Letters To The Editor

Tue., Aug. 22, 2000

Spokane matters

Fast achieving old sitcom status

I agree with Hal R. Dixon’s comments (Letters, Aug. 9) related to the performance of our current Hooterville City Council. It’s clear the Gang of Almighty and Important People is engaged in sleazy activities, personal vendettas and taking care of themselves at the expense of our fair city.

I want to add major items to your Gang Almighty issue list. It is clear that city government bungled abandonment of the Lincoln Street bridge project. A well-managed process could have easily avoided repayment of the previous $5.6million federal funding. Just ask my lawyer!

It’s great to have so much free legal advice via the members of the City Council, particularly when it costs us millions. Whoops, better hire another lawyer to sue my first lawyer!

What will be the eventual cost to citizens as the city borrows future bond money? Yes, Steve Eugster, your are right. It is a concerted plot by the financial world and the Cowles family to make your life difficult.

Get a life - the bond market measures performance, not personality (thank goodness or we would be in a real heap o’ trouble).

When city government becomes the laughingstock of the community, think of the reactions of businesses considering relocating to River City I suggest we fire the Hooterville City Council, after certain members use their behavioral health therapy benefits.

Dixon, under your suggestion for recall, can we handle all seven with one clean swipe? I nominate Eddie Arnold, Eva Gabor and Arnold - probably a vast improvement. Lloyd Guthrie South Hooterville (Spokane)

Best downtowns are distinctive

After reading Wilson Conaway’s Aug. 16 letter, I thought about my trip this June to New York’s downtown and the massive amount of people who go there daily to work, shop, see the sights or partake of various forms of entertainment. People don’t visit New York to see the suburbs and malls, as is the case with San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Seattle and now, even San Diego. Can you imagine the 7 million-plus New Yorkers without their downtown? All I would be able to see would be a city such as Los Angeles, which everybody hates for its sprawl. Downtown is not just for shopping but for a variety of experiences suburbs don’t have. Can you imagine Hoopfest in the Valley Mall or Northtown?

To get people to shop downtown you must help with parking, I agree. I lived in San Diego and saw it go from a dead downtown to one that now has activities on Saturday night that draw people from all over. Granted, Spokane does not have the population to draw from those cities do. But as it continues to grow, would Conaway have us spread out even more, with all the new businesses that growth brings? Give it a chance before it’s too late. Downtowns work in a variety of places in other countries, not only in Europe but in Canada. Victoria is an example. How many strip malls can you look at, Conaway, before realizing every place in the country looks alike? John Beaton Spokane

Powers’ identity well established

Re: “Mayoral hopefuls square off,” Region, Aug. 12.

The comment of staff writer Oliver Staley that mayoral candidate John Powers did little to establish his own identity must be addressed. Powers has set a vision and begun to build consensus with broad-based support, over 1,000 supporters and volunteers. He has the passion, energy and the intelligence to develop a common agenda for the community.

Powers has presented written plans to address the economic challenges in our region and to bring closure to the River Park Square parking garage conflict. One has only to visit his Web site, www.johnpowersformayor.com to see a clear difference between Powers and the other candidates for mayor. Powers is the best choice for mayor. Judith A. Butler Spokane

Goal is some moral suasion

Re: “Anti-Porn Activists Lose Fight” (Aug. 10).

Kimberly Drake did not ask the Cable Advisory Board to advise the city and county to block AT&T’s hard-core pornographic channel. Instead, she asked the CAB to forward the concern of over 2,000 petition signers that the channel will harm our community. These citizens seek an official resolution that would denounce the distribution of hard-core pornography on our city-county cable franchises and ask AT&T to voluntarily withhold the channel from our area. The CAB did not act on the citizens’ request.

Instead, the CAB incorrectly advised the city and county to “take no action on a new pornographic cable channel because the government has no say in the matter.” In fact, it has plenty to say by encouraging attitudes and actions that promote a vision of dignity and respect, the elimination of discrimination and development of improved human relations in our community. It often does so through resolutions and proclamations.

Drake is asking the city and county to apply these principles to AT&T’s assault on our community standards. She’s asking them to ask AT&T to provide a quality product and be a good community member by putting people before profits. That is well within the government’s responsibility to promote the common good.

Drake is not seeking government censorship of harmless, legal material. Over 2,000 citizens want our officials to use their moral authority to persuade AT&T to respect our community standards in order to protect our public health, safety, and welfare. Cindy J. Omlin Mead

People in society

Honest person credit to area

On Aug. 12, my daughter was school shopping in the Northtown Mall when she realized she had lost an unmarked bank envelope containing $100 cash. We retraced her steps but found nothing As a last resort, we checked with mall information.

After describing the envelope, contents and approximate area of loss, the service representative disclosed that the envelope had been returned by a mall customer. The Spokane area should be very proud to have Lynette of Medical Lake as a citizen. She is definitely an honest, trustworthy and morally upright person.

Thank you, Delatorre ! Gary Southern Walla Walla

Divorces happen for good reasons

Re: the Aug. 19 Mike McManus column.

The three leading causes of divorce in this country are nonsupport, adultery and physical abuse. In most failed marriages, two out of the three exists. McManus may think he is doing children a favor by forcing them to stay with a father who won’t work, beats his wife and has girlfriends on the side but I don’t.

