Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

This is a great place to be stationed

As my family and I prepare to do another Air Force move, we would like to extend our thanks and maybe spread a little encouragement to the city we leave behind.

What a wonderful town and area. We loved all the fruit seasons (Green Bluff and Walter’s are gems), the beautiful parks, going to Cat Tales (where you can hand-feed a lion!), the mountains and lakes (great skiing on both). So when is the last time you as a “local” went strawberry picking? We move every three years, so we jump into local activities right away. How about you? Maybe you’ve cooled to all that Spokane offers because “there is always next year.” Stop doing that! Go pick an apricot with your kids, visit Manito Gardens with your honey. It’s wonderful!

We would also like to encourage everyone to support one of the many organizations in this generous town that helps others. Our family picked the Union Gospel Mission (sending kids to camp was a big thrill), Alpine Boys Ranch and SpokAnimal (take a walk down their kennels; you’ll want to do something). Be proactive. Do it as a family, involve your kids. Any amount of effort you make could change a life. Do we need to say that is important?

We hope to have left Spokane a little better than when we found it. Thanks to our neighbors and to the Lord for making this one wonderful tour of duty. Goodbye, Spokane - hello, San Antonio! Major Monte, Anne, Clayton and Jack Young Spokane

Teen centers a good investment

This concerns having teen activity centers in Spokane. It seems people worry about teens congregating to use and /or sell alcohol or other drugs. There’s worry this drug use might bring vandalism, theft and burglary or worse.

Activities don’t cause bad things to happen, boredom does. I remember as a teenager driving my folks crazy asking, “What is there to do?” I don’t recall getting any interesting answers. I remember sneaking alcohol and driving around on country roads with my friends in order to drink it - nowhere else to go, nothing else to do.

If we were to fund five centers - one downtown, one north, one east, one south and one west - we wouldn’t have overcrowding. If every parent and neighbor would spend one hour, once a year, teaching or sharing something, the hours from 4 to 11 p.m. could be covered with great activities, i.e. music, art, cooking, dance, study groups of a spiritual nature, workshops on self-esteem and ethics, and outdoor activities for whole groups.

Lots of teens miss out on healthy fun and fellowship, which is what could give them a healthy feeling of belonging. And think of the money that could be saved on the absence of damage because kids are not using drugs, not going through the juvenile court system, not having unwanted pregnancies.

Kids need to learn how to live and share and have healthy interests and healthy fun. Funds provided could bring great rewards for our communities. Jeanne Miffitt Cheney

Thanks for taping parade

It was nice to see the full coverage of the Lilac Torchlight Parade via KXLY-4 volunteer cameramen. No commercials or station breaks and no commentary, just live bands and floats. I really enjoyed it. Thank you, KXLY-4. R.W. Pullen Jr. Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Hey, officers, over here

I would like to know just which parts of Spokane the police are targeting with the impromptu tickets to motorists who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. After two near fatal attempts to cross at a designated crosswalk on the North Side, I think the police need to apply a bit of energy in the North Side of our town to this cause.

It’s apparent to me, and I am sure to others, that this cause is going unnoticed by many motorists. It is life-threatening to go through some intersections, when motorists are accelerating rapidly just to see who can get to their destination the quickest. Meanwhile, pedestrians are just trying to stay alive while drivers whiz by without much care in the world, except for themselves. Theresa A. Osterhaus Spokane

Crosswalk stings wrong, wasteful

I was recently stopped and ticketed in one of the “sting” operations by our local police, who sent a decoy pedestrian through a crosswalk. This is very wrong of them, to purposely set people up to break the law.

If our police would put as much time and money, not to mention officers, into ticketing red light runners and offenders in school zones as they are putting into these false “failure to yield to pedestrians” charges, maybe it would cut down on accidents and other horrific problems. It upsets me when the department asks for more of our tax dollars to put more officers on the street to fight crime and then wastes it on these ridiculous setups.

The police chief ought to rethink the city’s priorities and the best interests of taxpaying residents. Ellie Ferency Spokane

EVENTS

Photo exhibit reflects realities

An international photographic art exhibit called “Children of Children: Portraits and Stories of Teenage Parents” is on display in Spokane through June. The photographer interviewed 50 individuals from various cultures, male and female, who were impacted by teenage pregnancy in some way. Viewers of the black and white photographs wear earphones and hear the personal stories of people 13 to 100 years old.

