Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Be more business-friendly

A recent political ad pointed out that on the Forbes survey Spokane was 161st out of 162 cities. There were many factors taken into consideration, including a friendly business climate. I have observed that another important factor is the “not in my back yard” (NIMBY) stance of many of our area citizens.

Recently, we’ve had groups crop up to oppose many projects which would have had a very positive economic impact in our area. They include the expansion of a tire store on Hamilton, potential development on Five Mile prairie, the location of Wal-Mart above Northpointe and the ongoing plans of a refueling depot on the Rathdrum prairie. All of these could have provided many needed jobs. But too many people selfishly feel, I’ve got mine, tough about you.

I was reared in Hillyard and am certainly aware that there were environmental problems there. But in the last 50 years we have seen major changes by the railroads to be more community-friendly. My personal contacts with the railroad has shown me that those people are very interested in being a good neighbor to the surrounding community.

It seems that every time BNSF makes requested changes to the plans, to make them better, the opposition comes on with more demands.

Do people in this area want to stay at the bottom of the Forbes list or do you want to look at a bigger picture and become more friendly toward those projects which will bring jobs to our area that will support a growing family? Erling J. Hjortedal Spokane

Parking charges much too elastic

We went to see the Marine Band at the Opera House on Oct. 25. It was free, and the people who sponsored this great event took a chance on Spokane people to go and see it. It was well-attended and enjoyed by everyone. We do hope they will do it again for Spokane. Thanks again.

We parked across the street from the Opera House and paid $4 on this night.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to see “Showboat,” and parked in the same parking lot. To our amazement, the attendant said it was $8 for this event. We couldn’t back out as there were other cars behind us, so we had to pay it.

There was a great attendance for this great musical. But what about the people who travel from all over the Northwest to be treated so badly? When “Miss Saigon” comes, will the same parking lot take advantage and charge $12, and then when “Phantom of the Opera” comes will the carge be $16? I hope not.

This is called taking advantage of everyone. It’s no wonder that there are people who think badly of us. Come on, Spokane, give everyone a break for parking in your lots. Alyce L. Bailey Spokane

First up, a new police chief

I suggest that the new City Council assemblage consider appointing a chief of police at their earliest convenience. To expedite this action, it should be obvious by now that the best-qualified person is to be found in the present department. To advertise throughout the country would probably invite another disappointing experience. There are at least three officers in the present department with the qualifications, abilities and local knowledge for capable leadership. Leonard J. LeMay Spokane

Oh, how tolerant we’ve become

I see that the headquarters of “No on Discrimination” is displaying a poster advertising “Northwest Pride’s 3rd annual Diva Show” - a show featuring transvestites.

My heartfelt thanks to the Wells Group for providing a window to display this important announcement of artistry gracing our enlightened city. I certainly hope that the area schools that recently sent fifth-graders to see the symphony won’t “discriminate” against Northwest Pride by failing to take fifth-graders to see the transvestites show. I think exposure of our young people to this artistic pageant would be a fine graphic illustration of our commitment to supporting diversity.

Gosh, it does my heart good to see how sophisticated and politically correct we have become here in Spokanefrancisco. Jim Hundrup Spokane

STA took itself off my route

Re: Dorothy Carter’s letter of Nov. 5 about using the Spokane Transit Authority bus system.

I’m finding it very hard to support STA when it hires out-of-state planners to reroute our bus system instead of locals. My husband takes me to and from work. If I ever have to catch a ride, I will gladly hail a cab before I will ever walk six blocks one way to catch a city bus.

The only thing STA is good for now is sightseeing. Tami N. Sorensen Spokane

OVER THE LINE

Seems the lost patrol monitors roads

Every day, I drive from Post Falls to downtown Spokane. Every day, I watch myself being passed by many other motorists as if I were standing still even though I am going the posted speed limit. Every day, I experience “road rage,” with people driving three feet from my back bumper, then zipping around me, cutting in front of me, giving me an obscene gesture as they go by.

Every day, I never see either a Washington State Patrol car or a Idaho State Police car, except at one of the many wrecks that occur. Every day, I wonder, are the WSP and ISP doing their jobs? Jim Blaine Post Falls

Rockford Bay development a good one

Re: “Proposed development would ruin Rockford Bay” (Roundtable, Oct. 2). To the uninformed, a negative conclusion could be drawn regarding the proposed development. The real shakers and movers will take the time to investigate and research what is really happening before voicing negative opinions.

