Letters To The Editor

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Jail measure worthy of your support

The Board of Directors of Kootenai Perspectives, a volunteer group of public and private sector community leaders dedicated to the improvement of the infrastructure of Kootenai County, has voted overwhelmingly to support the resort county optional sales tax special county election scheduled for next Tuesday.

Directors of Kootenai Perspectives were impressed by the effort made by the county commissioners to study the jail expansion issue and feel the need for expanded jail space is both clear and convincing. Using a one-half cent sales tax increase for the limited period of five years in order to fund the jail expansion and statutorily required property tax reduction appear to be the best alternative available for accomplishing this needed improvement to the public sector infrastructure of Kootenai County.

Kootenai Perspectives encourages all Kootenai County voters to support the jail expansion ballot issue. Freeman B. Duncan chairman, Kootenai Perspectives, Coeur d’Alene

Library groups should rethink plan

The Coeur d’Alene Library Board and Coeur d’Alene Library Foundation supported Duane Hagadone’s plan to build a new library on downtown park land. They now support the same proposal as part of the city’s urban renewal planning.

Their new advocacy effort (newspaper ad) talks about a civic anchor to retain historical values, the need for new public facilities to draw people back downtown, a state-of-the art architectural gem, attractive public meeting rooms and dramatically landscaped exteriors that complement the refurbished McEuen Park it borders. They suggest that library patrons would tarry and spend time outside the library to eat, drink, shop, walk and engage in the retail, banking and professional facilities presently available.

What do these things have to do with meeting the needs of library users?

The present library location has a reasonable amount of accessible parking. It is located between Government Way and the Third and Fourth street one-way pair on Harrison Avenue. Traffic access is excellent.

A downtown location would place the library at one edge of the city’s population. It would force patrons to negotiate tortuous city street access and traffic congestion. Library access would be impacted by parades and other events that result in temporary street closures.

The Coeur d’Alene library groups, rather than touting the propaganda of downtown commercial interests, should produce some rational evidence of their downtown choice for a library location. Philip Waring Coeur d’Alene

Let’s compare lease rates

Re: State reluctant to reconsider rental hikes (May 11).

Where are the comparative values for private lakefront properties, both in the immediate area and around the state? Something tells me these leaseholders are still getting a break. JoAnna Williams Princeton

Mining payoff not worth cost to us

They’re still here trying their best to do it to us and our area. Who pays for all this negative growth and damaged countryside? We, the locals, who want nothing to do with the proposed Rock Creek Northwestern Montana mine. Over 100 years of mining activity put the Clark Fork River in bad shape. The dams constructed on the river brought temporary jobs for the locals. Other benefits? Ruined salmon runs and high electric rates. Hasn’t the river given enough?

Noxon and the Fabulous Valley resident - do you want a 200 percent increase in traffic 24 hours a day, with our school in the middle? Most of the new traffic will be big trucks, plus hundreds of new people. This would not be a blessing but a nightmare.

The proposed mine site is within the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area, a spectacular place set aside years ago for all of us. Asarco wants to put its storage pond visible from the highway. It will contain used “goop” and chemicals used in the mining process. What happens if this goop can’t be contained for some reason - say screw-ups in construction or an earthquake? It’s all downhill to Lake Pend Oreille.

For the folks who need that great-paying job and lots of traffic, there are hundreds of big cities out there to pick from.

Asarco, you need to give up your mining plans in this area. The price we would have to pay is much too high. Lon LaBelle Noxon, Mont.

Some things never change

Re: Working out the bugs (Handle, May 13).

It is nice to see that the red tape goes on. There have been a lot of advancements in logging. Valmet comes to mind. With forwarders and cut-to-length machines, there is no footprint left. The environmentalists want something to derail the process.

Another hoop, another day. Donald W. Sheard Mica, Wash.

Retain Harrison’s good mayor

A group of citizens in Harrison is asking voters to go to the polls on May 25 to recall Mayor David LePard. We are citizens who are also current members of the City Council and we strongly encourage folks to go to the polls and vote against this recall.

LePard has been mayor for almost 3-1/2 years and has seven months left to serve. He has done a very good job as mayor, supporting facilities improvements and competitive wages for city employees. He has implemented sound investment strategies, earning the city literally thousands of dollars more per year in interest on our cash assets.

