Letters To The Editor

OVER THE LINE

Make aquifer protection uniform

Re: the proposed Burlington Northern Santa Fe fueling facilities at Hauser. This is a golden opportunity for Kootenai County commissioners to lead the people who depend and rely on the pure water from our aquifer to a sensible, dependable answer of this question.

We all know that many fuel storage facilities exist over our aquifer. These existing facilities do not have the safety features for spill prevention and detection as the proposed BNSF facilities. A position of no fueling facilities, when so many do and have existed for many years, is indefensible.

The focus on this question is an opportunity to introduce legislation requiring all storage of hazardous materials meet standards of detection and prevention of leakage into our aquifer.

The spill prevention and detection as proposed by BNSF and or any improvements you may propose could be a model for any proposed legislation. Allow time for existing facilities to implement any improvements required by law. James H. Strandy Spokane

Reporting on BNSF is unfair

I don’t mind the scrutiny The Spokesman-Review gives Burlington Northern Sante Fe as long as it is balanced, objective and factual. The scrutiny, however, has been decidedly one-sided.

Given the coverage we’ve received, the paper has an obligation to its readers to check into the wild comments our opponents make and the tactics they employ. For example, besides distorting our Montana record, they have claimed in public forums that Airway Heights invited us to locate there and that our facility would have to be listed in all real estate contracts. Both things are untrue.

We have provided The Spokesman-Review with information rebutting these and other untruths spread by our opponents, but have never seen any of it in the paper.

Now our critics have begun to smear our employees by charging that our employees abuse drugs and alcohol and are not tested for either, resulting in our having serious safety problems. Again, all untrue. Our safety record is one of the best in the industry. We do test employees and because of our exemplary record, we are not required by the Federal Railway Administration to test as frequently as others.

Instead of investigating whether there is any substance to such wild charges, your reporter is often content to just repeat a charge, as if the ability to put a name with a charge removes the reporter from any obligation to check its veracity. How about the same kind of scrutiny for our critics? Kevin Barker, community projects manager Spokane

Project promoter not into altruism

Guy St. Louis’ Nov. 1 guest column about the proposed Rockford Bay development was amusing. He says it’s really all about meeting a need for adequate housing. He states there would be no environmental impact from building a 650-acre golf course and 350 adjacent homes. He says the proposed development can coexist with wildlife. And lastly, he insinuates we as a human race, as living organisms, may die out without the new blood his planned community would create.

St. Louis parades himself through the pages of your newspaper as a philosophical do-gooder bent only on providing for the advancement of society. I say the emperor has no clothes on!

A need for adequate housing? Such a need won’t be met by building an overpriced golf course adjacent to luxury vacation homes. The average mass of men require more modest accommodations. No environmental impact? Encouraging an extra few thousand people to visit the lake every weekend might make some impact. After all, a handful of people will live in each of those 350 houses and another handful will go to play on the golf course.

The development can coexist with wildlife? I suppose all the deer and tree-dwelling animals and insects will simply learn to make do on golf course grass. Saving the human race? Well, why not a campground? Wouldn’t that save the human race just as well?

St. Louis could cut his column down to one word: “money.” Paulette Burgess Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Better uses for money than raises

I picked up the paper last week to read that a citizen committee was appalled at how little our county officials’ yearly wage was.

Gee, I could easily live on the $61,000 a year that Commissioner Phil Harris makes, and on what Commissioners Kate McCaslin and John Roskelley make as well.

What I would like to know is where was this citizen’s committee when the funding cuts to Spokane Mental Health were made? I think the money that would be used for county officials’ pay raises should be used to reinstate the programs that were cut at Spokane Mental Health.

On $61,000 a year, I could live comfortably, pay my bills and pay for private mental health care that my daughter so badly needs. Helen Wilkerson Spokane

Consortium budget less than reported

This letter is in follow-up to the Oct. 23 article on the Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium.

Since 1992, the focus of the consortium has been community education and coordination of prevention and intervention efforts. Our 200 members have developed and launched many innovative and model programs. Among others, these programs have included a children’s waiting room, a workplace training program, community education campaigns and foster pet program for victims.