Take a drive out to Rockford Bay and witness firsthand what has already been accomplished to right the wrongs that have been allowed for decades. Oh, and by the way, the principals are going to put millions at risk in the hope to turn a profit but not at the expense of the environment. Ralph V. Capuano Coeur d’Alene

Project foes can love it or leave

What did I miss? The Rockford Bay development project is privately owned and financed. It carries a tremendous financial risk for the owners. Are they in this to make a profit? Of course they are!

I wonder if recent letter writers Tod T. Marshall, Larry R. and Sue Wright and Paulette Burgess all work for nonprofit organizations or are they simply hypocrites who work for companies with the “nerve” to try to make a profit? Does their conscience bother them when they go to the bank every week?

Judging from recent election results, most people in the Inland Empire continues to be strongly in favor of less government and more individual rights. We have all heard the horror stories of projects being slowed or stopped, at the cost of millions of dollars, because of the spotted owl or snail darter, only to learn these creatures easily adjust to a changing environment. Are we going to allow that in our region?

Hundreds of jobs for our husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters will be created through construction and completion of the Rockford Bay project. Regardless of her economic situation, and jealousy aside, what gives Burgess the right to judge “man’s housing needs”? The thousands living at Liberty Lake-Meadowood would seem to support my position.

To all three I say, go hug a tree, save a spotted owl but don’t you dare come here and spread the environmentalist gospel. Go back to California or wherever you came from! Steve Poldervart Newman Lake

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Attempt to stigmatize fails reality test

Responding to John H. Tofflemire (Nov. 7); the likelihood of children getting brutalized, kidnapped, or murdered by complete strangers, whatever the perpetrators’ sexual orientation, is statistically smaller than what these children could face inside their own homes by family members, friends or acquaintances. Pointing out a criminal act against a child by sexual predators you claim are homosexual, without considering the rest of the story, sounds like a justification for hate crimes against gays. Most sexual predators are heterosexual. Joan E. Harman Coeur d’Alene

Census analyst whacks the facts

“Out of wedlock” (Spokesman-Review, Nov. 9), in which several “conclusions” were reached by Amara Bachu, a U.S. Census analyst, was by far one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of getting the data to fit your conclusions.

This bubblehead, when presented with her own data that out-of-wedlock births seem to be most prevalent among “teenage women, black women, women without a high school diploma and women in the Midwest,” concludes that the reasons for this is because she also found that “more women are postponing marriage to pursue career goals or higher education.” Yeah, right.

I’m sure that the demands of college, graduate programs and careers in investment banking are exactly why poor, teenaged women who have dropped out of high school are having kids without benefit of marriage. After all, having a child when you’re a teenager has always been a clear intellectual choice rather than the terrifying consequence of not thinking at all, hasn’t it?

As to why women who have had one or more out-of-wedlock births seem not to marry after the births, I suggest that this also is not the result of choice.

Bachu could have used her interview to point out that teen pregnancy is also singlehandedly responsible for single mothers and their children being the largest segment of the American population living in poverty. They are also the least likely to ever leave that condition. Lawrence M. Massey Coeur d’Alene

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Buchanan trumps Trump any day

Since you saw fit to publish the attack on presidential candidate Pat Buchanan by millionaire New York developer Donald Trump, allow me to make a couple of observations.

First, Trump’s pompous posturing as the defender of status quo values is tragic and laughable. How deeply moving it is that his majesty has stepped down from Trump Tower long enough to offer his wisdom, gambling dollars and latest bimbo conquest to the American people. The only thing he represents to me is greed and a bad hairdo.

Second, Pat Buchanan is saying nothing other than what a lot of good Americans believed at the beginning of World War II and which subsequent events have by no means disproved. If you believe that this country should be policeman to the world, then don’t listen. If you are perfectly happy with the idea of relinquishing national sovereignty to the new world order represented by Bush-lite and Al Gore, then don’t listen. If you’re comfortable with seeing Buchanan unfairly smeared as an anti-Semite because he fails to break into hosannahs every time Israel asks for another billion dollars to assist with its expulsion of the Palestinians, then plug your ears and shut your eyes. You’re a typical voter.

