Letters To The Editor

LAW AND JUSTICE

Idaho justice is something else

I was completely dismayed to read about the Kootenai County jury acquitting Ray Williamson of manslaughter (Nov. 7).

I almost lost my life in that accident, so I’m obviously biased. But the notion that a man can drink himself into a memory-lapsing stupor, joy ride a very powerful watercraft at night with no lights into another boat and only face misdemeanor penalties is a travesty.

With two broken legs, Bob Benson pulled me from under his boat after the collision, saving my life. His heroism was rewarded with 16 months of grueling rehabilitation, astronomical medical bills and the inability to ever work and earn a paycheck again. On top of all this, Williamson killed his fiancee with his recklessness, yet he walked away with a slap on the wrist. Benson, meanwhile, can barely walk.

The jury found Williamson guilty of misdemeanor boating under the influence - meaning they decided he was driving and he was drunk - but did not convict him of manslaughter or aggravated boating. What kind of message does this send?

I guess I thought the people of Idaho - where I grew up - were the kind who felt people are responsible for their actions. Mark Briggs Everett

SPOKANE MATTERS

Be extra careful on new one-way road

On Oct. 25 at approximately 6 p.m. I received the one phone call that no parent ever wants to get. A man on a cell phone, who witnessed this accident, stated that my daughter had been in a head-on car collision heading east on Sprague Avenue. At that moment she was being extricated from her car by a team of firemen with the Jaws of Life. Realizing that I was extremely eager to know more, the man who called me handed his phone over to a sheriff’s deputy who apprised me of the situation.

I quickly made telephone calls to her father’s home and to her boyfriend, and rushed to Sacred Heart Medical Center to meet the ambulance.

My 21-year-old daughter survived the accident with a concussion, stitches, multiple contusions and a missing hunk of hair from where her head went through the windshield of her car. Everyone kept saying how “lucky” she was. We smiled, tremulously, and replied that God had saved her.

However, the sheriff’s deputy told us that people driving the wrong way on the new one-way part of Sprague was commonplace and accidents are happening frequently.

Please, everyone, be careful! And please, Spokane County officials, make sure that you sufficiently mark this new one-way part of Sprague Avenue. Colleen Holbrook Sauter Medical Lake

Humane Society should refocus

As a supporter of the Spokane Humane Society, I have to ask one question. When did the focus of the Humane Society switch from the care of the animals to the people who are supposed to be in charge?

It’s as though the shelter can’t function without top management.

It’s the staff who are there every day, caring for the animals, who make the Spokane Humane Society what it is - a haven for animals abandoned by those they trusted to provide lifetime care for them.

Whatever happens with top management or the board, the focus needs to get back to the care of the animals and finding them forever homes. The executive director should be an animals-come-first person whose main concern is the care of the animals entrusted to the shelter’s care.

Spokane Humane Society supporters have to think of the animals and make sure that their welfare comes first. Let high school be the forum for “he said, she said” and popularity contests. Colleen Long Spokane

Arena is `Veterans Memorial’

Why has the name of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena been shortened to just the Spokane Arena?

I have noticed the ads in the newspaper and on television use only “Spokane Arena” when advertising events held there. It seems disrespectful to abbreviate the name. I think the group overseeing the facility should require use of the full name in advertising. Taxpayers were told that the name of the building was to honor our veterans in order to gain support for the project. We seem to have forgotten.

Perhaps this is a minor thing to some people. To others it is important. I guess we are lucky it wasn’t named for an insurance company. Or is that next? Roy K. Behm Cheney

ADOPTION

Downside only one side of the story

As the adoptive mother of three beautiful daughters I was offended by many of the statements made in the Nov. 2 article, “The art of regret.”

I agree that improvements need to be made in the adoption world surrounding both birth mother and adoptive parent education and rights. There is nothing more tragic than a birth mother unsure of her decision feeling pressured to do something she is not comfortable with. But to categorically characterize all adoptions as painful or wrong is tantamount to the ideals of racism and sexism. Because every situation is unique for both the children and birth parents involved, it is important to recognize the joy adoption brings to so many families and children alike.

