Letters for Sunday, April 23, 2023

What is more important?

I read Mr. Claussen’s letter (“Bill attempts to disarm people,” April 14) and noted how quickly he cites the Second Amendment to disparage H.B. 1240. I won’t even attempt to dissemble my disgust and instead ask just one question: What is more important, the right to own an assault rifle or the life of a child?

Dan Keenan

Spokane

Save children from guns

Call CMR’s Washington, D.C., office and you are informed that our representative believes the solution to gun violence in schools is “mental health.” What has our representative done to promote better mental health? Certainly she cares about disabilities, but what about the broader concern for the safety and protection of all children?

Dr. Michael Davidovits, a psychologist from the Ackerman Institute of the Family in New York City, reported on NPR that the mass shootings are creating more mental health problems. He gave examples of children developing greater fear and sometimes becoming more aggressive and bullying (just what the shooters are demonstrating) or withdrawing and isolating, becoming loners (like some of the shooters). In addition, parents are bewildered about how to help their children process this mass shooting phenomena, 100 plus in the first three months of the year. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children in the U.S.

Truly, mass shootings are aggravating the mental health crisis of children and parents in our country.

A multipronged approach is needed: the easiest and most effective immediate action to reduce gun violence is limiting access to assault rifles. Simple. It has been found effective in Australia and the U.S. some decades ago. (Hunters really don’t need assault rifles and handguns can be used to protect families if individuals feel the necessity.)

Urge Rep. McMorris Rodgers to advocate for our children and families, regulate access to assault weapons and increase mental health counseling.

Nancy Street

Cheney

Solving gun violence

Gun violence and mass shootings are a disturbing and complicated issue that has multiple contributing causes. Every organization, politician and pundit offer their solutions. One side says it’s all about mental health. One side says “beef” up security at schools, etc. Another says ban and severely restrict automatic multiple-shot weapons for civilians and institute stricter laws for gun purchase, storage and training.

Guess what? Check all of the above. They’re all needed! Not one is 100% correct by themselves. Ideally, all contributing causes need to be addressed simultaneously, immediately and on a nationwide basis. However, this would require the previously mentioned “sides” to talk and collaborate in a meaningful way. Am I optimistic about this happening? I try, but not really. Please tell me I’m wrong.

Claudia Craven

Spokane

Government overreach

Washington’s legislators have forgotten what they were elected to do yet again. ESSB 5599 is a prime example of their overreach.

With this bill, any child who runs away for any reason can seek shelter in a homeless shelter, and the parents are not required to be notified. The child can seek “gender affirming” care, and the parents won’t be notified.

Most parents love and care for their children and are seriously stressed when their child goes missing. Under this bill, parents would still be responsible for these children under the law, but they would not know where they are, what they are doing, even if they were dead or alive!

Legislators, you want to take over and think this bill will do a better job than the parents, great! Don’t be surprised when the families sign these children over to the state.

If I had no say in my child’s life, why would I take responsibility for the decisions he makes? I wouldn’t.

Cheryl Loveland

Spokane

Traffic lights

cause congestion

I travel Northwest Boulevard each day on my way to work. With Pettit Drive torn up for the next three months, why are the traffic lights to turn left or right off of Northwest Boulevard on to Pettit Drive still functional? It does nothing but cause traffic to back up waiting for something that isn’t going to happen. I’m sure our traffic engineers have the technological capability to turn those particular lights off for the time being. It sure would go a long way easing the morning and evening traffic.

Ted Warne

Spokane

Thomas shows Supreme arrogance

There is recent news about a cozy relationship between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Texas billionaire and Republican donor Harlan Crow. Crow has taken Thomas and his wife on lavish vacations abroad and provided them with a fancy guest house at his private resort. There is news of a real estate deal between the two men. None of this was publicly disclosed or reported by Thomas.

