Letters To The Editor

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Demand adequate funding for schools

Our nation’s political leaders obviously have their priorities horribly skewed. They focus entirely on and have gone to great lengths to create the ever-growing prison industrial complex. At the same time, they aggressively fight tooth and nail to deny our school systems the desperately needed funds to maintain quality education.

Our state and federal governments are scrambling and scampering over themselves in the name of electoral politics to construct more and more state-of-the-art prisons, while thousands of schools are crumbling upon the heads of our children.

If the nation continues on this same path, there will be an even greater need for prisons because in an ironic twist our uneducated and ill-equipped children will be forced into crime as a matter of survival. I can just hear the politicians then, saying, See, we needed all those prisons after all!

This cannot be. We the people must demand change, to better our children’s education and thus our nation’s collective future - change that must begin immediately. Glenn H. Early The November Coalition, Colville, Wash.

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

We better resolve bad disconnect

Leaking roofs, broken windows, rotting stairwells, books that are seriously outdated. Laboratory facilities totally obsolete, locker rooms and showers that can’t pass health inspections.

Guns in the classrooms, drugs in the hallways, gang warfare in the play yards. Pregnant girls and irresponsible males, AIDS, etc.

Teacher salaries that won’t feed a family, let alone attract the brightest minds to the profession. Administrators too afraid of lawsuits to offer meaningful discipline.

All of the above are occurring in our schools every day. What are we doing?

We are banning books, saying no to social promotion, allowing poor teachers to remain in the classroom through rules which make it nearly impossible to dismiss them. We are spending money to find out if some of our schools’ sport team mascot names are offensive to some ethnic groups.

In no way do I want to offend any group of Americans, but couldn’t our tax dollars be put to better use than this? Walter E. Lane Spokane

Mainstreaming move worrisome

Re: the Feb. 19 front page article about YWCA Transition School, “District 81 may close school for homeless kids.”

As a regular volunteer there twice a week since the school opened its doors, I’m sorry there was no mention of the numerous volunteers available to provide more TLC and individual attention to these children.

I taught in public school for seven years and realize that the transitional children come with more problem than the average person is aware of. If these children are integrated into public schools, I hope they will not get lost in the shuffle. Having the after-school program in the same building is also an asset.

These children come to us from shelters and other living conditions not ideal for young lives. Will they receive the same amount of compassion and caring as is provided for them in our situation?

Here today, gone tomorrow. Dark secrets in young hearts. Mae Schaeffer Spokane

Teachers’ pay not so paltry

I read with interest the letter from the young lady who attends Mt. Spokane High School. I agree with Rachel Bell that teachers work incredibly hard and deserve support. What I found disturbing was a young person believing the lie that people over 65 are “at the end of their lives.” Please don’t tell this to my 94-year-old grandfather.

People who enjoy their jobs are not always in it for the money. I have to believe when young people enter the teaching profession it is because they love to teach, not because they know this is a career that will get them rich.

I also found it sad that someone would call $33,208 annual salary “not enough to live on.” I suppose if you wanted to haul your boat behind your new SUV, I would have to agree. I want the young people out there to know if you spend what you make and try not to live beyond your means, $33,208 is a pretty nice wage. Karen L. Haeger

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Strike hard on whole community

Thanks to Opinion editor John Webster for his very true commentary on the sad mess of the Kaiser strike.

This lockout (strike) has got to be causing ripples in our community. We are only one family out of approximately 2,100 striking Steelworkers, and if they’ve had to cut back as much as we’ve had to, it’s got to start to make some waves. For example, we spend only $50-70 a week at the grocery store, whereas we used to spend $125, sometimes more if we had a special function. My husband will continue to drive his piece-of-junk 1970 pickup - we were going to buy a newer one along with a fifth-wheel trailer so we could take our first vacation in four years this summer - we’ve been saving for two years, but it’s gone now. We don’t eat out, seldom go to the movies and only buy things when we need them.

