Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Please fix Demolition Drive

The South Complex is situated on Regal and 46th, where countless sports teams of all ages use the fields and surrounding streets. One block on 46th Avenue between Cook and Altamont resembles the craters of the moon more than a street. This unpaved and neglected section of street is a menace to all drivers.

Rushing to get to your child’s soccer game, or if you are unlucky enough to be scheduled to play at the west end of the field, a four-wheel drive is best for this terrain. Aside from using your precious time avoiding the potholes, this minuscule section of roadway is a notorious car killer. Every rut in the road causes pricey damage to your car’s shock absorbers, transmission and alignment. Countless citizens will go blocks out of their way rather than travel across this section of roadway.

Fifty-seventh Avenue recently underwent construction on one and a half miles of road, so the city of Spokane undoubtedly has enough finding to pave half a block of this frequently used street. If this is too much to ask, the city should at least fill the holes with gravel. On behalf of all sports players and spectators on the South Hill, I am pleading for the city to kindly pave this road. Jenna Dullanty Spokane

Spokane is like the story

The article ‘Law of averages’ on Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke and Miller law firm succinctly summed up Spokane. This is the same rhetoric used by the Spokane Chamber of Commerce. Diversity illustrates the “type of business” and not ethnic development, thus continuing misleading politically acceptable bias. Edward Thomas, Jr. Spokane

Mortgage firm deserves only thanks

In case there might be any misconception about the role of Metropolitan Mortgage in relation to the Merlin Project, I extend the company a huge thank you for all of its help and concern. While I was chairman of the Christian Renewal Ministries board, Met Mortgage offered much help, including the offer of a professionally produced brochure free of charge.

It would be a shame if anyone got the idea from the article, “Merlin conversion unraveling” that Met Mortgage was to blame for anything harmful. My understanding was that its consideration of the “emergency business loan” was an extraordinary measure. We board members were all aware that this bend-over-backwards effort was motivated by concern for our city and for those with broken lives.

Likewise, my profound thanks go to the many sponsors who have given far beyond the call of duty to make the project work. It would be a gross error for anyone to blame these gracious sponsors for being too slow in their renovation projects. The time, effort, money and joy given by so many has been an example of the good will that resides in our city.

From those who live with the Merlin Apartments in their back yard, thank you, Metropolitan Mortgage, thank you, Merlin sponsors. Folks and businesses like you make Spokane a wonderful place. Lawrence Hudson pastor of First Covenant Church, Spokane

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Levy money vital for quality schooling

March 14 is a very important date for the children of District 81. Spokane residents will have the opportunity to vote to replace the existing maintenance and operations levy. For the past three years, this levy has provided 16 percent of the district operating budget.

What have we got to lose by not voting for this levy? A lot! More than 92 percent of the levy funds go directly to the classrooms - to teachers, counselors, textbooks and instructional materials, teaching and library assistants, special education assistants and student activities, including music, sports, art and drama.

As a parent, past PTG president and longtime classroom volunteer, I see these important dollars at work every day. I urge everyone to vote yes on March 14. Our children are counting on all of us. Susan Silver Spokane

Spokane, you’ve got a good system

As a newcomer to this state, I want to thank the Spokane community for maintaining funding for your schools. Programs that have been cut from many school districts throughout the country are taken for granted here. Programs like physical education for all grade levels, music and art instruction, hearing and vision screening and special education for the needful and for the gifted. Librarians in other states may cover five or more schools, and school counselors are unheard of.

Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the wonderful opportunities here that enrich all our children’s lives. I am mindful of how easily programs can disappear if we are not dedicated to our children and to using our right to vote.

Please remind everyone to vote yes on March 14. Janet Henderson, volunteer coordinator Moran Prairie School, Spokane

District 81 uses its money well

I serve as the chairperson for the Franklin Elementary Site Council and, like many of you, I am very concerned about not only my children’s education but also how the money District 81 has is used. I can’t think of a better investment than one in the future of Spokane through our children. I have witnessed the tremendous dedication of teachers and staff members at Franklin Elementary and am extremely proud to have my children attend there.

