Letters To The Editor

OVER THE LINE

Charge a fee for our added risk

I oppose the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway refueling depot being placed above the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer but am sure it will eventually be located at their Hauser site.

I fear the refueling depot will be allowed to be built over the Rathdrum Prairie regardless of how the Kootenai County commissioners vote. If they vote against the depot and its proposed location, the railroad will eventually get federal authorization for it.

BNSF, with help of influential political personalities including many state legislators, perhaps our governor and Congress members plus local business supporters, will petition federal Defense and Transportation departments, etc., that may agree the Hauser location is in the government’s best interest, regardless of local citizens’ many concerns.

Because of these fears, I suggest a 5 cent depot support fee be levied on every gallon of diesel oil transported to the Hauser facility for refueling purposes. The revenue would be equally divided between railroad infrastructure improvements such as railroad crossing gates and an emergency quick-response hazardous waste cleanup fund and should be administered by the Panhandle Health District.

This fee has been talked around and no one has yet boo-hoed it. Many, including a county commissioner, three state legislators and one member of the official railroad team, believe it has merit. Al Sharon Coeur d’Alene

Lawmakers back fuel depot plan

I write on behalf of Jeffrey W. Alltus, Jim Clark, Gordon Crow, Wayne Meyer and Clyde Boatright, legislators representing Kootenai County in the Idaho State Legislature who wish to go on record before the Board of County Commissioners supporting the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway in its effort to obtain approval for the Hauser fueling facility.

These legislators feel BNSF has presented a good case to support the facility, good evidence the environment will be protected and is not at risk. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan is intended to provide for orderly growth in Kootenai County and assure protection of natural resources. BNSF’s proposal meets zoning requirements and provides for reasonable protection of the water resource. It has designed the facility with protection in mind, has provided good scientific data and has been endorsed by several leading organizations in the area. BNSF has demonstrated a willingness to work with local communities and neighbors to address issues and assist the area.

The above-mentioned legislators therefore urge the commissioners to grant the conditional use permits. Robert P. Nonini Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, Coeur d’Alene

`No way’ is the ultimate safe response

Burlington Northern and Santa Fe’s published list of individuals, organizations and companies should include addresses. It would be interesting and significant to know how many of the “community leaders” listed reside where they are not dependent on the aquifer.

And why should we be impressed that interests such as the Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma and others endorse the BNSF fueling facility?

Also, how much redundancy is there in the list? For instance, Jobs Plus and Bob Potter are both listed. A list of individuals and organizations opposing the fueling facility might not include as many so-called community leaders but there’s little doubt that it would be a considerably longer list.

BNSF’s planned facility may be truly state of the art, with minimum risk to the aquifer. But any risk to our aquifer should not be acceptable. It has to be obvious, even to those endorsing the fueling facility, that the only zero-risk course is to not store fuel over the aquifer - period. Bob McClure Post Falls

There goes the neighborhood

There are several reasons for opposing the Rathdrum Prairie refueling depot and most people concentrate on the wrong ones. The probability of a fuel tanker truck sliding into a ditch and spilling its contents onto the prairie is far greater than a disastrous accident at a modern, regulated fuel facility.

The greater reason to oppose the depot is that it will be yet another unsightly blot on another local vista. Unrestrained growth too often lacks foresight and concern for preserving scenic landscapes. For many of us, stunning natural beauty is the primary reason we choose to stay here. Given a choice, I’ll take a carefully planned, environmentally low-impact business thoughtfully integrated into the surrounding landscape, rather than any sort of rail facility. Visit any rail-intensive city and see what it brings. It’s not pretty. And what gets built next to heavy industrial facilities? More heavy industrial facilities.

So, what will appear next door to a Rathdrum Prairie fuel depot in the future? Growth and jobs at the expense of what makes our area special? I don’t think so. It’s wonderful to be able to take a morning or sunset drive across the rolling expanse of the Rathdrum Prairie. A fuel tank farm, railroad sidings and related facilities disrupting the landscape would cause a loss we should avoid. Bobby F. Marlette Coeur d’Alene

NORTHWEST DAMS

Put dam breaching to a vote

Re: “Spokane crowd favors removing Snake dams,” Feb. 9. I am saddened by the ignorance of the “Get rid of the dam” people.

The world is still filled with salmon. It is true the salmon are fewer in the Columbia, but salmon are not extinct.

The dams provide cheap and important electricity to the Northwest and will for a long time to come. You would damage the Northwest badly if we removed those dams.

