Letters To The Editor

WASHINGTON STATE

Betrayal shouldn’t go unpunished

I thank the Spokesman-Review for the July 18 article exposing the collusion between the wheat industry and the Department of Ecology to sell the public on the secretly negotiated wheat stubble burning deal.

Our all-volunteer citizens group, Save Our Summers, has been fighting an uphill battle in opposition to wheat stubble burning. Going up against the Washington Association of Wheat Growers with its trade association, commission, lobbyists, public relations firms and political and financial power has been daunting for us. The DOE, whose job is to protect public health, should have been an ally. That is what makes its collusion with the wheat industry so appalling. In January, we found ourselves standing alone. The wheat industry’s public relations script - followed to the letter by the DOE - was too much.

Who would believe us, when the agency responsible for public health protection and the polluting industry were working in concert? The days of unfettered field burning are over, proclaimed DOE Director Tom Fitzsimmons.

Burning as we knew it is gone, crowed wheat industry Spokesman Brett Blankenship. We knew otherwise. But against such an unholy coalition, we didn’t have a chance.

The truth has come out and we feel vindicated. The DOE has lost all credibility and Gov. Gary Locke, who is ultimately responsible, should clean house. Those guilty of misconduct should be held accountable. Otherwise, the next time Fitzsimmons assures us that our water is clean or the air safe to breathe, the public will want to know who wrote his script. Patricia Hoffman, D.V.M., president Save Our Summers, Spokane

Fully investigate this duplicity

I thank staff writer Karen Dorne Steele for breaking the July 18 story, “Growers sent burn script to Ecology.”

As the mother of an asthmatic 10-year-old son, every burning season is a nightmare. I cannot explain the fear that our family faces each year as we try to make it through yet another season.

Last year, on Sept. 15, we were huddled in our home with all the doors and windows shut tight while it was over 100 degrees outside. Still, the smoke seeped into our home and our son’s eyes swelled up and became unbearably itchy.

We have nowhere to run and hide anymore. My greatest fear is that a smoke incursion will kill him someday as he’s playing at recess. Aaron Ditmer was killed by an incursion in 1994, and the Wheat Growers Association doesn’t want to face the fact that it’s only a matter of time before we have more deaths in this community.

I have many farmer friends in this community. You can’t live here and not feel for them, not know about the hard times they endure with the advent of the Asian market crisis. Even so, many farmers refuse to burn their land because of the strong ethic of caring for the land.

Please, please, continue to keep the pressure on the governor and the Department of Ecology. We need to know the truth and need to protect our kids. Public health cannot be ignored in the name of profit.

I urge you to join with the Seattle PI and call for an independent investigation into this outrageous behavior on the part of both the Department of Ecology and the Washington Wheat Grower’s Association. Patti S. Gora Pullman

SPOKANE MATTERS

We need light rail, without delay

To not understand the need for light rail is sad. If you have been to Calgary, San Diego, Los Angeles and other communities with this excellent means of transporting people, you would understand.

We can’t pave our way out of the coming impasse. The I-90 corridor is soon to be at maximum lane capacity. If you don’t like the delays you experience now, wait 10 years.

It will take 10 years to do light rail but we would at least be right behind the crunch with relief in sight. To be totally reactive is not in the best interest of our community. If we invest the $100 million of our federal highway taxes (it will go elsewhere if we don’t), put in place a similar local amount and get help from the Department of Transportation for this project, we will all be in the crunch together when the new lanes are full in the not too distant future.

If anyone in this county hasn’t experienced the critical mass of Sullivan or Pines at peak hours, you need to so you will understand what’s coming. We cannot stop vehicles. We can encourage the local mass movement of people via light rail through our Valley to the city and help reduce the problem.

To miss this opportunity is sad. We’ll do it soon or we’ll do it later, when the cost will be greater and our option will to be pay for it all locally. We did this with urban renewal in the early 1960s and the north-south freeway. Should we repeat these mistakes again? Terry Lynch Spokane No special treatment for pupo

Re: The July 24 article on City Manager Bill Pupo.

I cannot believe that City Councilman Orville Barnes wants to propose a “full payout” to Pupo, in recognition of Pupo’s 23 years of service to the city of Spokane. Will Barnes start giving this consideration to all city employees with over 23 years of service to the city?

