Letters To The Editor

Sat., March 18, 2000

Washington state

Ballard keeps Texan happy, anyway

A hard lesson in partisan politics was revealed in Olympia when Co-Speaker Clyde Ballard, Republican, derailed a vote in the state House of Representatives on a bill that would extend unemployment benefits for locked-out Kaiser Steelworkers. It’s the general consensus that if a vote were held, it would pass.

The reason given for not supporting this bill, which has already passed in the Senate, is that it would take away incentive for the Steelworkers to negotiate a contact with Kaiser. It’s insulting to assume these Steelworkers would rather sit home collecting unemployment. Returning to work would mean a resumption of medical benefits, the security of having a job and a retirement package.

Most of these Steelworkers would rather return to Kaiser with a fair contract that they feel they deserve.

The union, in fact, did offer to return to work, at which time Kaiser imposed the lockout. It’s very difficult for these Steelworkers to find other employment, given the publicity about this strike. Employers are understandably reluctant to hire someone who may quit once a settlement is reached. This leaves many families in very difficult financial situations. Unemployment benefits would help them get by.

It would be nice if our elected officials would help the people from their own state, people they’re supposed to represent, rather than representing a Texas business owner. This is a humanitarian issue, not a political one.

Ballard admitted he hadn’t even read the bill, yet he’s single-handedly holding it up. (“Caught in a Ballard lock” Spokesman-Review, March 9).

Sure sounds like politics to me. Sharon O. McDirmid Newport, Wash.

Jobless benefits? No way

Locked-out Kaiser Steelworkers want unemployment benefits extended.

These people voluntarily walked off their jobs and chose to go on strike. As far as being locked out, that was something that happened months after the walk out.

If anyone is responsible for supporting the Steelworkers, it’s the Steelworkers Union, not the Washington state taxpayers.

As for the aerospace and timber workers, this is a whole different ball game. These workers did not choose to walk off their jobs, they were laid off. They should have their benefits extended.

Being locked out sounds bad, but who voluntarily took the first step out the gate?

If the state gets into the business of subsidizing strikes, where will it all end? E.B. Booher Airway Heights

Entertainment

Don’t miss a State B tournament

If you missed it this year, be prepared for 2001. On your calendar, circle the first Friday in March, set aside $9 for the entry fee and prepare yourself for 10 hours of fun. (That’s less than $1 per hour!)

At the State B Basketball Tournament you will see more than great competition, you will view America at its best. Grandma and grandpa will be there, mom and dad will show up with cameras and booster buttons, babies will be passed around - it’s a family affair.

Teachers will grade papers during half time, hugs and handshakes will be exchanged all day long. In fact, you will feel like family wherever you sit.

This year, our favorite seatmates were from Ritzville. Another year, we were enamored with the Tekoa-Oakesdale fans. The school bands are part of the fun. Where else would you find a mom or dad among the ranks, playing their dust-covered instrument?

Be sure not to leave before the Lewis and Clark Drill Team performs. These girls receive a standing ovation every year for the tremendous precision and color they bring to the playoffs. Their entertainment alone is worth the $9 ticket price.

Basketball-wise, the athletes play their hearts out. Sportsmanship is valued and the games are often close and exciting. Former “B” stars return as coaches.

Truly, it would be hard to beat a Friday at the State B.

Congratulations to St. George and Garfield-Palouse - well-deserved Y2K champions! Ellen Collyer Spokane

Should paper be all plain vanilla?

I find the complaint (Letters, March 14) about portraying drug culture in the March 3 Weekend section curious. Why is it that a “half naked young man” is unacceptable? Both women and men are portrayed wearing less clothing in clothing store advertisements than Jonathan Davis. Advertisements for swimwear, lingerie, occasionally even the latest style of clothing is, if not less covering, at the least more suggestive and sexual than the March 3 picture of Jonathan Davis. Why is it that complaints are not issued about these?

Is it acceptable to print sexually suggestive material in advertising when it is not acceptable to print Davis nearly naked?

I would also like to point out that Korn is something of a national phenomenon and that an article on the band was appropriate, given that it was playing in the Arena that weekend. If everything that is offensive to any person were to be removed from the paper, there would be precious little left - a few grocery store adds, an article on manners school (March 13, and very cute) and possibly the obituaries. David E. Clark Spokane

Rock band story, picture all right

Re: “TV Week cover reeks of drug culture” (Letters, March 14).

Isn’t it interesting, the way different people interpret the same information? I saw the cover of the March 3 TV Week and read the article about the band. That picture was on the cover because it was a major event happening in our city. We should be glad that headlining bands want to come here.

The photo was of an entertainer, obviously excited and energetic. It didn’t occur to me to think of him as “half naked” since it’s not unusual for male members of our population to remove their shirts when they’re perspiring. To say he was “obviously under the influence of drugs”’ was far more insight into his personal habits than I could gather from the photo.

I found the article interesting but I guess I didn’t notice the men smoking anything, let alone being able to identify it specifically. I also couldn’t consider them “pitiful.”

What’s shocking is that people can be so judgmental that they look just to find something they don’t like, real or imagined. I’m sure the B Basketball Tournament is a very important event for players and fans alike - just as this concert was important to the fans of the band. Shame on them for belittling the interests of others!