These are only a few examples, but consider 2,100 families taking the same cost-cutting measures and eventually, everyone is going to feel the pain of the strike.

I realize some people say tough, it’ll do you good to scrimp, and why doesn’t he get another job? I’ll tell you why - he’s given almost 31 years to Kaiser, starting the week before he graduated from high school, and he’s 50 years old. We deserve to have it a little easier now and feel that Charles Hurwitz and Kaiser are not going to allow us to have it that way. Cindy K. Owens Spokane

We see who cares about us, community

Opinion Editor John Webster’s Feb. 21 column, “No loyalty writ on the bottom line,” can only be described as a defense of Spokane’s economy and it’s people. As a locked-out worker, as a citizen, I thank Webster for standing for our region.

Obviously, the business community in Spokane is taking a beating, since the bulk of Kaiser’s payroll is heading for Idaho and elsewhere. Spokane’s elected officials and representatives of business have the nerve of cowards. But Webster, the most public watchman of all our economic liberty, stands and defends the region. Someone has to do it, if the mayor, the governor and the county and city elected officials won’t. The Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business remain silent, despite being compensated to represent the small business operators here.

In truth, it’s Spokane versus a Houston corporation. Charles Hurwitz against our region, not the Steelworkers vs. Kaiser. Countless $15,000- to $25,000-per-weekcompensated corporate directors challenging the intelligence of the people of our area.

Webster didn’t buy it; neither did the people. I thank Webster and apologize to the business operators here, watching their income fall as the unemployment rate drops in Kootenai County. Watching those operators lay off their people, with no choice but to bow to the Hurwitz junk bond machine.

I apologize for a useless chamber, NFIB and elected officials who hide at the mention of Hurwitz. To those officials, I say only, we see you, just as we shout to the out-of-state immigrants removing the payroll from our community. Jon Michael Yeager Deer Park

Picketer excesses invite trouble

This is in response to C. Dave Lamphier’s Feb. 20 letter concerning strikers facing armed opponents. Lamphier states he fears for his safety on the picket line.

I wonder he was one of the so-called peaceful picketers I saw on the news, pounding on a delivery van driving into the plant. This was a man representing a company that has nothing to do with this strike; he is not associated with Kaiser or the union in any way. He is just another working man trying to make a decent living. Sound familiar?

You state that Kaiser should be held accountable for the actions of people coming into the plant. I ask you, should the United Steelworkers be held accountable for the actions of picketers and the damage to this company van? The person who keyed the length of the van is a criminal, nothing more, nothing less. He should be held accountable for his actions.

Up until now, I was not supporting either side. While I understand the actions of a few do not represent the group as a whole, the actions of the picketers are deplorable. If you wonder why your public support is dwindling, you need to look no further than the videotape. If the trucker who pointed the gun at a union worker underwent the same treatment as the van driver, was he justified? I think so! Joseph J. Luft, now Kaiser supporter Fairchild

Replacements, think ahead

I am a 43-year-old Kaiser worker on lockout. When I hired on 10 years ago, I believed in Kaiser. I was told this was a job for life. If I did a good job, Kaiser would take care of me and my family. I wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

So now I’m paying for two kids’ college educations, so they won’t have to work in a smelter for decent wages.

I was also a pot room safety steward. If I worked three 12-hour shifts without an injury to one of my experienced fellow Steelworkers, I felt fortunate. I’m sure the injury rate in the inexperienced work force must be at least three times higher than what I dealt with before the lockout.

I’m not rich. I’m just trying to make a decent living. Why am I being flushed down the system?

Replacement workers, don’t think this won’t happen to you. Do you think you can start over at age 50? Do you think anyone will hire you into a new work force with decent wages and benefits without experience when you have worked in a smelter 20-30 years? Maybe it’s time to think about moving to a country that cares about its work force, i.e. Mexico, China or Korea.

