Letters To The Editor

Schools and education

Thanks, teachers, for a great job This week is Teacher Appreciation Week and we would like everybody to know how much we appreciate our children’s teachers.

There have been many teachers over the past nine years who have touched the lives of our kids at Westview and Ridgeview elementary schools, respectively. We have watched these teachers as they have stayed behind, pushed ahead, humored, encouraged and taught them in their own special way that only they could. We have been very fortunate to have these teachers in our lives. Way to go, teachers! We think you are awesome. Jean and Sheri Tarr Spokane

Kids learn to get along at my school

I am sick of all the violence in schools. I really like my school. There is no fighting and no drugs. The teachers at my school really care about us kids. The teachers don’t stand around if you say someone is doing something wrong. They will find the kid and then make us talk it over. Then we say we’re sorry and it never happens again.

I wish every school would be like my school because the kids are respectful and the teachers really care about us. Chantel E. Williams, age 11 Chewelah, Wash.

Higher education

CCS planning mishandled badly

Three recent articles in The Spokesman-Review have reported on the lack of Spokane Falls and Spokane Community College faculty involvement in the decision by the board of trustees to aggressively pursue the creation of a third community college.

One may be led to believe this is a family squabble and that those questioning the decision and process are naysayers - the usual group of folks who oppose change and progress. However, the faculty members are right when they say there has not been broad-based and meaningful dialogue concerning the creation of a third college.

For the past five years this has essentially been a closed conversation among three very small constituencies: the board of trustees, current and past Chancellors-CEOs and the administrator in charge of the Institute for Extended Learning. Not only has the faculty been left out of the conversation but neither the presidents nor administrators of SFCC, SCC and CCS have been involved in any significant and well-organized format for discussing this issue. Until very recently, the discussion has been kept behind closed doors.

In order to make the right decision, the trustees must gather as much factual information as possible. Discussion should focus on other restructuring possibilities. There are viable alternatives for restructuring the colleges that will enable CCS to effectively respond to future needs of this community. There are many valid arguments against a third college. Ron Johns Spokane

Know when you’re being fed dogma

I owe an apology to Idahoans for comments I made in a recent letter about their thought police. Thought police are active in Washington, too. They’re busy at Gonzaga University, suppressing the views of Planned Parenthood.

The sin is less egregious here because Gonzaga’s a private university with a mission. But, of course, whenever mission and truth collide truth always suffers. Like listening to the news on the Christian Broadcasting Network, you never get the whole picture. You get one filtered through its mission. Religion’s mission is to spread dogma, not to allow various points of view to collide in an unbiased forum so that you can decide for yourself. It’s called propaganda. You can find a good discussion of propaganda in Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.”

The question a student must always ask herself when attending a church-ridden school of any denomination is, if they suppress this piece of information, how many other ways are they suppressing information that might help me to make decisions in a more informed way?

My liberal view, one that conservative fundamentalists of all persuasions fear, is that the spread and unbiased dissemination of information about any subject leads to better decisions. It’s the way of democracy.

A truth: Never expect institutions with a mission to be democratic and dedicated to truth. Religion is an authoritarian institution, inimical to democratic processes. For more proof, look at all governments dominated by religion. You’ll find no democracies. George Thomas Spokane

In the public eye

Gates due thanks, not grief

Yes, Bill Gates is one of the computer industry’s youngest billionaires. He’s also one of the most influential and honest men in the world today. While disenchanted computer businessmen insist on trashing Gates, he’s extremely busy sharing his enormous fortune with the underprivileged children of the world. I’ve read in The Spokesman-Review of the computers he’s given to our schools on both sides of the state.

On Nov. 21 I read with great interest that the Gateses gave $26 million to UNICEF, to fight maternal and neonatal tetanus, which caused 215,000 deaths last year. Just last week our paper acknowledged his latest gift of millions of dollars to our Washington schools. His thanks is long in coming from our government. Instead, they want to break up his company.

There are those of us who are extremely proud of his tremendous abilities. I thank him for his caring and support of our schools. I thank him for giving this senior citizen a new lease on life. I’m now a published author with a story in the latest “Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul” book. Gates helped open up the world to this 75-year-old writer and millions more just like me.

