Letters To The Editor
Spokane matters
Council majority stuck in past
I watch with amazement the controversy over the River Park Square Development. Spokane has so many forward-thinking people who have accomplished so many wonderful things for the city. As an outsider looking in I simply cannot believe that the voters of Spokane elected the current configuration of council members.
What happened to visions of the future? Instead, the present City Council is stuck in the past.
News headlines like “City to file suit over parking garage” cannot be good for the long term vitality of the city. A former City Council voted to support the River Park Square development. The current City Council needs to get a life and get on with the business of running a city and looking to the future. Dwelling on the past is wrong, both for the Spokane and the fine citizens who reside there.
I visit Spokane two or three times weekly, 52 weeks per year. Guess where I almost always go before I return home? River Park Square. I watch with much enthusiasm all the collateral development in downtown Spokane, a place I like to visit often. Chris A. Montgomery Colville
New faces, same old shenanigans
Doesn’t it seem funny that not only does the majority faction of the City Council raise the salary of the future council president, which one of them is going to run to become, but now they have voted to increase the salary of the strong mayor position - and one of them is going to try and win that position. Does this seem to be a conflict of interest or what?
When you go and vote for the positions this fall, I hope you see that we have gotten a new old-boy group that is doing the same thing they told us that we should put them in their current positions to changes. They have gotten us into lawsuits and broken promises right and left. Myke Gaines Spokane
Police priorities need work
Two news items on July 13:
Police take three hours to respond to home burglary possibly in process, due to large number of calls. Police using combination of plainclothes officers and motorcycle cops to snare drivers who don’t stop at pedestrian crosswalks.
Is it just me or are police priorities outrageously mixed up? Beam me up, Scotty! Joel M. Novin Spokane
Hoopfest volunteers terrific
Hoopfest 11 is done and, as the volunteer coordinator of the event, I would like to personally thank all the volunteers who signed up and fulfilled your commitment to do so. This is a tremendously large event and it takes everyone of you who volunteer to make it run so smoothly. We salute your efforts and say Thank you very much. Lois J. Shirley Spokane
Health and safety
Clark right about fluoride, foes
Re: Doug Clark’s July 16 column.
I could not have characterized our current fluoridation campaign any better than Doug Clark did in this column.
There is more than 50 years of qualified research in support of water fluoridation. Virtually every national and international health organization supports fluoridation. The surgeon general has called fluoridation one of the top 10 advancements of the last century.
Community fluoridation is a very simple issue and Clark has said it all. “This is a complete no-brainer, a term that also works when assessing the paranoid wackos who make up this year’s version of the anti-fluoride rabble.” Mary Krempasky Smith, D.D.S. chairwoman, People for Healthy Teeth, Spokane
Clark wrong about flouridation
Doug Clark’s column on fluoridation is, as usual, short on facts and long on name calling and hot air.
Environmentalist Mark Hertsgaard, author of Earth Odyssey, and Phillip Frazer, editor of the environmental newsletter, News on Earth, contend the benefits of fluoridation have been overstated. Research is now suggesting long term fluoride consumption may lead to such health problems as cancer, impaired brain function, brittle bones and fluorosis.
Before you sign any fluoride petition, become informed. You can start by reading the health warning label on any tube of fluoridated toothpaste. Steve J. Dunham Spokane
What about the fluoride allergic?
I am allergic to fluoride. My mouth breaks out in very uncomfortable sores. I have to use nonfluoridated toothpaste, which is very hard to find. What will I do if it is put in our water? Sharon McMahon Spokane
Washington state
Convention guilty of shoddy procedure
I’m sure I speak for an overwhelming majority of Washington’s Republicans in our anger at the utter stupidity of the state convention’s passing a resolution calling for elimination of Indian tribal government.
This is another example of the problem we have with special interests’ ability to slip things by the rational, thinking majority. In this case, an unhappy individual is allowed by a careless leadership to indulge his own private fantasy of getting resolution to a disagreement he has with the tribe on whose lands he lives.
