Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Getting input goes with mayor’s job

Re: “Talbott tires of health board criticism,” April 28.

I was stunned to read that Mayor John Talbott denounced citizens for sending him letters and e-mails expressing their views on water fluoridation and public health. He said these Spokane residents were “inconsiderate” for causing him to waste his time reading and responding to their messages.

Talbott should know that he and the other Spokane City Council members were democratically elected by the public to serve that public. A democracy requires that all people have the right to be heard by their government, regardless of their views. I wonder how many e-mails and letters Talbott has received from the lenders and developers that funded his campaign and opposed River Park Square. Given the time and energy he has spent trying to back out of the parking garage deal, it is clear he does not think responding to these constituents is a waste of his time.

If Talbott does not want to hear from the people he represents, he should get out of government. Trisha M. Connors Spokane

Letter writer should run for mayor

What a wonderful vision of downtown Spokane Will Murray had in his letter of May 2.

I arrived in Spokane 30 years ago, traveling by car from the East. The first thing that caught my attention was Spalding’s wrecking yard. As we wound through downtown and on to Fairchild Air Force Base, my reaction to the area was that I had seen towns in Europe that had been bombed during the second World War that were in better shape than downtown Spokane was. Sadly, after all these years, Spalding’s is larger and uglier, the Davenport sits like a cancer rotting away amongst the other dilapidated buildings and vacant lots.

The only hope I can see for the future of downtown Spokane is if someone like Murray were to become mayor. How about it? Anita Stallinga Spokane

BELIEFS

Conscience, volition God’s gifts to us

Thank you for staff writer Wendy Harris’ article on Rabbi Harold Kushner’s visit to Gonzaga University. I believe a few thoughts from that article are worth noting.

The Holocaust is not a theological issue of how could God let this happen? It’s a psychological issue: How could human beings have done this to each other?

Bad things happen to good people because the laws of nature don’t know the difference between good people and bad people.

When God created the world, He withheld from the world of nature one blessing that he shared with you and me: the ability to know the difference between good and evil.

Finally, do things like the Holocaust make it impossible for us to believe in God? No, not at all. It makes it impossible for us to believe in human beings without God. Richard O. Mengert Spokane

Confusion about faith obvious

Re: “In God we trust” (Our Generation, May 1).

What a great discussion concerning teenagers, religion and spirituality! I hope all adults see how interested teenagers are in these areas.

I was surprised that nowhere does the article (or transcript) mention the word “faith.’ It appears that for these teenagers (and many others), spirituality, religion, beliefs and faith are all interchangeable concepts. I am convinced they are not. Perhaps the reason many teenagers are confused and skeptical is because we teach religion and not faith.

What is clear after reading the complete transcript of the round table discussion is that teenagers are deeply concerned about these issues. What do we do to encourage them?

Thanks to Laura Crooks for gathering teenagers to let them talk about things that really matter! Tim Harrison Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

Tell WSU success stories, too

Re: “Spotlight passes over excellence, shines on negatives at WSU,” May 1.

Three cheers to you, Rob Fukai! As a 1998 graduate of Washington State University it was wonderful to have you set the record straight.

I am one of the majority of WSU students who are responsible and dedicated to obtaining a quality education. I risked everything at age 37, and as a single parent, to go back to school and get a quality education, in order to create a better life for my family. Yes, I was dedicated. I was so dedicated that I was president of several student organizations and an officer in several others, received scholarships and awards, and graduated with honors, summa cum laude, all while being a single parent. In fact, my education from WSU was of such quality that I am now halfway through my graduate program, which I was accepted into at a different university.

I have felt tarnished by all of the bad press WSU’s student population has received the past several years. Thus, I invite, encourage and challenge the media to start focusing on the success stories that come from WSU’s student body.

I, too, am proud to be a Cougar! Teresa M. Saint George Newport, Wash.

Refugee brought good things to U.S.

Regarding Doug Clark’s May 2 column, “Refugee says …,” Maria Hernandez-Peck may have left Cuba with very little in terms of material goods but the balances in her knowledge, compassion and teaching accounts are certainly full. Clark spoke about Hernandez-Peck being destined for a life of luxury.

Well, Hernandez-Peck may not literally be living the life of luxury but for many years she has bestowed her riches as a social worker, educator and human being to countless students in her duties as a professor at the Eastern Washington University School of Social Work and Human Services.

Cuba’s loss has been America’s gain. Tom Reser Spokane

Priggee twists the truth

Editorial cartoonist Milt Priggee has made a tasteless, abusive attack on Gonzaga University President Robert Spitzer for taking a stand regarding Planned Parenthood. I have read carefully what Spitzer said regarding Gonzaga’s position. He was truthful, forthright and the distinction made between nonsponsorship and censorship was clear and extraordinarily fair.

Priggee’s shabby, dishonest cartoon twisted the truth of what Spitzer said and what Gonzaga is doing. Gonzaga’s policy does not “crucify” academic freedom.

As a Protestant Christian, I object strongly to the incredible arrogance of Priggee and others who think that Christian churches and their institutions of learning are somehow accountable to the present world’s moral values. Spitzer pointed out in his statement that the Christian church and its institutions do have an accountability to God - to be faithful to the clear teachings of Christianity.

