Letters To The Editor

Wed., June 5, 1996

SPOKANE MATTERS

Put strong mayor plan to a vote

City Manager Roger Crum’s departure creates a vacuum at City Hall at a critical juncture.

While this move by Crum is a great loss to the employees - he is a good moderator and a believer in empowerment - it has at least silenced those who criticized the salary increases by having shown that city employees, if they try, can land a better-paying job at a much smaller city.

As some City Council members noted, the strong mayor initiative is hanging like a sword of Damocles over any effort to find a permanent replacement for Crum.

The City Council should go ahead and request a vote on the strong mayor plan during the 1996 general election, without waiting for signatures to be collected for the initiative. This action will resolve the issue one way or the other. Mallur R. Nandagopal Spokane

No-shows in denial about crime?

You, the people of the South Hill, hear ye, hear ye. Drug houses in your neighborhood, you bet. Increasing vandalism, car thefts, burglaries, drive-by shootings, graffiti and everything else that goes along with criminal behavior is happening every day in your neighborhood.

Two thousand fliers were hand-delivered to homes, notices were sent to area schools and churches, and Block Watch captains were asked to inform their neighbors of an excellent community forum, Crime and Public Safety, that was held May 28 at Sacajawea Middle School.

Twenty-one people attended. Thirteen of those were already involved in police work at some level, so only eight people from the South Hill were concerned enough to take the time to attend. The rest must still be saying, not in my neighborhood…

It’s time for a wake-up call. Crime is in your neighborhood, and it’s time to start dealing with reality. We must confront crime on every level, and we need the interest and cooperation of all the people of Spokane. We can make a difference if we all work together.

Get interested and involved. Learn how to make Spokane a safer place to live in, and let’s make a strong statement to the criminals that they aren’t welcome here. Shirley and Bob Hooper Spokane

Red light times too short

I liked Chuck Grizzle’s letter (June 3) about longer yellow lights, although I think longer red lights, both ways simultaneously, would be even more effective.

A good case in point are the lights on Montgomery/ Indiana at Pines. They’re green for so short a time that heavy trucks immediately going on them get a brief yellow, then red, when they’re only halfway through the intersection. And Pines traffic gets the green, together with a shot at those trucks, right away.

Of course, there is always my longstanding suggestion pushing the installation of roundabouts at major intersections. Philip J. Mulligan Spokane

CV choir excellence deserves notice

What a privilege and pleasure to have attended a concert presented by Central Valley High School A Cappella Choir on June 1. This superb group, ably directed by Dana L. Sewall, recently competed at Heritage Music Festival in Vancouver, B.C. The choir was awarded the gold medal, first place for performance and top honors with an invitation to compete nationally in Chicago next spring.

This talented group of 50 young adults has received no recognition from the community media. Why? Only the bad and ugly acts are publicized, and youths don’t have a chance to learn of the many good activities of the majority of our kids.

Perhaps more emphasis on the good and less on the bad would be a better role model and would help deter violence that seems to be the only news we hear and see. Mary Dukes Veradale

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Leave Coeur d’Alene beach alone

In reference to “City must protect access to beach” by D.F. Oliveria (Opinion, May 29): This is outrageous, to think that Joe Chapman has the right to build a duplex on Sanders Beach in Coeur d’Alene. “Yet, the homeowner has the right to contaminate Sanders Beach with a building unless he is compensated for not doing so.”

I do not understand. What moron wrote a law like that?

I grew up swimming on that beach. My family owned a part of Sanders Beach and never prohibited families from swimming there.

True, some people are abusive and I can certainly understand those who do not wish to be kept awake by loud parties.

There is a simple solution: Close the beach at night and have the beach patroled at night, paid for by the city.

Please, Joe Chapman, leave the beach alone. After all, we have that monstrosity called The Coeur d’Alene Resort dominating the beach and downtown Coeur d’Alene. Janice E. Clausen Spangle

THE ENVIRONMENT

Hoopla reflects misplaced sense

It concerns me that people must be persuaded with contest prizes to start car and van pooling.

Lately I have noticed that more and more companies are having contests among the employees on who can be the most environmentally aware. Why do we need incentives to help the environment? Prizes like mountain bikes, gift certificates for free gas and discounts on oil changes are not the best incentives. The person who is going to get the mountain bike will probably never even ride it to work, and will start using a car in the first week after the contest. Tune-ups and free gas just encourage people to use a car more often.

If people need an incentive to make them more environmentally conscious, it ought to be cleaner air - fresh air to breathe, beautiful blue sky to look at, stars to see at night and a decreased health risk for all of us.

I do what I can by car pooling. I want to be able to have my kids ask me why the sky is blue, not why the sky is a funky brownish color. Jessie Sweatman Cheney

Forest fires useful, natural

The summer fire season is fast approaching. Most of us probably remember the fire in Riverside State Park that took place nearly two years ago, as well as the valiant effort put forth by area firefighters to halt the blaze.

Unfortunately, halting the blaze is the only thing we remember about the fire.

