Letters To The Editor

5th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Issue a test of character

Luke G. Williams (Letters, June 9) asserts that the term limits issue concerning Rep. George Nethercutt is simply a ploy of partisan politics to oust a Republican congressman.

When the now-incumbent George Nethercutt endorsed the principle of term limits, thus contrasting his position with that of longstanding incumbent Tom Foley, was that merely a political ploy? What can be more of a “transparent sham” than to encourage the congressman not to step down, now that it’s time to demonstrate that he’s not going to be like the former incumbent? James W. Bradford Spokane

Second mind change called for

In Scotland they say, “Time is a gentleman.” This is true, and time is also part of any contract and a concept worth honoring.

Sunday afternoon, Rep. George Nethercutt broke his pledge to limit his term to six years. He has dishonored himself, his party and his country.

It’s important to separate his change of position from the personal pledge he made. While there is always some political risk in changing policy positions, it often happens. Sometimes it is a genuine change of heart based on experience, new information or personal growth. Other times it’s pure political expediency for the purpose of getting votes. In either case, the campaign can often overcome this by making a change of policy look like an open-minded decision.

A personal promise to the voters, however, is more difficult to ignore. A personal pledge does not just say how I will vote, it says who I am. It has clarity and resonates with the voter. How can you ask the students at Central Valley High to pledge abstinence from drugs or alcohol and not stand by your own pledge to the people of Eastern Washington?

Nethercutt says this should be up to voters but this is about Nethercutt and what sort of person he is. The people shouldn’t have to make this ugly choice foisted upon them by his Faustian bargain. If Nethercutt has a shred of decency left, he will again change his mind. Larry Armstrong Spokane

Sure you want to dump this guy?

Irony: Rep. George Nethercutt always votes for term limits. People are mad at him because he doesn’t limit his own term, so they are going to vote him out of office and replace him with someone who may or may not even believe in term limits.

To me, it just makes sense that if Nethercutt is removed from office, there will be one less vote in Congress supporting term limits, the very issue these people are trying to promote. Go figure. Bob Isitt Spokane

Nethercutt knew what he was doing

George, George, George, your work will never be done. That’s the beauty (or ugliness) of our government. It’s a work in progress.

There are plenty of men and women who can finish your job. Get out, come home and live under the laws you’ve passed. That’s the whole point. That was the idea when you beat ol’ Tom Foley. His work was never done, either.

Heard on the way to work today that you say nine out of 10 people you’ve talked to say it’s OK to admit you’ve made a mistake and you shouldn’t have promised to just run three times. You knew full well what you were doing. Why don’t you talk to 10 of us? I’d ask you how come it’s OK to limit the number of terms of the president but not the House or Senate.

I’ve never been involved in a political campaign before, but as soon as the Democrats choose a candidate, I’m signing on to help defeat you. You want to know why? Because you promised, Nethercutt, you promised. Stephen S. Warner Spokane

We see where loyalties lie now

Rep. George Nethercutt’s reason for denying the public access to his press conference (announcing his decision to break a campaign promise) is almost as bad as his reneging on the promise itself. According to The Spokesman-Review, he did this in an attempt to “help journalists.” Did they elect him? Since when is he more concerned with the media than the voting public that voted him into office based on a promise I suspect he had every intention of breaking?

Perhaps a letter of apology to Tom Foley is in order. Michael J. Buckley Spokane

Just doing what politicians do

People, people, people. Let’s not be too hard on George Nethercutt. He’s just doing what most politicians do: tells a lie to get a vote. Shouldn’t we be used to this by now? Cheryl G. Schiavon Spokane

Fool me once …

The American people’s lack of confidence in the integrity and credibility of their elected officials and the widespread cynicism associated with that lack of trust seem epidemic. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if the people of the 5th District re-elect George Nethercutt after he has gone back on his word to serve no more than three terms.

If we do re-elect Nethercutt, we’ll get exactly what we ask for: another politician whose word means nothing and who cannot be trusted to tell us the truth. Worse, we will have done so with eyes wide open and will have no one to blame but ourselves. Michael Cain Spokane

Position on guns less than sane

Re: Nethercutt: More gun laws not the answer. In Rep. George Nethercutt’s speech to Central Valley High School, he may not have realized it, but there is a glaring inconsistency in his logic.