Let’s move on. Take a nonbinding vote of the people and get their feelings on the subject, then let the chips fall where they may, and we can get on with our lives. Jim Wilbur Spokane

So many speak while knowing little

Re: “Spokane crowd favors removing Snake dams,” Feb. 9. While reading the article I discovered several things that upset me but also made me rather sad.

First, even though I wasn’t at the meeting, I can tell that there were many misinformed or rather uninformed people there. I live in Whitman County, my father is a farmer and my mother works for a grain terminal association along the Snake River, so I do tend to not want the dams removed. But those are also reasons I know as much about the dams as I do.

I must remark on Gayla Gould’s comment about how the loss of fish has somehow contributed to alcoholism among the Nez Perce Indians. That comment is one of the poorest excuses that I’ve ever heard. I don’t buy it for a second. The Nez Perce fish along the Snake River. If they want more fish they can stop fishing for them. Also, the Nez Perce have a casino on their reservation. Do you think this may be a contributor to their alcohol problems?

There are many things people don’t know about the dams and what great things they give, or the horrible things we will lose if the dams go, not to mention the cost of destroying the dams. You don’t have to be from where I live to be informed about the dams. If more people actually take the time to find out about the dams, they could make better judgments on an issue that will so greatly affect our area. Carrie A. Pitts Lacrosse, Wash.

Kettle River dam idea a travesty

Attending the public hearing in Spokane on the proposed breaching of dams on the Snake River made clear the absolute insanity of a proposal to build a new dam on the Kettle River just north of the border.

The Kettle River is part of the Columbia River system. After crossing the border, the Kettle flows along highway 395 to Lake Roosevelt, spilling into the waters of the Columbia.

Opposition is strong on both sides of the border. In Canada, the greatest concern is the devastation of Cascade Falls, a unique ecosystem that supports a number of endangered or rare species. First Nations peoples in Canada oppose the development because it violates treaties and will further desecrate sacred grounds.

U.S. residents oppose the dam because it will negatively impact fish habitat by interfering with spawning beds, raising water temperature and obstructing migration. The dam will also preclude the Kettle River from being utilized as a recovery area for bull trout, a U.S. endangered species. Water quality and recreation will also be impacted.

Sound familiar? Is there anything we can do about a proposal to dam the last undammed river of the Columbia system? Yes and yes.

Contact your federal representatives and urge them to request involvement of the International Joint Commission, a binational council for the resolution of disputes regarding use of international waters. Contact Citizens for a Bi-National Review of the Dam (509) 684-8287 or visit their Web site at InlandAdventure.com for further information. David Heflick Orient, Wash.

Breaching advocates also turned out

Staff writer Dan Hansen’s Feb. 11 article, “Breaching foes turn out in force,” was obviously written with The Spokesman-Review’s bias against beaching the dams and skewed the facts dramatically. It was a friend of mine and fishing guide who showed up at 5 a.m., along with four friends from Riggins, to be first in line, not, as Hansen writes, “one worker from Potlatch Corp.” Proof can be found in the public hearing records which will list the first public speaker as Bruce Elmquist.

The hearings were much more balanced between pro-salmon and pro-dam people than Hansen’s article suggests.

While Lt. Gov. Butch Otter might say, “Idaho categorically will not support breaching the Snake River dams,” he is arrogant in his view that he speaks for Idaho. Thousands in Idaho are demanding that the salmon be saved and the senseless dams on the lower Snake be removed. Many are prominent business people who know the value of a restored recreational fishery (2,500 jobs and $172 million, according to a report by the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation.)

Most also understand that the lower dams of the Snake (which produce only 4 percent of the region’s electricity) have only been in place for 25-40 years and while we, as humans, can adjust to changing economic circumstances, the salmon cannot. For us it is merely an issue of choice, lifestyle and money. For the salmon, it is life or death. Peter H. Grubb founder and president of ROW, Inc., Coeur d’Alene

City people wrongheaded for a reason

The true picture is not being presented to people in bigger cities. Spokane and Seattle sure want the dams removed but they don’t consider the many families that live between those two big cities. What will these people do? We are talking about livelihoods of many people, not just farmers and ag-related businesses.

What kind of a river will it be when you take out the dams? Will it be big and overflowing or will it dwindle to a small creek? Does anyone know? This has not been researched enough to really make a decision that would affect the lives of many.

I definitely oppose signing up college students to get their vote. They’d vote on anything just to jump on the bandwagon. Let’s get some intelligent information out on this. One man talked about being a seventh generation of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He’d better research back to that era and find out what it was like. You talk about generations. What about generations of farm families and others that make their living because we have the dams and the river? Bonnie Holliday Endicott, Wash.