I was hiking in Riverside State Park recently and there is already a large growth of trees and plants where the fire scorched the earth.

We need to remember that fire is a part of nature. In its own way, fire replenishes the forest, while at the same time it keeps the amount of burnable material at a safe level. Attempting to stop these forest fires only allows the buildup of burnable material, causing a more devastating and unnatural fire in the future.

In the end, the only thing that is going to stop a forest fire is the weather. Let’s remember that a fire will end naturally, just as it started naturally. John R. Clarke Jr. Spokane

Weigh pros and cons of field burning

Staff cartoonist Milt Priggee’s May 28 cartoon about grass burning upset me greatly because it appears, as is the case with most people in Spokane, that he is misinformed about grass burning.

Many people are quick to condemn grass burning. Farmers burn the grass for seven quality reasons: to control disease, control weeds, remove grass straw, stimulate growth, create higher-quality seed, increase yield and control seed purity. Grass burning accounts for less than 1 percent of Spokane’s air pollution, which turns out to be less than 600 tons of pollution a year.

During the upcoming burning season, take time to carefully sort through the facts with an open mind before you are too quick to judge grass burning. Nate Swinton Spokane

Pitch in for cleaner rivers

The Washington State Department of Ecology has identified many waterways as having serious pollution problems. Among them is our own Spokane River. It is overloaded with raw sewage, sediment, chemicals and oils.

Although many people think it is the government’s job to correct these problems, we must all get involved before it is too late. Our fish and plant life are dying and the water is becoming so contaminated it will soon no longer be safe to swim in and drink from. We can all donate a Saturday of our time to participate in a river cleanup, or even take a few minutes out of a day to write to our congressmen to encourage them to take action.

The future of local rivers is in our hands. Lindsey Felice Spokane

Displacing cattle makes no sense

The Bureau of Land Management administers 270 million acres of federal public land. When cattle were first introduced to the American West, overgrazing and poorly managed rangelands were common. Today, ranchers and BLM employees have tried extremely hard to reverse the damage that has been done.

Recently, environmentalists have targeted our public rangelands, stating that livestock grazing is the largest cause of the deterioration of riparian ecosystems on public lands. Most environmentalists want all cattle off of our rangelands.

Where do the environmentalists propose we place these animals? They will not just disappear!

BLM’s approach is to realize that the cattle are on the land and therefore we must manage them correctly. The real answer is not just to get rid of the cattle. We must propose alternatives that favor the land and appeal to the cattle.

If we manage this task, the future of our rangelands will be extremely prosperous. Kathleen R. Barrett Cheney

MINING

Counter lead threat, polluters now

Do we really want “human bodies lining the Spokane River and the shores of Lake Coeur d’Alene” before we act decisively and effectively in dealing with the lead contamination moving along the watershed? Opinion Editor John Webster (“Environmentalists create lead scare,” Our View, June 3) seems to think so.

The Inland Empire Public Lands Council would rather alert citizens of the potential danger before bloated bodies wash ashore. Lead poisoning is not an overnight phenomenon. It takes years before high lead levels show up in the human body. Ask some of the people of the Silver Valley who saw their children poisoned by decades of irresponsible mining practices.

The mining industry has spent millions on propaganda, campaign financing and lobbying to delay any effective mining reform or pollution cleanup. Outdated mining laws that see to it the industry continues to be subsidized at taxpayer expense have also served to provide money for the lobbying and propaganda.

Sen. Larry Craig, the “Republican … forked-tailed tool of evil robber baron logging and mining companies” has done his job well over the years by proposing only the weakest of mining reform and cleanup legislation.

Environmental information campaigns like Get the Lead Out are needed to inform citizens who may soon be affected by the deadly pollution slowly but relentlessly moving their way. If public interest groups use a few thousand dollars of taxpayer money to counter the mining industry’s big-bucks, nothing-to-worry-about propaganda campaign, isn’t it money well spent? Russ Moritz Sandpoint

Conduct mining with new protections

I am responding to the May 26 article blaming the mining industry for lead pollution in Lake Coeur d’Alene.

For years, boats traversed the lake burning leaded gas, polluting the lake with lead from their exhausts. The pollutants were naturally carried down the river.

If that wasn’t enough, our highways are all badly polluted with lead. This is a proven problem, and the use of leaded gasoline is now forbidden.

Erosion constantly brings lead pollutants to our rivers. The problem will eventually decrease because leaded gasoline has been banned.

To get rid of a problem, you go to the source. In the Silver Valley we should step up mining to the extent that in time the ore bodies will be mined out, and the pollution pretty well stopped. A pollution-free smelter should be erected to handle the ores. The railroad should be put back into service. A surcharge on the ores smelted would pay for the smelter. The mining companies would take care of the rest.

What is happening now - burying the waste - is adding to the problem, poisoning the springs below, any wells and any aquifer in the region.

I think our environmentalists and the Environmental Protection Agency should step in and help the mining industry make this a reality. Forget the past and do what has to be done now. Sam Petersen, vice president Hansy Copper and Gold Mines Inc., Spokane