Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Watch out for political chameleons

It’s chameleon spotting season again. You know, that amazing little green lizard with the ability to change the color of its skin to blend in with any background it chooses, in order to escape detection?

Even more amazing are human beings who think they are chameleons. Since this behavioral phenomenon occurs only around election time, voters might miss it if they don’t know what they’re looking for. So, to help them brush up on this year’s chameleon spotting skills, they should keep these tips in mind:

Best time to spot: Usually in autumn, just prior to primary and general elections.

Identifying characteristics: City Council incumbent, known to run in packs of five; lords position over others and is a master of the dog-and-pony show.

Pre-season behavior: Isolates self from public; voting habits reflect acquired taste for special interests; ignores the will of the people for their own good; hopes taxpayers won’t notice their wallet is missing.

Election-season behavior: Tries to blend in with other candidates; pretends to be campaigning against an imaginary incumbent; connects with the public through campaign ads on billboards and bus benches; asks for your vote so they can do it to you again.

When you spot a chameleon, don’t run. Show the person you’re not afraid. Tell them you see them. Slowly back away and nobody will get hurt.

Once a chameleon, always a chameleon. Never re-elect a chameleon. John Gutierrez Spokane

Little things mean a lot

My daughter and I went to Pigstock in the park and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! One of the reasons we had such a good time was that I didn’t have to wander all over looking for somewhere to put our trash. When I got close to finishing my meal, I looked for a trash can and noticed five of them within my range of sight.

Another thing I noticed: When they got full they were emptied right away. The lack of bees and flies was noticeable and appreciated. Accomplishing it was a logistical nightmare for the planning committee, I’m sure. But it was done well.

The small things can make or break an event like this. It helps Spokane’s reputation as well. Not only do we do big things like Bloomsday, Pigstock and Hoopfest but we just don’t leave the trash laying around. It’s in the details, as they say.

Thanks for making the pigouts wonderful events. We love living here because of things like this. Bobby D. Sams Airway Heights

All sorts of odors can be overdone

Regarding the abortive smoking ban at this year’s Spokane Interstate Fair, what irritates us more than smokers are people who insist on smelling like a perfume factory. There is nothing more offensive to us than people who insist on wearing overbearing amounts of cologne and perfume without giving the people around them a second thought.

Let’s ban the stink. It’s pretty bad when you walk through the livestock barns and could swear you’re standing at a perfume counter in a department store. I’m sure the animals find that offensive, too.

Where do you draw the line? I’ll bet there are more people walking around with an overbearing smell radiating from their bodies than there are smokers. And, they think they smell nice. Tim and Shirley Kallunki Rathdrum

Different strokes - get it?

There seems to be a consensus that all smokers are stupid, dirty, inconsiderate and somehow morally defective people. I’ll bet all of you have met smokers who are none of these things but it suits your purpose to put people down in the effort to get your opinions out.

As to the message smoking sends our children, I am far more concerned about the message we send by allowing alcohol in public. What causes the most traffic accidents? Smoking or drinking? What about domestic violence? Have you ever seen a fight in a bar caused by smoking? I can speak from experience when I say far more damage is done to a family by alcohol than cigarettes.

To all of you who wonder why smokers cannot go two hours at the fair without lighting up, how many of you will pass by the beer garden without stopping? Janis M. Copher Newman Lake

WASHINGTON STATE

Pass I-695 - the state will adjust

Here are some important facts to consider when deciding to vote for or against Initiative 695.

The state has a $1 billion tax surplus, according to the state treasurer.

Cities and counties combined have a $3 billion tax surplus. With a population of 5.5 million, that is a surplus of $727 for every man, woman and child in the state Motor vehicle excise tax fees affected by I-695 are $500 million. If this amount funds all of the programs opponents say it does, what do they spend the rest on?

Our gas tax is the 12th highest in the nation.

We are the sixth-highest-taxed state in the nation.

The combined taxes on a newly acquired vehicle are among the highest. The purchaser of a $20,00 vehicle would pay $1,720 in retail sales tax (assuming an 8.6 percent state and local tax rate), $410 in motor vehicle excise tax and an initial registration fee of $27.75, for a combined tax rate of 10.79 percent.