During a presentation given outlining the proposed levy, I learned some encouraging news about District 81, its spending habits and good stewardship of money entrusted to it. I was impressed to learn that 93 cents of every levy dollar goes directly into the classroom. This is where students can see the most benefit.

In addition to textbooks, instruction materials, special education assistance and support, counselors and teachers, that money will go toward such activities as band, sports, choir and drama. All these make the young people of Spokane well rounded and productive in our society and provide a complete education.

A small investment in Spokane children will have huge dividends and I am proud to say yes to children and support them, not only with my tax dollars but with my encouragement, dedication and pride. Ann Michel Spokane

FIREARMS

Gun control is not the answer

You know what makes me pig-biting mad? Every time some senseless tragedy happens, the president and the media use that emotional time to call for more gun control. No amount of gun control would prevent these senseless acts.

I wish someone would ask the president how his proposals would have changed this event.

No law requiring a trigger lock on all guns sold would have done any good in this case; the gun used by the 6-year-old reportedly had been stolen and stashed by a drug-dealing felon. Does anyone really think this character would’ve used a trigger lock?

The president rails against the lack of background checks at gun shows. Again, I fail to see the correlation.

On Nov. 22, 1963, I took a .22-caliber rifle to a Pennsylvania junior high school for a demonstration speech. I walked the halls carrying the rifle and no one cared. Nov. 22, 1963, was the day President John F. Kennedy was killed. The availability of firearms was far greater to youths then than now, yet we had far less violence. All my friends had guns.

We need to stop blaming the gun and look deeper. It is obvious the availability of guns alone is not the source of the violence today. Why was this 6-year-old child where he was? Why were his parents where they were? This is a societal problem.

We are asking the wrong questions. Joseph P. Domon, Jr. Reardan, Wash.

Focus on stopping violence, not guns

There are far too many incidents involving young kids and teenagers with guns.

There are already enough local, state and federal laws concerning guns. It is true that we can’t legislate common sense. The parents of the households from which the guns are obtained are not taking enough precautions to keep the guns secure. Just putting the guns up out of reach isn’t enough. They need to be securely locked away.

Too many parents allow their kids to watch movies that are meant for an older audience. I think that if a kid repeatedly sees that shooting someone is a way to deal with squabbles and disagreements, they will believe that’s the way to deal with the problem.

If parents would teach their kids how powerful and destructive guns really are, they would understand the finality of their decision. It’s usually not like movies and TV, where someone is shot to pieces and remains alive.

Human life should be revered above all other things. Let’s put an end to wasting it. Teach kids the right way to settle disputes and put an end to the violent wrong way. Steve Morse Cheney

AGRICULTURE

Master markets or watch out

Jay Giesy (Letters, Feb. 20) is correct in his assertion that farms are getting larger. It’s estimated we now have 300,000 to 500,000 commercial farmers but it is projected that only 30,000 farmers will be needed in the next decade, according to a study released by Dr. Heffernan of the University of Missouri.

Those farmers will become part of a seamless system. Their production will be controlled by a handful of worldwide conglomerates, consisting of pharmaceutical, agricultural processing and international grain handling companies. They will no longer be farmers, they will be growers. They will provide the land and labor. Their production will have no market or public price. The first time the price of any input into the system will be public information is at the supermarket.

Supply and demand hasn’t worked in agriculture for decades. For example, dairymen recently saw the price they get for milk drop from $17 to $10 CWT in a month with less than 1 percent change in worldwide milk production. Yet consumer prices stayed virtually unchanged.

The Capper-Volstead Act passed by Congress in 1922 gave farmers the right to price their production as a group. But too few farmers have utilized this law.

It doesn’t matter what size farm operation or how efficient you are, if you don’t receive cost of production plus a reasonable profit you will not remain a farmer as we now know it. Delores Jones Spokane

CONSUMER AFFAIRS

You better shop around

I appreciated very much the timely advice offered by Dan Settle of the Eastern Washington Subcontractors and Suppliers Association of Spokane. However, if I might offer a few other insights that homeowners need to include in their considerations for hiring someone to handle their home improvement projects.

