Letters To The Editor
IDAHO VIEWPOINTS
Jail upgrade has been mishandled
Will Kootenai County voters be willing to increase sales tax, reduce property tax and spend $12 million or more to build a jail? Are property owners, who may like the property tax reduction, willing to sign a blank check for operating costs of a new jail?
The jail already is far understaffed. County Commissioner Ron Rankin’s committee has documented this in its report. Property taxpayers should ask which tax will be increased to pay operating costs for the expanded version.
Over a year ago, Rankin proposed the sales tax solution and has refused to consider any other possibilities. Perhaps his true agenda is property tax reduction and jail expansion is just a convenient vehicle.
Before you property owners get too excited, do the arithmetic. You will see that the real benefactors are those who have about $300,000 or more in property - and the more you have, the more you make. This tax scheme does nothing for the average homeowner.
There’s no question the jail should be expanded. The debate commissioners don’t want to enter into is how can this be accomplished with a reasonable degree of public safety at the least possible cost. Every single cost-cutting measure has been rejected. This is a build-first, plan-later project.
So a good citizen should vote no. Not because of unwillingness to pay the price but because the commissioners must be told to go back and do the job correctly. If they do, we can still have an adequate jail with a safe environment for staff and prisoners, at a reasonable cost shared by everyone. Jerry Shriner Coeur d’Alene
Voters should approve jail measure
Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, a pro-business advocate committed to positive growth through responsible government spending and regulation, has voted to support Kootenai County’s jail expansion and local option sales tax proposal.
CBNI directors state support is based on information provided by Kootenai County commissioners and the Criminal Justice Citizens Advisory Committee. We commend both law enforcement and the citizens committee for their research and efforts over the past year that has brought us to Tuesday’s election.
The proposed half-cent “local option sales tax” increase appears to be the best available funding option. The commissioners say the half-cent sales tax increase should generate $24.1 million over five years. Commissioners also state the tax revenue will pay for the jail remodeling and new annex construction, and provide some property tax savings.
Concerned Businesses of North Idaho remains committed to positive growth, economic development, efficient government and maintaining the quality of life found in Kootenai County and North Idaho. The sales tax increase allows elected leaders, Kootenai County sheriff’s administration and the public to address current and future needs of the jail through 2015.
A large part of CBNI support is based on the commitment of the county commissioners and sheriff’s department to ensure project costs remain under budget and that the state-of-the-art expansion fulfills the promise of operating more efficiently and being more costeffective. Bret C. Bowers Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, Coeur d’Alene
Critic’s comments don’t add up
Re: Keith Contor’s May 16 letter: All District 84 and 83 trustees were appointed by the state after the school district voted to divide. Contor asked to be appointed but was not. Prior to that, all trustees had been elected.
Contor attended many District 84 meetings, which makes it puzzling that he claims I opposed curriculum development. Yes, the board did oppose curriculum development without a plan. Now that we have an orderly plan and organization for curriculum development, we have developed and approved a math curriculum and are well on the way to having a language curriculum.
Contor sat on the District 82 Technology Committee for almost two years. If one wants to bring about change, one usually presents ideas and convinces other committee members. Therefore, one wonders why he’s unable to bring about the changes he evidently thought important.
Our technology program is an example for the entire state; so much so, that the Albertson Foundation has chosen District 84 for one of only 15 high technology classrooms which will be in place and in operation in September. This classroom will be used to train teachers and improve students’ abilities to use computers.
One trustee cannot prevent anything from passing or not passing. Therefore, regardless of who the Zone 2 trustee is, it will not stop the plan and path already decided. All trustees now have a common vision which will not be derailed regardless of any one trustee. Ann E. Souza Careywood
Close call for sanity
Attention, all parents of school-age children. It is not true the most recent legislative session was totally “do nothing.” During this session, the good folks representing the citizens of Kootenai County did cast their votes for us - not once, but twice - attempting to make it legal for students to bring guns to their school campus.
Fortunately, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne had the good sense to veto this idiocy. Think about it. If our so-called representatives had succeeded, we could replace high school debates and disagreements with Gunfights at the OK Cafeteria.
Please remember who they are and what they tried to do, the next time you see their names on a ballot. Jack Knox Coeur d’Alene
Idaho lax about bad practitioners
With former Post Falls chiropractor Jeffrey Schwartz getting off with no jail time for fondling and sexually assaulting female patients, it’s interesting to note that he was not the first medical practitioner to have similar charges against him.
