Letters for Nov. 17, 2024
Living in Spokane vs. Spokane Valley
I have lived in Spokane most of my life. I lived on the North Side until the homeless started walking down my alley on a dead-end street. I sold my house to keep my children safe and moved to the Valley.
I have traveled to many cities in the U.S. I have never seen as many homeless as there are here maybe because Spokane is smaller than some of those cities.
Not only that, the killing of people, some innocent, some not, is escalating. I now hear about a shooting or killing every day. I see nothing being done to de-escalate this issue. If I had the means I wouldn’t be living here. The Valley is so much better than Spokane.
I lost a loved one this month to homicide, and I am not happy with how the police are protecting Spokane. I see police cars frequently here in the Valley patrolling, very few in Spokane. What is being done to up the safety of the people the Spokane Police Department has sworn to protect.
Cheryl Dolan
Spokane Valley
Never forget the Rev. ‘Happy’ Watkins
While the Rev. “Happy” Watkins was well known in the community for giving the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the staff at Holy Family Hospital, during the years he served as a chaplain, knew him in a more personal way.
While he had a wonderful smile, and greeted you by name, he had incredible empathy while reading the staff’s faces. If you were having a difficult day (with a patient in serious struggles, for example), he would soften his tone, and ask what he could do to help you. You always felt recognized, supported, and it was such a blessing to have his caring presence.
There are few people that you can say you will never forget, (outside of family and close friends), but the Rev. “Happy” Watkins is a person I will never forget. He was truly an example of how we should all treat each other while on this earth.
Karyl Masters
Colbert
Let’s all do better
Whether the work of hooligans, gangs, racists or simply misguided souls, the graffiti tagging parts of the Emerson/Garfield neighborhood recently deserves a response. Hate, regardless of its author’s intent, doesn’t belong here. Racist and misogynist tagging stokes fear and anger inside our community. But we can choose to combat that fear and anger with solidarity and cooperation. To the Spokane police who responded promptly, thank you. To the friends, neighbors and businesses who helped clean up, you’re an example to us all.
At a time when “We the People” are as divided as ever, we must take care of our neighbors. At Human Rights Spokane, we support the inherent value and dignity of our citizens and their neighborhoods. We are working to track this kind of hate and bias. If you see it, report it at ReportHateBias.org.
Please Spokane, help prevent more division. Look out for each other; hold each other accountable for our words and deeds; choose unity and love. We’ll all be better for it.
Paul Schneider
Spokane
Keep jazz alive
A year ago, the EWU Board of Trustees opted to discontinue KEWU, effective the end of December 2023. They have kept the station on the air for another year, to the benefit of jazz enthusiasts!
I attended the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 25 and asked them to reconsider. Now it’s time for all you jazz aficionados to step up to the plate and ask the Trustees to continue the 75-year tradition of being the only (and the best!) jazz station between Minneapolis and Seattle. Please contact the board at boardoftrustees@ewu.edu.
Louise Chadez
Spokane
Colville is not the place to find help
“Colville residents rally against plans to upgrade behavioral health facility, saying ‘small, conservative town’ isn’t the right fit.” I have to admit they’re right. One of the worst things that has happened over the past 40 years is that not only have the right wing claimed they’re Christian, but that the media bought the scam that they’re the only Christians. This agnostic must disagree.
They seem not to have read the text they claim to have followed, and don’t get what their Jesus supposedly said about helping those in need. Upgrading to a better facility and going from helping 11 people to 12 people? Oh, the horror!
“Bring a drug culture?” Are they so out of touch that they don’t think there’s drug abuse in rural communities? The opioid crisis should have put that fantasy to rest. As American Addiction Centers points out, “3.5% of people aged 12 and older in rural areas misuse opioids, compared to 3.1% in big cities.”
This is a national problem. We need solutions in both urban and rural areas. Sadly, projection, bigotry and hatred are doing more harm to rural areas as they deny their own problems. This is one key reason the election went the way it did, and it’s why the people of Colville are harming their own to make some vague, anti-Christian, point.
David Teich
Spokane Valley