Choosing an agency that is honest and caring is an important first step. But an issue as complex as this, involving all the lives touched by adoption, really deserves to be looked at from both sides. I hope your newspaper will take the opportunity to share more of this story from all perspectives. Kelly Conley Spokane

Adoption is a blessing

Reading the words “adoption is horrible” in “The art of regret” (Nov. 2) made me angry and sad.

Adoption is not horrible. The adoption process has evolved into a wonderful gift for birth mothers and adoptive parents. I sympathize with the pain and regret of all women whose babies were whisked away, and for those who weren’t given the option of single parenting or lacked the necessary support.

I am a 22-years-old student at Gonzaga University. Nearly three years ago I was the victim of rape, which caused an unexpected pregnancy. Being a pro-life advocate, adoption seemed the right thing for me - not because I lack the desire to be a mother but because I knew it would be the best thing for my child and for me.

My son turned 2 last month. He’s a beautiful, happy child whose parents adore him completely. Because the adoption was open, I’ve been able to visit my son and his parents twice since his birth. To the see the happiness and joy I have created is such a blessing to me. The pain I went through in placing my son with adoptive parents was well worth the gift - a gift that cannot be bought: a family.

Not a day goes by when I don’t think about my son and I will never regret my decision but only grow more thankful each day. My future lies ahead of me and the possibilities are endless. For now, I am just happy to be a student. Kari L. Erickson Spokane

Take story with `large grain of salt’

Re: “Art of Regret” (Nov. 2).

Although I sympathize with Kay Russell and the pain she felt, and continues to feel, after placing her child for adoption, I find it sad she feels the need to place the blame for all the bad decisions she made in her life on the fact she “gave up” a child for adoption.

It appears Russell was already pretty good at making poor decisions prior to that point in her life. She already had one child at 18 (I assume she wasn’t married then) and, having evidently not learned anything from her actions the first time around, got pregnant a second time, through an affair with her cousin’s husband, no less. Not exactly the best choices one could make.

While Russell’s situation may have been poorly handled 30 years ago, to call all adoptions horrible and attempt to make the process of adoption harder, based on a small minority’s experience, is irresponsible at best and detrimental to the whole institution of adoption at worst.

I urge anyone considering placing a child for adoption to take this article with a large grain of salt and not make any rash decisions. There is a wonderful agency in your area, Lutheran Social Services, and it can provide you with information and counseling to help you make the right decision for you and your child. Tracy L. Milano Palouse

`Negative portrayal’ a disservice

On the second day of National Adoption Month, we were saddened by yet another negative portrayal of adoption by the media.

Due to infertility we are the adoptive parents of two wonderful children and are eternally grateful for the sacrifice made by their birth parents. We have been able to provide a loving, stable environment for them that the birth parents were unable or unwilling to give.

Kay Russell obviously regrets her decision to place her child for adoption. Of course adoption is not the answer in all cases and it is not our place to judge her or her decision. However, we believe there are thousands of other positive adoption experiences out there equally, if not more, deserving of front page news.

We hope you will devote attention to the virtues of adoption in coming weeks. Report of the successes: birth mothers allowed to be teenagers and able to get an education instead of dropping out and going on welfare; capable, loving couples able to raise children who would not have otherwise had the opportunity due to infertility; and children succeeding in life due to the sacrifice of a birth mother.

Not every birth mother looks on the decision to place a child for adoption with regret. Not every adopted child wants to have a relationship with birth parents. Please show both sides. Gary and Shari Olson Spokane

Problems should be illuminated

I am writing in response to the Nov. 2 article about a birth mother’s negative experience with adoption.

We need to hear what Kay Russell and others hurt by adoption have to say. Adoption is changing, largely because people affected by it have had the courage to speak up and tell their stories.

The life circumstances that lead to adoption have always been painful. Thankfully, there are more options now than Russell had in 1969. There is a much better understanding of adoption as a lifelong process with inherent grief and loss issues.

Within the last two decades open adoption evolved as a way to address these concerns and provide much-needed healing. Because society is not perfect there will always be a need for some children to be adopted. Making adoption harder is not a productive way to address the problems of past abuses. Instead, we should keep working to make adoption a healthy process and work to make sure all children, adopted or not, grow up in the most nurturing, secure environment possible. Nora E. Searing Lutheran Social Services of Washington and Idaho, Spokane

Timing, placement, story all bad

In the month of November, also recognized as National Adoption Month, I find it in very poor taste to drag into view the negative perspective of a minority of women. Publishing “The Art of Regret” was made further appalling by the placement in the paper. Seriously, did it merit the attention of the front page? Must a small voice always demand the attention of the majority? I think not.

