Letters To The Editor

Thu., Oct. 19, 2000

Washington state

Benson first serves No. 1

There’s a lot of negative advertising in an attempt to sway voters. In many cases this only tends to turn the voter off of the candidate initiating the ad. I encourage voters to check your candidate’s voting record before making a decision.

Brad Benson, who’s running for 6th District House position 1, is a perfect example of deceiving constituents.

Benson is running for a third term. In the past two elections he has taken money from several insurance and tobacco companies, yet boasts about family values and better health care.

Benson works for a bank and was the primary advocate who saw to it that the privacy bill was squashed in the House last year. Did you know that banks sell your personal information? Did you know they can get $15 each time they do? Well, no wonder Benson saw to it that you don’t have privacy. He’s not looking out for you. He’s looking out for his pocketbook. What’s wrong with this picture?

I don’t know how you feel about having your private information bought, sold and picked off the Internet but I would want someone who looks out for my better interests, not their own.

Check his record and vote for Bernie Nelson. He is an honest family man who truly cares about family values. His primary goal is to see that all of Washington has affordable health care. He spent more than 40 years in the health and human services business. Check his success record. Peggy Murphy Spokane

`Vote yes on I-745’

Spokane Transit Authority management has scared its employees and riders with false claims that Initiative 745 will take 90 percent of their funding. Here is what the voter guide says.

The vast majority of us need the freedom and flexibility only a vehicle can provide. I-745 simply requires lawmakers to allocate our taxes based on reality. We don’t abandon people who need transportation assistance. Under I-745, alternative modes of transportation will continue to receive substantial funding totaling $1 billion every two years. I-745 is exclusively a transportation initiative; it doesn’t affect funding for schools, police or other nontransportation programs. I-745 won’t raise your taxes - sufficient tax revenues exist, including Washington’s $1 billion tax surplus, to reach the 90-10 ratio required under I-745. Vote yes on I-745. Patrick Moore Spokane

Don’t be a party to I-745 rip-off

Recently, while visiting your fine city, I noticed two things: the traffic situation is getting surprisingly bad and the bus service has been reduced. Locals told me Tim Eyman’s last initiative had resulted in cuts in bus funding.

Normally, when the population of a state or region increases, public transit is boosted. Failure to do so results in hellish traffic congestion which hurts drivers and nondrivers alike. Thanks to Eyman, Washington state is losing public transport just when it most needs it.

Things may get even worse if Eyman’s newest initiative passes. Initiative 745 mandates that 90 percent of state transportation funds be used for roads. Presently, the ratio of spending on roads vs. public transit is around 80 to 20 percent. In other words, under I-745, money for public transport will be halved. I-745 is also a direct attack on local control, since public transit in Washington is currently funded by more than 30 local initiatives. I-745 would destroy local control by mandating that tax money local voters have raised for public transit be sent to Olympia and divided up into Eyman’s rigid, bureaucratic 90-10 formula.

It appears the only people set to benefit from I-745 are the owners of asphalt-paving companies, who have so far contributed nearly a million dollars to this misguided, greedy scheme.

Spokane voters can do their part for local control and against congested roads by voting no on I-745 on November 7. Matthew Ward Lopez, Wash.

Reed will be fine secretary of state

Sam Reed, candidate for secretary of state, is a candidate with extensive experience who consistently serves with integrity and ethics in whatever he undertakes. He has won numerous national awards during his tenure as Thurston County auditor.

Reed is a graduate of Lewis and Clark High School and Washington State University. In addition to his five terms as Thurston County auditor, he served six years as the assistant secretary of state and has served as an international election adviser. He has earned broad-based bipartisan support and respect throughout his service.

Washington state is extremely fortunate to have Reed and his intelligence, expertise and exceptional leadership skills. Carol A. Wendle Spokane

Elect Bonker secretary of state

I am so happy to be able to vote for Don Bonker as our next secretary of state.

Bonker has a wealth of experience to give to us voters - from his years spent as county auditor, where he was head of elections, to his years spent in the U.S. Congress as respected member. He did an outstanding job when he was Clark County auditor.

Please join me in supporting Bonker for secretary of state. Stella Shoemaker Spokane

Health and safety

Fluoridation adds to health risk

Regarding fluoridation, we need to examine the ill effects of such a decision and who stands to gain if this initiative passes.

Scientists employed by the Environmental Protection Agency have publicly disavowed support for their employer’s pro-fluoridation policies. The American medical establishment and dentists, who tend to be almost fanatical about the subject, persist in their support. Unfortunately, these fluoride backers seem to have more political influence than scientists and concerned citizens.

There are well-documented scientific studies indicating fluoridation to be the cause of certain physical ailments.

Swallowed fluoride can accumulate in our bones. Past some point, this can leave bones dangerously brittle. I believe there is considerable evidence indicating a wide variety of harm caused by adding fluoride to the water supply. We must consider these risks before jumping into a decision we’ll regret later. Glenn A. Schultheis Colbert

Support dental health, not ignorance

Rosie O’Donnell knows how important oral health is to children and adults. She invited U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher to be on her show. He noted that there are profound and consequential oral health disparities in the population, with children, the elderly and low-income people incurring the greatest burden of oral disease and disorders. He stated that safe, effective measures for preventing oral disease are underused and emphasized community water fluoridation as safe and effective.

