Letters To The Editor

Over the line

It’s a ball game, not a reading room

My family and I are mini season ticket holders for Spokane Indians ball games and have been for the past five years. We attend regularly and really enjoy going and watching. But on Aug. 7 something happened that may change our mind about ever going again.

For the last few weeks there has been a gentleman and his family sitting in our section. They have been very enthusiastic cheering our team and have been a delight to have near us.

On Monday, we were enjoying the game and the gentleman and his family were cheering, getting people in our section involved. He had everyone laughing and cheering. It was great. Mind you, this is the section leaders’ job and they don’t do much of that this year.

The gentleman was not obnoxious or rude in any way. He was just having a good time, until they asked him to leave because he was making too much noise. A few people down below us, three to be exact, said the man was too noisy.

Give me a break! Why do people go to a ball game if they can’t yell and root for the home team? Maybe people who don’t care for that should stay home and watch it on TV or listen on the radio.

I speak for quite a few people when I say the actions taken by the ball field employees that night were uncalled for and that they owe that man and his family an apology.

As for us getting our tickets next year — highly doubtful. I don’t believe I want to go to a ball park that can kick a man and his children out of a game for having too much fun. Judy Hammond Post Falls

Spokane matters

Wrong to condemn council majority

Recent letters to this publication have taken the position that our City Council should make all the problems regarding the River Park Square garage just go away. Those who would use every available means to fight a financial loss imposed upon them dishonestly, now simply say a “deal is a deal”, close their minds and embrace ignorance.

To those I ask, where is your sense of right and wrong? Why aren’t you condemning the perpetrators of this unethical deal instead of supporting the burglary of your own city coffers? How do you rationalize supporting the rosy picture being painted about the future successes of this garage when projections backed by rock hard current evidence says otherwise? Are so many so cowed by contention and confrontation that they won’t even fight for themselves, or support those who fight for them.

I believe that to live in a city whose leaders stand up for accountability is superior to living in one whose leaders have no commitment to the taxpayers. I believe that to live in a city whose leaders have the strength of character to support justice for all its citizens is preferable to living in one that manipulates the truth for the benefit of a select few.

I rigorously applaud the majority members of this city council, including Mayor Talbott, for their courage under fire, their integrity, values, and their unflagging pursuit of the truth. Greatness doesn’t come from surrendering to intimidation, but to those who persist for what is right. David Bray Spokane

Tell demolition team to cut it out

I am horrified at the direction the City Council majority is heading. After watching the Aug. 14 meeting, I can only conclude that they are trying to destroy the downtown core and reverse any positive enhancements that have been made over the years.

The council majority is made up for four self-serving misfits who appear to be gloating at the damage they are able to cause. I wish there was some way to recall all four of these elected officials.

There does not seem to be any champion out there who can stop this destruction mode. Our city is so beautiful and it scares me to death to think that in the short time the majority has been together, they have managed to cost the citizens thousands of dollars in litigation through ill-informed decisions. I cannot tell if they are just too dumb to understand or if they just do not have a care about the harm they have caused and will continue to cause if something is not done.

I urge everyone to write letters to the mayor and council office to ask that these four consider what they are doing before more damage is done; to consider that the leader of this group, Steve Eugster, is a bitter old man bent on getting even with our city administrators; and lastly, urge them to consider that the needs of this city are greater than the need for revenge of these four people. Nora Kane Spokane

Great that Playfair’s coming back

I am so happy racing is coming to Playfair once more.

The oldest track, with all its proud history, where some of the greatest horsemen in our fair state plied their trade. I’m proud of the wonderful people who put their money where their mouth is and made it all come true. They are to be commended.

Now, it’s up to the people of Spokane and the surrounding area to come out and support this great endeavor. I wish Playfair the best success possible - it deserves no less. Frank L. Beard Yakima

The environment

Taking big trees not the answer

Re: the Aug. 12 Opinion page column by Robert Nelson, professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland.

Nelson rambles on about how the administration and environmentalists are responsible for summer forest fires. This frustrated wannabe silviculturist fails to mention that if any past presidents, Republican or Democrat, suggested “prescribed burning” as a way to reduce forest fire risk, he would have been laughed out of office. Smokey Bear was sacred until very recently. As for using chain saws to remove dangerous levels of fuel, it’s not as simple as Nelson would have us believe.

Most silviculture experts point out that larger, mature, fire-resistant trees should be left. The smaller material, including a huge inventory of understory, should be removed. However, there is little or no profit in pre-commercial thinning sales and I don’t blame the timber industry being reluctant to bid on such jobs.

Those who make law should put their money where their mouth is. They are quick to criticize the Forest Service for accumulating fuel but refuse to give the agency funds to effectively deal with the problem. Taking large, commercially valuable trees out is not going to cure this situation. Neither will trying to politicize this dilemma. John E. Bentley Post Falls

Decide policy on fact, not fancy

In his Aug. 10 editorial, interactive editor Ken Sands accurately described a media bias that has contributed to the severity and extent of wildfires now devastating the West. Environmental conflict is usually reported as a struggle between selfless environmental activists and greedy, landscape-raping industry. Urbanites naturally side with the activists, who have blocked management and multiple use on over 70 percent of national forest land so far.

Ignored by the media are a host of university scientists and other forest experts, conservative environmental think tanks and millions of rural westerners concerned about the environment. For years they begged for active management as a remedy for disease and parasite infested forests overloaded with fuel after 70 years of fire suppression. But groups like Okanogan County’s Common Sense Resource League went unheard, and many of its members saw their homes destroyed this summer, along with their forests. Even a report by the federal General Accounting Office about 29 million acres of Western forests at risk of catastrophic wildfire and the Forest Service’s lack of planning was buried in The Spokesman-Review’s back pages without editorial comment.

The struggle is as much between those knowledgeable about the environment against those with Utopian fantasies about it, who want exclusive use of public land for their hobby or who simply want power, as it is about jobs and profits against nature.

Instead of simplistic stereotypes of the parties’ motives, the public would be better served by a critical, objective examination of the arguments. Edwin G. Davis Spokane

Other topics

Why not put drugs in water?

Here is one more thought to consider about fluoride in our drinking water. I do not drink our drinking water unless I have to. I buy water from a local drinking water company. I can taste the difference. This indicates to me that perhaps we have already fallen short in our puny attempts to protect the water we still have.

But hey, some people have migraine headaches so how about some migraine headache medicine in the water? Or perhaps some anti-depressants would be a good idea. People are depressed. Maybe people would be less depressed if we lived in the kind of society that actually cared about keeping the water pure. Maybe a lot of people would have fewer headaches, too! As for rotting teeth, floss and toothpaste work well! Eileen Frances Spokane

Recipe book full of home runs

Leslie Kelly’s article, “M’s cook up a real winner” (Aug. 16) was right on target. My wife and I picked up a copy during our Safeco Field tour on Monday and after a quick review of its contents, we plan to make a few recipes during the remainder of our visit in the Spokane area. When we return to North Carolina we’ll try even more. And the proceeds of the book go to a most worthy cause!

Now, if the recipes could only fulfill the Mariners with a couple of wins, everybody would be happier. William Cornwell Cary, N.C.