the Slice column and some others throughout this newspaper. I have sworn off reading many sections for this reason. However, once in a while I slip up and read - and it almost never fails to offend me.

The comment in the Jan. 7 Slice column about goodlooking newscasters, “She’ll never stay here,” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. As if the ongoing objectification of women wasn’t bad enough, it added insult to injury by implying that women who choose to live here are less than good looking. Will the insults ever cease? While the misogynist tendencies here in the Northwest continue to offend me, at least I am keenly aware of them. I want to remind the columnists that they are not merely reflecting the attitudes of some of the residents here; they are also perpetuating them, and creating them for a new generation of boys to objectify women and girls to feel poorly about themselves. R.F. DeRyan Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Republicans, get with the program

The Republicans still don’t seem to fully comprehend what’s obvious to the majority of American people. Impeachment should be regarded as a last-resort measure to save the country from grievous harm. It should not be debased into a vehicle for destroying a hated member of the political opposition. The “getting rid of Clinton” problem was taken care of a long time ago by the founding fathers. It’s called terms of office, and here’s how it works:

The people choose their representatives in elections. Remember those? Now if we choose badly or if a more qualified person comes along, that’s where “terms of office” comes into play. Because after a short time we get to vote in the next election, where we can rectify any mistakes or make personnel changes.

I’m sorry the GOP thinks we voters are too stupid to discharge this responsibility, but until they change the Constitution, that’s the way it is.

I would also suggest that any politician who doesn’t have the patience to let this process work, or is unable to compromise and accommodate whoever else the voters choose, go find a different line of work. You just don’t have an aptitude for government and I’m suspicious you’re ungovernable yourself. Thomas Osowski Rathdrum, Idaho

Not surprisingly, our president has openly disregarded his oath of office to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” by issuing executive order (EO) No. 13107, on Dec. 10, 1998. Thousands of pages of international law now become federal law. In the process, the Tenth Amendment to our Constitution is essentially destroyed.

It would appear that the president issued EO 13107 at this time to escape his impeachment trial by claiming he did not commit perjury concerning his definition of sex, and to accuse him of perjury on that count is to deny him his human rights.

As a further travesty, issuing EO 13107 effectively bypasses our Constitution, which requires the U.S. Senate to ratify all treaties. With this executive order, President Clinton, on his own, ratified all the following treaties with one stroke of his pen: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment (CAT); Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD); “and other relevant treaties concerned with the protection and promotion of human rights to which the United States is now or may become a party in the future.”

I have written to Rep. George Nethercutt asking that he introduce or support legislation to override this executive order, as soon as possible, in order to protect our sovereignty and preserve and protect the Constitution as he promised. Hopefully, others will follow this example. Donald R. Graham Spokane