Letters To The Editor

Fri., July 30, 1999

SPOKANE MATTERS

Time to clean house at City Hall

Only in the All-American city of Spokane can you find a city goverment like you would have found in Nazi Germany during World War II. Here, where many of us do manual labor so our city officials can pay off people for their mistakes, buy out the people they shouldn’t have hired in the first place.

How much longer are we supposed to clean up after Bill Pupo? My husband worked almost 38 years on the same job. When he got ready to retire, they gave him the same thing everyone else got, whether they had been there eight years or 38. They got 50 percent of their sick leave.

The only cure for this once lovely place to live is to get a truckload of disinfectant and clean out the whole city government. Darlene Le Claire Spokane

I’ll settle up, too - at election time

The Spokane City Council and Councilman Orville Barnes are going to reward outgoing City Manager Bill Pupo with a severance package worth nearly $81,000. Included in this is a “full payout” of Pupo’s unused sick leave from his 23 years of service with the city.

What a slap in the face to all the city employees who labor long and hard and receive a 40 percent payoff for accumulated sick leave upon retirement. If there is a rule regarding sick leave payoff for city employees, is there a separate rule for those who hold managerial positions? This is not the first employee the city has rewarded with a full sick leave retirement package. Terry Novak, Phil Williams and others come to mind.

I will remember the names of our current City Council members when the next election rolls around! Terry A. Hontz Spokane

You can’t force parks deal on us

Re: editor Chris Peck’s July 25 Perspective column.

Peck, the shame is on you. Not only have you sunk this paper to a propagandist tool for vested interests, you haven’t learned the first thing about government. It is force and nothing else.

The division you describe is the consequence of your insistence that the taxpayers either obey you or face the opprobrium of this paper. If you can listen, it isn’t the money that matters most but the principle of government enforced investment. Didn’t your mommy teach you not to take what isn’t yours without asking first? That’s all the mayor and councilwoman suggested. Give those who earn the money a chance to decide which items they wish to support. It’s called representative government.

Instead, Councilman Orville Barnes implied that all opponents are cheapskates and outsiders. Spokane, he said, spent the equivalent of $65 million in 1911 for our parks. He failed to mention the lack of income tax, Social Security, more expensive technologies and myriad codes and fees unknown in that halcyon era. Worse, he and most of the council failed to put their trust in taxpayers’ good judgment.

I will not listen to arrogance, sir. Until you listen to the citizens you scorn, don’t be surprised that we push back in September. We’ll certainly decide what’s in our best interest. And you can kiss your take-all-or-nothing scheme goodbye. Stravo Lukos, vice chairman Spokane Libertarian Party

Children show the way

All of us should take lessons from the children in the area who took the time to raise money for the fire victims of Fairmont Hotel. God bless the children! Tami N. Sorensen Spokane

Pool change rule makes sense

Amy J. Hagins (Letters, July 26) complains about rudeness of an employee of Shadle Park swimming pool. She stated she’s been a regular patron of Spokane County pools for four years, so she should know the policies.

The rules were in place when I was a weekend cashier, approximately six years ago. Each pool was given about $20 start-up, with most of that quarters. It’s clearly posted and stated that they can’t rake large bills. They have no way of getting additional change if they were to take large bills in the beginning, thus denying other patrons. It should be noted that children are free and only the adults pay.

She mentioned a statement of parents using the pools as baby sitters. I commend her for taking her children. Unfortunately, parents do use the swimming pools as baby sitters. I can’t begin to remember the times I stayed late with children left at the pool, when the pool was closed because of a thunder storm or when parents didn’t show up to get them. I’m all for more parents coming with their children. There would be a lot less rudeness, crude language, bullying of other children, disrespect of city property and pool personnel.

Hagins asks for the employees to be kind and courteous to the little ones and their parents. This is a two-way street. The staff doesn’t set policies but is told to enforce them. I wonder how long she’d last dealing with 450 to 600 kids a day. Having responsibility for other people’s children is not easy. Give them a break. Ann Campeau Spokane

Character program could still be used

It is interesting that the Human Rights Commission voted down the Character First Program. Commissioner Brad Read was concerned with the religious groundings of the program founder. That sounds prejudiced and oppressive to me.

It may not be the business of city government to teach the people to be nicer but organizations could benefit from implementing this program with their own personnel. Government agencies such as the Human Rights Commission and City Council, which are supposed to be serving all the people, would do well to lead by example and adopt this program within their own ranks.

The traits mentioned were orderliness, forgiveness, punctuality, obedience and attentiveness. I would like to add fairness, honesty and impartiality.

Are these traits to be debated or despised? Donna Cross Medical Lake

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Country’s future looks bleak

Mike’s mind was all made up to write the boss a note and ask to be taken off the schedule for Wednesday. He walked up and down the store a few times while holding a pen and a piece of paper, then tore the paper into pieces, dumped it in the trash, and put the pen back in the penholder.