As far as I know, Priggee professes no such allegiance to Christ or his church, and he certainly does not express Christian belief or values in his work. This world, and those who serve its current prince, have no authority over the church of Christ, and no basis for moral judgments upon it unless they also face up to their own accountability to God and God’s law. Walter R. Thorson Sandpoint

Spitzer offers ill-reasoned argument

When Gonzaga University President Robert Spitzer decided not to allow Planned Parenthood on Gonzaga’s campus, I was not in agreement but neither was I very upset or surprised. His defense to that judgment is, I think, cause for greater alarm.

The principle that providing a forum to a person or group necessarily entails sponsorship of that person or group is odious; it permits the refusal of any with whom you do not agree. “It is not what they say but what they do,” you proclaim. But you have taken action against the saying. In doing so you have enlisted Gonzaga University with those for whom this controversy is equivalent to the posturing of two armed camps ready for battle, not a matter for discourse. I am glad others, such as The Spokesman-Review, do not share this principle and now see why the pejorative, “Jesuitical reasoning,” was applied to the self-indulgent rationalizations of an adolescent.

Father Spitzer, please consider that a doctrine, no matter how dearly held, cannot justify an injury inflicted upon the body of civility, those rules of politeness and etiquette that enable so various and complicated a social organ as ours to function.

And consider that, in preparing the citizens of the future at Gonzaga University, it would be worthwhile to send forth some who scorn to ally themselves with those who seem to think that civility a weakness, a giving in to “multiculturalism,” “relativism” and “situational ethics.” Gregory Chipps Spokane

YOUNG REFUGEE

Paper entered trap of sensationalism

Having the opportunity to be journalistically responsible, The Spokesman-Review instead opted for sensationalism, running a large version of the famous machine gun picture on the front page of the Easter Sunday edition. While probably every paper in the country ran the picture, many also gave equal prominence to the one showing a smiling Elian later being held by his smiling father.

Now the consequences of The Spokesman-Review’s coverage are starting to show up in the form of letters equating the government agents with Nazi troopers. While the Nazis did make night-time raids on houses, these did not result in pictures of happily reunited families.

Many people claim to be in favor of family values. What could be more in accord with family values than reunited a child with his father? I wish it could have been done without automatic weapons, but Marisleysis had suggested there were guns in the house that would be used and there was danger from crowds, which the Miami relatives wielded as a weapon.

Why didn’t the relatives ask the crowds to disperse weeks before, saying they would settle this in a peaceful and legal manner, in honor of the country which gave them asylum? They didn’t, and the media fell into the trap because it’s exciting - The Spokesman-Review more than many other papers. Robert E. Forman Colville, Wash.

OTHER TOPICS

Keep your humanity in perspective

First, I flipped over, from lying on my back to lying on my stomach. Then I started to crawl. Slowly, I stood up on both my feet, inched around with the help of whatever I could grab. Then, I took my first step. First independent step. On my two feet. Hands free. Erect. Shaky, but thrilled. I started walking, hopping, jumping, running, climbing, skating, Rollerblading, cycling - the works. I was thrilled and amazed, using my very own power.

A thought comes to my mind. One day this progress will reverse. It will all rewind and I will flip over one last time to lie on my back forever.

One morning while driving to the office I had to slow down for a kid Rollerblading to school and again for an elderly person crossing the road. I was fuming. How inconsiderate, unconcerned and … zap! Flash! Lights! Hey, that was my past - and that is my future.

When I am behind the wheel I have to be considerate of my past, present and the future, and drive safely. Suresh C. Joshi Veradale

Wilderness: Rough it or keep out

The mission of the National Park Service (1916) is “to provide for enjoyment of same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” Inasmuch as snowmobiles are incompatible with the latter stipulation, their exclusion is long overdue.

Americans suckled on gasoline, demanding that all wilderness areas be fully accessible to their machines, will certainly cry foul. Elitist, they say, for now the last remote corners are arduous to reach. But the enjoyment of wilderness is a privilege to earn with effort and skill, not with money. The real elitists are the metal and petroleum recreationists, with their means for snowmobiles, Jet Skis, power boats and charter planes, distracted from the true spirit of the wilderness by their surging, lusty engines.

To the contrary, feet, paddles, skis and horses are primitive and rudimentary means of travel, and can hardly be called elite.

When and if I am physically unable to travel in the wilderness, I hope I have the grace to appreciate the experiences I’ve had, and not demand a road be built or a plane be chartered to whisk me effortlessly into pristine areas. Then I will visit the edges of these sanctuaries and rejoice that they are intact and unimpaired for my children and grandchildren to roam in, and that will be sufficient. John Franson, M.D. Spokane

Teens shouldn’t have all the say

As a teenager who lives in a house with strict rules, I sometimes envy teens who have fewer rules and supposedly more fun. But after I think what it would be like to have fewer rules and more freedom, it would probably be too much to handle.

Most of my friends have very few rules. The do as they please, without anyone knowing where they are. Some get into fights, some even do drugs or steal money from friends. The trouble they get into is extraordinary, like being in trouble at school - one with sometimes 36 hours of detention at a time or being put into juvy.

Why are they this way? Because of their family lives they are very poor in spirit. They’re left on their own to make decisions they shouldn’t have to make, such as their curfew or whether to stay overnight with a friend. I’m not saying my friends shouldn’t have a say, but they shouldn’t have all the say.

I still envy them on some things, but when I think of all that I have and they don’t have, like good food, love, help, someone who cares, supervision and much more, I feel much better. I can wait until I’m 18 to have total freedom. Right now I cannot even take the dog out on time, so how would I be able to take control of practically my whole life at once? How would any teenager be able to without getting into trouble? This is where good parenting really shows itself. Joanna K. Johnson Spokane