Letters To The Editor

Spokane matters

City in need of serious cleanup

While having lunch downtown I heard some visitors to Spokane talking about how surprised they were that our city was such a junky mess. They said that almost every vacant lot, and many homes, have garbage, junked cars, etc.

Amen.

Maybe it’s happening so gradually that we don’t even see it. Outsiders sure do. Just go for a ride and look around any neighborhood. Most of it is due to laziness but some folks are old or can’t afford to hire the cleanup. There are answers. Junk cars can be donated to a wrecking yard, if you have a title or sign a lost title statement. They will come and get them.

Other metal scrap can be donated or sold to recyclers. Yard debris and trimmings are cheap to dump, or free up to limits, at disposal sites. Lots of other junk can be broken up and put into the garbage can every week until it’s gone. Chemicals, oil, etc. are free to dispose of at the disposal sites.

If you have an eyesore next door, go over and offer to help your neighbor clean it up. If you have a truck, offer to haul the junk away. Your neighbor might be happy you want to help and you might end up as good friends. And you will feel great about helping out.

Turn off the tube and spend a weekend in your yard or helping a neighbor. We can have Spokane looking like it once did. Gary Graupner Spokane

Cut a deal and move on

I don’t agree with the Forbes ranking of Spokane. Most of us feel fortunate to live here and there have never been more positive considerations: outstanding primary, secondary and university educational systems in place and growing; the commitment of many successful local business people towards improving the regional business climate and providing more rewarding job opportunities; the renewed vitality of our inner-city area with River Park Square; and the rehabilitation of the Davenport Hotel by the Worthys.

We have only one dark cloud that continues to rain on our parade: the financing of the River Park Square parking garage. This issue is destroying our body politic, polarizing the community and polluting the civic atmosphere.

This can be resolved immediately by the River Park Square developers to either repurchase the garage (it is an integral part of the development, like parking lots in shopping centers) or renegotiate the price to the city based upon a fair value, along with the land lease agreement that should be predicated on a percentage of the profit.

Parking meter revenues and the PBIA taxes, totaling millions annually, could be used to resurface the downtown streets and provide landscaping to much of the area, attracting businesses to relocate downtown, thus adding to the tax base and city revenues. This would be a victory for the city and the Cowles family. Dave Hamer Spokane

Make garage a secured loan

I think the city should loan the money needed for the parking garage shortfalls. I say this with an emphasis on the word “loan.”

When I run a little short at the end of the month, I can pull out the plastic to cover the essentials like groceries or gas. For this privilege I get to pay interest. For the big purchases I risk forfeiture of house or car if I fail to repay on time.

With this in mind, and following the example of the deal cut with the city, I say loan them the parking meter money. But only if the developers are willing to pledge their future profits to repaying the loan to the city. Roger Wyssman Spokane

Schools and education

Student woodworking on display

Congratulations for a job well done to the 88 high school students who entered this year’s Hoo-Hoo woodworking contest.

The instructors of these students also deserve thanks for encouraging and supporting the students in their efforts. Their craft work made of different woods is on display this week, ending today in the lobby of the Bank of America Building, 601 West Riverside. The financial contributors that provide prize funding also deserve thanks as do members of the Spokane Woodworkers Guild for judging the entries.

The Spokane Hoo-Hoo Club, a fraternal order of forest products people, has sponsored this contest since 1966. Gene Zanck Spokane

Health and safety

Gains being made against ALS

May is awareness month for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive neuromuscular disease often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s a time to celebrate the scientific achievements made against ALS and to spur on even more rapid progress to help 30,000 Americans like my husband - people losing muscle function daily to the ravages of this virulent condition.

ALS is one of 40 neuromuscular diseases included in Muscular Dystrophy Association’s research and services programs. Hopefully, all families with loved ones affected by ALS are registered with MDA, an agency that derives public support through the “Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon” and many local efforts. MDA receives no government funding, United Way funds or fees from those it serves.

MDA is the nation’s leading nongovernmental funder of research on ALS and the largest provider of services to those affected by it. MDA has invested close to $100 million in the battle against ALS and has made great progress in understanding its causes and developing effective treatments.

MDA is the first voluntary health agency recognized by the American Medical Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award “for significant and lasting contributions to the health and welfare of humanity.”