Surprised, I asked if he had changed his mind about the day off. He said, “Darn it! I can’t spell schedule.”

Mike is an American high school graduate. I guess one should not expect very much of Mike when a top presidential candidate says “Kosovians” instead of “Kosovars” and “Grecian” instead of the Greeks.

Where is the American educational system taking the Americans? Homayoun Abghari Spokane

Event brings citizenship to life

Democracy is not a spectator sport. For it to survive and flourish, all must become involved. This is the message I heard from 488 Washington state high school students representing 59 area high schools who recently participated in the Close Up Foundation government studies program in Washington, D.C.

For a full week, these students had the opportunity to develop a better understanding of our democratic process. By observing congressional proceedings, questioning journalists and meeting with government advisors, the abstracts of history and the process of governing were transformed into concrete experiences. In addition, students were able to share their views with their peers from other areas of the country.

Participants can’t help but return home with a deeper awareness of their responsibilities as citizens and the realization that a single individual can make a difference. Their enhanced enthusiasm for involvement in the democratic process is to be lauded and admired.

The Close Up experience was made possible through the strong support of parents and educators. Also, various companies and organization make Close Up fellowship funding available to students in financial need. These sponsors include the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Sea-Land Service Inc.

On behalf of Close Up, I would like to thank all those who helped in the coordination and funding of this year’s program. Stacey Younger, Washington state outreach coordinator Close Up Foundation, Alexandria, Va.

AGRICULTURE

BLM land purchase bad news

I’m a young farmer and a neighbor of the Escure Ranch. I’m troubled that your paper portrayed this range as devastated by mismanagement and overgrown with weeds. This has been one of the best-managed ranches in the county.

I was told that the family approached the Bureau of Land Management about the purchase of this property, rather than sell to a private operator. Why shouldn’t they, when the BLM pays double what scabland is worth? A fair market price would be $100 an acre. That’s plenty when the land has to be paid for by livestock production.

But now the BLM can justify this big bill for recreation? If I want to expand my family operation and purchase land, I’m in direct competition with the federal government. And with my tax money, it has deep pockets. This is especially hard to take when the Constitution provides federal land ownership only for the use of post offices, roads and forts.

Proponents claim this is a boost for wildlife and recreationists but this land was never closed off. Locals respected private property and so could drive the 2.5 miles into Wall Lake or Rock Creek. Now, the roads will be closed and the cattle banished for the sake of preserving what was never in danger.

One hundred years ago, our government sought to settle this land and to make it produce food for a growing nation. They gave it away 160 acres at a time. Very few of those families remain, and and we won’t survive if this trend continues. Luke McRae Ritzville

THE ENVIRONMENT

Third option could save salmon

I just read Dan Hanson’s article about the cruises on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. We took Lindblat’s Special Expeditions tour in May. Part of the reason I went was to become informed about the breaching issue.

The myriad people affected by this venture fall into two camps: a damn the dams group and a save the dams group. There is no third choice.

Having attended dozens of hearings and workshops on this issue, most people don’t realize there is a third choice: A bypass channel on the south side of the Snake River. Why is this workable? One hundred percent of the people involved say the problem is getting the smolts (immature salmon) down the river, not getting the returning salmon up. The politicos involved don’t want to talk about this as the up-front costs are much greater than breaching, and the biologists supporting the breaching aren’t positive that breaching will work.

It is a complex issue - too complicated to explain in less than 250 words.

Through several groups here in Idaho, we are trying to revive this study that was done in 1993. It’s a way to keep navigation and irrigation, and have salmon also. It is worth a harder look.

Thanks for doing articles that show the varied uses of the rivers. Kristy Johnson Post Falls

Don’t tie counties to industry agenda

If timber-dependent counties need support from the federal government because the national forest lands are exempt from taxation, that support should not come in the form of a 25 percent share of the proceeds from timber sales.

The worst aspect of this system is that it makes the counties advocates for more timber sales. While there are many economic, social and environmental reasons for counties to support a lower level of timber extraction, the structure of this subsidy ensures that the county governments will always support the maximum cut. Now, for example, the counties are distrustful of a long-overdue program to restore watersheds and wildlife habitat. This may be the best thing that ever happened to the counties, but they are concerned about the possible loss of that 25 percent share, rather than the economic possibilities and quality-of-life improvements that will come from restoration of the forests after decades of industrial logging.

The Forest Service is subject to the same political pressures that drive other federal funding decisions. If we would prefer that it make science-based decisions about our natural resources from the point of view of the greatest long-term benefit, then we must remove the political pressures if possible.

If there is a tax inequity caused by federal lands being exempt, why not tax the federal lands? This would provide county governments with a predictable source of revenue and allow them to represent all of their citizens in the timber use debate. Terrence V. Sawyer Spokane

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