How utterly ridiculous. Party leaders should take out full-page ads statewide both announcing the resolution is rescinded and apologizing to all Republicans for their carelessness.
In passing this resolution, these folks did not speak for this Republican. William H. Allison Medical Lake
I-745 a prescription for disaster
Tim Eyman is crazy if he thinks Initiative 745 will improve traffic. The only thing I-745 will accomplish is gutting our public transportation funding in order to give millions to asphalt industry fat cats who contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the I-745 campaign.
Most communities have different transportation needs but Eyman thinks a statewide big-government, blanket approach is best for everybody.
Eyman wants to dismantle our transportation options and put all our eggs in one basket. I-745 will overturn nearly 30 local votes across the state for transit. Is it worth the risk to dismantle excellent bus systems and build a Los Angeles-style road system so we can have Los Angeles-style traffic jams? That’s an easy choice.
In November, vote no on I-745 - a shortsighted, unstudied, anti-public transportation initiative. Brian Steinburg Seattle
Government and politics
Realities make Nader look good
I received a raise in my Social Security this year of $30. Then, gasoline went to $1.60 a gallon. They say it’s OPEC raising prices.
If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Our wonderful oil companies are ripping us off and no one is taking our side (we, the people, that is).
Have you seen or heard of one oil company CEO explain the reason his company’s profits are 400 percent higher than they were a year ago? These guys are harder to find than those big tobacco CEOs who all stood in a line and lied, like the dogs they are.
Call your elected representative and complain, then listen to their response. I’d say all those dogs are in the same kennel.
Major corporations are sticking it to us big time - steak is $8 a pound and the farmer gets 75 cents a pound for his beef. Cereal is $4.50 for an 18 ounce box and the farmer gets $2.50 a bushel for his wheat. Big business has bought its way into our elected representatives souls and they have sold us out.
Kind of makes you want to vote for Ralph Nader, doesn’t it. Norm Ellefson Cheney
Monument, park fees excessive
When my husband and I went to see the Mount St. Helens National Monument in June we found out about an unusually expensive fee system that’s in place.
We arrived at Ape Cave and were told we needed a ticket that would have cost us $6 per person per day just to see the cave and Windy Ridge. But, if we didn’t get to the visitors center and Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is a three- to four-hour drive, by 6 p.m. that same day, we would have to pay another $6 per person per day. In addition, we would have had to pay $5 per day per vehicle for a Northwest forest pass, which would allow us to hike the trails.
We estimated that altogether it would have cost the two of us $34 to see the monument, since we had planned to pull over at the viewpoints, do some hiking and see all the major sites. This made us decide to cancel our visit and leave.
I do not mind paying money to see our national treasures but I have never had to pay over $10 per vehicle per week to see other monuments and parks.
I am very disappointed in our government for imposing such a ridiculously expensive fee system on people who want to visit and explore the Mount St. Helens monument. If I feel this strongly about this fee, I wonder how large families, foreign visitors or visitors from out of state feel about it. Erika Malitzky Spokane
People in society
Social problems behind violence
Let’s think about something. Why do most adults blame the video games, musicians and movies for the violence that is happening in the schools? Maybe we should take a bigger look into the killers’ lifestyle: who their friends are or if they even have any; how there parents act toward them; and if they ever talk. Or just look at their social life in general.
Think about the Columbine shootings. People blamed it on Marilyn Manson when it was probably their social life, mostly, and maybe they were picked on.
Teenagers can be very cruel. They don’t care about the lower social groups. The popular people sit in class or stand in the halls and make fun of the nerds and people who just don’t dress cool enough for them. The people who just try to be different get made fun of.
Let’s just quit blaming the movies and musicians, and please take a closer look. If you make fun of someone, why don’t you think about it first and quit being so cruel? Maggie M. Durr Rathdrum
Scouts should be orientation blind
Just what is the basic code of Boy Scouts? Discrimination? Sex education?
Homosexuality should have nothing to do with it. It’s “Boy,” not “men;” Scouts, not sex seekers.
