Letters To The Editor

IN SPOKANE

His good deeds were punished

When it comes to the police-minority relations, Mark Fuhrman is known as a racist and a thug. Alan Chertok is known as a friend to the NAACP. And Spokane is known as the place where Fuhrman has his own radio show and Chertok is forced out of his job. Go figure. Ken Isserlis Spokane

Talbott doesn’t get it

I recently saw on the evening news that our wonderful Spokane is judged as one of the worst places in the United States in which to do business.

Is it any wonder? Our leaders, including our mayor, City Council and city manager have yet to get it. They bicker and barb at each other and fail to understand that corporate officials and leaders really do read the newspaper and ask business leaders what it is like to do business in Spokane.

It is distressing that while the rest of the country is in the midst of a business boom, we in Spokane are in the midst of a recession.

Unfortunately, Mayor John Talbott doesn’t yet understand that an expanded Convention Center might just be what is needed to kick start this community. We all know how popular it is to beat up the Cowles family and their interests, but they for one are willing to do what they can to keep Spokane alive.

I just can’t believe it. If it weren’t so sad, it would be laughable. Stephen Berde Spokane

City needs to expand center

I was not surprised a few days ago by Mayor John Talbott refraining to sign a letter supporting the decision of the City Council to endorse the expansion of our Convention Center.

He seems not to understand it is incumbent upon him, as our mayor, to endorse the majority wishes of the council even though they may be different than his own.

The expansion of our convention facilities is absolutely necessary if we are to remain competitive in an ever-increasingly competitive environment.

Several of our past attendees are outgrowing our present available space, and if it is not expanded we may lose several large events which produce lucrative tax dollars for our city and county.

Studies show that total tax revenues from an expanded facility would increase our tax revenues 50 percent, for an estimated total of $478,000 for our city and county.

So with entrepreneurial spirit, let’s support this positive vision by once again developing something we will all be proud of, while at the same time increasing our tax income to help fix our roads.

The added income sure beats doing nothing and just continuing to tax ourselves. Jack D. Saad Spokane

Rider grateful for STA program

As a disabled person, I wish to extend my thanks for the transportation of the disabled by the Spokane Transit Authority with its Shasta program.

The van drivers are sincere, cheerful people who do their best to meet the needs of the physically handicapped.

Things like this don’t show up on the balance sheet of a business, but they are greatly appreciated by handicapped people. While the drivers are badly underpaid, they still go way out of the way for passengers. Edward Doherty Spokane

Annex doesn’t enhance education

The citizens group that continues to hinder the Lewis and Clark High School renovation plan does not have the right priorities in mind.

The goal of any school is to provide the most learning-conducive environment possible for students and the best teaching environment available for instructors.

Wasting time, money and support to update a far-outdated and useless building such as the annex does not rate among these goals.

As a student at LC, it is obvious to me that this group does not understand the purpose of this remodeling.

The quality of a school is not based on its historical aspects but rather on the quality of education it provides.

The purpose of such a remodeling is to benefit teachers and students with a productive learning environment, not to be on the National Register of Historical Places.

The goal of this group is to save the LC annex. However, the annex is no longer suitable for educational purposes and the expenses of trying to integrate such a building into the meticulously planned renovation design far outweigh any trivial benefits - such as maintaining a place on the national register.

The school cannot receive the utmost benefits from the available funding if support is thrown away on a building that only hinders progress.

Retaining the annex would not benefit the quality of students’ learning environment and would only limit the school’s opportunities for providing the next step in education. Colin T. Quinn-Hurst Spokane

ANIMAL ISSUES

Consider adopting a cat

Each spring, thousands of animal shelters across the country end up with homeless kittens and cats. To draw attention to this sad fact, SpokAnimal CARE is promoting June as Adopt a Shelter Cat Month. Whether adopters are looking for a kitten or an adult cat, they’re likely to find the perfect companion at a shelter.

As many as 10 million dogs and cats are relinquished to shelters each year. In Spokane, for the first quarter of 1999, more than 600 cats were turned in to our shelter. About 58 percent of these found homes. Obviously there is an urgent need to find more people willing to adopt, and to make sure people spay/neuter their cats to reduce the overpopulation problem.

Although cats and kittens can be irresistible, the decision to adopt should never be made impulsively. Before adopting, consider these questions.

Can I afford the cat?

