Letters To The Editor

Schools and education

Continue our good schools legacy

Children learn by example. What we value love, faith, integrity, responsibility are modeled to them as we pursue these things with commitment.

As a child, I learned to value education by my parents’ active commitment to exposing my siblings and me to reading, music, nature, history and current events, and by their commitment to our schools. I also learned that voting was a right and a responsibility. My parents stayed informed - my parents always voted.

My community also conveyed its value of education and the power of voting. Beautiful school buildings, whose doors opened to all children a wealth of information and experiences, stood - and still stand - as a testimony to the commitment of countless citizens who had come before me and given their time, talents and financial resources. School levies were supported in my community. Thus, buildings and programs were maintained in good faith for my generation and those to follow.

Now, as a parent and voter, I have the opportunity to continue the legacy in this community. Spokane can be proud of its past support of schools. As I’ve volunteered and worked in my children’s school over the years, I’ve seen firsthand what impact your commitment has made in the lives of kids. Let’s show our kids that we value their future. Support the maintenance and operations levy. Vote yes for kids on March 14. Bernadette DesChamps Spokane

Seniors, join me in supporting levy

As a senior citizen, I urge all other senior citizens to vote on the upcoming District 81 renewal levy. Since this is a renewal levy, our taxes will remain the same.

This levy will continue to support vital programs such as special education, counseling, music, art and Express programs. In addition, our entire community uses the school buildings for such important events as Scouts program meetings, Block Watch meetings, Cop Shop meetings, adult education and recreation programs.

As a reading volunteer in District 81 schools, I can see firsthand how levy-supported programs are the only stable force in the lives of many children. Music and art enhance the school experience and provide a positive outlet for students.

A yes vote on March 14 is an excellent way to be involved and participate in the school system. Gloria Faggetter Spokane

Levy a matter of necessities

As School District 81 employees, teachers and administration again beg for passage of the levy, my humorous side (though this is not really an amusing subject) thinks of Baloo singing his song in Disney’s version of “Jungle Book”: “Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife! Ya!”

Well, that is great in Baloo’s jungle but the reality for our school district is this levy we need to vote on March 14. This levy is not new, nothing more; just a song and dance the district needs to do every couple of years. It covers just the bare necessities, folks, but we cannot have an education for the kids without these bare necessities.

American education ceased being for free decades ago, and sometimes we forget that. Support not just your schools but our future, in the kids. Vote yes on Tuesday. Sammy Girton Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

Ergonomic standards are needed

As a working nurse, I applaud the Department of Labor and Industries for the proposed ergonomic standards, although I don’t think the restrictions on weight or load lifting are stringent enough. It is high time for employers and consumers to stop allowing work practices which injure people.

The idea these practices are cheap is fallacious. Many workers in labor-intensive industries can only be employed in these for 10 to 15 years before their injuries cause chronic pain, disability or force early retirement. There are already a few devices to assist with lifting or moving heavy loads. It should be criminal for an employer to not provide these and to allow their use.

The proposed standards could encourage a whole new industry - manufacturing small lifting devices that could be helpful in many areas, especially in health care. Barbara Morrissey Spokane

Parents should regulate young drivers

I am utterly appalled that so many Spokane-area parents would like a graduated driver’s licensing law. They have it in their power right now to restrict their children’s driving. They have a mouth and lips, and they can say the word “no.”

I can’t understand how people are so gutless they can’t monitor their own children’s driving. They are abdicating their responsibilities as parents and pushing this off on other parents who don’t want this law. Would any of them consider a graduated drinking law for their children, for the sake of monitoring and teaching their children drinking before the age of 21, starting at 16, 17 or 18? Probably not. Nancy Parker Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Seems some lives are worth less

The article begins, “Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen gave a Spokane man a belated birthday gift Tuesday.” She sentenced Isaiah L. Ridley to a reduced sentence of 7-1/2 years in prison for the beating death of a homeless Spokane man, John Michael Bock, 44.

Seems Ridley and three of his buds were just out on the town doing a little bum bashing, and Bock was chosen for the beating. Bock was taken to a hospital with a severe head injury and died two days later.

The present Judge Eitzen gave was one year off of his original 8-1/2-year sentence. If my calculations are correct, Ridley can be back on the street in a little over two years.