Obviously, Kaiser doesn’t care about how many people are affected by this lockout. The company doesn’t care how many people are injured both physically and financially.

I’m lucky because I have other skills. I can get another job in a different career field. Can you? Victor L. Miller Spokane

U.S. AND THE WORLD

Policy toward Iraq, Cuba wrong

I strongly feel that it is time to stop the bombing of Iraq and to lift the embargo of Iraq and Cuba. U.S. and British aggression is unjustified and immoral. It does not help in any way to settle the difficult issues involved, but only increases the distress of an already suffering people in order to serve immediate political and military interests.

It disregards the central role of the United Nations and prepares more conflict for the future. Sister Fidelis Weber, O.P. Spokane

Serbs mindful of 1389 setback

Why are the Serbs so sensitive about Kosovo?

Perhaps they have not forgotten the battle of Kosovo on June 15, 1389. On that date, the Turks wiped out the Serbian army and left them without leadership. It left them open to genocide and foreign rule over the remaining Serbs.

How cooperative would we be if some world power proposed to separate us from such national shrines as Bunker Hill or Valley Forge? Ben Harney Spokane

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

I’m convinced Clinton’s guilty

Twenty-five years ago, Richard Nixon said the American people have a right to know if their president is a crook. Today, the American people have a right to know if their president is a rapist.

I watched the Juanita Broaddrick interview on NBC and, along with the majority of those who watched, found her very credible. That interview, along with the long history of Clinton’s reckless womanizing, leads me to only one rational conclusion: our president is a rapist.

The American people deserve more from the leader of the greatest democracy the world has ever seen. If the Democratic Party wants to retain any dignity and credibility, they should be at the forefront to demand the resignation of President Clinton. Vice President Al Gore is perfectly capable of leading this country, and compared to his boss is a moral giant. Clinton doesn’t need to split our country apart with his scandals and degrade the office of the presidency any longer.

Resignation, however, would be an unselfish act on Clinton’s part and, thus far, he has failed to show an ability to put the needs of the country above his own. Denise Graves Hayden Lake

`Yeah but, yeah but …

The Clinton “Yeah, but” defense:

Gennifer Flowers: Yeah, but she just wanted tabloid money.

Paula Jones: Yeah, but she’s trailer trash. Paula Jones’ deposition: Yeah, but it was a perjury trap.

Monica Lewinsky: Yeah, but she was a stalker; it was consensual.

Kathleen Willey: Yeah, but she may have liked it.

Grand jury: Yeah, but all men lie about such things.

Impeachment hearings: Yeah, but it doesn’t rise to the level of …

Gennifer, Paula, Kathleen, Monica: Yeah, but I need to get back to work for….

Juanita Broaddrick: Yeah but, yeah but, yeah but. Ken Van Buskirk Spokane

How foolish we continue to be

For many years, my family and I lived in a small village in Northern California. I knew everyone, they knew me and my family.

One night, I woke up to someone heavy lying on top of me. The town’s “bad boy.” He repeatedly raped me, used a butcher knife for a few things and was so confident I wouldn’t call the cops when he was done he left the knife, my shredded nightgown and his jacket. Evidence.

I wasn’t the first woman in town; there were five others. But his family is wealthy and has power. I wasn’t impressed. He wasn’t going to get away with this from me and he didn’t.

I’d say 50 percent of the villagers believed me, the other 50 percent were sure I as lying. A lot of my so-called friends turned away from me.

Now we have a nation with an accused sexual predator as president. He manipulates and humilities, uses young women, his wife and his daughter, his nation. He is not always gentle but very self-serving. Clinton has set sexual harassment federal laws back years. As fathers, husband and sons, how can you not see the wrong? Would you want your loved ones subjected to this man or anyone like him?

We have to demand that he resign. We truly can’t have a person like this be in our neighborhood or the office of president of the United States. And, yes, I’m a registered Democrat. A village of idiots and a nation of fools. Kathy Blanchette Spirit Lake, Idaho