Contrary to accusations on the recall petition, there has been much accomplished in the repair and maintenance of the city’s water and sewer system as well as in other departments. Through his efforts, we now know with certainty that the city will receive the $500,000 grant we requested for water and sewer improvements, if not in 1999, in 2000. LePard has accomplished much in these years with very limited funds and has always looked for the long-term benefits for the community.

Therefore, we ask every Harrison citizen to vote to retain LePard. He has worked hard these last three years in this seemingly thankless job and deserves our support. Go to the polls and vote against the recall.

For Dave. E. Cope, Arlene Woodside, and Sharon J. Yablon … Lynette J. and Ron J. Blanc Harrison

SPOKANE MATTERS

Mayor’s pet scheme a nonstarter

It’s bad enough that Mayor John Talbott seems to want to stop any movement at all that would promote a healthy city, but now he wants to spend my tax dollars to promote his narrow-minded vision of “character building” for the city. As a community that already has an image problem (to put it mildly) from the proximity of the white supremacists, I am appalled that its mayor would even think of aligning the city with a movement that subscribes to the sexist, biblically generated “chain of command” indicated in staff writer Kathy Mulady’s article of May 10.

For that matter, where does Talbott get the idea it’s his responsibility to determine the moral direction of the community, anyway, let alone spend our tax dollars on an expense-paid trip, literally, to this end?

It’s time for Spokane to wake up and realize that Talbott, with all his negativity and divisiveness, is not merely an annoyance. It is obvious that he’s also dangerously oblivious to the separation of church and state, not to mention this city’s supposed goal of appreciation of diversity. I want to be proud to say that I live here, not embarrassed by the narrow-mindedness, sexist attitudes and bigotry of our leaders. Christine A. Davis Spokane

Backward approach to storm water

I recently attended a stormwater management meeting for plan implementation in the near future. The stormwater service area for Spokane County includes several locales with flooding problems.

Much of this is groundwater flooding, not surface water flooding. This means that during wet periods such as spring melt, ground saturation reaches a point at which seepage into basements occurs. This groundwater flooding of basements has been going on for decades.

Why do city and county building departments continue to authorize new buildings with basements in areas of flooding? Houses all over the country are built with crawl spaces or slab-on-grade because of this problem.

Do Spokane taxpayers really want to share the cost of $62.4 million to install stormwater systems? This is only the initial estimate. It will surely increase after construction starts. Then there are the ongoing annual maintenance costs.

Why should taxpayers have to pay for stormwater systems that wouldn’t even be necessary if the appropriate means of housing construction were required?

Let’s use some common sense. Build houses appropriate for the area and save Spokane taxpayers’ money. Len Urgeleit Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Let’s hear it for fascism

I am sick and tired of this God-fearing, gun-toting, gay-bashing, chauvinist, elitist community that I’ve come to know as Spokane. So, I surrender with the satisfaction that if the Conservative Right gets everything it wants, in the end, it will get what it deserves. Here’s how.

Reinstate prayer in schools. Every child should be taught from the Bible in public schools daily, regardless of their family’s religion. Force unified morality.

End all gun control. In fact, let’s make it law that every person should be required to own a gun. Force defensive action to end violence.

Disallow special rights for all minorities. No business shall be held accountable for who it chooses to employ or provide services to. Nor should any person be held accountable for violent actions based on prejudice. Force an elite Aryan society.

Keep women in the home to raise children, cook meals and clean the house. Force slave labor.

Allow business and industry to operate unregulated by government. No more unions, minimum wage, safety or pollution regulation. Force poverty and ecological disaster.

Hmmm. Sounds a lot like a totalitarian government that allows its population to arm itself. I’m sure it will be a great success. James J. Flaherty Spokane

Will Gore coffers take a hit, too?

With the recent bombing of the Chinese Embassy by the NATO bombers, does that mean the Chinese government is not going to contribute money to Al Gore’s presidential campaign next year? Anita L. Banta Coeur d’Alene

Senate right the first time

I do not think the Senate should reconsider its first decision to not pass more gun control. This will have much the same effect that Prohibition did. Controlling the guns is not going to help the problem. Prohibition didn’t solve the problem with alcohol and gun control is not going to help the problem with guns. Jeri Cass Newport, Wash.

