Letters To The Editor

Wed., July 5, 2000

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Explain this shortage, Avista

Rolling blackouts? In Spokane?

Thanks to KXLY-TV for its story on Avista’s warning that Spokanites should reduce air-conditioner use to avoid blackouts.

While I agree that new power stations should have been built to cope with growing demand for electricity, I think most folks here believe that our proximity to Grand Coulee Dam and dams on the Spokane River and our presence in the midst of the nation’s greatest abundance of hydropower would guarantee that this would be the last place to run short of electricity.

If that is the general presumption, I think most people also would believe that any local shortage would be due not to local unavailablity of resources but to the shipping of local resources to other places.

Therefore, it would seem incumbent upon Avista to explain whether that is, indeed, the case or what material-resource shortage suddenly has come to a region renowned for plentiful electricity.

I encourage the local media to publicly pose this question to Avista and to solicit a comprehensive and enlightening public response. Philip J. Mulligan Spokane

Avista board compounds error

Some time ago, with an eye to retirement income, I purchased 500 shares of Washington Water Power Co. stock and used WWP’s dividend replacement plan. I was up to 565-1/2 shares when Tom Matthews evidently decided we stockholders were receiving too much in dividends. He came up with a new set of options to be in place for approximately three years.

I opted for the plan to receive the previous regular dividend. After little more than a year, the new Avista Co. exercised its option to repurchase the shares. I received a stock certificate for 427 shares. I now receive one-half the previous amount of dividends on 138 fewer shares.

Now come the massive losses from the great plan to be in the energy-trading business nationally.

The board members made a grievous error in hiring Tom Matthews and a doubly grievous error in not firing him (let alone refusing to accept his resignation). The duty of the board and of Matthews is to the stockholders. I think none of them has done that job very well. Robert L. Geiser Spokane

OVER THE LINE

Aspersion cast in wrong direction

Gov. Gary Locke’s recent pronouncements concerning heavy metal levels in fish in the Washington part of the Spokane River cast both blame and fear irresponsibly.

First, the governor’s own report states: “It was determined that Spokane River fish that have been filleted do not pose a health threat.” It goes on to suggest that the only theoretical health hazard would be from a steady diet of whole sucker fish.

I can think of a lot of reasons not to eat a sucker - guts, bones, fins, tail, gills and all - but the threat of heavy metal exposure sure wouldn’t be even in the top 10.

Where Locke performs a disservice is in failing to disclose that the Washington state Department of Ecology did, in fact, find something hazardous in certain fish populations in the Spokane River. But it wasn’t trace levels of heavy metals - it was a very high level of PCBs. There aren’t any PCB mines in Idaho last time I checked. However, there are a number of suspected sources of PCBs on the Washington side of the river, including some of Spokane County’s largest employers.

Washington needs to get its own house in order before even indirectly accusing Idaho of fouling our mutual nest. Linda Mullin Hayden Lake, Idaho

SPOKANE MATTERS

Commissioners have better vision

I was chagrined to read the article noting Raymond Hanson’s contribution of $10,000 to a political fund to defeat county Commissioners Kate McCaslin and John Roskelley. The whole notion that our two wonderful leaders might be replaced with someone wildly pro-development made my heart feel a cold hand clutching it.

I’m for development! But there is little about miles of concrete and asphalt, breathing smoggy, acrid air, waiting 40 cars deep at each signal light, commercial jets flying at 1,000 feet over my house, green-slime-coated lakes or, God knows, one more fast-food hamburger stand that delights me or restores my soul.

In the commercial real estate business, there is a saying that every developer sooner or later bows down to the density god. That means that the developer will pack more buildings on the property because it increases rental income and value - even if it is not good for anyone else. That’s why Hanson fights to encroach on our river with block walls and painted trees.

If there is heaven for such developers, I hope there are no trees, bushes, deer, birds or butterflies, just replicas painted on concrete-block walls, with too many buildings on the property. I don’t want Spokane like that. Let’s support our responsible, fair, fiscally sound leadership. David P. Paperd Liberty Lake

We’re helping to save the Fox

Spokane Preservation Advocates is pleased to hear the Spokane Symphony’s exciting announcement of its plan to purchase and restore the Fox Theater. We applaud this latest development in the revitalization of downtown through reuse of historic buildings.

Spokane Preservation Advocates members, along with volunteers from the Spokane Symphony Associates, are assisting the symphony’s fund-raising campaign by staffing the Save the Fox headquarters, located next door to the Fox Theater at 1005 W. Sprague. Office hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The phone number is (509) 458-5923. The Save the Fox office is set up to accept contributions and collect historical information, photographs and memories of the Fox.

Spokane Preservation Advocates was organized to contribute financially to the purchase and preservation of this important landmark. We encourage other groups and individuals to participate in the effort to restore this civic treasure. Joanne Moyer, president Spokane Preservation Advocates

Wetland site should not be destroyed

Citizens of Medical Lake, I call to your attention a proposal to fill in a delineated wetland with approximately 300 dump-truck loads of dirt. This environmentally critical area is located in Fox Hollow to the west of the emergency road. Doug Chase, Medical Lake city planner, expects to issue a “determination of nonsignificance” for this project after reviewing it for probable adverse impacts.

