Letters To The Editor

Thu., Nov. 30, 2000

Millwood Fire does a fine job

Regarding comments of the Valley Fire District’s commissioners about their contract with town of Millwood (Nov. 18 Valley Voice), I will not sit back and let them, or anyone, downgrade our fire department, the members who help run it or the citizens who support it.

The contract between the town and Valley Fire District does not state that Valley Fire will automatically respond to calls in Millwood. It states that they will respond only when we can’t, within the first 5 minutes. People should read the contract before quoting it.

Since January 1, we have received 135 calls for emergency assistance. We were first responders on every one of those calls. Our average response time is 3 to 4 minutes. We asked for mutual aid on three occasions and asked for arson investigation assistance twice. We received 12 training sessions with division chief Larry Rider, who does an excellent job. For this, the town of Millwood will pay $17,000 this year. So who is getting a free ride?

Currently, we have 19 members and 17 of them with EMT certification. They all have to keep up with training, just like all EMTs, paid or volunteer.

The Millwood Fire Department has operated efficiently for several years before Valley Fire demanded a written contract and payment.

If any citizen of the Town of Millwood has any concerns, I hope they will call me at the Town Hall. Bill M. Clifford Millwood Fire Chief

Don’t move food bank

I would like to affirm the concerns expressed by Donna J. Syron in her letter (Nov. 18 Valley Voice) concerning the plan to take the Valley Food Bank out of the Valley Center, and at the same time, add a little history to her letter.

Before there was a Valley Center, the food bank was located in the basement of the Valley Methodist Chrurch, the clothing bank was in the basement of the Opportunity Presbyterian Church, and the emergency assistance was handled by the Valley Ministerial Association out of a private home.

The driving force of the 15 or 17 Valley churches that started the Valley Center was to get all three services under one roof, close to a bus line, so as to better serve those clients needing more than one service.

It now appears that there is a plan afoot to separate the food bank from the rest of the services offered by the Valley Center.

At the time the Valley Center was started, the Comstock Foundation gave us $35,000 to purchase a building at the present location. That building has since been enlarged.

However, from what I read in the papers, Comstock has given the Valley Center at least 10 times as much money to relocate.

It seems that with all that money, it should be possible to work out an arrangement to keep the food bank under the same roof as the other services in order to better serve the clients. Howard Herman Spokane

Breckenridge story brings back memories

I read with great delight the article written by Patrick Haight, “A guy named Joe” (Nov. 25 Valley Voice).

This article brought back come memories, quite a few in fact.

You see, I have two of Joe Breckenridge’s paintings in my home.

Joe painted one for our new home and charged me a beer. My wife and I talked with him and drank a beer while he painted it.

On the back of the picture is the date, 1971, and later on that year I taped a picture of Joe and an article about him on the back of the painting. It is still on it and the painting still hangs in our home.

The other picture does not have a date on it. I think it is older because Joe’s green rubber stamp mark is not on it. As he got older he used a green rubber stamp to sign his paintings if he had too much to drink.

I grew up in Post Falls and I worked in the old Farvers Food market for many years. That’s where I got to know Joe Breckenridge.

Did anyone save the duck Joe painted on the ceiling of the old pool hall in Post Falls? That was incredible. You had to see it to believe it. Wayne Kamps Spokane

Patrick Haight’s writing entertaining

This letter is to let you know how very much I enjoy the articles written by Patrick Haight.

At my stage in life, I can certainly identify with his observations and memories of those earlier days in the Spokane Valley.

He is a very good writer and in fact makes me think of the stories written by Frank McCourt. He is super entertaining. Maryadell Morton Spokane

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