Why do we continually let non-experts in health dictate and use scare tactics to shape health care policy in Spokane? Wake up to the facts: oral disease is widespread and it is severe. There are consequences to putting off oral health. There is fragmentation of health coverage, so that arms and legs are insured, but our eyes and mouths are not.

Effective solutions exist, i.e. community water fluoridation.

Neglected oral health is an epidemic. It is a problem with a solution. O’Donnell had the true expert to state the facts that community water fluoridation is safe, effective and saves money. Exert leadership in the protection or our citizens to promote good oral health, just like O’Donnell. Vote yes on Initiative 2. Joyce McNamee Spokane

Hold the studies and the fluoride

Recently, news of the York study came out of Britain intended to reassure us that water fluoridation is perfectly safe.

I guess the York study wasn’t actually a study as studies go because this study didn’t study animals or people, it studied studies.

Although this was touted to be the study to end all studies, almost immediately both the Green Party and the Fluoride Action Network published their studies of the York study. These were then studies of the study that studied the studies.

The studies of the study that studied the studies pointed out that the studies had left some 3,000 studies unstudied. They called for a study of studies that would study all studies and therefore not necessitate a study of the study of the studies, as this study had done. Study, schmuddy - just don’t put it in my water. Don Caron Spokane

Let `mega-study’ be the final word

The so-called experts’ often cited by anti fluoridationists have had their day in the court of science and have lost. In a study described as “the most comprehensive since fluoridation first was introduced in the United States after World War II,” by the University of York, fluoride in drinking water has been found to be safe and effective against tooth decay.

The recent report of the study done for the British government is a mega-study of all reputable research done on the subject for the past 50 years. The common anti-fluoride fears about osteoporosis, Down syndrome and cancer related to the fluoridation of water were found to be groundless.

The debate is over. It’s time for us move forward as a community to protect the health of our children and the elderly by adjusting fluoride levels in our drinking water. On Nov. 7, vote yes on Proposition 1, Initiative 2. Jonathan Ferraiuolo Spokane

Law and justice

This time the system worked well

I thank the prosecution team, police officers and jury in the Valiree Jackson murder case for helping restore faith in the criminal justice system, which at times seems to not work. Brad Jackson should be serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole or better yet, be put to death, which he rightly deserves.

The death of a child is unforgettable. The brutal murder of a child is unforgivable. Please, let’s never lose sight of that. Jeanie Smith Nine Mile Falls

Reprimand poor excuse of a remedy

I recently moved to Spokane after 30 years as a litigation attorney in Alaska’s state and federal courts. I witnessed and participated in the best that the profession provides - dedication, integrity, championing the voiceless and searching for justice and equality for all. But I am now ashamed of my profession, in the wake of recent events of judicial arrogance and willful ignorance.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan McDonald, whom we pay an emperor’s sum of $143,300 a year, did not create an appearance of impropriety. He was demeaning, disrespectful, stereotypically biased, crude and dismissive toward persons seeking justice in his court who were ethnically, culturally and racially different than he apparently believed they should be. He used them for his and his staff’s infantile amusement.

The 9th Circuit Judicial Council, as the Emperor’s court did in the popular children’s fable, embraced blindness to avoid obvious truths. It was not just McDonald’s hand, of its own will, that wrote the notes; not just his eyes that colluded with the derogatory stereotypes - these behaviors were responsive perceptions and impressions he consciously framed into thought and birthed into action. McDonald’s intent was not hidden. He was not, as the council paradoxically concluded, biased against any ethnic, racial, or religious group. The truth is he was biased and intolerant of all differences.

The council reprimanded McDonald. We reprimand a child to redirect behaviors. We hold an adult accountable. What can they not see?

The emperor is naked. Martin Zeller Spokane

Schools and education

Teachers, students not on same level

Re: Kristin Kromer’s article, “Character counts.”

Matt Thistle, teacher at Garry Middle School, says he will no longer drink his morning coffee in the hallway because students are not permitted to do so.

There is a difference. Thistle, as an adult and teacher, has earned this privilege. He should not place himself on the same level as his students. The students need to realize that in the future, as responsible adults, they will earn such privileges. Thistle does not need to change his behavior but expect students to distinguish and respect the difference between teacher and student, adult and child. Kelly A. Vertullo Mead

Of all things, why Custer?

With regard to the controversy over the “Death of Custer” half-time entertainment, I have a question. Whether offensive or not seems to be a moot point. My question is, with the Native Americans claiming offense at just about anything the white man does that relates to Indians, why would the school choose an entertainment based on a bloody battle between the white man and the Indians?

What was the school administration thinking? Keith Cotter Coeur d’Alene

For authenticity’s sake, no undies

I am American born, in San Francisco, to parents from a Hebridean Tribe in northern Scotland. I am also offended by the dress and costumes worn by high school bands in award-winning presentations.

My complaint is the manner in which the Shadle Park High School band members wear their kilts. A true Scot would never venture out with any type of undergarment beneath his or her kilt, regardless of rain, snow or updrafts.

It would be appreciated if you would bring this breach of ethnic sensitivity the attention of District 81’s equity director. Hugh J. Junkin Spokane

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