The exhibit demonstrates the societal and individual impact of teen parenting. People who have visited the exhibit talk about the emotions and impact the stories have on them. It does not romanticize, criticize or judge, it purely tells their story.

Staff approached numerous individuals and groups that had vacant facilities or available funding who were enthusiastic - until they heard the words “teenage pregnancy.” They didn’t want “the controversy,” “any picketers,” “mention of abortions,” etc.

It is amazing how two words can create such a panic.

In spite of the businesses that closed their doors and the donors who passed us by, we brought the art exhibit to Spokane anyway. It’s not controversial, it’s reality. I hope that those who turned us away will take the time to listen to at least one story. I don’t know anyone who has not been touched by a teenage pregnancy in their family or circle of friends. It is OK to talk about it. And yes, it does exist in Spokane.

This free exhibit is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, at 527 W. Riverside. Lyndia C. Vold Spokane Regional Health District

Join us for Trail Blazin’ Day

People of the Inland Northwest have a wonderful opportunity to enhance the recreational and educational facilities available to us. The Nature Conservancy’s Cougar Bay Preserve on Lake Coeur d’Alene showcases cooperative habitat conservation and management. Crown Pacific sold 88 acres to The Nature Conservancy in 1998 at a greatly reduced price to ensure the preservation of some of the community’s most valuable wetlands. Crown Pacific still owns 337 forested acres adjacent to that land. Both properties are being used for the finest natural resource project in this area.

The Nature Conservancy, in conjunction with Crown Pacific and the Intermountain Forest Association, is constructing a hiking trail system throughout the properties. Interpretive signs will be placed along the trail to educate users on various natural resource topics. In addition, entire classrooms of children will visit the site as part of the Outdoor Exploration Program.

On Saturday, Trail Blazin’ Day will be held at the Cougar Bay Preserve from 9 a.m. to noon. Community volunteers will extend the hiking trail system begun last year. Lunch will be provided, as well as free gifts to all participants. A fun time is guaranteed.

The Inland Northwest has the finest quality volunteers around. Please come out and support the finest quality project - the Cougar Bay Preserve.

For more information about volunteering, and for directions to the site, contact The Nature Conservancy at 208-676-8176. Mark Compton Crown Pacific forester, Rathdrum

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Kid’s foul mouth tells about parents

Yesterday, I got into a confrontation with a 14-year-old eighth-grade dropout. It started with me getting out of my car at my daughter’s junior high school. I was there to pick her up.

On the grass across from the school a boy was pinning someone to the ground. I wasn’t sure if they were fighting or playing. I moved toward them and the boy got off the other person, who turned out to be a girl. I said “thank you” and proceeded to walk back to my car.

This child started cussing at me and telling me to mind my own business. I said, “I saw what looked like a fight and as a grownup I have an obligation to check it out,” and again turned and walked toward my car.

Again, this child shouted obscenities at me and told me to shut up. It escalated from there and I stooped to his level and language.

This morning when I woke up, I thought of this incident and the fear started to set in. What if he comes back today with a gun? It’s not supposed to be this way. I’m not supposed to fear for my life, my child’s life or anyone who may be around me because of a delinquent child.

I’m 43 years old. I thought my generation knew how to teach our children manners, consequences and proper behavior. The parent(s) of this 14-year-old are in my generation. Where are their values and why would they willingly create a throw-away child? Leslie Lindren Spokane

Be size 1? No, be real

I am a freshman at West Valley High School. Many teens these days have this image that they have to be thin. Today, 6 percent of girls between the ages of 13 and 17 develop some type of eating disorder. An eating disorder is not fun. You devote all of your time to becoming thin. All of your hopes and dreams are replaced with hurt, hunger and this image and ambition of being thin.

Most people who develop an eating disorder feel that nothing they do is good enough, and they always want to get down to a lower weight. Why do teens think this? Because they feel that if they have a great body that everyone will like them and they will be so-called “perfect.” Many want to be thinner because their peers are, and they think they might fit in better.