What has Pupo done for the city? There are city employees who put their lives on the line every day they go to work. Will they get full payout for their service to the city? When Pupo went to work, did he put his life on the line?

Pupo is vacating his job by his own choosing. He should get his 40 percent, same as every city employee. Tom Shirey Spokane

Splitting of measure sensible

I had to respond to editor Chris Peck’s editorial on the park bond.

The math speaks for itself. Allowing the city to purchase land north of the river for $666,000 per acre is ludicrous! Wrapping this in a pleasing package that somehow all the neighborhood parks will benefit by expansion and improvements is totally misguided and misleading to the voters.

Mayor John Talbott and Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers are suggesting that two issues be on the ballot so people like me can make a clear decision. One: the overpriced land purchase, which I will vote no on. Two: the neighborhood parks improvements, which will get my yes vote. If bunched together, my vote is a strong no.

Why are those who oppose separation of these measures so against it? If there is nothing to hide, remove the veil. Cheryl S. Fleming Spokane

RIGHTS AND RADICALISM

Freedom doesn’t extend to lies

In any other setting, protestors at the Aryan Nations march could be asked if they are for freedom of speech and there would be a near-100 percent favorable response. Some might even paraphrase Voltaire, saying, I may disagree with you but I would fight to the death to protect your right to speak.

But when it’s Aryan Nations members, Nazis or other undesirables, their “message of hate” should not be aired and people vehemently protest to the extent of getting arrested. They really don’t believe in free speech - and I don’t blame them.

Rather than hypocritically giving lip service to free speech, wouldn’t society benefit from granting genuine freedom of speech only to that which is true and good?

Should the Flat Earth Society be allowed to teach its theory in a fifth-grade geography class? No, because it is objectively false; it does not correspond with reality. Similarly, the Aryan Nations doesn’t have the right to propagate its bogus racial theories.

Sorry to topple the dearest of national idols - unrestrained freedom of speech. We Americans tend to hold nebulous mental images of the Constitution or Bill of Rights descending from heaven in a fiery chariot. We hold the Constitution and the Holy Bible to be equally inerrant. We believe a large body of mythology concerning the founding fathers of this country as God’s infallible prophets of government, so how could they have been mistaken? These men were mortals like you or me and were capable of making an error.

It’s about time, even if 200 years too late, that we recognize this and put an end to equal rights for truth and falsehood. Andrew M. Netzel Post Falls < Liberty going too far

Re: “Aryan Nations says it has plans for Labor Day parade” (July 22).

I am really angry that Richard Butler and his gang are trying to rub our noses in it. The American Civil Liberties Union got the parade for him in July. Now he thinks it’s the ticket to parade on every patriotic day.

I know the First Amendment gives him his right of free speech but where are my rights and the rights of my husband, who fought in World War II as did thousands of others in the Pacific Northwest, to bury this kind of degradation? Why do we have to put up with it in our beautiful country?

This so-called liberty goes a bit too far. I do not believe the founding fathers would have allowed this type of demonstration. I do not think this is what they had in mind when the Bill of Rights was penned.

I don’t have the answers but do feel they should be shunned completely if they are allowed to parade. Why would they parade if there is no one to watch? The big news coverage and the confrontations are what they want. Free publicity and the chance to hassle with the Jewish Defence League are real incentives to these, who are without sensitivity or intelligence. Shirley Hethorn Oldtown, Idaho

REMEMBRANCE

America has lost a `prince’

Being from a family of Irish Catholic descent, the Kennedy dynasty was definitely a part of my growing up. I remember my mother crying profusely when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and again in 1968 when a bullet ended Bobby Kennedy’s life. And then we watched JFK Jr. grow up with us and become an articulate young man, never knowing if he was going to become a politician or just stay editor in chief of his magazine.

But one thing was true, if any, he was America’s prince, a man we all loved and admired. A bright and shining light that now has gone out forever. Like his father before him, we have lost an icon, an American legacy. For we as a country have lost our adopted son and prince, and with it a gleam of hope and a dream. We will never know what could have been. Charles T. Bowman Spokane

Let’s stop going overboard

It is a tragedy whenever three people lose their lives in an accident. However, it is just as much a tragedy whether they are young or old, notable or not so notable.

