Letters for July 30, 2023

Spokane Valley leadership silent on church vandalism

When Veradale United Church of Christ was hatefully vandalized on June 25, we were saddened that this happened in our city. We invited Spokane Valley leadership to join us in celebrating that “Love is Greater than Hate” but received no word. We were further concerned that we have not heard or seen any statement from our city leadership denouncing this disturbing violation. After waiting 18 days for a statement, I emailed such a request on July 13 and still have no answer.

Please, let us know that the leadership of the city of Spokane Valley denounces acts of vandalism, theft and hateful threats. Tell us about what the city is doing to make this a community where everyone is welcome. Tell us that this city is one where the freedom of religion includes Christian faiths like ours that believe God created everyone in the image of God as we practice a life of justice, kindness, and a humble walk with our God (Micah 6:6-8). Tell us that in our city, bullying in schools and neighborhoods is not acceptable.

The Rev. Gen Heywood

Pastor, Veradale United Church of Christ

Spokane Valley

Unaccredited Cheney Police reflects poor governance

That Cheney Police Department lost its accreditation in 2018, during Mayor Chris Grover’s tenure, and is only now starting to discuss reaccreditation five years later, is an outrage and a disgrace.

According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the purpose of accreditation is “to professionalize the law enforcement industry by providing a review process for agencies to be certified as operating under industry best practices and standards.”

Given the severity and scope of misconduct identified and investigated within the department in the past few years, it’s clear that the department has not been operating under best practices and standards for some time – far from it. Whether it’s sexual harassment, which led to one officer being suspended without pay and another (who also engaged in several other forms of significant misconduct) losing his law enforcement credentials, or just plain incompetence and failure to do their duty, Cheney deserves better from those who are sworn to serve and protect.

At a recent community forum, interim police chief Rick Beghtol unveiled a new motto for the department: honesty, integrity and compassion. The people of Cheney deserve a police department that actually embodies and exemplifies these values. We deserve a department staffed by officers who are effective and who do not engage in misconduct. We deserve a department that has been independently verified and found to meet objective standards of best practice. We deserve an accredited police department.

Shame on the city’s leadership for failing to deliver.

Corinna Donnerberg

Cheney

Pricing people out of the housing market

In an article about heat pumps (“Judge won’t delay building code change,” June 20), there’s a line near the end: “Joel White, executive director of the Spokane Home Builders Association, said in court filings that added costs of construction would price families out of homes built locally.”

No, what’s pricing people out of homes are a few things. Let’s start with the Builders Association not building enough homes for first-time buyers. There’s also the lack of apartments for people who need them, driving up rental prices far faster than inflation while those first-time buyers must stay in apartments. There’s the direct sale from builders to REITs and other wealthy investors who then rent homes for vacation and for tenants.

The cost of heat pumps is minimal compared to that. Builders need profit, but maximizing regardless of the impact on would be homeowners and then crying crocodile tears won’t cut it.

David Teich

Spokane Valley

Reduction of parking spaces not the answer

The Spokane City Council’s reduction of parking space requirements for housing within half a mile of transit routes is another of their efforts to turn Spokane into a walking/bicycling/bus-riding city. That’s great for those who can use those forms of transportation. Unfortunately, not all residents are able-bodied, healthy, athletic and with the flexibility that allows it.

Even for those who check all those boxes, cars are still necessary for most people in Spokane. The city is too hilly and spread out to make biking and walking practical, and public transportation isn’t adequate to meet everyone’s needs. For shopping, hauling things and getting out of town to that nature we enjoy, we still need cars. By reducing the parking requirements for apartments, more tenants will park on streets, clogging narrow residential streets with parked cars. That makes a problem for everyone, not just the apartment dwellers.

I’m all in favor of alternative transportation being encouraged, but let’s be reasonable. It is not the only or even the best solution for most people.

Mobility, weather, location and other factors make cars necessary. Let’s make sure the people who use them are also respected in the great Spokane city planning.

