Letters To The Editor

Sat., Aug. 9, 1997

THE ENVIRONMENT

Say no to Columbia Basin plan

Here we go again. Last year, the Forest Service, multi-national timber corporations like Boise Cascade, Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek, and their political tools who hold office in Congress used the “We must log it to save it” lie to conduct a “salvage” logging binge on our public lands.

Now, they’re at it again. The Columbia Basin plan is the Forest Service’s latest scam. With new recommendations for managing public lands in the Northwest, they say we have to log the forests back to health, even if that means clearcutting and road building in fragile watersheds or on unstable slopes.

While many conservation biologists agree that thinning and controlled burns can help the forest, if carefully carried out, the federal agencies and timber industry are again using our fear of fire and our ignorance of forest ecology to destroy what’s left of our native forests and the plants and animals that depend on them.

Please speak up for sane public lands management. Tell the Forest Service to scrap the Columbia Basin plan and stay out of unroaded areas, critical fish and wildlife habitat and our last ancient forests. Write to Michael Drombeck, U.S. Forest Service, 201 14th and Independence Ave., Room 4 NW, Washington, D.C. Laura L. Ackerman Spokane

Columbia Basin plan badly flawed

I appreciated Tim Coleman’s July 28 guest column on the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project.

It’s very discouraging to hear that our government agencies have missed yet another opportunity to fix the damage they’ve done to our public lands. This project could have been a model to restore degraded ecosystems in the Northwest. As Coleman points out, our land managers believe nature “cannot maintain itself without the intervention of chainsaws and bulldozers.”

One point Coleman left out was how this plan threatens what’s left of our dwindling salmon and steelhead populations. The project’s own scientists found 45 of the 88 Columbia Basin native fish species in peril of extinction. They asked for water quality and habitat protection. They called for protection of spawning areas and migration corridors.

Despite their recommendations, the agencies’ plan proposes to increase logging, fails to significantly reduce grazing and road building next to streams, fails to protect roadless, pristine areas and fails to protect spawning and migratory routes.

Salmon represent the Northwest’s natural heritage and a major component of our economy. Why are we letting irresponsible government agencies ruin our children’s future? We should protect these last remaining fish and their critical habitat, not only for the sake of our children and grandchildren, but for the fish themselves and our own economic and environmental well-being. Michele D. Pacha Spokane

Fretwell got past the propaganda

Congratulations to Pete Fretwell on his recent conversion to common sense and clear thinking. (Roundtable, Aug. 4). It is always encouraging to see a journalist take a skeptical view of some of the environmental groups’ misinformation campaigns.

I’m even more pleased that his new views are based on personal research and conversations with unbiased, respected experts from independent agencies.

Many people defend all-green groups with the simple idea that if they’re nonprofit, why would they lie?

Please remember that nonprofit is just an Internal Revenue Service term. It may apply to the organization itself, but not to the many well-paid employees of these organizations. Many environmental groups are businesses in every sense of the word. Their business is scaring the beejeebers out of you so you will send them a very big check to help avert the latest environmental catastrophe. Their campaigns are often based on distorted or misleading information. Many times, that information comes from their own researchers.

I also hope the reporters at The Spokesman-Review and elsewhere follow Fretwell’s lead and take the time in the future to really check their information; writing accurate, not emotional headlines; not leading with emotional, eye-catching phrases, just to leave the real facts for the last short paragraph. Take pride in your once noble profession. Help us accurately enter the information age. Paul E. Stearns Rockford, Wash.

Help prevent a manmade disaster

Plans are proceeding for Washington state’s first large-scale, open-pit, cyanide-leach gold mine on Buckhorn Mountain, near Chesaw, a few miles from the Canadian border.

The Forest Service, despite widespread public outcry, approved the Crown Jewel project as proposed by Battle Mountain Gold Co., a multinational corporation.

This project will blast the top off Buckhorn Mountain, burying the upper part of Maria’s Creek with cyanide and heavy metal-laden tailings, transforming an ancient forest into a waste rock pile. This is public land, yet due to the 1872 mining law, BMG would pay the federal government and taxpayers nothing for the estimated $570 million worth of gold it expects to extract from the mine.

Over an eight-year period, only 150 jobs will be generated. The state Department of Ecology and federal Environmental Protection Agency have repeatedly told BMG this project would permanently impair the water quality of Buckhorn’s ground water and creeks.

A lawsuit has been filed by six environmental groups and the Colville Indian Environmental Protection Alliance. The Forest Service ignored the concerns of the Colville Confederated Tribes, which has hunting, fishing and water rights in the Buckhorn area.

Buckhorn Mountain, like Yellowstone, is public land that belongs to all citizens of the United States. We must not allow an outdated law and the Forest Service to further damage our water, air, forests and mountains.

Contact Katy McGinty at the Council of Environmental Quality, Old Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20501, with your concerns. Anne M. Martin Republic, Wash.

BELIEFS

Subud is just so much heresy

Just a few thoughts after yet another article on the Subud Congress that’s taking place in our city. I believe that’s the third in as many days and all with nothing but positive things to say about this cult.

Yes, I called it a cult - just like Jim Jones of Guyana, David Koresh in Waco and Bagwan Rajneesh in Oregon. One reason I say this is because the Bible specifically addresses groups like this.