Am I ready to make a long-term commitment?

Is everyone in my household in favor of adopting a cat?

Do I have at least an hour a day to devote to loving and caring for my cat?

Am I ready to take on the daily responsibilities of owning a cat?

Am I willing to understand basic cat behavior and commit to training?

Anyone who can honestly answer yes to all six questions is likely to become a responsible cat owner. Thinking before adopting will save the animal from being turned in to an animal shelter and will offer both the cat and the new owner a long, satisfying life together. Gail B. Mackie, executive director SpokAnimal CARE, Spokane

Save the turkeys

It saddens me greatly that the Makah won’t give up their tradition of killing whales. But in all fairness, perhaps the rest of us should give up our tradition of killing turkeys on Thanksgiving as well. Nadine J. Presta Spokane

Gandhi not appropriate example

In his May 22 letter, Edwin Davis celebrates the Makah whale killing, in part, by appealing to the image of Mohandas Gandhi. Davis is certainly entitled to his opinion on the matter; however, his use of Gandhi is flawed and misinformed.

Gandhi’s understanding of human rights and freedom was secondary to his major ethical principle of ahimsa, which means non-harm or non-injury, and is often equated with Gandhi’s theory of nonviolence. For Gandhi, freedom resided within the ethical confines of nonviolence. Human rights and the protection of minorities only made sense if they were first filtered through the moral lens of ahimsa. Thus minorities could be as immoral as the majority if the principles of ahimsa were violated. Killing the whale, for traditional or ritual reasons, would contradict Gandhi’s basic ethical theory. The real parallel for Gandhi would be the cow, his sacred animal. Here, too, ahimsa or nonviolence defines one’s actions.

Davis might be interested in this quote from Gandhi: “Every little breach of the ahimsa principle, would be a breach of the principle of cow protection differing from it in degree, if at all, rather than in kind.”

There may be reasons to argue in support of the Makah, but Gandhi is not one of them. Ron Large Spokane

IN THE SCHOOLS

Heroines of the workplace

Kudos to The Spokesman-Review for printing the excellent guest column, “Overbearing union no match for two valiant teachers.” The author, Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, portrays the “Goliath v. David” confrontation of the Washington state teachers’ union, the Washington Education Association, against Cindy Omlin, a Spokane area speech pathologist, and Barbara Amidon, a high school counselor in Olympia. These two “valiant” professionals objected to the illegal plundering of their paychecks for political purposes without their permission. They alleged the WEA automatically deducts hundreds of dollars from unwilling teachers’ paychecks that amounts to $43 million in Washington state.

For some reason, when these two courageous women objected and informed others of their profession, they were charged with “tortuous interference.” Never mind the frivolous harassment lawsuits, intimidation and civil rights violations by the union in denying these brave challengers their freedom of speech.

Recently, I introduced Cindy Omlin to Robert Sirico, executive director of the Action Institute, Grand Rapids, Mich. This organization was named after English Historian, Lord Acton, best known for his saying, “All power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Another Englishmen Edmund Burke wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (or women) to do nothing.”

We still have heroes/heroines. Donna R. Kuhn Spokane

Teacher pay not substandard

The argument between teachers and the Legislature over salaries is in the forefront again this year. The teachers have again avoided a very important fact.

A starting teacher’s salary in Washington, according to your May 22, article, is $23,860. This represents nine contract months of earnings spread out over 12 months of paychecks. Teachers contract for 180 days, 7.5 hours a day. The same base rate extended to a full year of eight-hour days as required by industry, allowing for two weeks of vacation and two weeks of holidays, would amount to $33,900 per year - comparing well to the $33,900-$37,200 for those graduates going to industry jobs.

My wife, a retired teacher and administrator, is an advocate of year-round schools to benefit the students, parents, school administrators and taxpayers. I agree that we must increase teachers’ pay, and the year-round plan would do that by paying 12 months of pay for 12 months work, equaling the industry scale.

Perhaps it is time to consider year-round schools, for many reasons. Karl W. Mote Sr. Spokane

Children need lessons in kindness

Lately, I’ve been dreaming about how we can keep our children safe. All children are gifts from God, pure and malleable. Parenting is the most important job in the world. Unfortunately, not everyone is cut out to be a parent, which takes a great deal of love and patience. How do we, who have love and time to spare, help?

The Bible says, “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). So we must start young. High school is too late.