Suzanne Harris

Spokane

Vote with your conscience

Donald Trump was one of the most egotistical persons to ever be president.

There were others like JFK, FDR, Abe and Teddy.

He often lacked sympathy, sensitive to criticism.

But what did he do?

7 million new jobs

Family income increase by $6,000

Lowest unemployment in U.S. history

Lowest Black unemployment

Lowest Hispanic unemployment

No new wars

Lowest female unemployment

Destroyed ISIS

Killed terrorists leaders

Embassy to Jerusalem

Peace in the Middle East

Criminal justice reform

Largest tax reform in history

Record low poverty

16% pay raise for American worker

Added 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs

Home builder confidence at all-time record

Lowest gas prices in a generation

Home sales all-time record

Halted travel from China at the start of the COVID pandemic

Halted the communist aggression (Ukraine and Taiwan)

Think how much more might have been achieved if he had not been plagued by the politically motivated attempts at impeachment and other deep-state plots aimed at destroying him.

Vote accordingly.

Dave Barker

Spokane

Deny the proposed GTN Xpress pipeline expansion

My husband and I are residents of Liberty Lake. We strongly oppose the dangerous expansion of the GTN Xpress pipeline in our community.

My daughter is a teacher in Spokane Valley public schools. My young grandson will soon be a student in the public schools. To endanger the lives of our children, teachers, parents, community residents, all of God’s creatures and our beloved natural spaces is unconscionable.

We need a responsible way forward that does not propagate the ignorance of the past. We know better about fossil fuel, for the sake of all creation, we must do better to keep it in the ground.

We must deny the expansion of the GTN Xpress.

I have written to my mayor; many Liberty Lake neighbors and members of my faith community in Spokane have stood in solidarity opposing this ill-conceived community-threatening expansion and have written to their representatives and signed letters in opposition.

On May 3, The Spokesman-Review published the Rev. Gen Heywood’s opposition to this dangerous initiative standing along with 400 faith leaders in Washington, Idaho and Oregon in solidarity in opposition to this dangerous expansion.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission needs to listen. Please deny this!

Janet Farness

Liberty Lake

Gassed geese could have fed the poor

This is regards to Colleen Thomson letter about geese (“Better solutions than gassing geese,” July 16). Why were they gassed?

This made their meat inedible. If the geese had been killed properly, they could have been cut to feed the poor or homeless people. Oh, that’s right, Sandpoint is in Idaho and it’s Republican so they don’t have poor or homeless people. Nor do they think any other town does either. Thus no phone calls out of town to find out if anyone might take them.

You know each bird could have provided a minimum of six meals and probably a little more.

There are two legs, two thighs and one breast that’s big enough to cut in two pieces, plus other parts that some people eat. So six times 170 birds equals 1,020-plus meals. I can’t believe there’s not a homeless shelter nearby that would not have taken these birds. As for the birds being sick, I strongly doubt that. Did the veterinarian actually test any of them?

How do I know these birds could have been eaten? I have hunted them, cooked and eaten them and never become sick from eating them.

Keith Strong

Spokane

Vestal gets it right

Thanks to Shawn Vestal for writing such a reasonable, evidence-based article about our complicated drug abuse epidemic (“A referral to drug treatment is the first step on a long, complicated journey,” May 21). As Vestal points out, a number of factors intersect to create addiction; one not mentioned is trauma.

Addiction-as-trauma response is well-documented by practitioners like Gabor Mate, and when we work to prevent or mitigate trauma, we help its symptoms, like addiction. The problem is not that we don’t know how addiction works, or what the treatment cycle looks like, or the ramifications of a system that incarcerates rather than treats. We know. We just don’t care enough to fix it. We want immediate results rather than a long-term, sustainable, public health-based strategy. We want cheap, quick and out of sight. As long as we continue to see addiction and its societal ramifications as an individual problem rather than a social one, we will fail to solve it.

Barbara Williamson

Spokane