Letters To The Editor

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Bragdon eminently qualified already

Re: Bragdon gets the police chief job (Jan 28).

It’s about time someone used some common sense. Roger Bragdon should have had the job in the first place. I agree totally with his statement that there was nothing in college that would make him a better officer. After 27 years on the job, I don’t think there is much he can learn in school. An education will never replace on-the-job training.

Bragdon should be allowed to substitute his years of experience for the educational requirements. If having a degree to be a police chief is politically correct, then in this instance, being politically correct is not feasible. To insist this man go back to school for that degree, in addition to the 27 years experience he has, is ludicrous. He needs to be left alone so he can get on with the business of protecting our citizens. Ann C. Kirihara Spokane

Couple of slipped gears at WSP

I thank Doug Clark for writing a column about my son, Chris Powell.

I have been in the Washington State Patrol family since 1945. My late husband and my two sons retired after serving honorably in the WSP. My son, Chris, is now being punished by the patrol because he did the right and honorable thing on his brother’s behalf.

After my son, Pete, retired, WSP Detective Tracy Hansen spent two years in a misguided investigation against Pete. She was accused by my sons and others of committing official misconduct during the investigation, and Chris was one of many witnesses who supported Pete’s case. A judge finally vindicated Pete and within a month, Chris was banned from the WSP office.

Anyone who knows Chris will readily understand he would never compromise his integrity by doing anything to antagonize Hansen. He has had no contact with her, yet she doesn’t want him to be in the WSP office. Why? I used to enjoy occasional visits to the office with Chris, but we are no longer welcomed there. Why? Pete didn’t do anything wrong. Chris didn’t do anything wrong.

I suggest Hansen is a spiteful loser and Chief Annette Sandberg must lack common sense. Shame on these two officers who are allowed to wear the WSP uniform. Hazel Powell Spokane

WSP treatment of Powells shabby

Re: Doug Clark’s Jan. 25 column regarding retired Washington State Patrol Sgt. Chris Powell.

I was very upset to hear what WSP has done to this man. I have personally known and worked side by side with Chris Powell for close to 20 years. I also am a retired WSP sergeant and was also assigned to the same district as Powell. I have never known a more loyal and dedicated man to the department as Powell was. Not only was his record with the patrol outstanding, but he was chosen by the district commander to be the public information officer, which is the duty of a district lieutenant.

Powell went to bat for his brother, Pete Powell, also a retired state trooper. I was Pete’s supervisor for several years and he was one of the most dedicated, hard-working troopers I have known.

Pete had always told me before he retired he was going to move to Oregon and travel, which he did.

WSP and the Department of Revenue did an investigation claiming Pete improperly licensed his motor home, saying that he was still a resident of Washington. Pete appealed this and after a long investigation and Chris standing up for his brother, a hearing officer from the Department of Revenue ruled in Pete’s favor.

All a person has to do is read between the lines to see the unjust treatment of a state trooper who has dedicated almost half of his life to a department that now shuns and treats him as an outcast. Gene F. Osburn Spokane

`Sad day for the WSP’

Re: Doug Clark’s column regarding retired Washington State Patrol officers Chris and Pete Powell.

What a sad day for the WSP. You saw Chris Powell at the fairs, showing kids and parents the WSP car, explaining WSP’s duties, and on TV news being tactful as possible under trying circumstances. Something is wrong when one person can wipe out decades of a proud family history.

How could Chief Annette Sandberg award, honor and praise what a fine officer he is, then say she supports the actions that ban the man from going into the break room for a cup of coffee with men he had worked with over half his life? Because Detective Tracy Hansen is uncomfortable having to face him?

Then there is brother Pete. Remember reading about Hansen slithering through the weeds across a cow pasture to take pictures of Pete’s motor home when he came back to visit his brother and see a few friends? In court, he had to defend himself from Hansen’s charges that he was living here but sneaked to Oregon to avoid paying taxes on his new retirement motor home. He was exonerated after proving he really did live in Oregon.

Hansen is giving the perfect rendition of a woman scorned. She worked in the governor’s office a couple of years. Does that mean she can dictate to Sandberg and Capt. Mike Dubee? How about the men who wear the uniform now? Will they give decades of their life to be shunned once they retire? This is truly a sad day for the WSP. Dolores Grim Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Developer’s mischief rightly opposed

Thank you, Rich Landers, for saying exactly what needed to be said about Raymond Hanson’s request for a zone change (“Standing up for public lands a losing battle,” Sports, Jan. 27). It should have been on the front page.

