Letters To The Editor

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Bravo, Nordstrom; Get busy, WWP

It is very refreshing to read about a corporate citizen headquartered in Seattle that is demonstrating community responsibility by doing its part to revitalize our aging downtown retail business core.

Thank you, Nordstrom, for your commitment to Spokane for the next 20 years.

The citizens who wrote letters in support of Nordstrom and the businessmen and women who have worked hard to bring this project this far deserve a lot of the credit, for without their support Nordstrom might not have stayed downtown.

Spokane now needs these same citizens to write letters to our own Spokane-grown Washington Water Power Co. to encourage it to show responsibility by cleaning up the oil spill that has brought other major improvement projects planned for downtown to a complete halt. Stop stalling Spokane’s progress, Washington Water Power. Clean up the oil spill now. Ken E. Clements Spokane

Why do paupers pay king’s ransom?

I have just read “Insurance execs don’t feel the pain (March 6) and I am angry, as I’m sure thousands of my fellow citizens are.

Do any of these pompous CEOs and company spokespersons see the irony in their statements? They claim that they must pay these exorbitant salaries and bonuses in order to attract the kind of quality they need.

An executive with Group Health, Sharon Fairchild, claims that the company “gets what it pays for.” If this is the case, these companies aren’t getting much in the way of CEO quality, as they all claim to be losing money hand over fist.

I also have to wonder if any of these people have a working knowledge of the terms “social conscience” and “social responsibility.” Margaret Evans Spokane

Arena experience unacceptable

Have you been to the new Arena? I have been a season ticketholder to the Seahawks since 1977 and attend many other spectator events. I have never been hassled as much as when I went to the Arena for the first time, to a Chiefs game.

I had signed up for information on a season ticket. I wanted to check out the Arena from several angles, so I studied it to identify vacant seats, places where there were a number of vacant spaces. I didn’t want to bother anyone.

Wow, what a disaster! I can’t believe Don Jamieson and his crew hassle customers as much as they harassed me. I won’t be back.

I was also turned off that taxpayers have paid for the special play areas for the privileged. Jim Harris Coeur d’Alene

Parking fee way too high

I was hit with a $5 fee to park at a Diamond parking lot to enjoy a pop concert. Yes, I know this is not New York. This is coming awfully close to being a crime - $5 dollars to park for a two-hour show!

Several people complained in the parking lot. Here we have something nice going and greed steps in.

City Council, check this out. Wes R. Steitman Spokane

SPOKANE MATTERS

Burning ban good for net loss

I’m getting tired of hearing people complain about grass burning. I remember when every fall we burned leaves and pine needles. No one complained then. In fact, we liked the smell of burning leaves.

I’ll bet these people all have lawns around their houses, play golf and visit parks. Don’t they know that all these lovely lawns started out as grass seed?

The worst air pollution in the Spokane area is from automobiles. If you put the grass growers out of business they’ll sell their land to developers, resulting in more houses, blacktop and cars. Then we’ll have a real Los Angles air quality.

How come the Spokane Air Pollution Control Authority doesn’t go after Palouse wheat farmers? They plow their fields and all the dust blows up here. Maybe they shouldn’t grow wheat anymore.

I’ve never heard of anyone trying to stop fruit growers from lighting smudge pots when they need them to save their crops.

Grass burning is a small part of the air pollution problem for a short period each year. The rest of the time the grass is putting oxygen into the air. Also, since we’re no longer allowed to burn our yard waste, we’re using more chemicals on our lawns and shrubs. That eventually pollutes our rivers and possibly our aquifer.

I truly sympathize with folks who have asthma and other problems affected by grass burning, but I know the alternative use for that land will be much worse for everyone in the long run. Jeanne Batson Mayor of Millwood

IDAHO SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Vote yes for Lakeland schools

As parents of students in the Lakeland School District we see the need for a yes vote on March 19.

We have seen the growth in the schools and community. As the community grows so does the school population.

With community support, our schools will be able to address crowded conditions and continue to offer quality education to all students.

We are thankful for the patrons who voted yes in the past so our children can have a good education. It is our turn to vote yes for our children, grandchildren, cousins, nieces and nephews so they can have the best education Lakeland has to offer. Joel and Loayne Isbell Rathdrum

Hot meals helpful for learning

Did you know that a part of your federal income taxes are paying for hot lunch programs all across the United States? Isn’t it time we in the Lakeland School District got some of our own money back?