Some are crying that Gates has a monopoly in the software business but let’s face it, he has developed the best software on the market today. I admire him and will continue to use his products, which are not only excellent but priced competitively.

We citizens should stand up for Gates and let his detractors know how wrong they are. Phyllis S. Heinel Spokane

Health and safety

Put brakes on cell phone-using drivers

There I am driving down Garland as I do so often and I see yet another moron talking on his cell phone, oblivious to the world outside. I lay on the horn to alert the driver that he is about to pulverize a law-abiding pedestrian who is trying to cross the street. He looks into his rear-view mirror and flashes me a look of contempt and disgust. I give him the New York handshake and he speeds away to the next intersection, where someone else gets to pay the ever-popular game of cell phone roulette.

The scene is becoming much too prevalent to keep ignoring. Nearly everyone has a similar story to tell. How many of you have seen some SUV-driving yuppie too busy to put down the phone for a 15-minute commute? It makes me sick!

When are city officials going to make an ordinance to keep these idiots from hurting others? The police can already pull someone over for not wearing a seat belt. So why not make a similar law to curb the dangerous cell phone-toting driver? When someone is talking on a cell phone when driving, he or she is placing everyone at risk.

I propose a mandatory class to educate all cell phone owners. Just as gun owners must show they are competent enough to own a rifle or handgun, so too should cell phone owners prove they aren’t as stupid as they look when they drive down the road with a phone glued to their ear. Alan R. Harmon Spokane

Manager defends the indefensible

I found the remarks of Darrel R. Startin Jr., manager of Graham Road Recycling and Disposal Facility, full of misrepresentation (Letters, April 16).

Startin thinks West Plains residents are inflammatory just because we’re opposed to his dump. If you owned property near this waste dump and recently received notification from the Washington Sate Department of Health that your well water presented a risk to those who use it, wouldn’t you be concerned? That concern would certainly be heightened if the Department of Ecology and the Spokane County Health District have done nothing to determine the source, let alone the extent, of the contamination.

Wouldn’t you be even more concerned if you had no reason to believe there were any problems with ground water prior to the Graham Road facility, but since its existence there is strong evidence for concern? Remember, for most rural residents groundwater is the sole source for obtaining domestic water.

Startin attempts to have people believe this dump is simply a recycling facility. Of course, that’s why the dump was fined by the EPA for improperly accepting PCBs. Also, Spokane County and the Spokane County Health District have taken no action for the increasing level of nitrates of volatile organic compounds found in the Graham Road Dump’s monitoring wells and off of the dump site in some local domestic wells.

Startin implies that experts believe many different things may be causing the pollution. But there’s no conclusive evidence the contaminants are not coming from the dump. Therefore, it is highly possible the dump is responsible for adversely impacting local ground water. Mike R. Schmidt Medical Lake

Babies are not for shaking

“Shaken baby syndrome” is a term which describes the consequences that occur when a young child’s head is vigorously shaken back and forth. Shaking a child forcefully results in devastating side effects, such as brain damage. This in turn leads to mental retardation, speech and learning disabilities, paralysis and hearing loss. One in four cases leads to death.

Why would anyone be so cruel as to harm a baby in such a way? In most cases, perpetrators of shaken baby syndrome do not mean to even hurt the baby. The usually frustrated and stressed perpetrator is simply tying to make a baby stop crying. They see shaking as safer than spanking, but in truth it is much more dangerous.

Five studies conducted between 1982 and 1990 revealed that 25-50 percent of teenagers and adults didn’t know that shaking an infant is dangerous. This goes to show that if we educate people about the dangers of shaking, hopefully, we will be able to prevent this tragic form of child abuse.

First, if you feel like you might hurt the baby, stop! Put the child in a safe place and leave the room. Calm down by taking 10 deep breaths or call a friend or neighbor to take the baby.

Most importantly, remember that babies are fragile. Never shake a baby. Share this information with your baby sitter before you leave your child(ren) with them. Share this information with your friends and perhaps prevent a disaster and save a life. Jenna Dullanty, age 15 Spokane

The media

Species event coverage terrific

A great deal of credit for the success of the Procession of the Species Celebration on Earth Day 2000 is due to great advance coverage in the print media: The Spokesman-Review, The Fig Tree, The Inlander and the Local Planet.