Thank you, County Commissioner John Roskelley, for standing up for the public good in the face of terrible odds. How audacious and arrogant of Hanson to say that the Valley is urban and his development is nothing more than weeds anyway.

Shame on you, County Commissioners Kate McCaslin and Phil Harris, for not allowing Roskelley’s objections be part of the record.

I seem to remember that McCaslin accused the city of a land grab. What is this, if not the same in scope, at least in spirit?

Above all else, we need to protect the open spaces we have and the river. Phooey on lining Hanson’s pockets any more at the expense of future generations. Kay Stoltz Spokane

Health District funny about money

Let’s do the math. One health officer, who makes $139,000 a year, hires a consultant at $50 per hour for a total of $26,000. Then she signs a contract for some Valley site for $5,000 a month, totaling $55,000 since March. Now if I’m doing the figures right, that totals up to $216,000. And the health officer wants to hire more administrators and cut nurses?

We have services being cut, staff being laid off and the possibility of a union over there. What’s going on?

Sounds to me as though that health officer plus the Valley site plus the consultant equals massive conflict and budgetary shortfalls. I just wonder how many nurses that $216,000 would save? I could come up with some cutbacks that would make more sense and would be better for the community. I bet you could, too. Barb Christensen Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

McCain best choice for president

I have listened intently to the debates (of both parties) in Iowa and New Hampshire this month, and checked the Web sites of all of the candidates of both parties.

I believe Sen. John McCain should be our next president. McCain is a man of integrity. McCain has experienced firsthand what it means to sacrifice for his country. McCain is truthful and has the experience both personally and professionally to serve as president. And he has the will to move our country forward to a position of strength militarily and economically.

I urge each of you to listen carefully to him, check his background and his beliefs on his Web page at www.mccaininteractive2000.com, and vote for him in the coming caucus in Washington. G.P. James Sagle, Idaho

Like one-term father, like son?

The presidential primaries are now under way and the coronation of Texas Gov. George Bush appears predestined. Yet, not long ago, another Bush graced the White House - the father of the new governor.

During the first year of the father’s administration, unemployment dropped to 5 percent. However, three years later, unemployment had jumped to 7.8 percent. To make matters worse, President Bush appeared unwilling and unable to do anything about it. The coup de gras was Bush’s ignorance about the price of a loaf of bread. That inflamed the public perception that he was out of touch with average Americans.

Now, eight years later, unemployment is 4.2 percent and the economy is experiencing unprecedented growth. Yet in spite of these facts, the son of the former president wishes to capture the White House by espousing “tax cut” formulas. However, is that what the public really wants? I don’t think so.

The GOP must begin addressing 21st century concerns - the re-emerging power of OPEC, quality public education, cyber commerce, ensuring Social Security’s integrity, reducing the national debt, foreign trade and campaign finance reform. If Gov. Bush ignores these topics and tinkers with the economy - returning high unemployment and inflation - he will merely be a one-term president, just like his father. Angel Manuel Fitzpatrick Jr. Fairfield

Make room for third party contenders

The 2000 elections are fast upon us and yet again the debates are closed to all but the Democrats and Republicans. It is nice to see that the two parties can agree completely on one thing: shutting all other parties and views out of the debates.

This year, as in the past, qualifying standards for entrance into the national debate are patently unfair and totally beyond reason. To insist on a 15 percent share in the polls as well as being on all state ballots flies in the face of convention. Do they not remember how the Reform Party claimed the governor’s seat of Minnesota with a candidate who never polled at better than 8 percent before the debates?

Third parties have much to say and could provide the American public with fresh perspective on the tried and tired issues we’ll be bombarded with until November. Also, third party candidates could very well end up asking some interesting questions themselves. This could only lead to a more informed decision by voters this election, regardless of outcome. It could also increase voter turnout dramatically.

I urge all readers to contact their elected representatives and tell them American voters deserve to make the most informed choices possible. While you’re at it, surf to the Libertarian, Reform or other parties’ pages. A little knowledge and information couldn’t hurt.

American voters with a choice, imagine that. Charles M. Heinlen Okanogan, Wash.

Bush backers not all rich

Re: Andy Kelly’s Jan. 22 letter, “Clear why big money backs Bush.”

There are also “hard” money contributions, which have limits of $1,000. The average contribution of hard money to the Bush campaign is about $200-$400 - hardly “rich.” Besides, the Supreme Court has ruled that campaign contributions are an expression of free speech. Did it occur to Kelly that maybe people give money to a candidate because they agree with that candidate’s ideas?