A nutritious breakfast and a hot lunch makes learning a lot easier. Due to generous guidelines that have been going up every year, many families in our district qualify for reduced or free lunches. A family of four making no more than $28,032 a year qualifies for a reduced price lunch of 40 cents and a breakfast for 30 cents. A family of two making no more than $18,564 or $1,547 a month also qualifies. Those making somewhat less, depending on family size and income, are eligible for free lunches or breakfast.

For every free lunch the government contributes $1.79 and and reduced lunch, $1.39. For breakfast it contributes 99 cents. Figuring a utilization comparable to other school districts having lunch and breakfast programs, Lakeland School District should receive approximately $600,000 a year.

Vote yes for the hot lunch program and the school district will provide good food along with quality education. There should be no increase in taxes since growth will pick up the program’s cost. Employees and supplies are paid for with government subsidies provided by the government.

Please vote yes for the school building bond levy also. We need the added space to alleviate overcrowding that continued growth brings. George Nadler Lakeland

Don’t tax people out of homes

I was disappointed to read that the Coeur d’Alene School District plans another levy without even trying less costly options first.

In areas where it has been tried, year-round rotational school schedules have relieved overcrowding, maximized use of public school resources and offered numerous academic advantages.

School districts could save money in many ways. I suggest they check with the many local church schools that do a better job with far fewer economic resources. Instead, the district takes the easy road, increasing property taxes that are already at a critical level for many Kootenai County citizens.

Further increasing property taxes will hit already overassessed areas hardest. For some, this might be the last straw.

With the 3 percent increase cap being lifted to fund disaster relief, who knows how much our property taxes will increase next year.

The school board should realize that the $9.5 million it seeks will not magically appear in taxpayers’ pockets.

To the public school teachers who insist they need separate art rooms because it is “too inconvenient” to have art in the classrooms, I ask: How inconvenient is it to lose one’s home? I’m voting no on May 21. Mary L. Rose Hayden Lake

Pass bond and we all win

The upcoming Post Falls school bond levy is on my mind a lot lately. As a concerned parent who’s active in the schools I see a definite need for more space.

I look around Post Falls and see new home after new home, and new businesses cropping up all over. I don’t understand why it is hard for people to see that, with a city developing this quickly, schools need more space also.

There’s never going to be a better time for people to work together to get adequate school facilities. By adequate I mean no portables, no double shifting, but instead a real facility to show our children that we care about them and their future.

Vote yes on March 26. Encourage your neighbors and friends to vote yes and everyone will win. Jean Anyan Post Falls

Our young deserve best schools

“Our school, our children, our future” - a motto currently on Post Falls High report cards. Think about it for a moment. Our future’s prosperity depends on our children’s education.

Schools that are too crowded, that do not have updated equipment, etc., are not going to be conducive to learning and to developing pride in school and community.

Yes, our teenagers do reflect that attitude of the whole town. We have some great young people in this area. Please give them the proper education in modern facilities that they deserve.

Vote yes for the March 26 Post Falls bond levy. Janet Lehrman Post Falls

OTHER TOPICS

I will pay reward for violin

I am writing this letter to the editor with the hope of recovering my violin which was stolen from my daughter’s locker at North Idaho College.

The violin has sentimental value to me in that it was given to me by my wife as a wedding present about 36 years ago. I would like to have it back. I have used it as a ministry tool for as long as I have had it. If the violin is returned to me, unharmed, I would pay a $200 reward, no questions asked. Pastor David R. Hess Cocolalla, Idaho

Righteousness is the key

In having read Dr. John McMath’s guest column (Feb. 14) attempting to rebut the one preceding it, I can only say that Dr. McMath’s “clear directive on the sanctity of life” must have ignored over 90 percent of holy writ. Just as he ignored over 90 percent of his pro-choice opponent’s editorial.

I don’t find a clear directive on the sanctity of life when God’s commandments and rules are to enforce righteousness. Only righteousness guarantees life. Sin guarantees death and destruction.

But that isn’t how the anti-choice forces would have it. Sanctity of life should be considered an absolute, regardless of sin. And so, take a commandment out of context, misquote or reinterpret scripture and voila; we now have sanctity of life. The only clear directive that I ever found in the bible was righteousness. For even in the Bible, life is cheap. And God can take what He bestows, by whatever agency.

Ruth Stoeckert (“Good to have opposing views,” Letters, Feb. 23) ought to thank The Spokesman-Review for presenting us with the pro-choice views. I ask that the newspaper allow more balance between extremists and their reasoning opponents. Joan Harman Coeur d’Alene