I encourage anyone coping with ALS to contact MDA at 325-3747 or 800-577-6716.

Thank you to all who have supported MDA’s efforts. Every dollar is one step closer to finding a cure.

We never thought this would happen to us. It did - and it could happen to you. Teresa Troyer Spokane

Report unbuckled child passengers

A nationwide law enforcement crackdown is under way through May 29 that targets adults who drive with unbuckled children. During this week of mobilization, citizens can help protect kids by reporting vehicles with unbuckled children through a National Safety Council toll-free number: 1-800-764-5755. Citizens can provide the license plate number of the vehicle.

The National Safety Council will send the vehicle owner a letter cautioning them that allowing a child to ride unbuckled is dangerous and illegal, and if they are stopped by the police, they could be ticketed and fined. Research shows that drivers admit it takes strong laws and fines to get them to restrain their child passengers.

Idaho State Police officers participate in these mobilizations because we know we are getting results. Child restraint use is increasing and child fatalities are decreasing. But there is more work to do. One in four children still rides unrestrained, meaning 15 million children are at deadly risk every day.

It will take a collective outrage to reach drivers who don’t protect their child passengers. No one should look the other way when a child is at risk. No matter how short the ride, such carelessness is always life-threatening and never worth the risk. Taj Wilkerson Idaho State Police

Peer pressure pushes drugs, drink

Teen use of drugs and alcohol is all just about fitting in and being popular. Teenagers will go to any extremes to be popular, usually resulting in alcohol and drug use. Many do it. Every day, new teenagers are peer-pressured or convinced to do drugs.

The people who are convinced that doing drugs or alcohol makes them cool then pressure others and new teenagers start using drugs and alcohol.

First off, you might seem cool to other people. But in the long run you’re going to lose a lot - like friends and the trust of your family.

I’m in a health class and we’ve had people come in and show and tell us everything that has happened to them from drugs. Each said they just wanted to have a good time or to fit in, and it just takes one time to screw your whole life up. It has made me think more than twice about drugs and alcohol.

Schools and parents should at least try to do something about alcohol and drug use. If they try hard enough, they can make it all stop. Jerry Loberg freshman, West Valley High School, Spokane

Law and justice

Drug testing voids rights

This test will help readers determine if in fact there is a free choice regarding employer mandated drug testing.

To be considered for employment or to retain your present job, career or profession you must:

Knowingly surrender your Fourth Amendment birthright to personal privacy to your employer by means of an EMDT to be able to exchange your labor or expertise for money.

Retain your Fourth Amendment birth right and destroy your years of training and seniority, lose your retirement and health insurance, put your finances in a free fall and most likely lose your home, car and family.

You can only pick one.

Is this really a choice or coerced extortion of American workers’ rights?

Each person will be approached separately for their answer. That way there will be no organized opposition. Divide and conquer.

Regarding the safety issue, a local electrical contractor had received a national safety award. He had to reward his men with the insult of a drug test. He personally felt this was unfair and a violation of their personal privacy, yet he was forced to institute this policy in order to qualify for government contracts. Where was the choice? Where was the safety problem?

The Supreme Court had it right when it declared that where the risk to public safety is not genuinely jeopardized, the Fourth Amendment precludes suspicionless searches and shields society from actions that diminish a person’s privacy for a symbolic sake, no matter how conveniently arranged. Mike Wolther Spokane

No good reason to legalize pot

Re: Fred Glienna’s May 7 Street Level column about the legalization of marijuana. There’s much frustration with the slow progress in reducing drug addiction in our country, considering the effort and money spent to reduce illegal drug use.

Glienna is correct in saying that the majority of Idaho people wouldn’t vote in favor of legalizing marijuana use - a scheme which has been proven a failure in reducing drug use in several European countries. In an April 13 Wall Street Journal article, noted public policy scholar James Q. Wilson writes, “When the Netherlands ceased enforcing laws against the purchase or possession of marijuana, the result was a sharp increase in its use.”

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse published the most comprehensive report ever published on nonmedical use of marijuana (July 1999). The report states, “Of the nearly 182,000 teens and children who entered treatment for addictions in 1996, nearly half were admitted for abuse or addiction to marijuana alone.”

