Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Inebriation didn’t `happen’ to driver

I am very concerned by the statement from Judge Craig Kosonen regarding Connie C. Bickley’s probation hearing over the death of 13-year-old Nick Scherling. Kosonen stated, in reference to driving under the influence, “This sort of event can happen to anyone.”

Driving while drunk does not “happen” to people. People make choices - the choice to drink too much and the choice to drive an automobile. We must have all of the compassion in the world for Bickley; she made some very unfortunate choices. However, we should not make the mistake of thinking something “happened” to her.

Nick and his family had something horrible happen to them, meaning it was not a result of choices that they made.

Kosonen is also wrong in saying that anyone is vulnerable. If you choose not to drink too much or if you choose to arrange for transportation, drunk driving cannot “happen” to you.

I hope Kosonen will reconsider his words. The events of nine months ago were horrible and everyone involved will continue to pay the price for this incident for years to come. It does a disservice to the memory of Nick Scherling, however, to treat this as a random event that just happened to unfortunate people. Tom J. Richards Coeur d’Alene

Police work is different

Re: Judith A. Farrey’s April 25 letter, “Deputies’ $15 is plenty.” The point that is so blindly missed by people like Farrey is, does the person making more than $15 per hour put his or her life on the line for that job and the people they work for every day?

When was the last time her auto mechanic had to fight a drugged-out man who just might have AIDS? When was he last shot at? Has he ever came home depressed because he had to take another abused child to the hospital? Yes, these officers have good things happen during their work day also. But you can bet that on most days, the bad outweighs the good.

I’m sure every time your auto mechanic’s wife hears a siren, she doesn’t have to sit and wonder if her husband is OK and pray that he comes home safely.

The only thing that gets my knickers in a knot is narrow-minded people who can compare a police officer’s job to a child care provider or any other job, because there is no comparison. Misty A. Koskimaki Coeur d’Alene

Deputies meet heavy demands

Re: “Deputies’ $15 is plenty” by Judith Farrey (Letters, April 25).

I, too, am the wife of a Kootenai County sheriff’s deputy. The public seems to have a misconception of the service these men and women provide.

With Kootenai County’s current “raise,” my husband doesn’t even make $15 an hour and won’t for several more years. The county’s insurance program is self-funded, the PERSI program these men and women pay into for retirement has been rated as one of the worst plans in the neighboring 10-state region, and many belong to organizations to improve their health and liability benefits.

Many deputies are college educated and turned to law enforcement as a career they loved. The payment they receive for this service includes: loss of privacy; shift work consisting of nights, weekends, and holidays; missed family events; and days off spent in courtrooms. Not many auto mechanics or child care providers I know spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter at work.

Our deputies patrol several hundred square miles serving the resident of Kootenai County and the deserve compensation for the service they provide. Hopefully, there will be enough trained deputies on patrol should Farrey ever call for help. Mary Jo Lyons Hayden

Take the low pay or leave

Law enforcement officers dissatisfied with their pay or benefits are under no obligation to stay. They can transfer their skills to other areas where substantial increases in pay and benefits are offered. The choice is theirs.

Kootenai County is not Detroit, Philadelphia, Dallas or Los Angeles. Idaho is a right-to-work state. You have the right to work for little or nothing and if you make that choice, don’t whine about it.

The argument concerned with the dangers of law enforcement work has a measure of validity. But, in actuality, it is far more imagined than real. Far more people who work in the logging and timber industry are killed each year than those who are lost in law enforcement. Hundreds and thousands of citizens come into contact with law enforcement personnel daily in this country and only rarely, on a comparison basis with other hazardous professions, are these officers in a lifethreatening situation.

As a former police officer, I know how frustrating the position can be. I know how ineffective and removed from the street most police or sheriff’s administrators can be. The working officer, patrol officers and jailers do deserve our respect, confidence and trust. But do these officers deserve the same pay and benefits as do officers in substantially more volatile cities and counties? No. Ken Brown Post Falls

SPOKANE MATTERS

We don’t need new freeway

Re’ “Freeway deemed wasteful” (Spokesman-Review, April 28).

The whole freeway project is a waste of money for Spokane. Especially when we already have the roadways for our north-south freeway.

I have lived here most of my life and this would save homes and business and solve the problems. Divison should be one way going south and Hamilton one way going north. Both of these streets have easy on ramps and exit ramps for vehicles. This would save millions for the taxpayers.