In 1995, there was Dr. LaVar Withers, a family doctor in Rexburg, Idaho, who did similar things to his female patients. Only in this case, he was charged with fondling 133 female patients over a 30-year period. And unbelievable as it seems, no one from the law enforcement community would try to prosecute this doctor until one courageous lady spoke out.
It seems that Idaho is reluctant to prosecute these chiropractors and physicians when they clearly should be sent to jail. It’s a wonder the husbands of these women didn’t give him something to remember long after the judge let him go.
Idaho is long overdue for cleaning house by arresting and prosecuting these disgusting doctors. The ones convicted should be jailed for a long time. Tom Akren Post Falls
HEALTH AND SAFETY
BNSF would serve us aqua petrolia
“Do not drink the water” signs will have to be placed everywhere you look in North Idaho and Eastern Washington if the Burlington Northern Santa Fe builds its refueling depot.
Remember the horrible Love Canal stories? The ground and water under the people was silently and purposely contaminated by corporate America. Children died at young ages. Corporate greed and politics left the people in that community penniless and homeless.
As a former safety officer for the railroad employees’ union, I can attest that safety is not in any railroad’s vocabulary. Years ago, one of our trains derailed at the east switch at Hauser, Idaho, spilling thousands of gallons of liquid asphalt. Cleanup consisted of burying the mess, cars and all. It took me five years to make them dig the cars up and dispose of them. The ground is still contaminated.
At the same time, we were fueling trains at Hauser yard - spilling diesel fuel all over the ground was common. Spokane, Wenatchee, Kettle Falls, Pasco, wherever trains are refueled, it’s the same.
But this has a different twist. BNSF wants to construct a refueling depot not far from its main line, above the aquifer and the water you and I drink. What do you think will happen when a 60 mph freight train derails, sending 35-ton railroad cars flying through the air and slamming into the refueling depot? Below or above ground means nothing; it happens.
Citizens in both states need to make an all-out effort to oppose construction of the refueling depot before it’s too late. Bob Blangeres Spokane
When driving, just drive
While on my way to work recently, I noticed two grade school kids standing on the island in the middle of the street in an obvious crosswalk. They were trying to cross the street without being killed by all the cars filled with people who were either too stupid to notice them or too selfish with their time to stop.
While stopped in the center lane, people roared by in the outside lane, with no regard to the kids. When the kids started to cross in front of me, I feared they would walk blindly into the other lane. Thank God, they stopped just in time to avoid a woman in a large SUV who was yakking away on her cell phone. She had no clue how close she had come to killing two kids. Perhaps her time and latte rate higher than the kids do.
Every day we have many situations like this. No meeting or sale is important enough to risk anyone’s life over. Pull over to yak on that phone. Stop eating and drinking while you are at the wheel. Driving demands all your attention. Every time you meet a car or cross an intersection, you are a wisp away from sudden death. How are you going to stop or swerve with a phone in your ear or a load of fries in your lap?
Imagine killing someone over something so foolish. If I was a police officer, I could write a book of tickets in an hour at any crosswalk in Spokane. Gary Graupner Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
White males have been stigmatized
In his May 18 letter, Ryan Cassidy calls John Bunyan a bigot. I see Bunyan’s passion in the letter and he might be a bigot or might not. In the last 20 years, I’ve watched a huge number of discussions and endless movies with the theme of how badly we have treated the black race, Indians, women, Mexicans, anybody who isn’t white.
I was watching Phil Donahue on a late night PBS interview when Donahue stated, without being asked the question, that he had really hammered on white males during his long rein as host of his show.
I’ve listened to countless politicians drive wedges between the villainous white males and victimized minorities to get the minority vote. And as I’ve listened over the years, I feel beat up. Very beat up.
What I see and hear in the media has nothing to do with me. I’m not racist. I haven’t mistreated women. I’m not connected or wealthy, so I don’t belong to a good ol’ boy system. But I am a happy, proud, successful, Christian, white man who has to endure how terrible I am from anybody who has an agenda.
So in a crude way, maybe Bunyan is just lashing back because he’s a white male and he’s getting hammered on. He doesn’t like it, and good for him. Because if I tell you that I’m a proud white male and you think that’s bad, then you, my friend, need to rethink your thinking. C. Shawn Clum Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Coaches can be character builders
Andy James’ May 16 Street Level commentary on athletes and sportsmanship was very good. It touched on the fact that coaches can use athletics as a way of developing character within young people.