Former HEW Secretary Joseph Califano, Jr., CASA chairman, in his covering statement to the report , “Non-Medical Marijuana: Rite of Passage or Russian Roulette?” says, “For America’s children and teens, marijuana is a dangerous drug. The extent of the danger and the most effective way to keep our youngsters from using this drug are matters for teens, parents, schools, churches, communities and public policy makers.” Califano refers to smoked marijuana as a carcinogen. The evidence clearly demonstrates marijuana can be both addictive and a serious health risk. It’s irresponsible to encourage its legalization. Thomas M. Cromwell Hayden, Idaho

Another back turned on victims

News flash! “Violence Against Women Act declared unconstitutional,” according to the ruling by the Supreme Court on May 15.

In their 5-4 decision, the judges of the land ruled that the federal government has no right to regulate private acts - even those of violence and hate. Those of us who work with women and children who have experienced violence have always known that this population has little support in seeking justice for these heinous crimes. On May 15 the Supreme Court just made it official. Louise Chadez, ACSW Spokane

Idaho viewpoints

Demand Highway 95 be made safer

Re: “Boy dies in crash near Silverwood,” (May21).

Where is the outrage? Another innocent slaughtered on Highway 95 - a crossed-the-center-line accident.

This isn’t an accident; it is carnage endorsed by our legislators who won’t appropriate funds to make this highway a safe one.

What is the number for this year so far? I have lost count but I will not and cannot forget. We all know the fear that one day the next white cross to mushroom on the side of the road will be for our son, daughter, husband, wife, parent grandchild or other loved one.

Please join me in cutting and copying each article that reports these accidents on Highway 95 and let’s send them all to our legislators. Write letters, make phone calls. Let our outrage be heard, loud and clear. Mary Wells Athol

Mischief in handling of chlorination

Does your water taste strange lately - say, for a good part of April and May? If you make a cup of tea, is it drinkable?

Well, guess what - you are not alone. Normally, the Post Falls Water Department adds chlorine to the water system about once a year to sanitize it. Most of the longtime residents understand this and don’t make a big deal of it. However, this year it has lasted much longer than usual.

A call to the water department revealed that a new purification system is being tested that may add chlorine to our drinking water on a year-round basis. No public notice was provided in the belief that if the public didn’t complain then the treatment would be continued, whether it was absolutely needed or not. If many complaints were received, the treatment would be minimized or returned to the previous method of a week or two of purging.

I don’t appreciate this type of deception and believe the public should have been informed. If you agree, call the Post Falls water Department and register your complaint. Lloyd C. Seibert Post Falls

Do diversity studies in Los Angeles

Mary Lou Reed and Tony Stewart are to be commended for their efforts in bringing diversity awareness to the backward people of North Idaho. The upcoming conference will be directed to teachers in our area to further promote understanding between races and people of other orientations, thus enabling our teachers to better explain and promote awareness. Stewart states that his goal is to provide more information so as to implement a diversity program in the classroom.

To this end I offer a positive step to gain more information. Let’s call it a diversity finishing school. Stewart, Reed and Marshall Mend could escort the top 20 teachers from the conference on a chartered bus to Los Angeles to discover what diversity has done for that city.

The group would be put up in motels in the Vernon and Broadway area. The teachers would be placed as teacher assistants in Manual Arts, Jefferson and Crenshaw high schools for one month. At the conclusion of this period the group would meet at the corner of Century and Broadway, where they would put on T-shirts imprinted with “Diversity Survivor’s Group Cd’A.”

They would link arms and sing “We are the World” as they walked or ran to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles. Prior to staggering onto the bus a group photo would be taken of the two survivors. Imagine the diversity information the survivors could pass on to our children. Right on. Michael J. Murphy Hayden Lake

`Heritage’ letter a good one

I applaud the well-written letter, “Southern heritage won’t be suppressed,” by Robert C. Bullock (Letters, May 23). If I must relinquish my heritage, so must you. Please take a moment to consider the implications of this statement. Benjamin J. Newbold Rathdrum

Correction:

Robert C. Bullock’s letter of May 23, “Southern heritage won’t be suppressed,” contained a typographical error. Bullock taught school in Virginia for 32 years, not 2.