Should we assume that totally destroying a wetland forever is not an adverse impact? Instead, a full-fledged environmental study should be required for the project. More planning may provide ways for developers to build and still preserve environmentally sensitive areas by incorporating parks, green space or ponds into the design.

Biologist Chris Merker of the state Department of Ecology, said, “Wetlands on the West Plains fill a critical role for migrating waterfowl and a host of other creatures” (Spokesman-Review, May 27). This news report also stated, “Merker hopes to prevent widespread loss of ephemeral ponds on the West Plains, where the county has tabbed thousands of acres for future industrial development.”

We must accept some responsibility for our environment by helping protect and preserve it. Please let your concerns be known by writing Doug Chase at P.O. Box 369, Medical Lake 99022, Attention: Fox Hollow wetland project. The public comment period ends on July 14 at 5 p.m. Sharon K. Morasch Medical Lake

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

More on-site counselors needed

I have greatly enjoyed reading your “Key moments” series. The articles that have focused on school-age children have mentioned informing the school of what is going on and perhaps seeking the services of the school counselor.

Problems, both big and small, that children experience often result in school-related difficulties. Unfortunately, not all children in the Spokane area have equal access to full-time, on-site, certificated counselors. Your child in need of such services might have to wait for the counselor to be on site or might be put off if the counselor first must deal with more-urgent cases.

In the Central Valley School District, only five out of 13 elementary schools have an on-site, full-time, certificated counselor. The other schools share four certificated counselors who are responsible for a combined student population of 624 to 819 students.

Whether or not your child receives needed assistance in a timely manner depends largely on where he or she attends and the school counselor’s workload. Patty Weiser Liberty Lake

CV board ignoring constituents

One of the expectations we have of our schools is that they teach children the basics of citizenship in a democratic society. This should include classroom instruction as well as teaching by example. Central Valley School District has fallen short in teaching by example.

A group of concerned citizens is organizing themselves in an effort to convince the district it should have full-time, on-site school counselors in all elementary schools, as other schools in our area do. Stand for Children sponsored a public forum on May 15 and properly invited the school board and administration to hear the voices of more than 120 people who attended. The board and administration simply chose not to attend or hear their constituents.

Stand for Children members and others have attended school board meetings and have presented testimony and petitions signed by 600 concerned people seeking a better service for our children, only to receive very little response. These committed members and citizens are demonstrating what participatory citizenship is all about.

It is deeply troubling that the school board is not responding to the overwhelming plea of the people to better meet the counseling needs of children. It is indeed sad that elected officials need to be reminded democracy is a two-way street and that the voice of the people is seen only as an annoyance, not a helping hand in the profound decisions that affect our children. Dave Williams Vice chairman, Spokane Stand for Children

Leave home-schooling parents alone

Andy James (Roundtable, June 25) is concerned that parents who don’t possess teaching degrees are doing a bad job of home-schooling their own children. Does this mean that only persons with a formal education and a certificate can teach well?

Not to brag, but my kids consistently test one or two years ahead of their grade level, and I don’t have a degree. Maybe James should ask newly trained teachers how much time they spent becoming “experts” in their teaching subjects vs. the amount of time they spent training to be “social workers.”

Parents home-school their kids because they’re too lazy to comb their children’s hair or make them lunch? I would have been offended if that statement hadn’t been so hilarious! Tell me, if you didn’t want to be bothered with caring for your children, would you keep them home with you all day?

Home-schoolers in Washington are required to have their children tested once a year, and other states require more than this. Any more monitoring of home-schooling families than what already is required would be government intrusion.

James says parents who are truly educating their children have nothing to fear. Oh, really? What if the government decided it didn’t like my literature-based method of teaching history or thought I was spending too much time on religion?

Parents - not the government - are the best judges of what’s right for their children. This is true for one simple reason: Parents love their children. Jan M. Steiner Spokane

No regulation for home-schooling

People home-school their children for many reasons, as Andy James suggests (Roundtable, June 25). I chose not to isolate my children with peers all at the same level of immaturity for six to eight hours a day five days a week. Socialization takes place, but it’s peer-driven, not parent-guided.

Idaho law mandates that a child receive instruction 180 days per year, so parents who neglect their children’s education already are breaking the law. More legislation that may or may not correct the situation isn’t needed. A parent involved in truancy won’t abide by other laws. The resultant bureaucracy, permits and fees won’t guarantee quality, and I don’t want more regulation or higher costs. True, I’m among parents with nothing to fear, but why would I willingly submit to more government control when I don’t need it? Why should I just so a few dullards and dilettantes can be tracked?

The home-school movement is growing rapidly precisely because parents have freedom of choice. Regulation of home education is a means to control and remove essential God-given rights and freedoms granted to parents and is being poorly disguised as quality control.

I have successfully home-educated my children and have phased three of them into the Lakeland School District at the eighth-ninth-grade level. I’m grateful for the freedom to choose what I think best for each child. Kathryn O’Hara Hayden, Idaho

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