Dams can go; Salmon should survive

The Spokesman-Review has a fine writer who understands natural resource issues. If credibility is important, Rich Landers should be doing this work. John Webster’s Feb. 8 editorial regarding salmon belongs in the Business section.

The first 30 speakers at the recent Tuesday evening session featured two speakers in favor of keeping the dams. Webster attempts to marginalize citizens’ concerns. No “Hollywood” types attended. His differentiation regarding “wild” salmon and the mention of flood control, when the hearing regarded Snake River dams, is either ignorance or obfuscation.

Fish runs are exceeding current carrying capacity? Hello?

Reduce this debate to its base elements and it is a moral issue. This is a test of our collective character and our culture. Do we possess the courage and the vision to right a wrong?

Elite interests claim that these dams are integral to our economy. Their arguments simply do not stand up to analysis. I predict that 20 years from when these dams are breached, the economics of a healthy river system will prove that their current arguments to retain these dams are without sufficient merit.

I refuse to use statistics. The scientists have studied this for 30 years.

If you oppose breaching, make no mistake, you are advocating extinction for fish and native culture.

Follow your heart. Who among you will help me explain to our children why there are no fish in the Salmon River? Breach the dams! Barbara Rupert Espanola, Wash.

OTHER TOPICS

Suppose Clark did the streaking …

Columnist Doug Clark’s view of Medical Lake High school’s sanctions for students involved in the streaking incident (Feb. 8) invites close scrutiny. His view that the school principal had “misplaced her funny bone” had my imagination picturing Clark streaking through The Spokesman-Review, out onto the street and around the block. That does strike my funny bone.

I thought about all the potential problems this “Douggy Streak” with D.C. embossed on his “bouncing caboose” might cause if he didn’t make it around the block before encountering one of Spokane’s finest police officers. What a dilemma for this officer. Does he really want to catch this streaker or does he look the other way?

The officer may decide to treat this as “indecent exposure.” He doesn’t want to put his hands on this streaker with prescription goggles and a glare emitting from the top of his forehead. Instead, he stops the waiting getaway vehicle just as Clark has donned his Valentine shorts. Now the police and their chief all ponder the question, do they arrest this person and his accomplice or treat it as just a prank and turn him over to the editor for appropriate action?

I wonder just what the Police Department, Editor Chris Peck, his co-workers and shoppers might recommend. Most of the men would probably guffaw and that might be punishment enough. But many females might say, “Off with his head!” Ken Van Buskirk Spokane

Dog owner not as depicted

This concerns Victoria Gibson and the city of Spokane.

Sometimes, all the facts are not stated correctly in news releases - not because the media wish to misinform but because they rely on the information given.

First, Gibson is no criminal. She is a caring woman, a teacher and a nurse who for 15 years has been involved in animal rescue and care. She was a member of the board at SpokAnimal. Physically, she is a 110-pound, 51-year-old woman - scarcely the type capable of posing any threat to a policeman.

The dogs she owned were not pit bulls. One was a boxer cross, the other a Shar-Pei. Two of her dogs have been in our home during a visit and were very friendly and well behaved. One of them, Frank, loved to be petted and quickly became friends with everyone, including our wheelchair-bound, elderly mother. The other dog remained in the van, not because she posed a threat to humans but because our dog did not like her.

Gibson’s worst fault is being an outspoken advocate for animals, defending those who cannot defend themselves. Daniel and Dorine Soss Spokane

Military should get shots Clinton gets

Re: “Bitter medicine” by Christopher Thorne (Jan 25).

Since I read this article, I have spent a considerable amount of time online looking for answers to questions your article brought to mind.

Is anthrax vaccine safe? From what I have seen so far, probably, but there might be some bad batches somewhere being used.

Should Air Force Maj. Sonnie Bates be court-martialed? Answering as a free American, heck no. Nobody should be forced to take a shot. Answering as a former soldier, yes. Freedom isn’t free. There is nothing democratic about the military; it is a dictatorship. Whether right or wrong, by regulation, he should be reprimanded for disobeying a lawful order.

Has President Clinton had his anthrax immunization? After all, he’s the commander in chief.

If Clinton hasn’t had anthrax immunization, is he again going to make a mockery of the term “with equal justice for all” by allowing a lower-ranking person to be punished for crimes he gets away with?

Hmmm. After asking myself that last question, I believe Bates should not be forced to choose between a shot he believes could ruin his health or his career unless the military knows the commander in chief has received his shots. Gwyndolyn D. Reiber Pine City, Wash.