A contractor who is bonded and licensed has paid a hefty fee for that license and bond. He was not, however, required to take any test to prove his ability. All that a bond does is means that he has insurance to cover any mistakes he makes. And having a license means that the IRS knows where to find him for taxation purposes.

Though it is true, bonding companies are more willing to extend lower prices for bonds to contractors who indicate that they are experienced - to blanket all unlicensed craftsmen as being “deadbeats” is unfair. There are skilled people in business, working out of the back of a pickup truck, who are competent and reliable. They, too, can present potential clients with a portfolio to demonstrate their dependability and the quality of their work from past projects.

There are just as many houses falling apart that were built by licensed and bonded contractors as were built by unlicensed craftsmen. An office in a high rise building, as opposed to a well used pickup truck, does not guarantee quality. Shop around. Elmer C. Jorgensen Cheney

IDAHO VIEWPOINTS

Compton, Panabaker got it wrong

Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin made a motion to deny the conditional use permit for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe refueling depot, which died. Then, Commissioner Dick Compton gave the most inarticulate and questionable endorsement of this project I have ever heard.

Commissioner Dick Panabaker fell off the fence to join Compton’s endorsement without even preparing a position paper!

Compton separated “fiction from opinion!” Is there a difference? What happened to facts? Here are some highlights of Compton’s so-called facts:

“BNSF owns the property.” So? It has the right to contaminate our water supply?

Zoning: “It’s already zoned industrial.” Why? Because BNSF has been there for 100 years, not because over the aquifer is an ideal place for industry.

The comprehensive plan “doesn’t say no.” Well, it certainly doesn’t say yes. That’s why BNSF needs a conditional use permit.

The rest of his statement was all speculation that made even less sense. He did assure us that they have “33 conditions” which include “public tours of the operation.” We can all visit the site that could be the end of our drinking water. Swell. They also denied any stay of construction to allow for an appeal. So look for BNSF and its backhoes to be in place. Two of the commissioners have decided to shift the burden of protecting our drinking water onto the citizens instead of assuming the responsibility for which they were elected. So, we will have to do it ourselves.

Kristy Johnson Post Falls

Hit-and-run types are cowards

On March 1, I pulled into my usual parking spot at my part-time job at the Coeur d’Alene Arby’s. I began my night not knowing what was going to happen. Not half an hour after I arrived at work, someone hit my car bad enough to tear half the bumper off.

I have a 1992 Ford Probe and it’s the nicest thing I’ve every owned. To see it like that repulsed me.

Not having the decency to come in and report it, the ignorant driver left my car there and left me to pay for the damages. I am a student working part time, making $5.45 an hour, yet I have to pay a $500 deductible to fix it.

It really disturbs me that there are such cruel people out there who care only about themselves. When you damage someone else’s things, you take responsibility.

I don’t know who this cowardly, thoughtless person is and probably never will. What is wrong with people in our society today? I would have appreciated at least a note from this selfish person saying they were at least sorry. It makes me just sick to think we live in a world like this. It’s pretty sad. Jessica Keevy Coeur d’Alene

County attitude: See you in court

I wonder at times how wisely Kootenai County spends our tax dollars. After trying to correct a situation the county fouled up on a small subdivision, I was referred to the legal office. Seems they would rather spend our tax dollars this way than try to handle the mater easily within their office.

I received a letter from Dennis Molenaar, chief legal counsel, on Jan. 27, requesting I “feel free to contact” him. This I have done with three phone calls over a month. I have yet to receive any contact from him or his office except his first letter. Isn’t it interesting that a matter that could be handled without legal interference is quickly turned over to our county’s legal department?

I have requested from the onset that the matter be handled without spending time and money in court. But it seems like the county is following in the steps of our U.S. government, spending our tax money unwisely because of its deep pockets. What a shame. Ken A. Frejlach Coeur d’Alene