Letters To The Editor

Tue., June 29, 1999

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Care to hear `Gee, Officer Krupke’?

Recently, while playing my music on Howard Street, two bicycle cops approached me and told me I would be arrested if I did not cease and desist from playing my music without a peddler’s license. This is a violation of my freedom of speech, but I went to City Hall and got a 90-day permit that cost me $35.

The cop didn’t let it go at that, though. He got personal in a very ugly way. He said my harmonica playing might be all right but my singing was an unknown. I already knew my singing is terrible but the cop completely missed the point of what I am about.

It is precisely because my music is so terrible that I am a great and original inspiration to others. I let them know by my lousy performance that they are better. This is what inspired me to take up being a street musician in the first place, in the Boston subways, when I heard musicians there who were so terrible I knew I couldn’t be any worse.

I was thinking about maybe going to Bangor, Maine, and working my way down the East Coast. But now that I’m out $35, I guess I better stay here and put my peddler’s permit to good use. Thanks, cop! Wesley A. Storer Spokane

Vigilante, vigilant not the same

Re: the June 12 letter by Rev. Gayle Murray.

As a member of the West 1400 block of York Avenue, I have been one of those “vigilant” neighbors. A vigilante is someone who sets himself up to seek out and punish crime, to take the law into his own hands. Our neighborhood chose to work hand in hand with law enforcement to create a safer atmosphere for those living under the threat of irresponsible behavior.

It was not necessary to spy on our neighbor. What was happening was available for all to see who cared to see it there, like constant stop-and-go traffic, reckless driving, fighting, intimidation of residents, destruction of property and strangers sneaking around the area.

Although the nuisance abatement law has not been used extensively in Spokane, it is a judicial tool to protect the community. This lady’s home has not been taken from her, only the use of it for one year. We will continue to be vigilant, even with the house closed. Carol Boisjolie Spokane

Compromised cop has got to go

It is time someone expressed some concern about the current situation concerning Newport Police Officer Todd Schadler.

Newport has lost five police officers in the last few years - three for committing crimes and two for various other reasons.

A decision is made to hire two new officers from outside this area. The officers hired were not state certified, a requirement for the job. Both were obvious friends of Chief Bill Clark.

Now one of the new officers, who is on probation, is charged with the misdemeanor of patronizing a prostitute - a crime to which he admits. Clark openly states in The Spokesman-Review that he thinks so highly of that officer, that he’s just a great guy and has a wonderful family. Clark thinks the man has a great career ahead of him in law enforcement but this is a horrible obstacle to overcome. Am I missing something? We’ve already fired three police officers for breaking the law. What’s so hard about this decision? Schadler will never be able to work in law enforcement again. His credibility is lost forever.

Clark’s friendship is clouding his responsibility - a responsibility that he is being paid for. If he can’t see his way clear to taking the necessary action, hopefully, the mayor or city administrator will. If not, the citizens of Newport need to take immediate action. Ronald L. Froman Newport, Wash.

BELIEFS

Religion’s the problem, not the cure

Everybody’s blaming someone for kids who massacre. Let’s put the blame where it belongs. It’s fundamentalist Christianity (or any religious system) which teaches that there’s a moral ranking system at work in the universe with a reward and punishment system at its end. The system’s got a God, the God’s son and a ghost at top (no women) and hierarchies of beings all ranked by worthiness down below them. It’s got kings, lords and princes - that whole murderous, Arabian desert tribe mentality in it. Psychologically and less specifically, it sets up a morally determined mental structure, vertically organized, with good guys at the top and bad guys below. That’s how all of us human animals are conditioned to organize our minds - ranking others.

In practice, religious thinking teaches children to judge one another. Fueled by an unconscious but operative fear of reward and punishment (parental punishments taught it), the immature taunt and torture those who don’t fit into the group or who think differently from them. We assign the unworthy to a slot beneath us and believe that we are better than (or worse than) others and will be rewarded differently than others at the end of the game.

Righteously, we create a torturing social system which constantly drives the weak to lash out murderously or climb into political-religious leadership positions or submit weakly. Someday, I hope we can quit reacting righteously and start thinking rationally. Some of us can. Can you? (Yes, there’s an intended ironic joke here.) George Thomas Spokane

Commandments can only be helpful

Re: “Command performance” (June 19) by Richard Espinosa and Jennifer Taylor was excellent. The article concerns a reference to the proposal by Rep. Robert Aderholt to allow states to display the biblical commandments in public schools and other government buildings.

I totally agree that the Ten Commandments should be posted in all schools and public places that choose to have them.

The article says, “Critics said the provision was unconstitutional.” How much further from the truth do we have to move? Yes, I know that decisions by our court system have made all sorts of reference to religion unconstitutional. Overlooked is that the original intent of the constitutional separation of church and state was to assure that the churches could not or would not unduly influence elections and legislation, and thereby usurp the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

Leaders of congregations of all faiths in the history of our nation held a great deal of power through their position in the community. The separation came about as a direct result of the pilgrims’ experience with the politically motivated churches in Europe. Democracy was for everyone and was not to be influenced by invoking “the wrath of God” from the pulpit.

It’s time for critics to take stock of their values. Nothing is wrong with the Golden Rule. It still works. And nothing is wrong with the Ten Commandments. They’re still the basis for our moral values.

