Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Don’t stiff those who need buses
This concerns the proposed Spokane Transit Authority budget cuts due to the passage of Initiative 695 and is written in behalf of the mentally and physically disabled, of which I am both, and of the elderly.
The bus system might represent alternative transportation to most but to the disadvantaged it represents a lifeline. Many people would become totally isolated, and further isolation of the depressed only intensifies their problems. Lack of an adequate bus system would place undue hardship for day-to-day tasks such as medical appointments, shopping, education, employment or just visiting friends.
I hope our legislators and the STA will take this into consideration before any decisions are made. Many lives will be affected by its outcome. Marjie Roen Spokane
Blood donors came through, big time
During the first week of January’s National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, the citizens of the Inland Northwest had a true opportunity to demonstrate their generosity and caring.
As the Inland Northwest Blood Center opened its doors on Jan. 3, the supply of blood appeared significantly low. By Tuesday, levels were so critical in all blood typings that center officials felt it necessary to sound the public alarm: only a two-day supply was left rather than the five to seven-day supply usually on hand. In an action not seen in this area in many years, the blood center appealed directly to the people of our communities through the media. The patients of our area needed help.
In an overwhelming show of community support, donors came into every INBC site by the hundreds! New donors, lapsed donors, regular donors of all ages poured in from everywhere to help unknown patients throughout our Inland Northwest community. By the start of the next week, levels were back to a safe supply.
This is to publicly thank every single person who responded to INBC’s call for their help. There’s no substitute for human blood. It can only be available for a patient as a result of those wonderful people who take an hour from their life to share their gift of good health with others by donating blood. Less than 3 percent of our Northwest neighbors give blood regularly. We all owe that 3 percent special recognition.
On behalf of all the patients who will live because someone cared enough to give the gift of life, a sincere and humble thank you. Judi Young, CEO Inland Northwest Blood Center, Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Blessing the blessed, hurting the rest
Hal Dixon (Letters, Jan. 11) believes that our current system of Reaganomics (relatively unrestrained free-market capitalism) is distributing wealth fairly. He states liberals who dispute this are “long on opinion and short on facts.”
Well, here are some facts.
Weekly wages in 1998 were 12 percent lower than in 1973 (adjusted for inflation), although productivity rose 33 percent.
Between 1970 and 1990, the typical American worked an additional 163 hours per year. That’s equivalent to working an additional month per year, for the same or less pay.
Stock market participation is broad but remarkably shallow. Although more Americans own stocks and stock funds than at any time in history, 71 percent of households hold less than $2,000 (that includes 401(k) plans). Though average household income rose 10 percent between 1979 and 1994, 97 percent of that gain went to the richest 20 percent.
In 1999, Business Week reported that top corporate executives earned 419 times the average wage of their blue-collar workers, up from 326:1 in 1998. By contrast, the ratio was 42:1 in 1980.
As of 1995 (the latest figures available), Federal Reserve research found that the top 1 percent of Americans have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined. In 1992, they found this top 1 percent had wealth greater than the bottom 90 percent.
The net worth of the Forbes 400 rose an average $285 million per person between 1997 and 1998. That means the richest 400 people are seeing their personal wealth increase by $780,000 a day. Paul Valanoff Moscow
Common weal worth looking after
Re: the comments made by John Schaller and Hal Dixon (Jan.10).
It is always depressing to read the opinions of those who are so blinded by political ax-grinding that they omit inconvenient historical accuracy from their dogma.
First, socialism is no more a type of government than is capitalism or communism. Each is simply an economic system and no objective individual would claim any of them is perfect.
Second, free enterprise is not now, nor has it ever been the answer to all of America’s ills. Since when is big business compassionate to the fundamental needs of the less fortunate? In this day of downsizing, reduced health care benefits and mergers, I sleep well at night knowing that if I lose my job, get sick and can’t pay my bills, or open a small business, that unemployment insurance, Medicaid and anti-trust laws are in place to help me survive.
Furthermore, ask the underprivileged if the school lunch, food stamp, and Head Start programs are beneficial (President Lyndon Johnson).
Better yet, ask anybody if the Grand Coulee Dam, the minimum wage and the G.I. Bill of Rights (President Franklin D. Roosevelt) have improved the quality of life in this country.
The honest answer must be a resounding yes.
How sad it is that ridiculous political rhetoric and ever-present selfishness have replaced the caring and compassion on which America was founded. So why do I have this feeling that I know who will be first in line to collect his Social Security check or the first to file for FDIC assistance if his bank fails? Matt Sullivan Spokane
Beware arbidgment of freedom
Steven Pearlstein’s article (Jan. 9) on the limitation of freedom of speech in Canada was an ominous hint about a future some people would like for the United States. Does Pearlstein think what is happening in Canada is a good thing?
My wife and I lived in Canada for 27 years. We valued many things about Canada and Canadians, a peaceable people whose outlook and customs are usually decent, law-abiding and (at least in their own eyes) benevolent. We left Canada with deep appreciation for their tradition of non-violence in daily life. It has been disturbing to return to the greater lawlessness of American society.
Yet, after serious consideration, I think Canadians have already lost or are losing precious liberties they have long enjoyed. Canadian courts have gone much further than ours in usurping the legislative function of elected representatives - which is saying quite a lot. Canadians like peace and security, and are sacrificing their liberties for it.
Americans have a maverick strain which, in spite of its tendency to violence, reflects a historically genuine urge to preserve liberty. There are all sorts of kooks with guns out in the hills but they pose a far less serious threat than a government determined to legislate politically correct morality. As the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms showed at Waco and Ruby Ridge, our government is capable of great violence against its own citizens. Tolerating what some may choose to call hate speech is a small price to pay for real religious and political liberty. Walter R. Thorson Sandpoint
OVER THE LINE
Fuel depot a security liability
To quote your publication’s account of the Rathdrum fuel storage depot debate, (Kootenai County Hearing Examiner Jean) “DeBarbieris faulted the proposed depot on potential safety problems linked to human error.” I question whether human error covers the danger.
In the recent past, a bomb was exploded at the front door of Spokane’s City Hall. Others have been detonated in the surrounding area. A blast of the magnitude of the Oklahoma City Federal Building is a real possibility. Acts of terrorism are aimed at catastrophic disruption of society. Since the depot would be critical to area transportation, it becomes vulnerable.
Heaven forbid that this foolishness would ever occur, but the aquifer should not be put at risk. If the depot is necessary, less dangerous sites should take precedence over economic considerations. Herbert B. Ohlson Spokane