Letters To The Editor

Tue., Sept. 14, 1999

SPOKANE MATTERS

Secondhand smoke is different

Re: the Sept. 13 letter from Scott and Lynn Messmer, “Support will go to another fair.”

None of the nine examples are concerned with any habit that eventually kills the one directly inhaling the product and has been shown to harm those around them as well! No one ever was forced to inhale any of these minor visual offenses against their will.

Unfortunately, any sudden turn of breeze takes volumes of smoke from your cigarettes up the nose of any unfortunate in its path, against their will if they choose to be a nonsmoker. What compares to that?

When any of these nine examples starts to threaten other people’s health and gives an undeserved and mistaken image of coolness that impresses so many kids, we should all support more bans at the fair. The fair is a place where kids and families come together to see their neighbors and enjoy Spokane variety and traditions.

In the meantime, you can keep your white sneakers and denim, eat all the buttery corn on the cob you please, and keep on peddling those hot tubs. At least if I think you have poor taste, I can ignore it - unlike carcinogens being pumped deep into my lungs. Your comparisons are way, way off. Frank J. Percy Spokane

What’s so different about fair ban?

Re: Kevin Sutton’s Sept. 1 letter, “No fair really sums it up.”

If he truly understands and puts up with smoking bans in restaurants, malls and office buildings, what makes smoking at the fair any different? People are still forced to breathe in his toxic fumes and someone has to pick up after him.

If he truly understood the warning label on each pack, he never would have started the disgusting, deadly drug addiction. Donald G. Wallace Spokane

Behavioral bans overdone

This trend of banning smoking at outdoor events has gone a little bit overboard. Issuing citations for misdemeanor trespass for being caught smoking at the Spokane Fair is ludicrous. People are invited to the fair aren’t they? The definition of a trespasser is basically an uninvited intruder. What message is the fair trying to send? Smokers are not welcome is how it reads to me.

Since we seem to be on a roll with banning offensive behavior, how about banning passing gas and burping at outdoor events? Both are very offensive, sometimes hazardous behaviors. Could we issue the offenders a trespassing citation too?

See what I mean?

When we get finished bashing the people who smoke, someday, maybe we can get on to more important issues of the day, yes? Lisa J. Brown Priest River, Idaho

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

See past pedigree to the pooch within

Wouldn’t life be great if we could just be treated like dogs? People wouldn’t care if you were pure, shiny black and had freckles on your feet. They wouldn’t care if you had fat rolls wrinkling your forehead. Or if the diamonds were real on your collar or just rhinestones. So you chipped your tooth on a bone - that jagged smile looks cute.

It is a sad fact of life that we humans don’t look at each other with unforgiving eyes. That hatred and racism, prejudice and jealousy are quickly surfaced, for what appears on the surface.

Do we hate our dogs when they’re old and gray? Hunched over from years of living? They all come in different colors. Some even have different-colored eyes.

Let’s face it - we’re all just a bunch of mutts. We’ve all been mixed together since the beginning of time. No one sports a pedigree. We all come in different sizes, with different genes. We all live on the same planet and we’ll all be going to the next place together.

So quit barking at each other. Put on some gentle, patient eyes. Be damn glad you’ve got food in your bowl, the sun on your back and a foot to scratch the fleas. Jeannie U. Greene Spokane

Strive for Duty, Honor, Fairness

Re: “Jerseyites have activist judge’s disease” (Region, Aug. 10).

I disagree with columnist John Leo’s view that the Boy Scouts are entitled to discriminate against anyone because as they use public property for meetings, campouts and even parades. This is one of the reasons Camp Fire accepts boys.

Only about 40 percent of Americans ever go to church and many of those churches don’t discriminate against anyone. As for the other 60 percent, most never think about gays and really don’t care what they do so long as they are left alone. Leo has neither a moral majority nor logic on his side.

Freedom of association has never existed in this country. People have been blacklisted, fired, blackballed, even killed not because of who or what they were but because of who they associated with. Organizations have lost support because of who they associated with or refused to associate with. The same is true of politicians.

Leo’s examples are as weak as his excuses. The St. Patrick’s Day parade is held on public ground and is open to everyone, Protestant as well as Catholics, and those who are Irish for a day. They have no legal right to bar anyone.

Discrimination is wrong in any form. It is also against federal law. The Boy Scouts of America, of all groups, should be open to everyone. Judith Jones Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

There’s more to WSU than partying

Re “WSU ranked 9th? Let’s party” (Region, Aug. 29).

In the article, D.F. Oliveria takes Washington State University’s No. 9 ranking and makes it seem as though partying is the only thing WSU is good for. He says, `Wazzu may be last in football, last in basketball, but it’s a national contendah when it comes to partying till you drop.”

Although WSU may be last in football and basketball, the university excels in its academic programs.

WSU has academic programs that are very well known throughout the nation. The honors college offers a program ranked among the top eight in the country. The university’s graduate programs in education, sociology and audiology were recently ranked among the top 50 in the country by U.S. News and World Report. WSU also has the best equipped veterinary hospital in the world and is tops in the state for engineering students passing the EIT licensing exam on their first try.

Concluding his commentary Oliveria wrote, “But you gotta wonder - is this a place you want to send your kid?”

The answer to that question is yes. WSU is a national contender in much more than partying. And while some students will always come here to party, many more will come for the quality education. Scott C. Lindblom Pullman

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