Colorado voted in the same laws as I-601 (spending cap) and I-695 (vote on tax increases) in 1992. It is working great there. Colorado has cut taxes by $490 million and is currently the 39th-highest-taxed state.

The government can adjust the same way we adjust when they raise our taxes.

Seek out the facts, learn the truth and then vote yes on I-695. Leo J. Fagan Spokane

I-695 could create more problems

The present licensing fee is based on vehicle value. This may be just because it does reflect ability to pay. It does not have any balance relating to road usage, wear or maintenance.

For equality, a licensing fee based on factors contributing to road wear and maintenance would seem like a more logical approach. The following factors should be considered:

Miles traveled. This tax revenue comes directly from the pumps and probably has equality.

Weather factor. This we cannot control or tax (if they could find a way, they would).

Weight. This is the major and direct factor contributing to road deterioration. If we need and want to change licensing fees, let’s tax where the load belongs. Tie it to the gross weight of the vehicle. Age of the vehicle might be considered for a reduction factor.

I-695 is not the correct approach. If it were to pass, it would probably take two years to solve the problems created. The solution that may come forth could be worse than the present. In the interim, if you think we have road problems now. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Vincent M. Moore, Jr. Spokane

There is no downside to I-695

There seems to be some misinformation being published on Initiative 695. Some are claiming it will cause a state income tax. It won’t because our state Constitution explicitly prohibits an income tax.

It is incredibly difficult in Washington to change the Constitution. Doing so takes a two-thirds vote of the state House and of the state Senate, and a vote of the people. We aren’t ever going to have an income tax in Washington, with or without I-695.

Some say I-695 makes vehicles subject to property taxes. I-695 requires voter approval for tax increases. This would clearly be a new tax, so taxpayers would have to agree. Even the Washington Association of Counties (opposed to I-695) admits it’ll never happen.

Politicians claim the government can’t afford I-695. Yet Washington is the sixth-highest-taxed state in the nation. We have a $1 billion tax surplus and license tab fees make up a small percentage of state revenues. Besides, the $500 million per year in so called lost revenue will be pumped right back into our state’s economy and cause a huge surge in sales tax and business tax revenue. Ted D. Martin Colville

Anti-I-695 arguments weak

Re: Thomas L. McArthur (Letters, Sep. 13)

McArthur states the average savings of $142 will not encourage anyone to buy a new car and calls it “stupid.” the effects in this area will vary. Some may save enough to be encouraged to buy a newer car and some a brand new one. The factor he leaves out is that when you do buy even a modest new car, you must pay $500 in license fees and many people I know don’t buy new cars for just that reason. In any case, I could use an extra $142.

Later, he asks if this will improve a litany of items, some not funded by license fees. I guess he feels we should just turn over all our money to the state and that would guarantee everything would be wonderful. Sorry, I earn my money and I want to choose what I do with it. more and more money does not solve problems, it will only present different ones.

McArthur calls Tim Eyman a “flim-flam man”, which I guess makes me one, too, as I support this initiative. Judging by his stereotyping of motorhomes as “road clogging behemoths which should suffer” I must extrapolate that he thinks truck drivers should be shot.

After reading his letter, I feel he has very strong opinions and a very weak argument. Roger W. Baldwin Veradale

Resentment undermines position

Re: Thomas L. McArthur’s Sep. 13 letter regarding Initiative 695 made a little sense until the last paragraph, when he showed his bitterness toward the motor home crowd. Either he is one of those many who try to go through a park so fast he can’t see anything or he can’t afford an RV and hates those of us who can.

I always thought I was average but I guess I am not. I would save almost $1,000 on license fees if I-695 passes. My vehicles are a 1979 motorcycle, 1986 pickup, a 27-foot 1992 motor home and a 1997 car.

The unfairness of the current tax on these vehicles is that the two people in my family seldom use more than one vehicle at a time. If it were not for the ridiculous price of licenses in this state, I would have a newer motorcycle, pickup and motor home.