I’m not an enthusiastic Buchanan supporter. His religious posturing and pandering to those who would take away a woman’s reproductive rights are antithetical to me. But I take sincere joy and hope in hearing him say out loud what I know many good Americans are thinking. Go, Pat, go! Ken Burchell Coeur d’Alene

Gore sure knows how to pick ‘em

Does our press remember that Tony Coelho, currently Al Gore’s campaign manager, at the time Jim Wright was forced to resign his position as Speaker of the House, also resigned his House seat, apparently to avoid investigation of alleged fund-raising irregularities? Reminds one of Walter Mondale’s employment of Bert Lance, a former Carter OMB director and one indicted for bank fraud, also as campaign manager. To do Mondale credit, he did disconnect Lance from his campaign. Some candidates, however, will seemingly employ any character in order to get elected. Donald M. Barnes Spokane

THE ENVIRONMENT

Vigilance is necessary now

I was ashamed of the lack of concern about environmental issues as reported in your recent Research 2000 poll. The poll reflected a paltry 2 percent response on concerns revolving around environmental issues. When do we wake up? When it’s too late?

We are very fortunate to enjoy and live in one of the last bastions of pristine environmental conditions in comparison to many areas of our state. Now is the time for sound, pro-active planning to protect our lifestyle. Or do we wait until it’s too late?

Recently, at a Department of Ecology public review of the Washington Nonpoint Source Management Plan, I was amazed to learn that Spokane County has no firm plan of action. We sit over the second-largest aquifer in the state and have only a vague plan of action or enforcement. Clark, King and Snohomish counties all have NSM plans in place. Why not Spokane County? It’s obvious, or is it? Supposedly, no one cares.

Wake up, Spokane. We all must remember, as our population and urban sprawl increase, random acts of negligence and disregard can and will add up to a powerful cumulative dose of contamination. Hydrocarbons (fuels, oils and lubricants) fertilizer, pesticides and industrial wastes need to be safely contained and disposed of. As residents of Spokane, with the aquifer as our main clean water source, we must remember that every toxin that hits the soil, drains into our stormwater system or is improperly disposed of has a good chance of impacting our own environment. Larry L. Snyder Spokane

Unspoiled land must be preserved

President Clinton’s effort to protect areas of roadless national forest land is an opportunity to save what little remains of our natural heritage. Visitors to national forests in Western Oregon and Washington can readily see the destruction caused by decades of road building and clearcutting. While there is ample evidence of similar damage in the national forest in Eastern Washington, Idaho and other areas, there are still significant tracts of pristine forest that can and should be protected.

Logging on much national forest land is a losing proposition, economically and environmentally. Timber sales proceeds may not be adequate to even meet the cost of roads needed to remove the trees. Taxpayers make up the difference. The cost to the environment can be calculated in lost wildlife habitat, polluted streams and scenic and recreational opportunities. Our children will pay the price.

In response to opinion polls showing support for protecting public lands, the timber industry runs radio and television commercials that express a new concern for the land and more responsible logging practices. Let them start by nurturing land already carved up.

After decades of thoughtless destruction, a line has been drawn and people need to inform their congressional representatives that they cross that line at their peril. Jeanna Shelley Spokane

Dam removal a quick but foolhardy fix

Re: “Dam removal too easy.”

Jean Toutant’s letter of Nov. 9 reveals neither intelligence nor a grasp of history. Government aided the barge industry in the 1930s because railroads had a monopoly on bulk freight and used that power to jack up freight costs. Freight costs plummeted after the barge companies started competing. To suggest truck freight as an alternative is to blissfully ignore the inefficiencies and environmental costs of trucking versus rail and barge.

Dam removal is the easiest way to make ourselves feel better about salmon (like Initiative 696). The government easily forgets the hundreds of millions of dollars pumped into the treasury every year from Northwest hydropower. And few people other than Northeasterners understand that the existence of hydropower in the Northwest is the single biggest reason our power rates are so low. This clean and green form of energy offers the highest conversion efficiency of any electricity generation method and is absolutely nonpolluting.

No, dam removal is not the most intelligent option. It is the ignorant option for those who would put their head in the sand, hoping Enron will come to save the day with dozens of NOX-producing gas turbines to replace the lost hydropower. Or 1,600 migratory bird-killing windmills. Which would you prefer? Roger Clarke-Johnson Kirkland, Wash.