Letters To The Editor

Fri., Jan. 29, 1999

FROM LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (Monday, February 1, 1999): Correction Washington state’s voters last fall approved an initiative raising the minimum wage. A letter that appeared Friday, “Minimum wage too minimal,” indicated otherwise.

WASHINGTON STATE

Minimum wage too minimal

Re: staff writer Jonathan Martin’s story, “Working poor reach out for help” (Jan. 17).

As a start, I want to applaud Martin for keeping readers informed of ongoing difficulties encountered by persons affected by the recent changes in welfare programs in Spokane. His story pointed out that although the number of persons receiving public assistance decreased by nearly 25 percent since fall 1997, only about 5 percent of those who left the welfare rolls to take jobs are able to get by without additional assistance. Many former welfare receivers have had to take minimum wage jobs and continue to need support from food and clothing banks, churches, homeless shelters and more.

Most people agree that working is better than receiving welfare on a long-term basis. However, minimum wage jobs simply do not pay a living wage. As Martin pointed out, “a minimum wage worker must work 77 hours a week to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in Spokane.”

“In the aggressive efforts to decrease the welfare rolls, we are putting people into minimum wage jobs with a household of responsibilities and expecting them to pay fair market rents, food, utilities, clothing and unexpected bills.” How many of us would find this an overwhelming task?

The state initiative to raise minimum wages to “living wages” failed in last year’s election. A living wage is not a radical idea. Children and families deserve a better chance to get ahead in Spokane. Ann Turner Olson Cheney

Time to restore hounds to hunting

Cheers to our legislators for seeking to remove cougars from the Initiative 655 hound hunting ban (“Bills would send hounds after cougars,” Jan. 21).

State records show that cougar-human incidents have doubled since I-655 passed. They now exceed 900 per year. One cougar attacked and seriously injured a 5-year-old girl near Sullivan Lake in Pend Oreille County. This trend follows those in other states with cougar hunting bans. In California, a cougar recently killed and partially ate a young mother of two.

Animal rights advocates say restoring hound hunting would overturn the people’s will. Nonsense! Washington’s Constitution permits revising initiatives after two years. I-655 needs such revision because of increasing cougar incidents and because of how it originally became law.

The 1996 election saw hound hunting bans proposed in Michigan, Idaho and Washington, all supported by national animal rights groups. Opponents in Idaho and Michigan organized effectively, raised money, presented the case for professional management and soundly defeated their initiatives. Washington’s animal rights advocates got lucky, caught the opposition napping and passed I-655.

Fortunately, politics is an ongoing search for the public interest, not a crap game where lucky players permanently claim their winnings. The case for professional (versus TV and ballot box) management that was not made effectively in 1996 can and should be made now. Again, cheers to our legislators for doing so. They will catch heat from animal rights advocates. They deserve strong support from the rest of us. Robert L. Stokes Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Add a `country road’-style connector

In regard to the county road connector proposals, I’m in favor of the south Valley connector, from 32nd to Glenrose. It would really save a lot of pollution, commute time and Interstate 90 congestion.

A south Valley residents going to the South Hill must zig-zag through the Valley to I-90 through the busy Pines-I-90 intersection, adding to the most congested part of I-90 traffic, then go up Ray or another steep South Hill street.

I know opponents are concerned about the Dishman Hills Natural Area, so here is my suggestion, which I believe can be applied to other road projects as well: Build this connector as a two-lane road with relatively low speeds, 35-45 mph. This will discourage development (sprawl). The increased traffic of a four-lane road and higher speeds are what add to negative impact.

A nicely implemented country road may even add to the use of Dishman Hills Natural Area as a parkrecreation area that seems to get little use as it is. Ron B. Sharp Spokane

Domestic Violence Unit effective

I want our community to know how hard the Domestic Violence Unit in Spokane works for victims. My sister has been in a situation and has had a protection order against a person who figured he was above the law. He has stalked, harassed and threatened not only her but her friends for two years.

Justice has finally been done, thanks to the hard work, perseverance and long hours put in on this case by Domestic Violence associates Maggie Dieter and Debra Ogden.

Don’t ever cut their agency short, and if you are in a situation where you need help, don’t give up. Sandy J. Groskreutz Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Silvernail’s story `inspiring’

Congratulations to the paper and staff writer Hilary Kraus for an inspiring article about Sarah Silvernail and her family. It came out on the much over media-ized anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision about abortion, yet didn’t emphasize what Silvernail “gave up” so much as what she has gained by keeping her baby and becoming a stay-at-home mom.

I also gave up the career route to stay home with my children and have found it much more challenging than any paying job. No amount of money can make our future generation better people the way having their mommy with them while they’re young can.

I like that Silvernail has shown her strong character and is a positive role model for young women to follow. So many of our current role models are only for the moment, but Silvernail will help her current generation and the next because she is involved with what kind of an adult her child will become. Mary Ann Mandel Spokane

What wasn’t said says plenty

John Nugent’s pro-abortion prose, “Women’s reproductive rights must not be negated” (Roundtable, Jan. 26) used an array of words to describe the anti-choice movement. They include: unsafe, injury, death, violent attacks, murder, deadly clinic bombings, snipers, bombers, dangerous and terrorism. Certainly, a display of a wondrous vocabulary! There is one word missing. Re-read the article and see if you can discover its non-being.

The word is baby. Jerry E. Malone Pastor, Cheney Community Church

Stand by for one big, unhappy family

Re: “Cartoon an insult to brave mother” (Letters, Jan. 20).