Years ago, I was a den mother. My little 8-year-olds were so enthusiastic and earnest as they learned the Scout Oath and went about doing good deeds. They all became upstanding men.

My current dream is to start Girl and Boy Scout troops in every class, beginning with kindergarten, making it so attractive they would want to join.

The theme for the first three years would be “love your neighbor.” Kindergartners would start by being kind to and caring for pets and loving their mothers by picking up their toys. First-graders would graduate to being kind to younger children and people with disabilities. By second grade, the children would be invited to picnic at a diverse selection of churches. Many new friendships would develop.

Young-at-heart seniors would be managing all of this. Betty Hartill Chewelah, Wash.

A salve for the soul

Doug Clark’s articles make my day.

At the top of my laugh-out-loud list is his May 23 gem about mascot madness. In a world gone mad, where common sense is nearing extinction, Clark is the exception.

His common sense, quick wit and tongue-in-cheek approach provide significant insights into community news.

Clark is salve for the soul in today’s politically correct craziness. B.J. Robertson Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Where is the evolution evidence?

P. James Dishon (Letters, May 27) makes one of the most common mistakes in the continuing discussion of evolution vs. special creation. He states, “There is a plethora of empirical evidence from numerous sciences that support the theory of evolution.”

We keep asking, what are they? And they keep to the same old assumptions. Does the fossil index prove through empirical observation of vertical transitions? And how then do we apply the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

Empirical observation clearly suggests that the universe is moving from order to disorder, just the opposite of the assumption of evolution.

Dishon also states, “In fact, the evidence is so overwhelming that to most scientists, evolution is the theory that unifies all the sciences.”

The only reason that the evolutionists keep with their worn out traditions is because they will loose their status as professors of universities and, more importantly, their grant money, if they abandon the model of evolution.

Fear guides their motivations. And because as Huxley once stated, “The only reason we invented evolution in the first place is because God interfered with our sexual mores,” so then these men of science are afraid of the truth.

Much has been written on the subject of origin. It is not about “isms” that there is conflict, it is about truth. When one reads the text of Genesis and comes out applying evolution as the mechanism by which life began then that begs the question - when does God stop lying and start telling the truth? Larry Locke Coeur d’Alene

Enough is enough

I have been reading The Spokesman-Review for most of my life, and I have never been as disgusted by anything in your newspaper as I am by the Milt Priggee cartoon on May 27 regarding Owen Hart’s tragic death.

The cartoon, portraying the ratings “triumphing” at the expense of Hart, is inappropriate, highly offensive and reeks of sensationalistic journalism.

Contrary to what the media are trying to make the uneducated person think, the stunt that caused Hart’s death was not for ratings.

A much smaller number of people watch the pay-per-views than the regular weekly broadcasts. As well, the WWF has not exploited the death for ratings.

The fall and subsequent medical attention for Hart were not televised on any of the WWF’s television broadcasts - which is more than I can say for the rest of the so-called media.

The tribute televised by the WWF the next night was not for ratings - it was to pay homage to a great wrestler and, more importantly, a great human being.

I find it rather ironic that the wrestling world, which is portrayed by the media to be barbaric and without morality, has treated this delicate issue with more class and dignity than any of the people that have strived to knock it down a peg.

As far as your cartoonist, who showed his true class with this cartoon, I believe I speak for all wrestling fans reading your paper when I quote the late Owen Hart, “Enough is enough, and it’s time for a change.” Mike A. Sweetser Spokane

Don’t judge us too hastily

I have a question for the residents of the North Idaho/Eastern Washington: How has Aryan Nations had a direct effect on you?

I don’t mean how many times have you seen them on TV or read about them in the paper. I mean a direct, personal effect. Have any of the members ever yelled at you, spit at you or shot at your homes? Have they ever protested your parades or gathered with signs and bullhorns at the end of your driveway? Have they made obscene and threatening phone calls to you? I didn’t think so.

Yet these are things that we are subjected to on a daily basis. When we go to town, we are polite and courteous, even to those who disagree with our beliefs. We are respectful to our neighbors. We participate in community events. We have the same concerns as most of you: crime, drugs and ensuring a better education for our children. We base our beliefs and judgments on what we see in the community. Why don’t you judge us on what you see us do in the community, not what you hear? Stephen Hayes Church of Jesus Christ Christian/Aryan Nations Hayden, Idaho