Why can’t the city see the most practical way of doing this? David A. Silva Spokane

May hat in ring come back flattened

I am glad to see Stephen Eugster finally make a move to run for the City Council. Hopefully, in this way, he can learn the lesson that the silent majority of Spokane citizens do not want him as their collective conscience. I hate to think what his attitude would do to our city if he were in a seat of power. Vernon J. Nelson, M.D. Spokane

VIOLENCE

How like Hitler’s brutal madness

I watched the television in horror April 20, as the footage of a full-blown catastrophe invaded my home. I couldn’t help but think of “Night,” a novella I recently read. The book recaptured the horror of World War II as its author, Elie Wiesel, recounted the actual events of his life.

Realizing April 20 was Adolf Hitler’s birthday, I couldn’t reject my sensation of a connection between the two episodes. As the numbers of those dead continued to climb, I continued to remember Wiesel’s account of his Jewish friends and neighbors killed during World War II.

The killing at Columbine High paralleled Hitler’s acts of inhumanity both because of the brutality and the obvious disregard for human life. Hitler believed his master race had the supreme right to destroy all Jews. Klebold and Harris believed African Americans, Hispanics and athletes all deserved to die.

Shortly after the death of his father, Wiesel writes, “There were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit to his memory … I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had no more tears.” The fortunate nonparallel lies in the fact that he had to suffer alone, but the people of Littleton have each other with whom to endure the pain. For this we should all be thankful. Thomas R. Fuelner Spokane

Just a new vehicle for media to exploit

I feel sorry for the two kids who killed their fellow classmates, then turned the guns onto themselves. Those lads traded their lives and whatever promise of heaven they had for approximately two hours of “excitement.” What a poor bargain.

Meanwhile, the media continue to look for new angles to keep the story alive, interviewing students, crying for new laws and control, and showing video clips. The thought occurs to me that every time this happens, we glorify it. One article even spoke of it as a “new record.”

Whatever else is wrong with this country, one of the biggest charades is the one perpetuated by the media in their search not for truth, not for causes, not for cures, but for ratings and dollars. In a new search for the bottom, watch for the books, the Barbara Walters interview and the made-for-TV movie.

So, should the media ignore this? Not at all. They should report the details, avoid sensationalizing the crime and note the real reasons for these increasingly horrible tragedies: complete lack of discipline, morals and personal responsibility, along with the strict prohibition of religion anywhere in our public lives, coupled with the glorification of violence and chaos as appropriate responses to problems. Gun control and metal detectors just aren’t going to get it done.

People don’t need to be prevented from doing it, they simply need to believe it’s wrong. Hal R. Dixon Spokane

Young take their cues from adults

What the two boys did in Colorado was wrong. Killing is wrong. But I wonder if this tragedy could have been prevented.

In all of the school shootings in recent history, all the shooters were bullied and tormented by upper middle class “good” children. Are they good because their parents have money, because their interests lie in school activities and because they can get away with bad behavior?

I have witnessed upper middle class (and parents of other socioeconomic status) laugh and encourage their children’s discrimination, rudeness and bullying behavior.

Obviously, these people get their self-esteem by putting down others.

Children behave in the way that has been role-modeled and accepted by their parents, teachers and adults around them. This applies to the shooters, the bullies and the quiet, well-behaved, caring children.

As adults, we have to role-model genuine respect for others. And we have to demonstrate genuine outrage when children and adults bully and disrespect others. We need to make being polite, respecting others’ boundaries - something for everyone to strive for.

Being healthy means no undercuts, no gossiping, no stalking and no bullying. It means being useful, helpful to society and being proud of who you are. We all lose when we can’t see beyond our own little space. L.L. Parsons Medical Lake

Exercise in understanding worthwhile

If you missed Rebecca Nappi’s April 25 commentary, “Put your perceptions to the test,” I suggest you secure a copy and read it. While psychologists, sociologists and news analysts were philosophizing on the causes of the high school tragedy in Colorado, a most unique and constructive innovation was actually in progress in a leadership conference hosted by Coeur d’Alene High School.

An exercise actually carried out by Nappi not only reveals the extent but also the characteristics of modern day high school cliques. The detailed description of each group is not only enlightening but often includes a subtle touch of humor.

Each student had written down the names and characteristics of cliques in the high school. The assignment called for each student to select three people who belonged to groups other than their own, especially ones where negative feelings exist, and then engage each individual in a 10-minute conversation. The procedure would then show that “students do not easily fit the labels they have assigned to them.” A new friendship and better understanding may be created.

The article concludes with the observation that as adults we are guilty of placing others in similar cliques and admonishes us, as role models, that we need to apply some self-analysis. Whether it be high school, adult life or as citizens of the world, we must somehow remove hate and develop intolerance. This voluntary leadership in Coeur d’Alene by a Spokesman-Review staff member is certainly a constructive step in the right direction. Gene Bronson Spokane