There are so many positive aspects of adoption, for the child, for the adoptive parent and yes, even for the birth mothers. And isn’t it the needs of the child that are the most essential here anyway?

I live in a family of “adoptees” and “adopteds.” I have friends who are both adopted and who have adopted. I have friends who gave their children for adoption. I have not found regret with any of them. They only seek to preserve the happiness of the child.

The women represented in the article stated that their lives were never healed because of their decision to give their child up for adoption. It’s obvious that they experienced depression and low self-esteem. This is not because they gave away their children but because their lives were a mess anyway. I doubt that keeping their children would have healed them. More likely it would have carried the problems of their lives into another generation.

Adoption provides an opportunity to heal the traumatic mistakes of the past and move forward with hope. Why not print a positive perspective? Lisa Braas Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Young man said it for me, many

Thank you, Chris D.J. Sothen, age 12, for speaking out (Letters, Oct. 25). You said exactly what I have been feeling. I am 69 and thought, well, perhaps this is just my age and impatience speaking out. Now I know that my feelings about the negative ads are the same as yours - age doesn’t matter, the negativity does. Good job.

I hope politicians realize that we want exactly what you said, “I think it would be more beneficial if the candidates would just tell the public, in their ads, what issues they feel strongly about and what they stand for.” Punctuate that! And, your words are the words from the upcoming voters. I applaud you, Chris. Dianne H. Edmond Spokane

You have to speak up

The warning about the Trojan Horse might be paraphrased by saying, “Beware of politicians bearing gifts.” We’ve been told in the newspapers that Congress was quite busy trying to pass last-minute legislation giving us “goodies” before the election. Well, if they did, the surplus that doesn’t really exist will be seriously depleted from the figures the candidates tossed around.

Act in haste and repent at leisure. A poor law is worse than none at all. Our nation, unfortunately, has become greedy to the point of “what have you done for me lately?”

A recent TV ad hawked a book which is supposed to help people get “free money” from the government in grants from Uncle Sugar. Folks, that’s your tax money being spent. Do your elected representatives care about your wishes? Do you ever contact them? Be a responsible voter! Peggy Faust Hayden

Bad policies will cost our children

If I bought a new house, new car, new furniture and appliances, took a few luxury vacations and lived it up, you might think I was doing fairly well. But if I told you I did it all on a credit card and was going to force my children to work to pay my debts off after I was dead, you might not think I was such a nice guy.

One day our children, or our children’s children, will have to work to pay off the debts this country has accumulated. And they will do so with lower-paying jobs because so many of our higher paying jobs have been sold out to Mexico and China.

This is the true legacy of the last eight years of Bill Clinton. Whether history will get it right and put the blame where it belongs remains to be seen. But I pity the president who is in office when that bill collector knocks on the door. Stephen Parker Combs Spokane

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Learning language not so daunting

Richard Trombley’s Nov. 6 letter, “Adopting new language is difficult,” reflects an illogical and failed approach to the language barrier problem many immigrants face.

Trombley refers to Jean Staben’s Oct. 26 letter as less than understanding of those immigrants. I read her letter and saw no lack of understanding. What I did see was an honest question concerning a real problem now facing society. Staben only wanted to know if those entering this country have some individual responsibility to become language friendly. I say they do.

Trombley’s main thesis is that age is the culprit that keeps most immigrants from learning a new language. He leaves little hope for anyone past 20 years of age. I guess someone forgot to tell my great-grandparents (age 51 and 50) when they arrived from Germany with my greatuncles (29 and 28) that they were too old to learn a new language. I guess someone forgot to tell the millions of Europeans that they were just too old to learn or that at best it would be difficult. If the immigrant of 75-100 years ago can learn a new language, so can today’s.

What about the U.S. government (military, State Department, Foreign Service) employees who must learn new languages when they are reassigned? Are they all under 20 years old? I doubt it. What about our teachers who learned Spanish so they could teach in a bilingual environment? Were they all under 20? Bill Litsinger Sandpoint