Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

New mall can have it all - please

In thinking about the new Valley Mall soon to break ground, I wish them luck and success.

Let them take all the business from the North Side malls (after all, the business is going to be just split; not one dollar of new business will be created). Along with the business they can take all the congestion, all the cars, all the hoods lounging around the mall, and the things that come with an unrestricted growth pattern.

Perhaps the North Side can return to being a nice place that doesn’t take 45 minutes to get downtown from, a place that doesn’t take 25 minutes going through a drive-through at a “fast food” restaurant, a place where individual stores still can survive.

I wish you the best, Valley Mall. Just don’t count on the county government to be of any assistance when you become gridlocked, as we are now. J.F. McClain Spokane

Riverpoint Village not new urbanism

The Spokesman-Review made an unfortunate choice to place a large photo of Goodale Barbieri’s Riverpoint Village above the article on new urbanism (May 21).

Even though at the end of the article the author pointed out that this residential development “doesn’t strictly conform to new urbanism principles,” the photo image suggests that readers associate this woefully suburban project with new urbanism.

Having just spent the last year and a half researching the concepts that are the foundation of the new urbanism movement, I can assure you that Riverpoint Village misses the new urbanism mark by more than a mile.

If Riverpoint Village is “urban” in design, then why is the street, the most important public place, totally ignored in the site planning?

If this urban community fosters a walkable neighborhood why is the most dominant feature, when viewed from the street, the concrete parking garage?

If this is a mixed-use community, then where do residents go to buy a newspaper, groceries or any of the daily functions of life?

Riverpoint Village is not welcoming and lacks appropriate urban form found in the residential architecture of row houses or brownstones.

The project does not set the stage for the kind of urban development that is so successful at Carnegie Square in Browne’s Addition, a better example of traditional neighborhood that is the basis of new urbanism. Jan Becker, NCARB adjunct professor of architecture, University of Idaho

Traffic cops, watch STA drivers

I was pleased to hear about the recent campaign to address the very potentially dangerous problem of red light running on the streets of Spokane.

I have one suggestion for a great place to start: ticket Spokane Transit Authority drivers. Or are they above the law? I feel safe in making the blanket statement that most STA drivers have a definite attitude. It is very clear in Spokane that a yellow light means to go real fast. Gayleana Dschaak Spokane

Hutchings a terrific person

Those of us who know Don Hutchings know a man of qualities uniquely alloyed. He is disciplined, but thoughtful beyond that. He is successful, yet selfless and quite in extraordinary ways. He is a man of courage which springs from a well of dignity. He is deeply skilled and yet comfortable with his human imperfection.

Hutchings is a man with devotion to what matters regardless of the prize or lack thereof. He is able to turn from any moment to humor.

He is a man any of us would love and value in a magic instant for his brilliant spark of life.

Hutchings has been held hostage by rebels in Northern India for nearly a year and he is honored and valued by many. Mike Traster Spokane

Garden club people the best

I attended the Lilac Luau Luncheon at the Ridpath Hotel, sponsored by the Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane. This has been a traditional event for the past 45 years.

Working for the City Parks Department has given me the opportunity to work with and become friends with these fun, knowledgeable and supportive individuals. Thousands of dollars have been raised from their diligent, hard work.

Their monumental contributions have provided numerous improvements of beautification throughout the entire city.

Since this luncheon, even more so do I recognize the kindness, generosity and virtue of these fine people. Their welcoming style is prestigious and I appreciate each and every one of them.

Thank you all for all you do for Spokane. Donna Gilbrech-McGown Spokane

THE MEDIA

Squawk radio - so what do you expect?

Radio talk show host Richard Clear is quoted as saying, “that newspapers are playing up his recent involvement over the Mayor Rice rumor, to make talk show hosts look bad.”

Clear doesn’t have to worry. Radio talk show hosts make themselves look bad. We’ve only had one open-minded one in Spokane and he recently resigned. Radio talk jocks breed on only one thing: sensationalism. The more the better. This has been proven in all radio markets from East to West, Howard Stern being the most noted one.

Anyone who states, as Clear did, “this rumor has been out there for two years; does anybody think it ought to be answered?” is fishing for controversy, innuendo and added rumor on a subject that can only bring heartache to a family that has tried to put this rumor to rest.

Nice going, Clear. You and your Seattle counterpart have again overstepped the bounds of good journalism, as you did with your infamous Tom Foley interview.

What else can you expect from talk show hosts? I tuned them out years ago, as have millions of others. James A. Nelson Spokane

Quit your own name calling

The continual name-calling by the Spokesman’s editors is getting tiresome. In his column, “Continual whining getting tiresome,” John Webster calls animal-rights activists “long-nosed busybodies” and “ninnies” who are “foaming at the mouth.” He provides no positive support of his own position, relying instead on name calling.

Staff Writer Dave Oliveria, who also consistently fails to support his positions, frequently labels environmentalists as “chicken littles,” etc. He has called global warming “bogus,” ignoring reams of scientific data and the worldwide consensus of climatologists.

Outdoors Editor Rich Landers, who does generally support his positions, still resorts to labeling animal rights activists “animal huggers.”

I’m not merely offended because these people attack issues I believe in. I’m just as offended when the Spokesman’s writers call Operation Rescue people “lunatics.”

What purpose is served by name calling? Professional writers should know name calling is bad writing, revealing the writer’s inability to form and support solid arguments. Since name calling is consistent across the Spokesman’s editorial board, I can only assume it’s newspaper policy. This is bad policy which degrades both publisher and readers.