The chief defense of all this is that it is no big deal because Mr. Crow “does not have business before the court.” I beg to differ. This court has assumed the power to create the fiction that corporations are people; that money can flow into political campaigns virtually unregulated; that governments can legislate choices about women’s bodies; that extreme partisan gerrymanders that deprive people of equal representation are acceptable; that local governments cannot protect their citizens by enacting sensible gun safety laws; and that taxpayers can be forced to support religious schools. Given all that, it’s clear that all Americans have business before the court!

The difference is that only a few Americans have the means to show their favor to justices with gifts and sweetheart deals. In ethics training as a federal employee, I learned that even the appearance of corruption is corrosive to the public trust. The appearance created by Crow and Thomas stinks to high heaven. He should resign, and the Supreme Court should immediately adopt the same standard of ethics that apply to all other federal employees.

Ted Hensold

Spokane

A more legitimate claim to Randolph Yates’ $500

Sorry Mr. Sauser, you shouldn’t win the $500. In Genesis, God changes his mind about slaughtering Isaac, sending an angel to put a stop to it; in Matthew 2:16, it’s Herod commanding the butchering of babies, no indication he has God’s blessing. I, myself, wish to claim Mr. Yates’ $500 by citing Samuel 15:3, wherein God through Samuel commands Saul to slaughter the Amalekites: “you must kill all the men and women and all of their children and little babies.” Case closed. Mr. Yates, send the check to me, care of this paper. Thank you.

Michael Schneider

Spokane

Need more affordable housing

I have lived in Spokane for 18 years and have recently become very concerned about the lack of affordable housing options in our city. This issue has impacts on many people in Spokane, including low-income families, seniors and individuals with disabilities.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently said that a person who works a full-time job at Washington’s minimum wage would need to work 80 hours a week in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. This is unsustainable and denies the basic human right of a place to live.

While elected officials are making some efforts to address the housing problem, such as the proposal to increase funding and developing more affordable housing units, more needs to be done to ensure that everyone in our city has access to safe, affordable housing.

The lack of affordable housing affects our entire community. We have seen clear impacts at Camp Hope, which has created a community where the homeless are more susceptible to drug abuse and the surrounding stores have been infiltrated with robberies and attacks on customers.

As voters, we can help spark change by supporting candidates who prioritize affordable housing and advocating for policies that address this issue. I urge my fellow Spokane residents to prioritize affordable housing when considering candidates and issues in the upcoming election.

A space to live is a necessity and an undeniable right. Together, we can help provide affordable housing for everyone in Spokane.

Caroline Walton

Greenacres

Power lunch trumps election fraud

I was extremely disappointed, although not really surprised, that The Spokesman-Review chose to cover the return of the power lunch on the front page of the April 19 paper instead of Fox News election interference lawsuit. It was worth $800 million to Fox News to avoid having their employees testify in court and allowing them to downplay the story. The fact that so many of our once trusted news organizations chose to play along is both embarrassing and pathetic.

Edwin Guise

Spokane

Zappone’s blatant attack on Spokane elections

So what will be next in our city? If a judge whose job was to uphold the strength in our elections fails to prevent gerrymandering from council member Zappone and his district, what is next? Judge Hazel, I am ashamed that you represent the court system of my county. How could you flippantly disregard that a 1.5-3% increase in support for Zappone is a meaningful difference when he only won his last election by 262 votes? I am ashamed over Judge Hazel’s decision to not provide a check and balance to our elected officials power but sadly, I am not surprised over Zappone’s actions.

Zappone made his priorities clear this year. We have a job next time he is up for reelection and that is to de-seat a career politician with more interests in himself than our city. Judge Hazel, the same goes for you too.

Brayden Paul

Spokane

Name stadium after Thorpe

After reading the article about naming the downtown stadium, a name I would like to suggest is Jim Thorpe Stadium.

Thorpe was a Native American who participated in the 1912 summer Olympics and out performed the competition in many events.

He also had a professional career in football and baseball. Too many accomplishments to list here. Some say he was the greatest athlete of all time.

Jim Clarizio

Spokane