I’m sure everyone is breathing a big sigh of relief that they didn’t kill Bock with a gun, as his suffering would have been over even sooner. Beating a man to the point that he will suffer longer and then die sends a much stronger message to the homeless of Spokane.

Thank you, Eitzen, for another slap on the hand of the criminal. To John Michael Bock, I’m sorry no one was there to defend you from these punks! James L. Youngman Spokane

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Don’t sacrifice hunt for serial killer

We can’t bring our daughters back but we can speak out to let people know how important it is to support the Spokane Serial Killer Task Force. Let them have the needed funds to get the high-tech equipment and personnel needed so they can effectively do their jobs.

What they lost in their budget when Initiative 695 passed needs to be replaced. By I-695 passing we now have vehicles on the roads with low-cost license tabs and a killer who is probably driving one of them. Remember, the killer is still out there in our neighborhoods, waiting.

Somewhere along the way my daughter, Shawn Johnson, became sick. If this sickness had been cancer would it be better understood? Doesn’t this community do all it can to help people who are sick with cancer and other diseases? Why isn’t there more understanding for people who are sick from drugs?

My daughter was trying to get help when the serial killer took her choices away. To find out, with a knock at your door, that your daughter was murdered and you can never see her again is to feel so much agony you can’t even speak. You’ll never again hold her hand or hug her. You’ll never again laugh or cry with her. You’ll never again see her.

The person who killed our daughters not only violated our family’s lives but violated our neighborhoods and our cities. Margaret Dettman Spokane

APPRECIATION

Eateries’ help doubly nourishing

As a teacher of special needs middle school students who are enrolled in a program designed to teach living skills, community access and consumer awareness, I thank the Arizona Steakhouse, Applebee’s, Arby’s, Cucina Cucina and The Pear Tree restaurants. These businesses have opened their doors to us beyond regular hours to teach these students about food safety, food preparation, customer service and career opportunities available in the food hospitality industry. Students were able to practice what they learned in a real setting and were rewarded with a delicious meal.

It is through the generosity of businesses like these that we are able to develop our curriculum beyond the classroom walls and better equip our students for independent living. Mary Radford Sacajawea Middle School, Spokane

`Phantom’ production excellent

Last week I went to see “The Phantom of the Opera.” I eagerly anticipated the event. I knew the story and much of the music. But what I wasn’t prepared for was my reaction to it all. One look at the stage setting and I wondered, was I in Spokane or was this the Opera House in Paris? I can’t praise highly enough the entire show. What I hadn’t anticipated was my growing admiration for the people I couldn’t see - the back stage crew who moved the show along in split-second timing and the unseen orchestra with its perfect accompaniment.

My thanks to all concerned. Eileen Wise Spokane

NORTHWEST DAMS

Fishing is simply too intensive

I read an article in the the Lewiston Morning Tribune recently about President Clinton offering an aid package to “West Coast fishermen hurt by a disastrous decline in stocks of groundfish, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Friday.”

This $14.2 million aid package is just part of a $131 million disaster relief plan for fishermen in Washington, Oregon and California. It will be used to buy back fishing boats and permits to reduce the fleet, to pay for more research and economic development, and to start a fishing boat observer program.

Clinton, while citing a disastrous decline in Long Island lobster fisheries as well, stated, “The economic threat to fishing communities is severe.” Indeed, the 20-year average catch of groundfish of 74,000 tons dropped to 36,000 tons last year and is projected to be only 27,000 tons this year.

What do you suppose the reason for this shortage is? Federal scientists say they are becoming increasingly convinced that groundfish, which live 30 to 50 years, are simply not replacing themselves in the numbers caught by fishermen.

Overharvesting!

Like the West Coast tuna runs, the salmon and steelhead runs and numerous other fisheries, they have been overharvested. Luckily, they can’t blame this shortage on the Lower Snake River dams. It is time to stop the insanity! Dick Sherwin Clarkston

There’s no end to dams nonsense

Sam Mace, representing Washington Wildlife Federation, says it’s time for Rep. George Nethercutt, Sen. Slade Gorton and others to listen to their constituents and bypass the Snake River dams. These guys live in the dinosaur age.

Five percent of Bonneville Power Administration’s energy comes from those dams. That covers most of the Tri-Cities’ needs annually. Do you want price spikes such as they have in the East when the day comes we experience brownouts? Do you want to pay the difference in transportation costs for commodities going to Portland? Or pay to improve the highways for those thousands of trucks?

