Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

`Loose cannon’ not what we need

Your April 9 article about “Sheriff Steve Eugster” calls out for comment.

Line 1 says, “Steve Eugster is outraged. We know because he tells us.”

Eugster can best be described as a loose cannon. He has, it seems, a public comment about each and every subject, large and small. His badgering of city employees is, at the very least, unconscionable.

I have had experience with several other people like him. His approach sows the seeds of its own destruction. We must all realize that this approach severely damages self-confidence and self-esteem and thereby reduces an employee’s ability to do his or her own job.

In spite of what Eugster says, City Councilwoman Roberta Greene’s approach to dealing with people is far and away the best. You catch far more flies with honey then you do with vinegar.

Eugster has some good points but he is only one of several City Council members. His grandstanding approach hurts rather than helps our city. I get the distinct impression that the other people on the council are only along for the ride.

This is not the way to operate this or any other organization. We the taxpayers deserve much better than what Eugster demonstrates. Maurice B. Hickey Spokane

Lack of vision not Eugster’s

Here is my semiannual letter about The Spokesman-Review editorializing in the “news” section.

In his April 9 front page profile of City Councilman Steve Eugster, staff writer Oliver Staley wrote, “While Eugster is criticized for not having an overall vision for Spokane, he says his … one goal (is) … lifting Spokane from its mediocrity and creating a better city for its residents.” Fine.

At a City Council meeting in March, Eugster eloquently spelled out his vision for downtown in an inspiring description of how it would look. It contained many bold, creative ideas accompanied by suggestions on how to achieve them.

This vision followed a clear, concise and painstakingly patient explanation of the hard realities of the parking garage debacle along with ideas for a compromise, nonlitigious way out of the mess.

The whole 20-minute speech was, indeed, one of Eugster’s finest moments yet on the council. This pearl was wasted on Staley, who characterized it simply as a “rambling speech.”

Is The Spokesman-Review, as an institution, so threatened by the activist and educational role played by Eugster in our community? Must a hostile bias pervade all its reporting when its own interests are challenged?

The Spokesman-Review keeps us somnambulant, in the grip of its mediocrity.

To quote Eugster, “At some point, Spokane is going to have to wake up from its big sleep.” Morton Alexander Spokane

THE MILITARY

People in the service, I salute you

This letter goes out to our people at Fairchild Air Force Base.

I just read that the House declared the U.S. GI as “the person of the century.” I am proud that our people appreciate what you do for us both foreign and domestic. We call upon you to make the sacrifices that all of us count on.

It is very easy to take you for granted because the media only highlight the bad things about you and the conflicts we have with countries like Iraq. But you are there during natural disasters, there in our communities making them better places for us to live, there as a symbol of the freedom most Americans take for granted because you give up those rights to protect our rights.

One thing that makes our armed forces so great is their diversity. It is great to see our women in uniform doing the same thing that men do. Other countries do not recognize women as equals in this manner. And although we have a long way to go to end racial discrimination there has been a lot of progress. I met my first Native American chief master sergeant in Turkey last year. You have a Japanese-born vice wing commander at Fairchild. People from several different ethnic backgrounds are making decisions for our future in national defense.

I am proud of all these things. Valuing our differences as strengths rather than weaknesses makes the American military a unique world leader. And for that I am grateful and I salute you! Your patriotism will not go unrecognized.

Congratulations and keep making us proud to be American. Lorenzo C. Herman former U.S. GI, Spokane

YOUNG REFUGEE

Boy was kidnapped in the first place

A parent kidnaps his/her child during a custody dispute, and takes his or her child to a different state to live in hiding. The parent is in violation of the law, a criminal. Charges are filed. The child’s photo is released on bulletins in grocery stores and on milk cartons. Every effort is made to reunite custodial parent and child.

Elian Gonzales was kidnapped. His photo is plastered in newspapers, magazines and clips on TV as a fiery national symbol of freedom to satisfy a faction of political refugees in this country. This fire has been fueled by media and politics to become a frenzy of political debates, divisive action and religious commentary. It’s fodder for fools. Freedom is relative. Do not become blinded to the fact that Elian’s mother, while breaking custodial law, American law and Cuban law, very recklessly endangered her son’s life during the kidnapping.

I can’t imagine Juan Miguel Gonzales sitting idly by, casually waving goodbye to his former wife and precious son as they embark on an illegal, dangerous sea voyage - in a 16-foot boat. Can any thinking person see him relinquishing custody of his son with a “write if you survive and find work?”

The U.S. is not the parent of stolen children. The boy belongs with his father. Marjorie K Watts Coeur d’Alene

Send whole Gonzalez clan back

Hopefully, the overkill reporting of the Elian Gonzalez controversy will soon end. I am up to my hips in the repetitious details.

If Elian is reunited with his father, I suggest that the child’s relatives who find it unbearable to be separated from him return to Cuba. I would be happy to financially contribute to this end. Mary R. McDonnell Chewelah, Wash.

OTHER TOPICS

Seattle brutality one sided

A fellow nonviolent protester at the World Trade Organization “festival of resistance” showed me the article printed a few days ago about the Seattle Police Department report on the contentious event. The piece reinforces the silencing of those of us committed to nonviolence.

Stating that the thousands of nonviolent protesters provided cover for the few highly organized property destroyers implies that was our purpose.

The 400 police certainly would have been sufficient to arrest demonstrators. But the reality was that the facilities to hold such numbers were insufficient. That tear gassing, pepper spraying and beating resisters was the option used is disgusting, considering the displayed adherence to nonviolence. Again, it must be emphasized that the property damage occurred after police began tear gassing and shooting people with rubber bullets.

This destruction was done by a few misguided, yet idealistic, individuals.

All of us on the streets experienced lack of rest, water and food. I am certain there are police who quit because of what they were forced to do. The situation was dehumanizing to police and those of us demanding integrity from the city of Seattle, the secretive ministerial officials and our elected officials.

My dear friend and I endured and witnessed outrageous assaults by police fully aware of the depth of our nonviolence. Even after my friend was beaten and shot in the eye with a rubber bullet, neither she nor other injured people retaliated. I fear the power of our story may go unheeded. Swaneagle Harijan Kettle Falls, Wash.

Increase sport fishing? Say what?

Re: Salmon count likely to be high (April 8).

Only our government would think that a possible increase in returning salmon should mean an increase in sport fishing. How can you think of breaching dams and endangering local taxpayers’ livelihoods and at the same time increase sport fishing for high-incomers’ recreation! Rhonda Stancil St. Maries