If we don’t teach these simple precepts to the youths of our society, will we ever be able to prevent another Columbine? Donald R. Geske Coeur d’Alene

FIREARMS

You can’t blanket-legislate safety

I greatly appreciated the positive response I received to my June 6 Street Level piece, “Civilized, disciplined armed individuals pose no threat.”

One comment was particularly interesting I pointed out in my commentary that in the Montana of my youth, firearms were such an integral part of our lives that we had a shooting range in the school basement. A few days after publication, a friend told me that in the rural school he attended, students brought their shotguns to school during bird hunting season. Those who had a drivers ed would take their guns with them in the drivers ed car! If they shot any game while practice driving, they’d leave it in a local grocery store cooler and pick it up after school. It should be noted that despite the ever-present guns, we never thought of killing other people.

Killing is a cultural thing. The existence of potentially dangerous objects, ideas or vices does not make people kill or otherwise misbehave.

Society has every right to insist that dangerous activities, such as shooting and drinking, be handled responsibility - even if this means denying some rights to those who are unwilling or unable to behave responsibly. It’s a huge mistake, however, to think that general prohibition or extensive regulation, is the solution to behavioral problems that are a direct result of flaws in our value system.

It we continue to make this mistake, we will continue to lose the war on violence. Jim Shamp Cheney

Not so fast - or so simple

Re: John McCallum’s June 24 letter:

The right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. This position has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on five different occasions. The most recent was the 1990 ruling in the U.S. vs. Verdugo-Urquidez case.

I do think McCallum may be on to something, however. Why don’t we simply decide all constitutional issues by consulting the dictionary? Think of all the tax dollars we would save by eliminating the judicial system. Steven A. MacAskill Coeur d’ Alene

Need is for safe, savvy people

Opinion editor John Webster presents the first rational opinion on guns that I have read in The Spokesman-Review in a long time (Opinion, June 25). He’s right it’s not a gun problem, it’s a people problem.

What may be another bit of good news is the fact that the opposing piece, by Gary Crooks, is for the editorial board’s dissenters. If this means “minority opinion,” then it’s good news indeed.

The bad news is that Webster is outnumbered 2-to-1 by the underinformed Crooks and the hysteria-andemotion-based Milt Priggee.

Does Crooks really believe that a neon and pastel LadySmith is the product of “re-engineering and high-tech savvy”? So, interior decorating skills are now rocket science?

Most new guns are already being voluntarily sold with trigger locks. Can he name a gun without internal safeties? Virtually all modern firearms designs have multiple internal safeties, from the grip safety of the Colt pistol introduced in 1911 to the ultramodern safe-action of the Glock and triple-action trigger of the Walther 99. Many modern replicas of 19th century guns like single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles have been redesigned with internal safeties as well.

The most important safety device a gun has is a responsible, law-abiding, trained owner. How could it be easier to tell if a cartridge is chambered than by opening the action and looking? Anyone who doesn’t know how to do this has no business handling a gun. Many guns already have a loaded chamber indicator. But without enough familiarity to know what to look for, even these are useless. Bruce Watkins Deer Park

Militia is “all the people”

John McCallum’s attempt to change the meaning of the Second Amendment (Letters, June 24) is notable only for its lack of a grasp of historical fact about the people and language of the 1700s.

An honest examination of the abundant essays available to us, written by the men who authored the Constitution and Bill of Rights, proves that the Second Amendment exists to protect the right of individual citizens to own and lawfully use firearms. This fact is upheld by no less than three Supreme Court decisions.

McCallum’s attempt to twist the meaning of the words “regulated” and “militia” is swept aside by the common usage of the words in 1776. “Well regulated” was the same as “well trained,” as in to regulate a child’s behavior. Webster’s New Lexicon Dictionary defines “regulate” as “to adjust so as to make accurate” - for example, target practice. For the meaning of the word “militia,” we need look no further than James Madison, our fourth president, who wrote in 1787, “Who is the militia? It is all the people.”

A more honest “restatement”’ of the amendment would be: A well-trained general population, trained in the use of firearms and military tactics, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Don’t insult those who have given their lives to defend our constitutional republic by twisting the wording of the Bill of Rights to serve your own narrow-minded agenda of disarming America. Mark K. Woodrow Spokane

Militia concept is protecting freedoms

America’s founding fathers preferred a citizen militia to a standing army, believing an army in peacetime is dangerous to a free Republic. Anti-gun people are always questioning the motive of the founding fathers’ inclusion of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Thomas Jefferson said, “The strongest reason for people to keep and bear arms is to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

George Washington said, “Firearms stand next to the Constitution itself. They are the American Peoples liberty teeth and keystone under independence.”

There is said to be a law that states that every American between the ages of 17 and 45 is a member of the national militia.

My understanding of the word “militia” is that it means private citizens who own firearms and are ready at a moment’s notice to use those firearms to defend their country. I assume that, at this time, that militia exists today. Look at the Viet Cong and the Afghans to see the power of armed citizens’ ability to defend their homeland. Both countries defended their homeland against the two strongest nations in the world.

Whatever the Second Amendment is, it is the Constitution and any law infringing on Americans’ right to obtain firearms is a violation of the Constitution. If you don’t like it, change the Constitution.

I do not agree with all of the Constitution, but I support all of the Constitution. Ben Newbold Rathdrum

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