A recent editorial stated that readers “deserve a medium that strives for accuracy and analysis …” The Spokesman’s readers deserve far better than what its writers provide. Derrick Jensen Spokane

Blame moves in a circular path

How noble of Staff Writer Anne Windishar to be so concerned about truth and accuracy in the media (“Talk radio needs to tune into truth,” Our View, May 15). When can we expect her expose of the continuing lies and fearmongering contained in spots currently being run by a group called Washington Citizen Action, by the Democratic Party and by the great prevaricator himself?

If it weren’t for talk radio holding their feet to the fire, a member of the elite press (89 percent who admit to voting for Bill Clinton) would never have posed this recent and rare challenge to the president.

After pointing out that there are no cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, simply cuts in the projected growth similarly proposed in Clinton’s own seven-year budget proposal, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Clinton if he was prepared to stop calling Republican savings in these entitlements cuts.

Clinton’s reply: “Are you prepared to stop it? When I came to Washington, I was amazed when I proposed budgets that that was the language that was used. The press used it. We all learned to use it from the press.”

Where is your outrage, Windishar? Teresa Brown Spokane

Media should follow PBS lead

The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) leads the way in informative political debates, most recently challenging the major TV networks to provide presidential candidates free air time.

We the public never seem to have enough time to thoroughly assemble information on candidates for public office. Meetings conducted by various groups trying to expose the candidates to the public fall far short of viable numbers to make a difference at the voting booth for competent candidates, but I do applaud their efforts for trying.

Newspaper, local cable and radio stations need to put the emphasis on who and why candidates are running for a particular office the day before elections, for those of us who are just trying to keep our heads above water with our jobs and families.

Too often in politics, special interests that make big campaign contributions gain undue access and influence, overpowering common sense, logic and competency. Influence they gain this way allows these special interests to see to it that they will be repaid many times over by the public.

For the mass of the population, the media are our only source of information on candidates for public office. Their ultimate responsibility is to the public.

Will you, the news media, accept the challenge of PBS on the local level, without biased political views? Ed Worzala Sandpoint

‘Split’ story lacked cost details

The front page article on “Split decision” (May 7) by Jim Lynch had the wrong spin.

The questions of welfare reform, family values and the father’s involvement are currently political problems and solutions to these problems must be found. The article could have shown the difficulties the court has in deciding complex problems of our customs and laws pertaining to child custody.

The costs were not mentioned. Who is paying the mother’s, Brenda Argo’s, legal fees? How much is it costing the father, Stephen Hadley? What are the costs to Washington state? What are the court costs, sheriff’s fees, transportation, the cost of hours spent by court investigators? And are there more costs?

How old are the children of the second family? Why is Argo on welfare and having babies? Who is the father of the second family and why isn’t he supporting them?

The mother’s emotional plight makes good copy, but the article was not good reporting. The public needs to be informed with facts and that is the responsibility of the news agency. Lois Scholz Colfax, Wash.

PEOPLE IN SOCIETY

Gay marriage has its good points

Promiscuous men are disgusting pigs, whether straight or gay. Let gay men have their same-sex legal marriages. At the very least, they’ll have to be held accountable to angry spouses and the divorce courts when they stray, escaping the free ride they’ve had until now for their poor behavior.

At best, perhaps their incidence of receiving and passing along sexually transmitted diseases will drop to the level married straight men enjoy.

Use your heads. You don’t have to like gay behavior to acknowledge that his move would help certain gays to clean up their act. Teresa Keene Spokane

Forget music; It’s the debt thing

In Staff Writer Jim Kershner’s column, “It is an insult to actually like their music,” (IN Life, May 18), adult reaction to teenage music keys in on the critical issue of responsibilities between generations. The column centers around how “all-knowing parents” easily manipulate their children with tawdry games of child psychology relative to tastes in music.

How about applying similar ground rules explaining how older generations saddled their children with enormous national debts? What should the younger generation’s scripted reaction be to the inescapable debt reality?

The message and the resolution will not be as humorous as Kershner’s line, “get hip, admit to hating” … being sold down the economic river to the “tune” of trillions. When the reality of paying these debts crashes down around the ears of American youths, hopefully, they will not have to conjure up another Bunker Hill for self-survival. Today these debts cannot be accounted for, much less justified.

Older generations will sit with egg on their faces when their progeny demand an accounting. The elders will look justly pathetic as they parrot “don’t do as we do” (run up insane national debts),”do as we say” (youths in America pay the debts we ran up in the name of mimicking Rockefeller).

When the national debt finally comes payable, youths will collectively lament, “I really do hate them” as they bail out the elders, not vice-versa. This will become the sickest role reversal ever documented in history.

Wake up, parents of America, before you have to face the guillotine of your offspring. Chuck Huffine Pullman

OTHER TOPICS

‘Domain’ shouldn’t rule out kindness

I am always hearing people complain about how hard their life is. Wait a second. Let’s think about animals’ lives for once.

A letter writer recently said that God gave us domain over other animals. Even if true, domain doesn’t mean treating other animals badly.

I urge everyone to read the children’s book “Dear Children of the Earth” by Shim Shimmel. It is a touching story written like a letter from Mother Earth.

I also read a series of articles about a dying boy’s wish to shoot and kill a Kodiak bear, and Opinion Editor John Webster’s article stating that these letters were complaining. Let’s imagine that some other animal was the smartest ruling animal. We wouldn’t exactly love it if we were shot and killed for some kid’s last dying wish.

It’s a huge crime to kill a human, but what happens if we kill an animal for the mere pleasure of recreation. Nothing. Let’s face it, this boy’s dying wish is to kill. Just remember that the human is just another species of animal. Megan Beck Spokane