Or maybe it’s because of the models and actresses we see every day, when we look in magazines or watch TV. They seem to forget that a girl has to be honest, caring, sweet, etc. I was always told that those were the qualities that mattered. But still, every time you watch a movie or even open a magazine the only thing that catches your eye is the size 1 models everywhere.

The “perfect” girl is what’s inside yourself and how comfortable you are with yourself. Nichole Boudreaux Spokane

There’s so much here, why go abroad?

Summer is fast approaching and schools will be letting out. Vacations will be planned and many will venture out of the United States.

I often wonder why Americans spend so much time traveling outside of this country when there’s so much they haven’t even seen in their own state. I can understand wanting to spend a few weeks on some remote beach or wanting to see the canals of Venice. But there’s a Venice in California and beautiful beaches everywhere. There are many places in this country that would put these travelers in awe with the beauty of it all.

With all there is to see so close at hand, why travel outside this country? Could it be bragging rights? Maybe they just want to be able to say, “We went to Europe this year,” before bringing out the myriad photos taken.

As a civilian, I traveled for 20 years, at company expense, and have seen most of the United States and a great deal of Mexico and Central and South America. There are many wonderful things to see wherever you journey. But there are so many places here in the U.S. that are comparable to what can be seen elsewhere.

I enjoyed getting to know the people and cultures of other countries. Getting acquainted with the people of any region makes a trip more interesting. The same is true right here in the good old United States. Norman F. Bergman Liberty Lake

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Picking judges: System needs work

Re: “Battle looms over electing judges,” (May 28). The consensus in this article seems to be one of alarm and general concern for the results of this election process. In the meantime Judge Daniel Eismann says, “I think we do it fine.” While I expect his statement to express satisfaction and be self-serving, it precisely says to me that perhaps it’s time to take another look at the process and make some changes. Joel Stookey Post Falls

From his cold, dead heart

Moses says, Guns don’t kill, kids do. Solution: Shoot the kids. After all, he should know. Didn’t he part the seas?

Seriously, the campaign to control guns is not about taking guns away from people, but to save lives by controlling the use of guns and who uses them.

We are not 13 colonies anymore. We are a nation of millions of people of all nationalities, ages, mental conditions, etc. It is not a simple problem but can be solved by common sense practical solutions. There have been many good ideas put forth. We should support the ones we feel will help correct the problem. Keith Morrow Coeur D’ Alene

Bonner County voters really blew it

The Californication of North Idaho continues. Bonner County voted for oppression and cast off the chance of freedom and liberty voted in 1996. What to build, where to build and how to build used to be a right of the individual to do as he pleased, as he needed and could afford. Not so any longer. The oppressors will be back in great form. Kiss off any self-reliance and individual responsibility you thought you may have had.

Where was the remainder of the 17,000 registered voters who could have made the difference, even with the severe crossing of party lines? Freedom never is free. It takes guts and courage to maintain and is quite obviously lacking in Bonner County today. Tossing Bud Mueller and the potential team with Thomas Clark - who would have been effective in getting the budget process under control - is nothing less than economic suicide for the citizens of Bonner County.

“There was some big bucks put into this election,” said Brian Orr in The Spokesman-Review. “People are wanting to get some normalcy, a more smooth-running operation.” Hogwash in the Orr tradition. It is all about more government socialism - no guts or courage here!

When a fine lady such as Marjorie Kinne - who knows a bunch about oppressive government, having lived in Ethiopia - loses her race as precinct committee person, you know our soul and basic moral principles are in big trouble. New slogan: divest all assets and haul out of Bonner County. Gary Tucker Oldtown

Thanks for your support

I am truly appreciative and humbled by the tremendous outpouring of support given to me during the recent primary. I recognize the significance of persons from both parties giving me their vote.

I especially thank members of the grange halls, community clubs and organizations who gave so freely of their time in setting up the candidate forums throughout the county. These town hall-type meetings, where candidate and voter look eye to eye, are what American politics were meant to be.

To my two opponents in the Republican Party primary I say thank you for running professional races which centered on the issues while avoiding the tactic of personal attacks. You’re both real gentlemen. Phil Jarvis Hope