Letters To The Editor

Washington state

I-695 not such a bargain after all

Initiative 695 was passed without looking at the wake it would cause. It brings our licensing down to $30. But what else will it do for the state of Washington? What will happen to our roads and rest stops that this money helps to keep up? What about city transportation? Where is this money going to come from now? It doesn’t grow on trees.

“Council begins search for budget cuts” (SpokesmanReview, Nov. 15) talks about what the city was going to have to do in response to I-695. The city has to conjure up a way to cut $3.6 million from the annual budget.

Along with the budget cut, there will be some labor layoffs taking place. This is just in the city of Spokane. The effect of I-695 on the state is estimated at a $750 million loss for the year 2000.

I-695 was not properly thought through. A $30 licensing fee is very nice but the cutbacks it will entail are not worth it. Jessica R. Small Tekoa

Majority rules - or misrules

In his Nov. 16 editorial, Gary Crooks almost answers his own question. Voting on every tax and fee is called limited direct democracy, and that’s what’s wrong.

Democracy is rule by the majority. With majority rule as the only criterion, anything can become law, depending on the ever-changing whims of the majority. They can even vote the majority into financial slavery. Jon J. Tuning Spokane

Don’t accept threats, whining

If you listen and read about the destructive effects of passing Initiative 695 you would think license fees were the only source of tax income to the state. The $30 tax per vehicle will generates more tax income for the state than it would’ve in years past because there are many times more vehicles on the road today. Yet the state uses select sectors for reducing services to threaten the voters.

They were elected to carry out our voting wishes, not to threaten us.

If cut are to be made, let’s start with the surplus in middle management, nonessential employees and parttime people, reduce use of consultants and stop all the expensive studies carried out by the state, city and counties. Most of all, insist on department managers reducing their budget, not spending for fear of losing it.

The truth is, the state has the largest windfall of tax dollars in years through increased property taxes by reevaluating property prices twice yearly, new industries, retail stores, shopping center, new homes and the ever growing migration of people to our area. We are talking the largest increase in tax dollar income amount ever collected by the state, cities and counties. Yet they cry that they’re broke and need more tax dollars.

Look around you and see the growth. That means a lot of additional tax dollars. So don’t be misled by the threats or the incompetent officials. Start asking questions and let’s vote these people who are misinforming us out of office. They don’t deserve the positions. Herschel Stoops Spokane

Firearms

Guns also save lives

After killing her dog and cutting the power to her rural home, the serial killer began to corner the widow in her darkened house. Retrieving her late husband’s .357 revolver, the widow shot and killed a monster who has previously murdered several women and had a list of future victims in his car. The widow’s life was spared because she had instant access to a loaded handgun.

Firearms, usually handguns, have saved thousands of lives and could have saved thousands more. Handgunarmed citizens thwart some 1.7 million crimes, annually.

Thirty-one states allow licensed citizens to carry concealed handguns. Their enormously successful programs have dramatically reduced crime and saved lives. Handguns are also permitted for hunting in almost all of the 50 states.

However, the gun ban lobby and the media totally ignore the aforementioned facts about handguns. If a handgun is misused, anti-gun extremists, from Bill Clinton to (letter writer) Joan Harmon, start demanding “sensible” gun control. Do Clinton, Harmon and others really think they’re fooling anyone? To the gun haters, “sensible” means a total ban on civilian-owned firearms.

Let’s not allow anti-gun lobby hysteria, misinformation and propaganda to overrule truth, facts and common sense. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.

Don’t lock up guns and free criminals

Recently, President Clinton offered clemency to 16 members of the Armed Forces for National Liberation, or FALN, Puerto Rican terrorist group.

It is my understanding that 12 of the terrorists were convicted of possessing “unregistered firearms,” meaning they were caught with firearms regulated under the 1934 National Firearms Act, such as machine guns and sawedoff shotguns. Nine were convicted of carrying firearms during the commission of seditious conspiracy and interference with interstate commerce by violence. Nine were convicted of conspiracy to make a “destructive device” (such as a pipe bomb. Two were convicted of possessing firearms without serial numbers.

The president’s action confirms that he is not interested in ending gun violence. He is not interested in only keeping the guns out of the “wrong hands.” He is not interested in justice, upholding the law or ensuring the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Citizens need to fight against this hypocrisy by urging Congress to concentrate on crime control, not gun control. Please contact your Congress members today and ask them to reform our ailing criminal justice system and keep violent offenders behind bars. Let the guilty pay the price for their crimes, not the innocent. Dobierre G. Bassuer Spokane

Other topics

Honor hard-won right by voting

“Not for Ourselves Alone,” a TV documentary on PBS recently, heralded the 72-year struggle to obtain voting rights for women in the United States led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Election returns for fall 1999 were announced along with the alarmingly low turnout of voters, both men and women. Has the interest of citizens to vote in our democracy fallen so low? Did Anthony and Stanton after all do all their work for themselves alone? Where are their descendants who have benefited so much in so many ways when voting time arrives?

In many places and times the right to vote has been highly valued; battles have been fought to gain it; lives have been sacrificed for it. We here still have the freedom to vote or the freedom to choose not to vote. Why do so many chose the latter? For whatever reason, one should remember that every vote not cast gives those votes cast far greater influence in the future course of our country.

Compare the ease of voting today with the trials and the ridicule endured by Anthony and Stanton in their fight to guarantee women the right to vote. Make their efforts on our behalf count. Accept the responsibility and exercise the right to vote. Become informed and be at the polls to voice your opinion when next election day rolls around. Carol C. Renfrew Moscow

We have an epidemic of killing

It seems we have a growing epidemic here in Spokane. Spouses killing their spouses and, worse yet, parents and/or relatives killing their children.

I wish I had a cure and a solution. All I can do is pray in silence and shed a tear in private. I guess God needs more angels. Tami N. Sorensen Spokane

Canal transfer must be stopped

Our government and free press fill us with half truths, outright lies and selective reporting to keep us stirred up and fighting amongst ourselves on all fronts. Why? Could it be, in part, to keep us occupied and divided?

In this page on July 30, Steve Dunham informed us about the secretive January 1997 Panama Law No. 5. Two years before taking possession of the canal, Panama violated the neutrality treaty by giving China, via Hutchison Port Holdings, a 50-year lease on the entrance ports, Rodman Naval Station and Albrook Air Force Station.

Results from this information: silence from the readers and free press.

In Congress, Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage introduced a resolution to contest the transfer of the Panama Canal. Result: no hearings, no vote. Congress is too busy on spending bills until the session ends. Will we, as a nation, unite on one goal until Dec. 31 and stop this insanity now or pay a bigger price later in American lives?

Are we still a nation of free-thinking, freedom-loving Americans or apathetic, brainwashed sheep being led to the slaughter by our divided, too-busy silence? Mary A. Davidson Spokane

Correction

Due to a downloading error, “” was dropped from the text of Tom Agnew’s Nov. 19 letter. Agnew wrote about the precedent for development space that would be set, in his view, if county commissioners approve The Orchards at Liberty Lake. References to “mile” should’ve read half mile.