Letters To The Editor
SPOKANE MATTERS
Ailing officers want to recover, serve
Recent news stories on the Spokane Police Department and mononucleosis came about when City Councilman Chris Anderson faxed ridiculous information to the media.
Yes, a study was done in 1989 to see why so many officers were coming down with mono. Evidently nothing was found, but Anderson says speculation centered around a supposedly disgruntled group of officers, “the old timers,” about the time of our then-new administration.
This is absurd.
One officer did have to retire; he almost died. Another officer returned when he got better but he got it again and was off for a few months. He has returned to his job. He wasn’t working another job. To my knowledge, no one else has retired because of this disease. The 40 or so officers who got this all are in a hurry to get back to their normal lives and jobs.
Anderson should observe what the last three months have been like at our house as my husband was first diagnosed with mono, then chronic fatigue and now Epstein Barr. Explain to our boys why Dad doesn’t go to their soccer games or school recitals, play catch, etc.; why he’s in bed most of the time and doesn’t have much patience with them.
At 47, my husband has no plans to retire and wants to get back to work. He’s in favor of community policing and other new programs that will help the citizens of Spokane.
These are highly trained, dedicated, experienced officers who care very much about their families and their jobs. Pam Stanley Spokane
Chief’s attitude all wrong
As an avid reader of The Spokesman-Review, I find Police Chief Terry Mangan’s no-fault attitude appalling.
I realize he is under tremendous pressure, due to the astronomical rise in crime, especially juvenile crime. But the chief and his department take no responsibility for their poor judgment and actions. Are they the only humans on earth who have never made any mistakes?
Get real. Go back to California where lying and corruption seem to be the norm. Don’t corrupt our city.
Think before speaking your brash comments. Matt Fromviller Spokane
McLeod best for commissioner
The Spokane Democratic Precinct Committee and the Spokane County Commissioners are being given a clearcut choice in their replacement of Skip Chilberg as a county commissioner.
On one hand, there is a time-tested and proven citizen of Spokane County who has worked hard for county people over many years and campaigns. His name is Dale McLeod.
On the other hand, there is one of the local beautiful people who is well connected with the local power structure and brokers and has had mountain climbing experience. Wow!
As for me, I’ll take a proven friend of the people of Spokane County any day over mountain climbing experience and good connections. That person is Dale McLeod. Lee E. Lefler Spokane
LAW AND JUSTICE
Be mindful of trade-offs
Thank you, Timothy McVeigh. Because of your alleged actions, we will have tighter regulations and more government control.
We just need a few more mad bombers and we can have total government control, no power to the people.
The bombing in Oklahoma City shows us how vulnerable we are and how quickly we jump to give up our rights when we feel insecure.
It should be a priority to make life as safe as possible. But in doing so we must also look at what we are losing. Steps such as regulations on fertilizer will at most only inconvenience the law-abiding citizens who need it. This definitely is not worth it, even when you overlook the fact that there are innumerable other ways to make deadly bombs.
Another proposed step is to let the FBI spy on us, presuming everyone guilty and dangerous until proven otherwise.
We all should make life as safe as possible, but we need to make sure we don’t give too much up in the process. Justin Ewer Spokane
Legalize assisted suicide
I hope that physician-assisted suicide will be legalized in Washington state.
Legalizing physician-assisted suicide would open a new door for those who are terminally ill. Physician-assisted suicide would give us another choice to deal with the death process. It could help lower the financial burden, shorten a family’s emotional heartache and end the pain and agony that lingering death brings about.
Terminally ill people shouldn’t have to rely on the Dying Well Network to help them end their suffering.
The pros and cons of physician-assisted suicide can be debated forever, but no one really knows what their personal decision would be until they find themselves terminally ill. We would appreciate having one more option if we ever found ourselves in that situation. Megan C. Cummings Spokane
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
NRA will elect next president
Let’s see now. President Bill Clinton blames the National Rifle Association for the Oklahoma City bombing. He has implied that the NRA is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of police officers (“NRA snubs Clinton’s suggestion,” May 20) and Clinton is incensed because the NRA has referred to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms as “jackbooted thugs.”