Too often the media are negatively criticized, and I wanted to express gratitude for the great coverage. Special thanks to staff writer Ken Olsen for his article with picture on the kick-off celebration at the Procession Art Studio and to staff writer Michael Guilfoil for his great pre-event story and picture, both in The Spokesman Review. Bernadine Van Thiel Spokane

Leave suspect’s kin alone

I am in complete agreement with Michelle E. Duryea’s letter of May 1 regarding alleged serial killer Robert Yates’ children. They are not the ones who committed the crimes and they should be left alone by the media to deal with what has happened regarding their father. Even if their father committed these terrible crimes, he is still their father and they deserve peace and quiet to cope.

The public does not need to be aware of the children’s ages or schools. The public does not need to know the whereabouts of Robert Yates’ family. I believe The Spokesman-Review owes the Yates’ family a sincere apology for its reporting of the news. Quincy E. Tucker Spokane

Business and labor

Just imagine, a whole $8 an hour

Re: Tom Sowa’s May 2 article, “Local company eyes huge job growth.”

Wow! Just what poverty-ridden Spokane needs - more poverty-level jobs. At $8 an hour, we will keep our coveted low-wage, “service-driven economy” title for Washington state. If Ken Cameron is really trying to save paychecks, he and others should move these phone-ringer entities to North Idaho. I would expect they all could do it there for $6 an hour or less.

The east side of Washington state is truly a ThirdWorld economy. Say no more! Mike Forster Spokane

Unions stubborn about living wage

Re: “I don’t understand union mindset” by Ron Hansen (Letters, April 24).

It is commendable that your emigrant father rose above his humble beginnings at Armour in Spokane to achieve his own success. However, you must admit your father’s success was not entirely his own. As you related, his union wages at Armour helped form the savings that financed his later success, just as Steelworker wages have helped finance many educations and careers in Spokane. Ironically, even Kaiser head Ray Milchovich’s early life was supported by his father’s union job.

However, like your father, a lot of Steelworkers would love to work somewhere different and many have applied for other jobs in Spokane since being locked out of Kaiser, only to be turned down. Part of the reason is the legend that those who have worked at the “Lazy K” are lazy. But the truth is that Kaiser Steelworker wages have always been a thorn in the side of Spokane’s business community. Many businesses avoid hiring former Kaiser employees, lest their minimum-wage work forces become tainted with thoughts of a living wage.

So Steelworkers cannot give up in the battle with Kaiser and move on. And if we fail in our battle with Kaiser, Spokane businesses and scabs shouldn’t expect to take over our union jobs that pay well. The jobs will no longer exist.

Now do you understand a little more about the mindset of Steelworkers in Spokane? Ron Hansen Steelworker, Trentwood, Spokane

Kaiser spreading oil, blowing smoke

In response to Kaiser negotiator Jeremy Sherman’s opinion that negative news about Kaiser is the result of a Steelworker propaganda machine, I have this to say: Get real!

A criminal gets arrested who worked as a scab and Kaiser reports he made $13.45 per hour. Yet recently Kaiser CEO Ray Milchovich’s full-page newspaper ad stated Steelworkers who mow the lawn for Kaiser make $70,000 a year. I am that Steelworker. I made $14.03 an hour and performed many tasks necessary for Kaiser’s day-to-day operation. I worked 2,040 hours a year to make $28,621.20. Spin doctor Milcovich’s math does not compute.

Why doesn’t Milchovich tell us what he makes? Perhaps because CEO salaries in the United States have gone from 40 times the lowest employees wage to over 400 times that figure - a wage designed by global corporations like Kaiser to turn CEOs into traitors against their employees and communities.

Kaiser’s propaganda machine has pumped deceptive information to our county commissioners, sheriff’s department, business leaders, state legislators and the public. Now, that’s a propaganda machine! However, the national labor relations board was not duped by Kaiser. It only listens to facts - and ruled in the Steelworkers’ favor.

The Bonneville Power Administration has also recognized the damage Kaiser’s pollution and greed are doing to our community and is developing a good-corporate-citizen requirement for its discount power customers.

By its own actions, Kaiser has become a company whose greedy owner and corrupt managers even Ripley wouldn’t believe. Nick Abariotes 27-year Steelworker, Trentwood, Spokane