I applaud the example of being fair to everyone by printing articles that appeal to all kinds of people. I hope the influences on young readers are taken from free speech and diversity, not close-minded, uninformed opinion. Karen A. Taylor Spokane

Wildlife

Buck up or stay in town

I am a cat owner and I have also lost cats to predators. Unfortunately, this is the price you pay when you allow pets to run lose in rural areas. Having your children attacked is also a risk you run.

It is stupid to move into a wilderness area for the wildlife and then demand that the state get rid of most of it because it threatens your safety or because it eats your expensive plants.

It is equally stupid to move into a agricultural area and then demand that the farmers and ranchers get rid of their livestock because you don’t like the smell. Yet, this is exactly what people do.

If you are going to live in those areas, you have to be prepared to take precautions and face the risks to yourselves and you pets. I ran the risk of cougar attacks as a child every time I went walking in the woods and I knew it. I also had to watch out for rattlesnakes, skunks, badgers and the occasional bear. It was the price we paid for living in a rural area.

If you can’t accept it, then move. Don’t expect to wipe out everything that inconveniences you. Judith Jones Spokane

Predators are cause of elk decline

An article in the February issue of Idaho Fish and Game News by Rod Parker, information and education officer for the Clearwater Region, blames the loss of half our elk in the back country “primarily to declining habitat conditions.”

Habitat is important and must be restored and maintained. However, Parker knows better than what he wrote and refuses to admit it.

Recent elk declines caused by poor calf survival has been caused by predators. But most IDFG biologist refuse to admit this. The IDFG Clearwater Region supervisor has told sportsmen that the Lolo-Selway herds are declining 10 percent annually due to low calf survival caused by predation. Why can the rest of Fish and Game be forthright and admit there is a serious predator problem in the Lolo-Selway zone? Boise IDFG has enough evidence to prove excessive predation is occurring and has made only feeble moves to help correct the problem - slightly longer season, increased limits and reduced tag prices a little.

Predators are responsible for 95 percent of all Lolo calf mortality, according to IDFG. The Lolo zone elk population has recently declined 50 percent (8,000 elk) in the Selway zone, unit 17 and has declined 35 percent (1,700 elk).

Sportsmen’s reasonable solutions are being ignored. So, hunters and sportsmen, I urge you to concentrate on harvesting all the bears, cougars and other predators you can in the Clearwater Region. There will still be plenty left. If we don’t, it won’t get done! Everett R. Hagen Princeton, Idaho

Schools and education

Rethink the timing issue

In coverage of the recent school bond levy election, The Spokesman-Review says, “Educators were worried that too few people would vote to validate the election.” If this were true, why was this special election not combined with the presidential primary election held just two weeks earlier?

According to the Spokane County Auditor’s office, the estimated cost of holding the March 14 election was about $200,000 - just in Spokane County. A government that claims to be short of funds ought to be continually seeking process improvements and cost reductions. Combining the March 14 elections, held across the state, with the state primary election of Feb. 29 would have saved substantial tax money.

When I asked my local school district and the secretary of state’s office why elections were held just two weeks apart, I was told that the school and fire districts scheduled this because it was “not in their best interests” in terms of how the primary election would impact the success of their bond issues.

If educators truly were worried about having enough voters, they would have combined the two elections. Instead, they wasted taxpayer money in a crude attempt to bias the result of the election by relegating district bond levies to a traditionally low-turnout election. In the final result, it appears that taxpayers would have supported these levies on Feb. 29 anyway. Taxpayers should be outraged at this government waste, the attempt to manipulate an election and the waste of voters’ time making two trips to the polling booth just 14 days apart. Edward Mitchell Spokane

Northwest dams

Now, enough of this nonsense

I commend the editors of The Spokesman- Review for running the guest column, “If you’re an environmentalist, you want those dams” (March 13). I urge anyone who missed reading it to dig up the old paper and read it. In fact, cut it out and frame it.

In this piece, Brent Blankenship does a great job of listing the environmental reasons for leaving the Snake River dams alone. For these reasons, let’s stop discussing this nonsense about breaching the dams. And also, let’s hold up the Snake River as the jewel of the Northwest, with the dams in place. Jack Ensley Colfax

Salmon solution readily at hand

After reading and listening to the pros and cons of dam breaching, two logical solutions were pointed out but no one has picked up on them.

Learn from the successes of the Yakima and Warm Spring Confederated tribes in their restoration of salmon runs. How? By the use of tribal hatcheries! They have restored salmon runs to unprecedented numbers in their rivers. Would it not stand to reason for other tribal groups to learn from them and develop more hatcheries? There is no nutritional difference between wild and hatchery salmon.

Follow the recommendations of one of the Corps of Engineers study groups. Improve salmon passage post-Bonneville Dam to the ocean. Clean out the river and get rid of the Caspian terns in the area. They claim a 20 percent increase in salmon numbers would eliminate the problem.

A question for tribal members: Are you willing to give up all amenities provided by the dams? Things such as cheap electricity for homes and your casinos, food and manufactured items that improve your lifestyle? Clean up post-Bonneville river problems and increase hatchery numbers. We need the Snake River dams! Owen D. Agenbroad Dayton, Wash.

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