Did you read the letter to the editor from Pasco Commissioner Del Latham, on the new fish-friendly turbines? Are you going to ask the tribes to pull out their hundreds of gill nets in the Columbia? Or ask them to quit selling salmon to all of us for $2 per pound? Get rid of terns? Sea lions? Do you agree that alcoholism in the Indian nations such as the Nez Perce is attributed to dams, as I read the other day? How ridiculous.

Most people do not realize that rateholders using BPA power pay approximately 20 to 25 percent of their monthly bills for fish recovery. Has that money been wisely spent?

If Mace and others get their way, what’s next? John Day? Grand Coulee? They want to close forests, too.

Keep up the harangue. If all this comes to pass, keep your candles left over from Y2K. You’ll need them. Nathan Narrance Colbert

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Protesters out of line themselves

Re: Staff writer Julie Titone’s article about the Stateline Showgirl protest (Feb. 28). Why is a state public official speaking at a protest of a legal business? Rep. Jeff Alltus was elected to support and uphold the rights of Idaho residents. He has clearly used his political position to promote his personal moral issues. Someone should be calling for his resignation.

The very people - Immaculate Conception members - who are protesting this legal business are busy doing developments south of the river that are special-condition and conditional-use permitted. One individual is under heavy protest by his neighbors because of trying to develop undersized parcels in a rural area. The Dominican Church School is totally out of place in its rural setting and even though the local residence have protested this development, it continues to grow, having turned into a multi-family development without notice by the county. Another individual has built a huge home off of Richards Road where students of the school are housed.

Although I am not a patron of Stateline Showgirls, I believe that business is doing nothing to hurt the area. I have never heard of any trouble coming from the establishment and I do not see the area around it becoming run down. The only problem so far was the arson fire last weekend, which could have been done by the very people who are protesting. Dennis Hiatt Post Falls

Alltus pushing narrow-minded agenda

As a constituent and Idaho taxpayer, I am outraged by the efforts of Rep. Jeff Alltus (R-Hayden) on behalf of the so-called Christian Coalition to waste taxpayers’ dollars on a misguided effort to privatize (read eliminate) Idaho Public Television. This appears to be nothing more than an attempt to harass IPTV and promote the narrow political agenda of a dangerous group apparently intent on imposing their beliefs on the majority of fair-minded Idaho people.

As a father and Christian, my only regret was that I did not record the “It’s Elementary” documentary to view with my children. It would be a very instructional tool, not only for them to better understand the struggles encountered by our gay and lesbian friends and relatives but also for learning to take a stand against intolerance, bigotry and those who try to oppress others by denying them a voice.

Surely, Alltus should be able to spend his time and our tax dollars in Boise on more productive endeavors than this. One place he could start would be engaging in some measure of public accountability regarding his hunting violation. How can I explain to my children that the person who represents them in our state Legislature not only violated the law but now wants to take away their favorite television programs? Matthew Mattila Hayden

We’re such racists - yada yada

Re: “Past time to tell state’s real story,” (Feb. 15). Again, the facts have been distorted to sway the minds of the white majority in Idaho. A map was put together by the Southern Poverty Law Center showing more than 500 alleged hate groups in America. Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming have a total of 42 groups.

Now, let’s go to Morris Dees’ part of the country. There’s 25 groups in Alabama alone. If you add in Florida, their neighboring state with 38 groups, that’s 63 - 22 more than in all of the Northwest. What’s that old saying about cleaning up your own back yard first?

A question for D.F. Oliveria: If 4 percent of people surveyed nationally think “extremist” when they think of Idaho, what does the other 96 percent think?

Also, could Oliveria and Gov. Kempthorne list the many attributes the small but important Hispanic population has contributed to Idaho? Why does such a small group of Hispanics in Idaho make up the second largest percent of Idaho’s prison inmate total? And why is Idaho going to have the first Anne Frank memorial of its kind in America? Why not in New York, Los Angeles or some other city where the Jewish population is greater? If anyone has given a false impression of life in the Northwest, that would be Oliveria, Dees, Kempthorne and the human rights movement. I say, “Idaho, love it or leave it!” Dorothy Glass Coeur d’Alene