I am a woman who never was part of the Scout groups. I was in Camp Fire, however, and the subject of sexuality was never discussed. That wasn’t what we were about.
I think this is just one more way for homophobes to discriminate. If it’s not their way, it’s wrong. Who are they to determine what is right or wrong? I am a married, heterosexual mother of two and I feel the hate needs to stop. That is what BSA is standing for in this matter - hate and discrimination.
If this ruling still exists when my son is old enough, I will not allow him to be a Scout. This message that discrimination is OK is the wrong message to convey to our youth. Jennifer L. Laws Spokane
Writer has Jackson’s number
Amen, to “Jackson basically a troublemaker” by Jeanie Smith of Nine Mile Falls (Letters,July 14). Those are my sentiments exactly. The Rev. Jesse Jackson’s mind and mouth portray a troublemaker. Every time he speaks, it shows his hatred. He dwells only on one subject. Adiline Nunn Rathdrum
Over the line
Idaho officials doing as they should
On July 2, Editor Ken Sands cried out for peacemakers to resolve conflicts between the Nez Perce Tribe and 23 government agencies. Sands pours gasoline on already glowing embers by alleging governmental agencies desire to destroy the Nez Perce Tribe’s legal authority to govern its own members. Our governmental entities are obligated to defend the rights of those governed.
Purposive sovereignty is the right of tribes to govern their enrolled members and Indian-owned lands. Territorial sovereignty assumes a geographic area of governance. If tribes would practice purposive sovereignty there would be fewer conflicts. The Isaac Stevens Treaties of 1855 assumed that non-Indian citizens would coexist on reservations and that Indians would “promise to be friendly with all citizens thereof, and pledge themselves to commit no depredations upon the property of such (non-Indian) citizens.”
Should we modify our Pledge of Allegiance to say: “560 nations under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all?” How are 559 non-democratic tribal governments indivisible, assuring liberty and justice for all?
When did we stop beholding the truth that all men are created equal? How do we hold that one race, Indians, have rights superior to all others in the United States, without devastating the core of our country’s abiding documents, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
The North Central Idaho Jurisdictional Alliance has risen to its responsibility to protect U.S. Citizen and taxpayer rights and freedoms. That’s the kind of informed and fearless leadership that is sadly lacking in most of our government. Elaine Willman executive director, Citizens STAND-UP! Committee, Topenish, Wash.
Idaho viewpoints
Satterlee is a pol blowing hot air
In the July 17 article, “Public TV faces spotlight,” Betsy Russell quoted Idaho Deputy Attorney General Kevin Satterlee as saying, “Public television is the government speaking.”
I hope that was a misquote because we citizens of Idaho do not need such fascist thinking in our state. According to Satterlee’s logic, a symphony that accepts a government grant is a government symphony and a private school that accepts government funds is a government school. Lord help us all if he ever makes it to the Idaho Supreme Court.
On the other hand, if public TV is indeed the government speaking, then it must be the British government since that seems to be the source of most of the programs aired. Joe B. Lykins Rathdrum
`Officials say’ is not good enough
Re: “Tests show schools safe, officials say” (Handle, July 16).
Continued and ongoing testing for lead levels in Silver Valley schools is a necessity, to ensure the health and well-being of children.
Children, among the most vulnerable to lead contamination, are more important than the alleged effects the testing might have on area tourism. In fact, we think sensible tourists would be more attracted to areas that deal openly and honestly with contaminants than to areas that try to hide the obvious. The same is true in the south basin, where we have confirmed high lead levels in areas on the reservation. These will neither be tested nor removed. Why are the state, tribe and EPA conspiring to hide these truths? Why is Union Pacific let off the hook for its damage in a “covenant not to sue”? Why do these groups continue to ignore us and our land? Antonia M. Hardy Harrison
More monitoring, testing necessary
Re: “Tests show schools safe, officials say,” (July 16). Lead levels exceeded U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development residential standards in eight of 103 samples taken last month from areas that could be accessible to students in six Silver Valley schools. Continued testing and monitoring when children are present is needed. Tina Paddock Wallace