I suspect that Clinton will soon blame the NRA for the Ebola virus!
Apparently, the NRA-hating media neglected to tell the president that his duck hunting buddy, liberal Democrat John Dingell, called the BATF “jackbooted fascists” way back in 1981.
Actually, President Clinton is still infuriated at the NRA because, by his own admission, the NRA was responsible for the Republican landslide last November. Americans decided to just say no to socialism.
If Clinton is furious with the NRA now, wait until the NRA puts Bob Dole in the White House in 1996. Curtis E. Stone Colville, Wash.
Consider our agricultural reforms
As a member of the Lincoln/Adams County subcommittee of the Nethercutt agriculture advisory board, I appreciate your efforts in presenting the only proposal for ending farm subsidization in Eastern Washington (“A subsidy to end all subsidies,” May 27). It was refreshing to see The Spokesman-Review offer a forum for the debate which is raging in the agricultural community and in Washington, D.C.
As for the charge by critics that farmers will “take the money and run,” fine! But don’t come back to the government asking for more subsidies. The concern over budget exposure is legitimate. However, under the status quo, expenditures are only perpetuated. Our reforms call for an end to the game.
Finally, the notion that a buyout will benefit a few and lead to gigantic farmers absorbing small growers - possibly, but the existing system arguably already encourages this. Curiously, in a non-subsidized world, why would anyone invest heavily in farm land if the apocalyptic predictions of $1-per-bushel-wheat come to fruition?
Permit me the indulgence of quoting Ronald Reagan: “Government does not solve problems, it subsidizes them.”
At least our vision seeks a solution, i.e., less taxation, regulation and meddling in export markets, as well as strengthening agricultural research and extension. We are not so naive and arrogant as to believe that our opinions are the correct ones. We understand that compromise and dissent are inevitable. We welcome this and ask only that the spirit of our conclusions be fairly contemplated, debated and embraced solely on their merits. Andrew A. Thostenson Washtucna, Wash.
Bad policy evidence HUD must go
Thank you for the article exposing the outrageous and hurtful conduct of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in spending our tax dollars (“Rules called too tough on addicts,” May 26).
The strict rules enforced by the commercial building project ensured that our money was only being used to help the truly needy and deserving. But as usual, some bureaucrats of our federal and local government would rather use our money to enable people to continue their miserable, destructive lifestyles of alcoholism, drug use and prostitution. They would do this in the name of compassion.
The wheels of justice and bureaucracy grind slowly, so they have not yet caught up with the election results of last November.
I am sending copies of this article to our elected representatives as further evidence that HUD is just another relic of a failed social experiment that must be dismantled if our government is to ever again fulfill its mandate to serve the governed. Paul Unger Spokane
PEOPLE IN SOCIETY
When it’s time to believe
Your front page article of May 24, “When it’s time to go,” effectively promotes the “anything goes” and “it’s my body” viewpoints.
If a person believes that there is an author of life, then he knows it isn’t his body; it belongs to the author. Therefore, euthanasia, abortion, murder and abuse are all violations of the creator’s work.
If a person doesn’t believe there is an author of life, then he or she is quite right: anything goes. In fact, for a non-believer, a better case can be made for euthanasia than for abortion, since abortion obviously ends the life of someone who would choose to live if they were given the choice. For a non-believer, the only valid argument against euthanasia is the slippery slope one: Do we really want our doctors to be killers?
Taking this another logical step, why is it any different for a man to abuse his children than for a male lion to kill the cubs of a rival male? If you throw out religion, from where does your morality spring? Walter Weid Spokane
Don’t generalize about pagans
Paul J. Henry (Letters, May 22) makes two references to “the pagan left” in politics, and to its control of Congress “for the past 40 years.” I respectfully protest his use of the term “pagan.”
