Letters To The Editor
FIREARMS
More guns will fix everything?
Tim Erickson’s recent letter suggests, among other things, that teachers ought to be “trained and allowed to carry guns.” What a good idea. Here’s a better one: Train police to be teachers. Oops.
Coincidentally, the paper of June 18 noted the 10-year anniversary of a shooting rampage at an auto finance company in Jacksonville, Fla., in which some nut murdered nine people. Should people who work in auto finance companies be “trained and allowed to carry guns” also? How about fast-food employees? Remember the McDonald’s massacre? Regarding Columbine, there was an armed security guard on campus when the shooting began.
As for Erickson’s statement that “Criminals are let off through the system with nothing or a slap on the hand,” that’s nonsense. Our prisons are chock full of inmates, in a greater percentage, per capita, than any other country in the world.
He says, “For every accidental shooting in homes with stored guns (loaded or unloaded) and crimes of passion, there are five times as many incidents of citizens successfully and lawfully protecting their families and homes using guns.” Again, nonsense. Numbers pulled from the sky. I challenge Erickson to produce the statistical evidence for such a statement. And not evidence from some “the more guns we have, the safer we’ll all be” organization but from any law enforcement agency, state or federal.
Unfortunately, space doesn’t permit me to address the alleged 90 percent reduction in rape in “parts of Florida.” “Nonsense” will have to do. Wesley Shaw Spokane
Shabby attempt to smear NRA
Regarding The Spokesman-Review’s attitude toward gun owners and the National Rifle Association.
One of the first things The Spokesman-Review did in the Robert Lee Yates murder investigation was to try to find out if he was a member of the National Rifle Association. How insulting to the NRA and us gun owners! How tacky of The Spokesman-Review!
Maybe Yates was a member. Regardless, your newspaper owes the public and the NRA an apology.
The reason people lock their doors is to safeguard themselves. Doing away with guns makes about as much sense as doing away with locks. If we didn’t have guns, locks wouldn’t do us any good anyway.
I hear that anti-gun blabbermouth Rosie O’Donnell’s bodyguard carries a gun now. Well, golly, she is against guns! What turned her around? What turned her around is the parental instinct to protect the family.
The Spokesman-Review has such a way with words. The Review said of one of the serial killer’s victims, “Heroin took her money.” Baloney. The lady spent her money on heroin. Tell it like it is! People need to take responsibility for their actions.
There are laws against killing. Read the Ten Commandments. If Yates is found guilty, give him to the victims’ families and let them enact justice. Murderers are the reason we need guns - to defend ourselves. Steven C. Stone Colville, Wash.
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
Take care to record elders’ stories
Congratulations, interactive editor Becky Nappi, on two great Perspective articles!
“The teen commandments” (June 11), reporting the results of eight month’s values clarification by a group of teenagers, was interesting and inspiring. Two of the commandments had to do with connecting with roots.
Bernadette Curry told some of her father’s stories in “A father’s legacy” (June 18).
“He was a man of undying spirit and great courage who lived through poverty and war, and helped rebuild the postwar world - all without complaining or bragging,” she wrote.
Curry mentioned that many of the men and women of the Depression-World War II generation will be gone in the next decade without having told the stories of their important lives, and a priceless heritage will be lost.
Perhaps the teens, and others, will take a tape recorder and notepad and spend some precious time with the older folks in their families to learn about their roots, and to demonstrate the love that is given by attentive and compassionate listening with the heart.
One of my regrets following the death of my husband is that his stories were never put on tape and are lost forever. Bernadine Van Thiel Spokane
Syndrome yields parenting nightmare
Re: “Key Moments” (June 11).
I am raising my niece who has fetal alcohol syndrome. I was relieved to see how I was not the only one who has such a violent child.
I am glad that today Spokane woke up and took a look at what I face every day. I face the stigma of a child with bad behavior. I am always blamed for what she does. I am also always blamed for how I react: You should punish her more. You should get rid of those toys. You should do this or that.
I get really tired of listening to people judge me or my daughter. She has something that she has to live with for the rest of her life. She is the one who will one day be on her own. I just try to help her along the way, to live her life in a way that she can enjoy it. Stephanie Holt Spokane
ENTERTAINMENT
Picante concert fantastic
During the evening of June 13 I was fortunate enough to witness the Picante Percussion Orchestra’s presentation of “A Night in New Orleans.” This tasty concert in the Spokane Falls Community College Music Auditorium showcased the excellent music program at this higher education facility.
The concert also provided hope for us music lovers who are sometimes hard pressed to find good jazz performances in the River City.
While all the musicians performed admirably, I was mesmerized by the drumming of Ian Gonzales (particularly his solo on “The Storm”). Equally inspiring were the excellent vocals of Bill Bunze and Terri Cooley, as well as the trumpet/flugelhorn work of Brian Ploeger. The icing on the cake was a guest appearance of Spokane’s outstanding reed player, Gary Edighoffer. But most important, all of the musicians were simply fantastic!
The finale was a unique slow-tempo version of “If I Had a Hammer,” which had a rhythmic pattern that simply knocked your socks off.
Spokane can be proud of the great musicians that SFCC is producing. And it can also be proud of being yet another of the outstanding public schools which sadly are being vilified with monotonous regularity. Bruce M. Mitchell Spokane