These programs are important to change attitudes and beliefs that contribute to the epidemic of violence in our homes, to break the intergenerational cycle of violence and provide needed assistance to victims and their children.

The consortium has not had $22 million to implement its programs, as stated in the article. Funding received from the Centers for Disease Control totals approximately $2.2 million over three years. If we had $22 million, we would have launched many more innovative and collaborative programs.

The loss of our federal funding is not a reflection of the groundbreaking work of our members and community. It was a poor review process that cost us needed additional funds to sustain existing efforts and implement new projects targeting our children and young adults to educate them about healthy relationships and enhance intervention services. Our project and another model project in Eugene, Ore., both lost funding.

We thank Sen. Patty Murray for her efforts to examine the funding process and our community supporters who assist us to sustain and enhance our vital work. Jennifer Pearson Stapleton, executive director Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium

Project fine example of volunteerism

On Oct. 16, I had the pleasure of being part of a tremendous volunteer effort at the Martindale Apartments. On that day, deemed “Raise the Roof” day by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, approximately 100 volunteers converged on the old Hillyard High School building, 5313 North Regal. The exterior entry and main portions of the hallways on all three floors were painted. Other volunteers constructed part of the fence to enclose a playground area for resident children. Still others scrubbed vacant apartments.

I thank a fun, polite and hard-working group of about 80 Gonzaga students for turning out at 8 a.m. They were joined by members of church organizations, civic organizations, tenants and neighbors. Special thank to the volunteers from COPS Northeast. This dedicated group of gals not only “adopted” an apartment, they were at the building late the night before setting up the hospitality room, then up early on Saturday to feed the hungry workers. I’ve been working with COPS Northeast volunteers for just over a year. They provide a phenomenal service to the Hillyard neighborhood. Most of them serve with at least one other community service organization. I’m honored to work with such great people.

One of the best things that came out of this day was a connection between these volunteers, most who qualify for senior status, and the Gonzaga students. All the COPS volunteers could talk about for several days was how polite and respectful the students were. What a great example of teamwork! Bonnie A. Sherar neighborhood resource officer, COPS Northeast, Spokane

AGRICULTURE

Republicans’ reform really a debacle

Franklin Roosevelt started farm subsidies in the 1930s to help farmers survive during the Depression. Ever since, most Republican farmers have clamored for free markets and a right to plant fence to fence. They finally got their wish with the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR). The act has been a dismal failure and Congress just passed a bailout package worth nearly $15 billion to help farmers stay in business.

Every Democrat-controlled Congress since FDR’s time has passed bills to help farmers. They recognized the need for such laws to save the family farm and not let corporate-type farms or vertical-integration farming systems take over American agriculture. They also realized agricultural products will always be a factor in foreign affairs, through trade embargoes or tariff restrictions.

Tom Foley was right. When he was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, family farms prospered due to the myriad farm programs passed by his committee through congress and signed by the president. Area wheat farmers complained loudly about all this government interference in their lives but were much better off financially than they are under the new FAIR program. One needs to be careful what one wishes for. Sometimes, the government knows best.

We can only hope the new bailout package will provide enough financial to save farmers from bankruptcy until the Democrats regain control of Congress and pass some sensible farm programs that work as in the past. Family farming is a way of life that must not be lost. Norman L. Kennedy Harrison

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Don’t punish for addictions

It’s distressing to see that Philip Zammit (Letters, Oct. 27) question whether smokers or alcoholics should be given food by the Spokane Food Bank. I fail completely to understand how there can be so much tolerance for abortion and homosexuality nowadays while there’s so little compassion for smokers or alcoholics.

What difference should it make whether someone smokes or is addicted to alcohol, as to whether they should be able to get some assistance so they can be properly fed?

First, Zammit errs by calling smoking and alcoholism habits. They’re not habits but addictions. It’s much easier to change a habit than an addiction. Currently, of every 100 smokers who tries to quit, only five succeed. The only lower success rate is for alcohol. Of every 100 alcoholics who try to quit, only three succeed. This compares to cocaine and heroin, where of every 100 addicts who try to quit, seven are successful.

