Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Good people being treated badly

I’m a member of A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments, a group for all motorcyclists. It’s not a club or gang. Members do good deeds that go unreported.

These include group blood donations, sponsoring families for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and supporting Toys for Tots. ABATE has collected aluminum cans to give money to the Northeast Community Center.

Members helped to design a program to teach motorcycle education, safety and awareness in local high schools. It has been adopted by other states and countries.

The blatant disrespect and harassment we’re receiving from the police department and other city organizations is unacceptable. At a recent function, our local law enforcement spent many hours and taxpayers’ dollars harassing motorcyclists without cause.

As to their status as ABATE member and or club members: ABATE is a nonprofit political organization working toward education and repealing unfair legislation against motorcycle riders. ABATE does not endorse discrimination against race, creed, religion or even the motorcycle you ride.

We are often barred from eating places because of our attire and a general prejudice against motorcyclists. Police officers regularly detain us to learn who we are, where we’re going and who we associate with.

We tried to have a meeting with the mayor and police chief of police on these issues, only to be denied.

I invite you to form your own unbiased opinion of our organization and see for yourselves. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the 12 Step Club on Wall Street. Rocky Mantese Spokane

LAW AND JUSTICE

Plea, sentence horribly wrong

Re: “Man sentenced for killing noisy neighbor” (Region, Nov. 15).

I am absolutely appalled at the prosecution, subsequent guilty plea and prison sentence given to Adrian Price for shooting his neighbor last December.

I can’t imagine why Price would plead guilty to such a ridiculous charge. He should’ve contacted the National Rifle Association immediately. It has people willing to assist citizens in such cases.

Prosecuting Attorney Dannette Allen stated that Price had choices while being charged by a drunk and angry mob. His choice was to either arm himself and defend his family, home, and property or become another crime statistic. It’s amazing to me that the police shoot people on a day to day basis with nothing more then a simple investigation to clear them. Meanwhile, Price get charged for a shooting that would be deemed accidental, if not justifiable, if it involved a police officer.

Price’s prison sentence sends a clear message to the community that if drunken people wish to trespass, threaten and intimidate you, you have no right to defend yourself. Criminals who prey on our community can applaud Price’s guilty plea. They know that if they are shot or injured, the prosecuting attorney will gladly charge the homeowner for engaging in self-defense. Should a day come when Allen is charged by a mob of drunks, her decision against defending herself in such situations gives her a final choice: red casket or blue. Alan F. Skinner Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Tyrants value gunless population

Re: the article “Britain rejects outright ban on handguns” (News, Nov. 19).

In 1940, the Britain’s Royal Army lost many of its small arms during the heroic evacuation at Dunkirk. English civilians had few firearms, too. Meanwhile, Hitler was poised to invade England.

The British asked America to “send anything that will shoot.” The National Rifle Association collected thousands of privately owned guns, and binoculars from America’s citizens and hurriedly shipped them to England.

Shortly afterward, Hitler invaded Russia.

Now, 56 years later, some British citizens yell “shame” because the government won’t totally ban handguns. The real shame is that naive people, from England to Australia and from the White House to Spokane, continue to ignore the clear lessons of history.

Sixteen Scottish schoolchildren were killed by a crazed gunman, prompting England to start disarming the general citizenry. In this century, 50 million unarmed innocents, the latest in Bosnia, have been murdered by various governments and tyrants.

The words of George Mason still ring true, “To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them.” Curtis E. Stone Colville

America earned place above all

Douglas Segur’s Nov. 19 letter (“U.S. uber alles notions faulty”) bears answer. America was not given the title “greatest country in the world.” America earned that title.

Because of the intelligence and foresight of our Founding Fathers, America was established as the only bastion of freedom in the world; the land of opportunity for anyone who wanted to work to make his way in the world. America became a shining light to the millions of oppressed, tired and hungry people who flocked to her shores. America was made the greatest nation in the world by the blood and the sweat of the millions of oppressed people who came to America for freedom.

Now, people like Segur say, we must look to the global community. There is no other nation in the world like America. To “work alongside” other nations, it is America that must change. And changing it is.

Right now, American jobs are going overseas and companies are downsizing - the product of redistribution of wealth among nations. With the flood of unemployed on the job market, the wage scale is being pushed down, people are unable to get livable-wage jobs. America is being pushed into Third World living conditions.

How will Segur and those of his ilk feel about living in the squalid and oppressive conditions of Third World existence, and to whom do they plan to turn for help when they discover the error of their reasoning? Lynn M. Stuter Nine Mile Falls