Governor Promotes Respect

Thu., Sept. 14, 2000

By Carlos Acevedo carlosa@spokesman.com

Gov. Gary Locke started off an address to the South Hill’s Roosevelt Elementary School last week with his signature move - high fives for the kids.

Third-graders seated in the front of the school gym Sept. 5 got to give the governor a high five before he addressed the 650 students assembled.

Although Locke has visited the Spokane School District on many occasions, it was his first visit to Roosevelt. Locke was in Spokane to promote his proposed schoolsafety legislation, which would earmark between $20 million and $30 million toward statewide school-safety programs over the next two years.

His message to voters is that for students to learn effectively, they must be able to study in a school without fear for their safety.

His message to the Roosevelt students was far simpler: Be nice to each other.

“We care that you all treat each other with kindness and respect,” he said. To illustrate, he read a portion of the Dr. Seuss book, “Sneetches are Sneetches,” which he said he read to his two children. The book rhymes out a story in typical Dr. Seuss fashion about creatures called the sneetches who either have stars on their bellies or don’t. The sneetches with stars turned up their noses at the ones without, and the governor demonstrated to the delight of students.

“What do you think Dr. Seuss is trying to tell us?” he asked. Students replied that the story implies that it is OK to be friends with people who are different.

“That’s right,” Locke said. “We don’t have green stars on our tummies, but we are all different, and we are all special.”

“Showing disrespect for people is wrong,” he said. “It’s really important that we respect everybody.”

Locke’s point of accepting diversity is particularly poignant at Roosevelt, which has a greater-than-average population of disabled students and at least 40 students who qualify for the English as a Second Language Program, said Principal Janis Rust.

Locke also embodies his message. His grandparents immigrated from China, a fact not lost on Russian immigrant Aleksey Salfetnekov, 12, who has been in the United States for five years.

“I thought he was sort of like me,” he said. “I came from a different state, and he came from a different state.”

Aleksey said he did not have any immediate plans to run for governor, however.

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