Nethercutt noted that the solution to school violence “may include parents spending more time with their children, families spending more time in church, and schools spending more money on security measures.” Few would argue with that.

Later in the speech, a student suggested the information (leaked to China) was no great loss because no sane leader would use a nuclear weapon. Nethercutt’s reply was, “We can’t assume all these leaders around the world are sane.” This statement is also a no brainier. The lack of consistency is obvious.

Just as it takes only one insane world leader with access to nuclear weapons to wreak havoc on the world, it takes only one “insane” student with access to high-power weapons to do the same on a smaller scale to a school and ultimately, as we saw with Columbine, to the country.

I don’t believe anyone thinks gun laws alone are going to stop the violence, but given the current cultural siege of media violence, dysfunctional families, etc. making it easy for angry adolescents to have access to weapons of mass destruction is insane.

By the way, Nethercutt, how much money has the NRA given to your campaign? Mary B. Weathers Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Time for some disclosures

Back in the good old days, before Chinagate and Monicagate made many of us cynics about true motives in politics, I believed that if the idea of term limits becomes widespread, the turnover of politicians would be good.

And I used to agree that Rep. George Nethercutt, having run on a pledge to limit his term, should stick to that idea.

But ever since the U.S. Term Limits organization and its subsidiary, the Eastern Washington Term Limits Action Committee, has been calling for him to comply with his campaign pledge, I’ve become more cynically reactive to their motives than to Nethercutt’s intentions.

Some questions need to be answered before I’ll support any Nethercutt opponent in the next election. Staff writer Jim Camden alluded to some of these questions in his article, “Nethercutt, foes trade challenges” (June 3), but the answers provided didn’t satisfy me.

Where does U.S. Term Limits get its funding? Does it financially support the Eastern Washington Term Limits Action Committee or does Michael Fagan’s group have its own sources? What are those sources?

Is the U.S. Term Limits group targeting any Democrats that also pledged to limit their terms? If not, a cynic would have to conclude that funding is coming from some pro-Democrat source.

Why are both groups hiding behind the legal trick that as nonprofit groups they do not have to report their financial sources? Where’s the money coming from?

Until I get satisfactory answers to those questions, I’ll wish Nethercutt a long and effective term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Charlie Dormer Loon Lake

THE ENVIRONMENT

Forest argument weak at its roots

Re: “Big Timber the welfare queen has hungry maws to feed” (Roundtable, June 13).

Fred Glienna’s comparison of the “over 360,00 miles” of logging roads in the national forests and mileage in the interstate highway system is misleading for two reasons.

First, Glienna compares apples and oranges. The national forest roads are used to transport raw material relatively short distances to local mills for processing and to provide access for recreationalists. The interstate system is mainly used for moving individuals and manufactured goods long distances. A more appropriate comparison is the mileage of national forest roads and the mileage of rural, farm-to-market roads. Both types are used to transport unprocessed commodities.

The nation’s agricultural areas are supported by an extensive matrix of farm-to-market roads. For example, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, the four Corn Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, have more than 340,000 miles of rural roads. This is nearly 70 times the mileage of the area’s interstate system.

Finally, Glienna complains because taxpayers foot the bill for national forest roads. In doing so, he overlooks the fact that national forest roads and the interstate system do have one thing in common: they are both financed by taxes. Furthermore, the same holds for farm-to-market roads. Texas, for example, has more than 213,000 miles of rural roads. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the entire cost for construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of farm-to-market roads “outside of urbanized areas of populations of 50,000 or more” is financed by state taxes. Con H. Schallau Moscow

`Tinderbox’ West and how we got here

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a report saying that the Forest Service has no “cohesive strategy” to reduce the risk that 40 million acres of the dry forest land of the interior West which the report calls a “tinderbox” will burn in catastrophic wildfire.