I, like most motor home drivers, do everything I can to be considerate of everyone on the road. I wonder if McArthur does. I hope his anger subsides before it harms his health. George C. Ragland Veradale

Vehicle tax fee basis cockeyed

Why does the state of Washington use the manufacturer’s suggested retail price to base its fees for the license tabs? The tabs for my 1998 vehicle were based on the MSRP, which was approximately $5,000 higher than what I paid for the car new.

Everyone knows a new car depreciates the minute it leaves the showroom, yet the state uses the MSRP as a fee base for the second year of registration. The second year has no depreciation factor, according to the state. The third year has a small depreciation and depreciation is taken into account thereafter. This procedure allows an inflated and unrealistic value to be used to determine the license tab fees for the life of the car.

Passage of Initiative 695 will eliminate this deceptive, fraudulent practice and perhaps allow more citizens to purchase vehicle insurance. Opponents are sounding all sorts of alarms if this passes but the measure provides opportunity for the Legislature to pass emergency legislation on an annual basis, should the need arise.

Hopefully, passage of I-695 will restore some common sense to our taxing procedures and force the Legislature to realize citizens have a higher priority for their income than allowing the state to maintain a large budget surplus. Douglas P. Wendler Spokane

IN THE PAPER

Conspiracy theory story a disservice

How disappointing it was to see that in the Sept. 12 edition a fine article about a father’s efforts to share his love of math and science with his daughter had been canceled out by an article describing some North Idahoans’ paranoid beliefs about jet contrails.

Why are the conspiracy theories about contrails explained in great detail while the comments of scientists get short shrift, as if they’re all a bunch of spoilsports?

The Spokesman-Review isn’t the only newspaper that has a hard time figuring out what balanced reporting means when it comes to covering paranoid beliefs and junk science. But it’s essential for editors to understand that balance does not mean presenting delusions and groundless speculation as having explanatory power that are equal to scientific evidence. As Carl Sagan liked to say, extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof.

The Spokesman-Review missed a great opportunity to stimulate and educate readers’ interest about the meteorology and physics that govern what we see in the sky. Instead, we got another Gothic installment of the paranoid Northwest folklore that is incubated and spread by seemingly bemused reporters. This article is bound to be picked up by the wire services and that will further define the reputation of our area.

Newspapers and scientists share an obligation and responsibility to give the public rational, understandable and accurate explanations for phenomena such as this. The alternative is to stand by as people sink deeper into the mire of superstition and fear. Elizabeth A. Cox Veradale

`Another World’ is enlightening

I applaud Virginia deLeon, The Spokesman Review’s former cultural reporter, for sharing her experiences as a Peace Corps teacher in a Jordanian village. Her article, “Another World” (Sept. 12) sparked, as she says, “a personal awakening” that apparently transformed her former “cocky and naive” style. She obviously went with an open mind and the cultural exposure has been a tremendously enriching learning experience for her.

About every word in deLeon’s article reflects sensitivity, respect and appreciation for the Jordanian culture. How touching: “I used to think they (girls at the school where she teaches) were happy only because of ignorance. How wrong of me to be so condescending, to assume that my life is better than theirs. Now, I wish I could be more like them.”

Benjamin Franklin was right when he remarked, “The best way to get rid of our prejudices is to travel to other cultures.” Learning and growing have no cultural boundaries.

Thanks for sharing deLeon’s cross-cultural impressions. S.M. Ghazanfar Moscow

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Estate tax rapacious, damaging

Re: Vern Stevens letter, “Republicans’ priorities self-evident,” Sept. 10.

Stevens missed his calling as he knows about estate tax exemptions far in excess of any I have been able to find by consulting experts in the field. Family farms or family businesses qualify for a $1.2 million exemption, not the $7.4 million he states, and only then if family members continue to operate the farm or business.

The heirs in many family operations have spent their lives working in the business so that isn’t exactly having something handed to them on a platter. The family pays all applicable taxes as the years go by and then the government wants to confiscate up to 50 percent of what is left at the time of death. What is fair about that?

This unfair tax causes many family businesses to fail or forces sale to some larger organization. Either option likely causes their loyal employees to lose their jobs.

Stevens is free to vote for Democrats and get very little or no tax relief for anyone (or even another increase) and likely greatly expanded government boondoggle spending. Vote Republican if you think we have too much government already! Sonny Poirier Blanchard, Idaho