Letters for Jan. 15

Bundles need not languish under trestles

’Twas this New Year’s Eve just passed. It was 7-ish, low 30s/high 20s. We were walking north from Third and Jefferson, making for the Fox Theater to take in a little Ludwig van Beethoven.

En route passing under the railroad tracks there was a queen-sized mattress neatly tarped and bundled. There may or may not have been a person in the bundle. Further consideration supposed, odds were, there probably was. If for no other reason than to guard against theft which, doubtless, plagues the houseless at least as much, if not more, than the housed.

Cut to music. Glorious, beautiful, exuberant, soaring music. Soaring to the stars and beyond. Music superbly and flawlessly performed in a warm, welcoming, magnificent venue. Truly a tribute to human genius in all respects.

As the music played, emotive, antithetical, images fast framed past my mind’s eye. The symphony peaked, the chorale crescendoed, closing with; “Seek him above the starry canopy! Above stars must he dwell.”

The clarity of that truth lays a charge upon us all. Bundles need not languish under trestles. It’s sad, it’s cruel and it’s wrong. It occurs that a person able to soar can, should and must certainly solve this sorry circumstance.

P.S.: Hats off to the Master Class Jazz ensemble, now a nonprofit, for another sizzling Knitting Factory New Year ring in. Admission included with your symphony ticket. Five stars, highly recommended.

William Baxley

Spokane

Free lunches aren’t free

I’m reading about Bob Ferguson’s planned budget cuts, and I can’t help but wonder about the priority of free school lunches (which he would like to expand). There are 1.1 million K-12 students in the state, and 1,400 people/families with over $100 million in assets. I’m gathering some of that 1,400 have school aged children. Yet, our state with a reported $12 billion budget shortfall, wants to give free lunch to all, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Then literally in the next sentence, he “wants to understand how we got to this level of a shortfall.” May I posit giving a free lunch to all, regardless of need, may contribute?

Here’s an idea for the governor. Let’s go back to some sort of income requirement prior to giving a free lunch to all students. I hope we all remember that a “free” lunch really isn’t “free.”

Cheryl Henley

Spokane

‘Cabin’ event worked perfectly

The “Cabin” book event at the Bing was terrific! It was a happy blend: an outdoor story, an entertaining but modest author, an interviewer with heart and soul, a large and lively crowd, and an emcee with patter of substance. I’m proud that so many threads of idealism are woven together in this Northwest Passages live authors series. I’ll be back for more.

Bravo, Spokesman-Review, for leveraging funding for reporters from a fundraising project on the generous edge of corporate commitment to our local news and national topics explained by people from Spokane. There’s a lot of good underway here. Let’s keep finding ways to link brave people and innovative ideas toward difficult troubles.

John Hancock

Spokane