I am the coordinator for the Inland Northwest Pagan Alliance, and I’ve been politically active long enough to know that the aforementioned congresspersons would be pretty shocked to hear themselves referred to as pagan, just as there are many Pagans who would be shocked to be considered establishment.
The modern definition of pagan is one who practices one of the many earth religions. There are many traditions of paganism, all of them based on the healing of ourselves and our environment. We are just as concerned as Mr. Henry about the things he describes. We are also mothers and fathers and, in my case, a grandparent.
While I realize that to a member of the Christian faith anyone who is non-Christian is “pagan,” I would urge a broader and more accurate use of the word. And I would ask that Pagan people not be included in such political generalizations in the future.
The INPA’s purposes include educating the public and correcting erroneous statements made in the press.
I hope we can work together to solve our mutual problems. Abigayle Murray Spokane
THE ENVIRONMENT
Clearly, clearcuts aren’t so bad
Remember the dramatic scenes in the movie, “The Last of the Mohicans,” in which French soldiers attacked Fort William Henry? According to the Wall Street Journal, this thick, green forest packed with large trees was the product of a clearcut.
This just goes to show how clearcutting may not be as harmful as believed by most environmentalists. This forest was stripped to the ground by loggers about 20 years ago but now has grown back to a rich and beautiful state.
Lumber companies that clearcut on their own lands care about both the environment and the investment they have made. They enjoy the beauty of a large, healthy forest filled with trees and want this beauty to be around for their children to enjoy.
These companies have invested in the land, and to make the greatest profit they will put a great deal of effort into replanting after a clearcut. This is so they will be able to cut the forest when it returns. These loggers want their children to be able to make a living off the forests, too.
Loggers are the first to admit that the landscape of a freshly clearcut forest is very unpleasant. They also know how it will return to being a beautiful site within a few years. Jeff O’Neill Spokane
Salmon need our help
Ever since dams were introduced on the Columbia River, salmon numbers have been falling drastically. It is time to intervene.
According to an article in High Country News, “The Columbia Basin’s eight mainstream dams account for nearly all 95.3 to 98 percent of the Northwest’s salmon slaughter annually.” While traveling to the Pacific Ocean, the young salmon get chopped in the massive turbines. Others die when the slowed water behind reservoirs is too warm. The slow water also gives predators a chance to attack the easy prey. Premature saltwater transformation also can occur if their trip is delayed by the dams.
The older fish are challenged with impossible fish ladders and other obstacles. Each of the eight dams on the Columbia River claims 5 percent to 14 percent of the salmon that reach them. By the time they reach the spawning ground, there aren’t many left.
The Columbia Basin does not usually affect Spokane very much, even though it’s a large part of our state. Because this massive slaughter is happening so close to home, we should be informed about it. It is time we show some pride for our natural resources and protect them. Michael Jones Spokane
Make turnaround before it’s too late
Science has offered us multiple environment-saving products and discoveries that are seldom put to use. The government has tried many useless plans to save salmon and forests. The education system isn’t focused.
The air is foggy on clear days, the water we drink is a feast of hazardous waste and salmon are still dying off.
I want to be able to breathe clean air and drink crystal clear water. I want to see salmon runs fill the rivers. I want to see bigger forests. Unfortunately, I may not, because the leaders of our society see only money.
If the oil companies would set aside the cash and allow gas turbine engines and super-efficient cars, then air quality would improve. When sludge-belching industries clean up, wildlife will return to the rivers. When other power sources are implemented, dams will fall, allowing the salmon to prosper.
Following these and other solutions, we will allow our children to enjoy what we have abused.
We have had a negative impact on our environment in the past. We need to have a positive impact now. We have nearly exhausted our resources. Now, let’s make them a surplus. It is time to revive our life source and teach our children to protect it.
We made a mistake. Now it is time for us to make an accomplishment. Brent Streich Spokane