So Zammit proposes that addicts of the two most addictive substances should be denied food by the food bank. That is as lacking in compassion as Hitler’s “useless eaters” philosophy.

Let’s look at everyone as the sacred person he or she is, created by God, equal in God’s eyes, and help everyone. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” In our society, it appears those who have become the least are the addicts. Let’s not turn our back on them or we will be sorry later. John A. Perkins Colton

More people should ride bus

I am a bus rider. Many people are riding in the morning and evening, going to and from work. There would be many more if people were realistic about what their incomes will allow them to do. Many people are driving cars they can’t afford to buy and maintain. They will find themselves unable to pay for their children’s health insurance, clothing or food because of keeping a car. Then they might go to a food bank to get help.

I met a young man at the bus stop, a father of three young children. He had figured out that he could save $14 a month by riding the bus instead of using his car. He also saved wear and tear on his older car and delayed the necessity of buying a new one. His head is on straight. Too bad there aren’t more like him. Dorothy E. Carter Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

What about Keyes?

Dan Webster’s article, “My fellow bibliophiles” (Oct. 31) claimed to be “a guide to the major candidates’ books, plus a brief look at each of the presidential wannabes.”

Obviously, Webster doesn’t consider Ambassador Alan Keyes to be a major candidate who deserves to be mentioned alongside the elite contenders. Yet, Webster has no qualms about including the likes of Donald Trump in this list of presidential wannabes.

Is it just a coincidence that all of the candidates Webster considers major are rich, middle-aged white men? Keyes may not have a huge financial war chest like the other candidates but he is establishing a highly effective national grass-roots campaign. Keyes’ victory in the Alabama straw poll suggests that he has the message and the ability to attract large numbers of voters all across the country.

Perhaps Keyes was omitted because Webster is not aware that Keyes has authored two great books, “Our Character, Our Future: Reclaiming America’s Destiny” and “Masters of the Dream: The Strength and Betrayal of Black America.”

Or maybe Keyes was omitted because he was speaking the truth when he said that, “One of the most important aspects of the media and establishment power play is that they repress what is actually happening in order so as to manipulate our minds that we will be too demoralized to pursue what we truly believe is right for the country.” Steven M. Busch Spokane

Look where we’re spending money

Often one reads or hears in the news that the majority of our senior citizens don’t have - and cannot get - insurance to cover prescription costs. Then the mind-boggling story comes out that our government has set aside $3 million for non-lethal military training of Iraqi opposition members, but for now there would be no training in combat skills. For now? Will combat skill training come next?

Has it been ascertained that these opposition members will not go back to their country and use these skills, whatever they may be, against our government?

Will someone please help me understand why our government gives preference on spending money on a foreign opposition group instead of filling the money basket to help our more deserving senior citizens. Kay M. Cameron Hayden, Idaho

OTHER TOPICS

Locke seemingly wants it both ways

I’m confused. In a recent letter to Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, Gov. Gary Locke admonished Knowles for seeking to exempt Alaska fisheries from Endangered Species Act requirements to protect Columbia River salmon in Alaskan waters. Locke admonished Knowles that, “It is bad principle and practice to lock away any tool that might be needed to save a threatened species.”

Yet here at home, Locke has often stated, most notably in the Capitol for a Day meeting in the Tri-Cities this summer, that dam modifications or breaching in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers is off the table as an option for salmon recovery in the Columbia River system. This he said before the scientific and economic studies have been completed on this issue.

How does Locke’s position on dam modifications and/ or breaching square with his written statements to Knowles that, “It is bad principle and practice to lock away any tool that might be needed to save a threatened species”? Locke, many of your constituents would like you to clear up this confusion. Bob Wilson Richland

S-R endorsement worth little

Looks like receiving an endorsement by The Spokesman-Review is not very desirable. Is The Spokesman-Review out of touch with the community? When you miss eight out of 12 endorsements (Washington state and city of Spokane), I would say so. Wayne Lythgoe Colbert

Editor’s note: Endorsements reflect this newspaper’s judgments about who and what will best serve the long-term best interests of the people of this community, region and country. They do not seek to reflect or garner popularity.