If you want the quality of marriage to go up, you have to get rid of the violence against women and you have to indoctrinate males from grade school that they have to work at something in order to support their children. Too many men think that is the mother’s sole responsibility and too many employers pay women less with the excuse that the men have families to support and require higher wages, leaving children to survive on what mom can bring home.

Any wonder why mom doesn’t want dad around anymore? Judith M. Jones Spokane

Gross assumptions mar editorial

I found the commentary about the Sun Meadow Resort (“A stitch in time can cost you nine,” Opinion, Aug. 19) uninformed and biased. Just because editorial writer D.F. Oliveria’s mind is in the gutter doesn’t mean that nudists are there, too!

Social nudism is not an immoral activity. It is a family oriented, wholesome lifestyle that does not condone sexual innuendo, exhibitionism, vulgar or lewd behavior. Most nudist clubs (there is no such thing as a nudist colony) do background checks and screen visitors and potential members carefully. The standards of behavior are generally higher at a nudist resort than one where textiles are worn. A nudist resort is not a meat market and making overtures to anyone will get you escorted out with no invitation to come back.

In the future, it would behoove Oliveria to educate himself before he flies off on a subject he knows nothing about. The URL http://www.aanr.com is a good place to start. That site covers any reasonable question in a wholesome, positive manner. Shannon G. Coffin Spokane

Government and politics

Anyone but Nethercutt

I have been watching both presidential candidates over the past few weeks and topics that keep coming up are character, morality and integrity. Republicans are hammering the Clinton-Gore administration about its lack of these attributes and how it is high time to bring it back into the White House.

All of this talk got me thinking about our local congressional race here in Spokane. We have our own character, morality and integrity issue here. Rep. George Nethercutt has blatantly lied to us so many times that no one can keep track of them all.

With all of this talk about character, morality and integrity. I can’t understand why anyone would be support him. The Republicans continue to pound the issue and the Democrats are running from it. It seems that Nethercutt has no one to turn to. Unlike Clinton, who doesn’t have to face the voters again, Nethercutt has to try and explain his actions.

I really don’t need, nor do I want to hear any of them. I urge everyone to support anyone but Nethercutt. It is time career politicians and liars learn a hard lesson. Ken Pinkham Greenacres

Republicans’ plan for taxes better

Vice President Al Gore promised benefits for working families but neglected to say who will pay for his programs - working families! He promised targeted tax cuts. In other words, he would decide who gets them and for what purpose. Republicans would give tax cuts to those who paid taxes, and let them decide how to spend it. Joyce M. Pahlke Portland

Campaign finance reform needed

Over the past six years, I’ve contacted Rep. George Nethercutt about medical insurance and about bank card billing practices that encourage late payments. I’ve complained about bank charges and ATM fees. I’ve asked if bank charges really cover only the cost of doing business or if they were a source of profit.

I’ve complained about losing control of our local power supply , Avista, because of Republican deregulation of everything and about the company’s proposed 20 percent rate increase. I’ve asked about AT&T buying out Cox Cable and raising my rates $2. I’ve asked him to keep his word about term limits.

I’ve contacted Nethercutt about many things an average wage earner has concerns about. For my trouble, I’ve received not one word in return from his office. It’s like throwing stones down a bottomless well. Nada!

If I could afford to donate $10,000 to his campaign or pay a fee to eat lunch with him, do you think someone from his office might contact me? But, if I could afford to spend heavily on his campaign, I probably wouldn’t have the concerns I do, would I? So my concerns go unheard. Campaign financing is a highfalutin form of bribery.

When Vice President Al Gore promised his first piece of legislation would be a campaign finance reform bill, I heard clearly. I wonder if he’ll be better at keeping his word than Nethercutt. I plan to give Gore a chance to be a man of his word. George Thomas Spokane

Business and labor

This, too, shall pass

I was amazed at K. F. Pittman’s insight into the labor dispute between Kaiser and the Steelworkers (Letters, Aug. 21). How Pittman knew we wouldn’t have been locked out if we had not gone on strike just amazes me. Where were you when we needed such foresight? It sounds like you are really in the know about what would have happened. If only we had known what you knew, everything would have come up roses.

Well, it doesn’t matter now that it’s almost over, the temporary workers will be leaving and the permanent workers will return to their permanent jobs. We all have learned a lesson from this. Permanent means permanent and temporary - well, that lesson is coming up shortly. All just dust in the wind. Bill Jorden Mead

Let business enforce its dress code

I couldn’t help but write after reading the Aug. 17 story about Jasmine Porter filing a claim of racial discrimination with the Washington State Human Rights Commission because she was not allowed in an area nightclub because it had a rule against bandannas.

From what I understand, she was asked to remove the bandanna but chose not to. I don’t know how Porter can say she was discriminated against since the club made a habit of prohibiting all bandannas, not just flower ones.

Whatever happened to the day when businesses were allowed to enforce dress codes? What happened to “no shirt, no shoes, no service” or restaurants requiring ties and jackets?

This is just another example of overreacting and of trying to demand political correctness. The business establishment must be allowed to set some guidelines or this type of business will not be allowed to be successful. Gerald L. Hetland Spokane

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