Coaches should emphasize an athlete’s physical and mental improvement. Correct coaching can result in lifelong psychological skills and moral standards. If coaches can teach athletes respect, perseverance, teamwork and the importance of giving 100 percent effort, then winning or losing remains in its proper perspective. Chris Wellman Rose Lake, Idaho
Seniors, enhance your skills
In Frank Bartel’s column, “Older workers are being pushed to the sidelines” (May 16), he reported a senior employment assessment conducted by Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington.
Actually, Bartel’s column did not cover the content of the 24-page report. It was more about the reaction of members of the Senior Legislative Coalition to the subject of age discrimination.
For example, AARP advocates equal employment opportunity but what is its own hiring policy? This question came up in the form of a resolution at AARP’s 1998 biennial convention. I was one of the majority of delegates who voted against a mandatory quota in hiring older workers to staff the association’s offices. I believe other delegates felt as I did, that we volunteers get excellent support from AARP staff of any age.
After I retired, I continued to upgrade my skills to use in my volunteer work. Seniors who expect to be hired in their 60s should spend more time retraining and less time worrying about age discrimination. Elinor F. Nuxoll Spokane
WHALES
Some traditions `made to be broken’
Re: “Early rising Makahs get their whale” (May 18).
Again, the front page news has left me sick at heart. This time, Native Americans, in the guise of tradition, have hunted down and killed a helpless whale. This is tradition?
In Old Testament tradition, God-fearing people used to offer their firstborn as a burning sacrifice. Should we go back to that tradition? In the 1800s, U.S. soldiers used to hunt down Native Americans. Should they go back to that tradition? Of course not! It’s barbaric.
Traditions, just like people, need to evolve into decency and civility. And some traditions were just made to be broken. In traditional fashion, the Makahs would have been humbly apologizing to this beautiful animal for having to kill her. Instead, they are whooping it up in their Neah Bay T-shirts, baseball caps and sneakers. Rather than offering my firstborn on the altar, I light a candle and say my prayers instead.
Have the Makahs ever considered symbolically whaling, rather than going directly for the kill - and the obvious joy they felt that went along with it? Cherie Linquist Cheney
Post-kill celebration a travesty
If the reporting (on the Makah whale kill) is accurate, I am disappointed in the Makah Tribe and what they said the hunting represented.
When one takes the life of a creature to sustain one’s own life and those dependent on the creature, you treat the creature with honor. You mourn the creature’s death but honor the creature for giving his/her life so that you and others can live. You don’t stand on the body of the creature like a warrior defeating his enemies. You don’t yell and shout over the death of the creature.
I am disappointed in this action of the Makah Tribe, which had stated the hunt was symbolic to their heritage only to turn around and behave like they did. George L. Greasley Deer Park
Tradition - yeah, right
Let me see if I have it right. Six or eight guys get their canoe towed out to sea to where the whales are. These fishermen row their canoe up to the nearest intelligent, sentient whale and throw a harpoon into it. More guys in a power boat throw more harpoons at the whale and then “humanely” kill it with shots from a small canon. A larger boat comes by and tows the dead whale to shore. This is all done to re-establish ancient tribal tradition.
I wouldn’t doubt that the ancestors are spinning in their graves. I hope Moby Dick is the next target. Larry A. Wood Coeur d’Alene
Adapt old tradition to current reality
Re: “Early rising Makahs get their whale” (May 18).
The Makahs have a legal and cultural right to take the whales. And I sympathize with tribal elders who hope a return to their whaling traditions will somehow turn the youths of the tribe from destructive habits.
But times have changed, like it or not. Just as Native Americans once changed habits for their advantage when they adopted the horse as a hunting tool, I hope this tribe might show reverence for its whaling past by recognizing new survival methods: fight to save the whales. I somehow think the Makah youths would learn much more by working to save those creatures that once sustained the tribe than they will ever learn with their killing.
A symbolic hunt that stops short of a kill would accomplish both. JoAnna Williams Princeton, Idaho
APPRECIATION
Paradegoers, you were magnifico
To the people of Spokane, thank you very much. Your generous applause, radiant smiles and enthusiasm during the Lilac Parade toward the men and women representing the 23 Spanish-speaking countries was awesome. The ever-growing Hispanic Community is present and very proud to be living in Spokane.
Muchas gracias! Marta C. Reyes, president Latin-American Women’s Association (Latinas), Spokane