A scary scenario, indeed, when the deeply religious selectively support medical science’s assistance in fulfilling God’s role. Case in point is Denise Stripes’ quote, “By the way, the cartoonist may rest assured that if God had not wanted those little ones, they never would have been.”

Stripes’ fallacy of special pleading left out our Lord and savior’s responsibility for Nkem Chukwu’s infertility in the first place.

Stripes quote suggests divine intervention as being responsible for the octuplets’ birth. The taking of fertility drugs, when embryology is successful, drastically increases the chance of having multiple births. Giving God credit for the work of fertility drugs is pathetic, however, no more pathetic than giving credit to the Lord for creating the euphoric high of morphine - or any other drug, for that matter. Taking either drug yields some predictable results. God should not be given credit for either.

We should not forget the media spotlight, free vans, college tuition and book deals as incentives for parents to have multiple births. Nor should we forget the chances of serious physical and mental disabilities that likely happen when children are born 10 to 12 weeks prematurely.

Even assuming the good health of these babies when they leave the Texas Children’s Hospital, I pity the Chukwa children who will grow up lacking personal interaction by their parents because six twin brothers and/ or sisters occupy too much of their mom and dad’s energy.

The human species did not evolve by having litters. Travis Meinhold Pullman

Scouting needed now more than ever

Re: “Moral manual,” on Scouting (IN Life, Jan. 19) - what a great article. This is testimony to a program that has survived for nearly 100 years in the United States and has adapted to the times.

In the last few years, a number of lawsuits have been filed, mostly against the standards that have been maintained, and all but a very few have been successfully defended. Not without dollars and diverted attention required by the leaders, however.

I have been in the Scouting program for 65 years and am proud of the youths we have served in our council. Involved today are 13,000 youths and 6,000 volunteers.

Recently, USA Today did a survey of more than 20,000 American middle- and high school students. Nearly half of the high school students admitted to stealing from a store, 70 percent admitted to cheating on a school exam and more than 90 percent said they lied to parents.

What better program than Scouting to instill the values that seem to be eroding away. Jim Hutsinpiller Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Follow popular will - all the way

Our government of the people, by the people and for the people functioned well until 1997. Sad to say, that system no longer works.

The Senate impeachment trial leaves no doubt the system has once too often failed to respond to the people. The House made several efforts to heed the people but ultimately chose instead to vote according to party prejudices. They ignored the fact that the public followed the issues on TV and in newspapers, and was well informed of the facts and laws involved.

Knowing that, how could the Senate even consider laws they swore under oath to uphold? That’s not what the public wants! In the spirit of true democracy, the Senate must immediately end the trial.

National TV, radio and an assortment of newspapers and magazines make elected government obsolete. A small group of elected secretaries would be more than adequate to put the will of the people into writing.

While we are at it, let’s not forget several other very important issues that have been too long ignored by our Legislature. The public has emphatically stated they want repeal of the federal income tax, repeal of all other taxes assessed against citizens, abolishment of the IRS and all other heavy-handed enforcement agencies. Do it! It’s the will of the majority. Robert E. Launhardt Pinehurst, Idaho

Let’s try to keep this in proportion

Glancing through the paper recently I came upon the usual: Y2K fears, El Nino/La Nina and, of course, the popular sex scandal. This last item got me wondering if our society is curious to learn of the opinions of today’s teens concerning our president’s affairs.

Well, I think they’re just that - our president’s. Does it matter what our president does on his own time? I don’t see it affecting the way he runs our country.

Also, what’s with the whole trial thing? How did the topic turn into the significance of our president’s private life? They can’t really think they’re going to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly lied under oath. Come on, everyone makes “white lies.”

I’m not saying that I agree at all with his immoral and unethical choices. I just still don’t understand why we care and gossip so excessively over the lives of celebrities and well-known individuals. If this was just some ordinary guy across the street or even someone we knew personally, would we be making such a hassle out of it?

In the long run, I don’t believe Clinton’s future decisions will reflect on what he is currently being held accountable for. What’s the use of indictment now? He has less than one term left!

I agree with what Jeremy West said in his letter (Jan. 9), “(You are) not to hold a higher standard for others than you are willing to be held to yourself.” Jenny D. Sawyer North Central High School student, Spokane

Relief is just an election away

In regard to the impeachment trial of President Clinton, this thought comes to mind: The great and mighty elephant roared a great and mighty roar, and gave birth to a mouse. Lois M. Murray Spokane

`Hapless cabal’ good to go - in 2000

House “managers?” No, more like bunglers, or better yet, burners.

First, they led the blinkered charge in the House of Representatives, thwarting every clear-sighted attempt to end the process with dignity. Now, grandstanding before the Senate, they pose and squawk, and prolong the matter, aided and abetted by their equally clueless Republican colleagues.

Five weeks ago, they might have meted out significant and lasting punishment in the form of censure. Instead, they wrapped themselves unworthily in the Constitution and pushed forward with this solemn hypocritical duty, knowing full well they did not have and never would have the votes to convict. It has made a mockery not only of Congress but of the Constitution itself. Common folks from Adelaide to Ankara are laughing at the show.

Like him or not, President Clinton will now escape with no further rebuke, Congress having missed its chance either to penalize him or to save some shred of its own credibility. When the story of this episode is written, the scribes will list the names of those who led us to this sorry pass, who preferred their psychotic hatred for this president to their duty to constituents and country.

Hutchinson, McCollum, Graham, Canady, Hyde, Lott, DeWine, Lugar, Hatch, Gramm - attendants at the altar of personal vendetta, disciples of high priest Starr, burners of the Constitution. A hapless cabal, ripe to be purged in the 2000 elections. Michael Hanly Pullman

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.