John F. Kennedy, Jr. was a nice young man whose parents were well known. He achieved a measure of success as an attorney and publisher. He was no genius but he was personable, articulate and stayed out of trouble. Both he and his sister, Caroline, could be categorized as good representatives of their generation.

The Kennedy family got it right with their choice of burial and private funeral service. But most of the press and some of the people have gone overboard on this particular tragedy. Have we lost an “icon”? Was he a “prince”? I think not.

Some people have stated that “their future is gone” with this loss and ask, “Who will fulfill the dream?” For heaven’s sake and the country’s sake, get a life, folks! This type of adulation has put some charismatic duds into positions of political leadership. Mary Lou Prentiss Spokane

Letter was disrespectful

J.L. Minnerly’s July 25 letter (“So Kennedy died - what’s the big deal?”) was disrespectful and insensitive. The media dubbed it “an American tragedy” because we lost a man who had the potential of becoming a great leader of our country if he had chosen to do so. Every person should be remembered for the life they lived, whether it be great or small.

Minnerly’s comment, “We finally catch something, then decided that it wasn’t good enough so we threw it back into the sea,” was lacking in compassion. The way the Kennedy family honored John F. Kennedy Jr.’s wish to have his remains scattered in the atlantic Ocean shows compassion and respect. He died doing something he loved to do - fly! Connie L. Sackmann Ritzville

OTHER TOPICS

No equality in searches

While my heart goes out to all the people involved in the unfortunate death of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and sister-in-law, I cannot help but notice the stark contrast between this tragedy and that of Coeur d’Alene flight instructor Ed Morrett and his student, who were lost in a similarly mystifying aircraft incident somewhere over local mountains recently.

As I watched the incredible effort to locate the Kennedy Piper Saratoga, I could only imagine the feelings of the families of these local pilots. They still search for their lost loved ones, even pleading with the community for help long after the local authorities called off their laudable, yet rather short, search. Certainly, those authorities wouldn’t have even considered - and couldn’t have justified the expense - of making the effort we saw in locating Kennedy’s aircraft. That search wouldn’t stop until the plane was located, versus the short effort that followed our neighbors’ disappearance.

The Kennedys’ and Bissettes’ loss was awful but no more so than that of these local families who will never have the luxury of a full-scale armed forces search effort whose multimillion dollar cost will be borne by taxpayers. I don’t begrudge the expense involved but believe the Morretts of the world deserve the same effort.

Who decides whose loss is worth a superhuman search effort? There’s no doubt that wealth and fame make a difference but we all know in our hearts it shouldn’t. Bobby F. Marlette Coeur d’Alene

Unprovoked bees no problem

Re: “Don’t be caught off guard when bees come buzzing,” IN Life, July 20.

Why this diatribe against bees? They pollinate our trees, flowers and crops without bothering us, except when you pound on their hive or squash them. In all probability, we will never see an Africanized bee this far north.

The season when those pesky wasps known as yellow jackets show up will soon be here. As their source of digested protein is lost, they become very aggressive. Avoid using perfumes or other toiletries that have an scent. Do not expose sugar-laden foods or drinks to them and avoid walking over the wasps’ ground nests. If you can still find a wasp trap with the attractant for Western states, put one up in your yard. Do not smash a yellow jacket, as that releases a chemical message that brings angry wasps to the area. They also are attracted to raw meat, such as the hamburger that is to be barbecued.

For more information, contact your county extension agent. Gene Carpenter Moscow

To God, `we’re all in the same boat’

In response to George Thomas’ letter of June 29, “Religion’s the problem, not the cure,” Thomas does not have a clear or accurate view of what the Bible says. There is only one standard God holds anyone accountable to: perfection.

As we all know, none of us is perfect. Fortunately for us, God provided a way for us to deal with the fact that we are not perfect. Jesus came and lived a perfect life. If we believe in Jesus, God will take Jesus’ death on the cross as a substitute for our imperfect life. So there is no ranking system. We all are in the same boat. We are imperfect and only God can do anything about it.

The Bible teaches us to love one another and not to judge others, lest we be judged. As Christians, we shouldn’t look down on others but should share the good news - that there is a way to deal with our imperfections. I know that there are those who call themselves Christians who do look down on others and consider themselves better but that is not what God wants. The blame for the kids who massacre lies on the kids who did those awful things and not on others. Paul A. Baker Spokane