Letters To The Editor
Y2K
Getting panicky doesn’t help matters
Bigfoot, UFOs, Hale-Bopps - now we have Y2K to worry about, thanks to hysteria most likely encouraged by individuals who have to have something to worry about besides everyday matters and want to recruit others to share their paranoia.
There are still many of us around who have survived two world wars and a depression that took many years for our country to recover from. Now, some of you are trying to create panic by hoarding, etc.
As for myself, and I am sure there are many others, we will resist panic until there is good reason to believe we have a serious problem. Then, we will take it one day at a time with a cool head and not have a basement full of excess supplies that we have to worry about.
Let’s have a little trust in some of our authorities, even though some of them are inclined to panic without realizing they are causing a problem. Counting all the many scientific advances of this century, let those in the computer industry give it their best effort. I am certain they are aware of how to handle it without our back-seat driving! Tom D. Highland Spokane
Inoperability is nothing new
Several weeks ago, “60 Minutes” did a piece on Y2K. One of the “experts” they interviewed on the subject made the observation: “On Saturday morning, Jan. 1, 2000, we are going to wake up and some things aren’t going to work.”
So what’s the big deal? I’ve had that problem for years. J.F. Hensler Newport, Wash.
Have faith and use a little ingenuity
What’s this Y2K uproar all about? People feeding on a frenzy of panic? No food, no electricity, no money. I suppose they don’t have much faith in the people who created all this computerized technology, to fix their intelligent machines.
Why don’t they have a supply of food, water and cash on hand, and other ways to cook? Now or any other time?
My husband and I grew up many miles from stores. Our parents’ pantries and freezers were full of food. We had water bottles filled, because when the power went out, our pumps didn’t work. We had candles, kerosene lamps and batteries, and there was always cash stashed.
That’s how we live now, even though stores are only three blocks away. A rainy day can happen any day, not just Jan. 1, 2000.
The real problem today isn’t Y2K, it’s people not knowing how to be ingenious. They don’t even know how to mix flour, eggs and sugar together to make pancakes. They live for today and run to the store tomorrow for frozen pizza.
Perhaps this frenzy of panic will make people think for themselves.
I’ll put my trust in the people who had the intelligence to create the comfy lifestyle we all enjoy. I have faith that Avista will be billing me for my power in January and the IRS will sending out its forms for the new millennium. The sun will come up and the sky won’t fall.
But just in case, my plan is to move in with my sisterin-law, because she has a wood stove! Jeannie U. Greene Spokane
THE ENVIRONMENT
Non-breaching remedies plentiful
Re: “Breaching would sink barging”
We can save the dams, recreation, transportation, irrigation, jobs, electrical power and fisheries, and return the salmon and steelhead above Lower Granite Dam with very simple solutions.
First, it’s scientifically proven that we can maintain a 98 percent survival rate on salmon and steelhead returns to the ocean from above Granite Dam by barging, which saves the smolts from predators.
Bring the salmon and steelhead back from the ocean. We need to eliminate the illegal ocean drift nets.
Clean out the Caspian terns that consume millions of smolts off Rice Island and other Corps of Engineers islands built from dredging the mouth of the Columbia River.
Seals also destroy salmon and steelhead by the thousands.
There are 395 gill nets between Bonneville and McNary dams, destroying our natural resource. Why is it illegal to trap bald eagles, but legal to trap endangered salmon?
We ship $400 million worth of products down the Snake River. There are 6,380 jobs related to this system between Clarkston and the Columbia River. This equates to $255 million to our economy. We in Whitman County consider these waterways our “lakes”; recreation amounts to $90 million per year.
Forty-two thousand acres are irrigated from these pools, turning an Eastern Washington desert into a green garden to help our economic base and feed the world.
Gov. Gary Locke’s mission for Eastern Washington’s economy is to bring economic growth to our area. The Snake River is our corridor to the world. Six counties rely heavily on this greatest asset west of the Mississippi. Keep it simple: Save our dams. Les Wigen Whitman County commissioner, Lacrosse, Wash.
My heart just bleeds for `land barons’
Re: “Breaching would sink barging,” (Jan. 3). Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo! It serves them right.
How many of us younger people who want to get into farming cannot because of these large grain land barons who have driven up the price of land and machinery so badly that we don’t have a ghost of a chance to farm because it costs so much money to get started. Now they want us to feel sorry for them after they have been monopolizing the system and not feeling sorry for us? Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Donald R. Thomason Moses Lake
PEOPLE AND ANIMALS
SpokAnimal can be and is helpful
Concerning Rebecca Wagner’s unfortunate experience (Letters, Jan. 8) with SpokAnimal CARE: Possibly, her veterinarian spoke to someone who was new on the job.
When I found a lost husky a couple of years ago, I was told by SpokAnimal that he was registered as a cocker spaniel, but the SpokAnimal representative checked to see that the owners also had a husky registered. Assuming that a tag switch had taken place, she then gave me the owner’s name, address and phone number. It probably isn’t unusual for people to accidentally switch the tags on their pets.
Besides getting the tags straight, it would also be helpful if pet owners would use an ID tag along with their license tag and microchip ID so that a pet could be reunited with them sooner. Sharon Leon Spokane
Don’t neglect spaying and neutering
“A heartbreaker” - that is the title for the picture of the young pit bull mix taken at SpokAnimal and printed on the first page of the Region section. This beautiful dog must be about a year old or less.
Who did he belong to? Why was he dropped off at the shelter? Last but not least, how could the owner do it? If the dog’s parents had been spayed and neutered, we would not be viewing this dog in a cage waiting to be killed.
Here is a way we can help. Please have your pets taken care of. If you know of any other pet owners who have unsterilized animals, encourage them to do so immediately or visit the Humane Society and view the tragic situation. I’m sure if they do they will have a better understanding of what must be done. Isabelle M. Roehm Spokane
IN THE PUBLIC EYE
Quiet - mistrial in progress
Regarding the “trial” being conducted relating to the impeachment of the president:
This is legally called a trial.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court is the presiding “judge.”
The proceedings were initiated in the House of Representatives and members of the House serve as “prosecutors” to present the case(s) against the president.
The scenario is that of a full court trial in which, under the Constitution, the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof lies with the accusers. It seems to follow that the judge watches the proceeding to ensure violations of legal procedure do not occur and the accused’s rights aren’t violated. In this case, however, a partisan judgment seems to already have been rendered and the trial is only to establish the form and degree of punishment.
Also, the usual process in trials of “high crimes” (i.e. the Simpson case), is that the jury is sequestered to isolate it from outside influence. Otherwise, a charge of jury tampering is called and the proceeding ends in mistrial. In this jury, it would seem due process is not part of the picture and jury tampering is the order of the day.
House members are constantly lobbying senators, as are White House aides. It would seem appropriate for the larger jury of public opinion to take precedence and cry foul loud enough for the judge to dismiss the case. Richard Kuck Hayden Lake
Why should we believe Clinton?
Why a big fuss over when we have a state of the Union speech? What purpose is there for anyone to listen to a state of the Union speech delivered by Bill Clinton?
Clinton does not admit to lying or obstructing justice. But the facts confirmed by several others and not contested in court by his aggressive attorneys prove that he lied under oath to a grand jury. Then, he wagged his finger at the American people and vehemently insisted he was telling us the truth.
Does anyone in the country expect to hear the truth when this man speaks? B.M. Bauman Spokane