By the way, scripture is given to check what is true and what is false. Koresh showed himself to be a fraud because what he practiced was contrary to what scripture taught, i.e. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 1:7,8 is quite clear, “but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

The Subud preach another gospel. I say this because of their founder’s own words, “Every person will find for himself or herself the right way toward God, and what may be the right way for one may be completely wrong for another. You must not follow or imitate anyone else.”

Jesus himself declares in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” I don’t know about you, but I’ll stand with the one that opened blind eyes, healed the sick and rose from the grave himself, rather than believe some shaman from Java that is dead in his grave. Mike A. Matiska Spokane

Not in tune with Christian beliefs

The people of Spokane welcome the participants of the Subud World Congress to our city. Your newspaper story described Subud as “not a religion,” but “a way to intensify personal beliefs.”

Some religions may easily incorporate the all-inclusive philosophy of Subud. Your writer quotes its founder as saying “every person will find for himself or herself the right way toward God. What may be the right way for one may be completely wrong for another.”

A Christian, however, must necessarily harken to the words of Jesus Christ. “I am the way, the truth and the life: No one comes to the father but by me”(from the Gospel of John).

It would seem that the whole of Christian life is death of the self and newness of life in Christ, thereby conquering pride and those sinful selfish tendencies which prevent us from loving one another. The Christian can only proclaim and pray that each individual in the world would accept God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. R. Paul Unger Spokane

S-R likes political correctness of it

At first I was baffled and puzzled. Why is this newspaper doing so much free public relations work for the Subud religion? It took me all of 30 seconds, but I finally figured it out: It’s the politically correct thing to do, and popular as well.

A religion that denies that it’s a religion, one which teaches that almost all roads lead to God, quite obviously finds great favor with The Spokesman-Review. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” and, “No man cometh to the Father, but by me.”

The record speaks for itself: Those faithful followers of the one-way road of Jesus need not be so foolish as to expect the extensive and favorable coverage showered upon the “anything goes” Subud religion. Ken P. Campbell Mead

ROAD WAYS

Cars are too costly and dominant

Because drivers of 4,000-pound automobiles are often incapable of driving attentively and legally (Spokane has found it necessary to remind motorists of a red light’s meaning), Mike McMorris expects bicyclists to have their rights restricted (“Bicyclists don’t belong on car roads,” Letters, July 30). A far better solution would be to increase testing requirements, to get the incompetent off the road.

Bike lanes are not a good solution; they increase the likelihood a turning car will run over a bicyclist the driver “didn’t see.” Through tens of thousands of miles of bike commuting, I have found it safest to ride as far to the left as practical.

There is indeed a common law right of way, which has been horribly infringed upon. There is no reason, other than corporate profit, one should have to buy an automobile to get around.

Automotive costs are far more than most people realize. They are responsible for much of the cost of government at local and state levels, and eat up a huge percentage of working class budgets. Auto-oriented development has made our cities unhealthy, unpleasant and unlivable.

We need to focus on solutions, such as increased use of bicycles and increased public transportation, to go forward into the next century. Walter A. Kloefkorn Springdale, Wash.

Consideration is what’s lacking

I’m sure that Mike McMorris’ views concerning bicyclists (“Bicyclists don’t belong on car roads,” Letters, July 30) will prompt strong reactions from cyclists. However, vitriol of the Critical Mass get used to it or I’ll spit on your windshield variety may be missing the point.

The unfortunate truth is that all too many motorists share McMorris’ attitude. Namely, that they possess an absolute right to drive as fast as they please. Further, anyone who gets in their way is somehow foolish for taking such a risk.

We’ve all seen this type of driver. They’re the ones who tailgate other drivers who are obeying the speed limit, cruise through stoplights five seconds after the light turns red, and don’t yield to pedestrians. While driving, cycling or walking, I have had numerous experiences with drivers whose actions implied that they would rather take a chance with my life than slow down for 10 or 15 seconds. Where are they going to that is so important?

All of us who exercise the privilege of using public roads and streets must realize that there is an accompanying responsibility to use them safely, to obey the law and to treat our fellow travelers with respect. It is our society’s sense of this responsibility that distinguishes our streets from those of the Third World societies McMorris alluded to.

I am not optimistic about our chances of maintaining this distinction if attitudes such as his continue to become commonplace. Graham R. Whitehouse Spokane

Dutch manage to share; We should also

Contrary to Mike McMorris’ opinion, bicycles do rely on the road. I have ridden from tricycle to bicycle. Presently, I am 70 years young.

I have ridden my bicycle north, south, east and west from Spokane, including the Spokane Valley. In 1995, I realized a life long desire to bicycle the 12 providences of the Netherlands (796 miles). Bicycling in the Netherlands is a way of life which offers a system of bicycle paths which are state of the art. Bicyclists must also ride on roadways sharing with automobiles and trucks. Roadways are narrow and and there are no marked bicycles lanes. Bicycling on the freeway is forbidden.

Considering the smallness of the country and the large population, the Dutch people give both bicyclists and motorists equal rights on the roads. In Spokane we can also be capable of existing together in harmony regarding the use of our roadways. Margaret A. DeCroff Spokane