In a related item, a report published in the June 1999 issue of The Intermountain Log, Forestry News in the Intermountain west, hydrologist Dale McGreer states that the unnatural heat of Southern Idaho national forest wildfires in the 1990s resulting from 70 years of fire suppression and the success of self-styled environmental or conservation groups in using lawsuits, lobbying and public relations campaigns to stop forest management destroyed streamside vegetation and wildlife, incinerated fallen trees that stabilize stream channels and provide fish habitat, caused severe landslides and resulted in soil erosion and stream pollution that is up to 100 times above normal.

The U.S. Forest Service’s new policy on managing the national forest road system, and specifically the policy regarding roadless areas, took effect on Feb. 26, 1999. This virtually precludes management in 33 million acres of national forests, much of it within that identified by the GAO as at risk of catastrophic wildfires.

No privately owned forest in this region is as much at risk of catastrophic wildfire as those of the national forests and Bureau of Land Management, even though restrictions of questionable wisdom under the Endangered Species Act have inhibited private owners in managing their timberland. Edwin G. Davis Spokane

Let’s see numbers, how they’re reached

It would be so nice if we could believe all scientists, as Edwin A. Olson seems willing to do (Letters, June 9). And nicer still if we could believe scientists representing government agencies, particularly when a high-stakes project like the Asarco Rock Creek Mine is at the core of the controversy. But can we be sure the best experts have been consulted here?

Staff writer Susan Drumheller’s reporting (May 27) deserves our respect for showing the many sides of the Asarco issue, including a quote by Wayne Jepson, Montana DEQ hydrologist, in which he says, “The ultimate result is there’s predicted to be no measurable change in the chemistry of the river.” Do me a favor: Calculate it on paper and publish the method, rationale and results in The Spokesman-Review.

If we fail to insist on the whole story, we get pseudoscience, dam-breaching, dead Monarch butterflies, potatoes that kill rats (and who else?) and, in the case of Rock Creek, a 300-foot-high, 300-acre tailing pile that may allow metal and nutrient leaching into the Clark Fork River at a rate that is tested by scientists who are Asarco employees using an experimental system that has never before been used on such a large scale. And who will be to blame for the resultant pollution of the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille?

Us and our own gullibility. Brian G. D’Aoust Clark Fork, Idaho

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Why don’t most kids walk to school?

Concerning the child of Jennifer Adams being late to school because of road construction, I have to agree with all who feel it’s the mother’s responsibility to ensure that her child gets to the school on time.

I also wonder each time I pass a school why so many parents are either transporting the children in the lower grades or buying vehicles for their older kids. I know the excuse for young children is the risk of child molestation. Yet I see many children walking to school safely every day, so I think that’s just an excuse.

I also wonder why so many children of driving age are given an automobile. It’s so bad that you would never be able to find a parking place near a high school if you really had business there. Are all those children doing their chores and homework, getting good grades and staying out of trouble in order to deserve an automobile? I think not; the records show that’s not true.

Why aren’t physically able children walking to school? The distance they must walk before being eligible to ride the school bus is designated by the school district. If it’s not safe to walk a few blocks, why aren’t all children allowed to ride the bus? I often wonder why taxpayers are footing the bill for school buses, when so many parents choose to transport their own children. It just seems to instill more laziness in the children when every little thing is done for them. Paul G. Henderson Spokane

Some parents are doing a terrible job

The question most commonly asked when a school shooting or bombing happens is, where are the parents? Some parents are actually with their children, but what they do with them is another question.

I went to see the horror film, “The Mummy.” In all of the trailers, I was led to believe it was a horror movie.

When I walked into the 9:40 p.m. showing, I was astonished to see that the first four rows where full of children between the ages of 3 and 7. More children were scattered about the theater.

What are the parents thinking? The children were crying, huddling up to their parents, even asking to go home. The parents just watched the movie, apparently unaffected by their children’s terror.

This is ridiculous, taking children to an R-rated movie.

I will give credit to the parents for wanting quality time with the family, but think of the quality it is. Are your children going to remember going to the movie with mom and dad, or are they going to remember the flesh-eaten monster that sucked the life out of his victims? The latter would be my guess.

People complain that the entertainment industry and the media are the negative impacts on children. Please remember, as the guardians of the future generations, we have the responsibility to watch what the children are watching and listen to what they are listening to. If we want to stop the civil war among the young, we need to prevent the ideas from happening. Adele Steiger Spokane