I can’t think of anything more disgusting and corrupt than the Democrats and Bill Clinton accepting millions of dollars from the Chinese, which is illegal, then using that “soft” money to write campaign ads full of lies about the Republicans (1996). In addition, there is Al Gore at a Buddhist temple accepting hundreds of thousands more in laundered money. Last time I checked, Buddhists take a vow of poverty.

Regarding the “poor getting poorer,” they have actually fared worse under Clinton. If you want to help the poor, for that matter every working American, cut their tax rates, which is exactly what George W. Bush proposes, rather than play the same old class warfare song. It doesn’t do anybody any good. Mark Duclos Spokane

Speech too much like money talking

Re: State of the Union Address

In the days leading up to the State of the Union address, we read and heard a great deal about Clinton’s “legacy” and now we know exactly what he’d like it to be: $350 billion in new federal handouts.

So much for the end of the era of big government.

Clinton is going to do his best to buy the White House for Al Gore - whom the president Freudianly admitted has “launched a new effort to make communities more liberal” - with our tax dollars.

Clinton’s 90-minute laundry list of pork barrel proves more than ever we need a fiscal conservative in the White House, not 86 new government programs. Adam Steven Fogerson Post Falls

THE ENVIRONMENT

Dams result in treaty violation

In the debate over survival of Columbia-Snake River salmon and steelhead, a moral as well as economic imperative isn’t getting enough consideration.

In 1855, the U.S. government signed treaties with 13 Indian tribes guaranteeing, in exchange for 40 million acres of tribal land, a perpetual - forever - supply of salmon in the river system. With indifference to these promises, 25 dams were constructed in the Columbia Basin. The four dams on the lower Snake River have decimated salmon and steelhead populations. Over $3 billion has been spent in the failed system of barging and trucking salmon smolts through and around these dams.

If the salmon go extinct, as they surely will if the lower Snake River dams are not opened, allowing the river to flow freely, it will cost many billions to compensate the tribes for their loss. And taxpayers around the country will be unlikely to tolerate subsidizing cheap power for Northwest residents while they pay for the tribes’ loss.

By restoring the lower Snake River to its free-flowing state, we can redeem ourselves with the tribes, bring thousands of new jobs to the fishing industry, make Idaho an international attraction for salmon and steelhead fishermen, bringing $170 million to $200 million into Idaho’s economy.

So let’s do the right thing for the fish, for the tribes, for the economy and for our conscience - open up those four dams. Buell Hollister Post Falls

New environmentalists offer hope

Environmentalism is at a crossroads and the two roads can be seen clearly in letters to the editor. One road is the dominant doctrine among the upper hierarchy of the movement - the no-compromise, nature-knows-best preservationist view. It opposes forestry, high-yield agriculture, mining, grazing, free enterprise, free trade, immigration, hunting as recreation and science. It advocates a vast expansion of wilderness areas and in federal planning and regulatory control, including of private land.

The new or community-based conservationists are fewer and less cohesive than preservationists but their ranks are growing rapidly. They began appearing when research results in ecology and conservation biology discredited the nature-knows-best philosophy. Their aims are often nebulous - biodiversity, ecosystem health and sustainability - but they share a belief, backed by the latest scientific evidence in the need for managing land, even wilderness, rather than just leaving it alone. They see commodity extraction as a tool of land management and they work with local agencies, industries and other groups to find pragmatic solutions to common concerns.

Supported by private foundations, federal agencies and millions of romantic urbanites who know little about the science and economics involved, the nature-knows-best preservationists can maintain their dominance in the short run. In the long run, their anti-science, collectivist, no-compromise policy cannot possibly prevail. But we’re all dead in the long run, and the issue is how much damage this wrong-headed Utopian philosophy will inflict before it passes. Edwin G. Davis Spokane

APPRECIATION

Thanks for compassionate support

As parents of Adam Metcalf, we want to thank Marny Lombard and The Spokesman-Review for the nice article regarding our son’s sudden death. Lombard was great, and she researched the article with care and compassion.

In addition, thanks to our entire community of friends who continue to provide comfort to our family during this time of grief. A special thanks goes to Zumiez, Kinko’s and Leo’s Studio for going above and beyond. Also to the kids’ school, Horizon Junior High and University High School.

Adam lived a full but short 15 years and touched the lives of many, as evidenced by the overwhelming attendance at his service. He will be greatly missed, but memories of Adam will live in our hearts until we meet him again. Indeed, community love and support have taken on new meaning for the Metcalfs. Keith and Kim Metcalf Spokane