U.S. AND THE WORLD

Here’s why the bombing is bad policy

When the NATO bombing first began, we supported it. But after some long discussions, we have changed our minds. Here are some of the considerations that led us to that change:

The Holocaust analogy (the Allies didn’t stop Hitler soon enough, so we should intervene in Kosovo as soon as possible) is flawed. We do not mean to minimize the suffering and oppression of the Kosovo Albanians but we believe diplomatic approaches are more appropriate than war in this situation. Many diplomatic initiatives have been virtually ignored by NATO and downplayed by the media.

The action is provoking Yugoslavian, Russian and Chinese nationalism, creating a dangerous, volatile situation. NATO underestimated the degree to which the Serbs would rally behind Milosevic. Furthermore, the bombing began shortly after Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were admitted to NATO, a move that Russia strongly opposed. Conditions in Russia today parallel those in Germany after World War I to a frightening degree. Will this lead to a similar outburst of national socialism in Russia? The recent bombing of the Chinese embassy has fueled nationalism and anti-American sentiment even further.

The bombing undermines the efforts of reform groups within Serbia. Belgrade organizations that have been working for reconciliation in the Balkans recently released a statement saying that NATO intervention has destroyed everything that has been achieved so far and (threatens) the very survival of civic society in Serbia.

For these reasons, we oppose the NATO bombing. Bertie and Jim Weddell Pullman

It all goes back to Serb paranoia

Re: Rev. Stephen Supica’s letter of May 12, “Some Kosovars already here.”

It sounds like the people he is referring to are Serb refugees who fled Croatia for Kosovo and then were lucky enough to make it to the United States. The Yugoslav National Army invaded Croatia after the Croats legitimately broke away from Yugoslavia and were recognized by the world as an independent country. Serbian paranoia took over in Croatia just like it did in Slovenia, Bosnia and now in Kosovo.

The Serbs never gave peace a chance. They immediately invaded considering each republic, and the province of Kosovo, Serbian property. Consequently, there are Serb refugees who are victims of their own government’s paranoid and repressive policies.

Since 1989, when Serbia stripped Kosovo of its autonomy, there have been many victims, including countless numbers of Serbs and now even Americans (the three American soldiers who were illegally abducted from Macedonia, held captive and tortured by Serbs).

Do you really believe these refugees would be here if the Yugoslav National Army did not invade Croatia? Do you really think there would be American soldiers in Bosnia if Serbia would have recognized and honored Bosnian independence? The biggest single reason for all the hardship and pain the people of the former Yugoslavia have had to endure, and now Americans are having to endure, is a direct result of Serbian paranoia and aggression. Enver Apaydin Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

A breath of nonreligious fresh air

How refreshing! The Spokesman-Review has printed an opinion counter to its recent “family values” publications. And hats off to Gary L. Bennett, (Your Turn, May 12), who makes very pertinent points as to religions’ role in our current episodes of violence - U.S., Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, India and Afghanistan.

The Bible contains some very valuable humanistic ideals, as do other religious works and their respective dogmas. But they reflect the archaic world view of the peoples who composed them. Their claim to absolute truth and thus, exclusiveness, allows their adherents to classify “the others” as unworthy of consideration or compassion.

To have peace and harmony, we must be willing to respect the rights of others, in this country, still their legal right, to have their own world views - provided they don’t encroach on the rights of their neighbors. Kay and Harlan Hayes Coeur d’Alene

Put dowsing to controlled test

It was encouraging to see skeptical comments in the article on dowsing (“A different direction,” May 10). It was especially nice to see comments from a respected publication like Skeptical Inquirer.

All of us need to remember skepticism does not mean negativity. Nor does it exist simply to attack new, or in this case, old, opinions, nor to limit discussion to scientific topics. Skeptics, regardless of the subject, strive to open discussion to all sides and to provide the most efficacious answer.

In this case, dowsing has been the subject of many tests over the past 30 years. Whether dowsing for water, gold, treasure, old building foundations or, in this case, for horticultural or biological reasons, there has yet to be a shred of scientific evidence or reproducible results. This does not close the door to eventual proof but it certainly does not back up allegations of success.

One can surely not discount Owen Lehto’s age or physical condition. But to ascribe his personal well-being to dowsing, as opposed to genetics, exercise and an intelligent lifestyle, is forcing the point.

Having opened this line of inquiry, The Spokesman-Review might be well served to publish an account of an actual double-blind study on the effects of dowsing. There is, after all, a standing $1 million offer to anyone who shows true psychic abilities. Many failed attempts to collect have involved dowsing. Larry O. Henderson Spokane