Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

Ensure access to ‘unspoiled’ land

Spokane County commissioners have given us an opportunity to vote on continuation of the conservation futures program, and it is well worth the $6 per year for the typical $100,000 home in Spokane County.

Every bit of the money raised goes solely and directly to park and open space acquisition. There are no administration costs, no consultants and no operating costs.

With this money, Spokane County and the city of Spokane can pro-actively acquire land worth protecting and pay the property owners fairly. I appreciate the wise decision to acquire the Manito Park property long ago, when there were still expansive open spaces on the South Hill. The Conservation Futures Program provides the resources to do the same thing in areas all over the county.

Both the city and the county have many opportunities for grants that require local matching funds. The conservation futures money will fund those local share requirements and leverage the dollars available.

Spokane’s quality of life is directly related to access to unspoiled, natural lands. Let’s support the Conservation Futures Program this fall, paying a little to gain a lot. Jeff L. Lambert Spokane

Vote for Talbott in the primary

Elected city officials and their campaigns are nonpartisan, right?

As it turns out, there is a vocal, nonpartisan candidate in the mayoral race. John Talbott will speak out for the people of Spokane. If there’s ever to be a time for independent voters to hire someone to represent us, it’s during the next 12 weeks and two elections.

You must vote on Sept. 16 for the candidate you favor. Voting in the primary is very important, as that election determines which two of the five mayoral candidates will compete in the general election. If you understand that, there should be more votes cast on Sept. 16 than on Nov. 4.

Talbott has been called a naysayer. That may be true, up to this point in time. We should give him the opportunity to prove that he has solutions for the problems by electing him mayor. It would really be something if those of us who think we have the solutions could vote ourselves into office as a group, but our system just doesn’t work that way.

The windows are closed and the race is on. The only way a noncandidate can take part in the process now is to work with one of the candidates. Jon J. Tuning Spokane

Re-elect Geraghty, for city’s sake

Politics are building up for city of Spokane elections, and I strongly urge you to vote for Jack Geraghty, for his intelligent handling of a very complicated office. He should be re-elected mayor, for the benefit of the city. John S. Huneke Spokane

BELIEFS

Fundamentalists display limitations

So, Spokane’s Christian fundamentalists are dismayed with the Subud conference taking place in our city. Why am I not surprised? “If it ain’t scripture, it ain’t Godly.”

Christianity, one would assume, has something to do with the teachings of Christ, but nowhere can I find evidence that Christ taught exclusivity, fear and arrogance.

Throughout history, people clinging to the known have allowed their fear of what they don’t know to persecute those who see beyond the cradle of convention. Columbus, Galileo and Jesus saw a reality that stretched the known perimeters of geography, science and spirituality. They were all ridiculed and/or persecuted for their efforts.

Jesus didn’t fit the established mold in his day and Subud, which isn’t even a religion, doesn’t fit the mold today.

If Subud doesn’t fit the scriptural mold, what is it? It must be bad. It must be more than bad; it must be (thunder clap) diabolical!

Well, Christian fundamentalists probably won’t participate at the Subud conference. And neither will Islamic, Jewish and any other religious fundamentalists who blanch at the prospect that God is not running an exclusive country club for a certain type of clientele.

A bunch of people coming together to reach out to and receive God in the language of their own religious cultures - is it all that scary? Need we be on guard for our spiritual lives? Should we all be wearing garlic and crucifixes around our necks?

I don’t think so. Lita S. Oppegard Deer Park

OTHER TOPICS

GOP still comforting the comfortable

Smoke and mirrors - that’s how those master magicians create outstanding illusions, and we accept them as such.

But, how does the GOP keep convincing so many voters that the Republican Party is actually working in their behalf?

Case in point: the latest headlines and newscasts blare out the tremendous achievement of the GOP in creating a balanced budget. But, at whose expense did they do that?

Evidently, the average voter hasn’t read the fine print of that package the GOP put together. The Washington Post states the main beneficiaries are those who need it the least - people with incomes in the top 5 percent will receive 56 percent of those tax cuts.

The Post further revealed another 26 percent of those tax cuts will go to those with incomes in the next-highest 15 percent - thereby giving the top 20 percent bracket more than 82 percent of the tax cuts, leaving (the Post says) only 18 percent to be divided among the remaining 80 percent of us.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich and friends make those illusionists look like rank amateurs as they loudly portray to the voters what they do for them - while giving the bulk of tax cuts to those making over $113,000 per year and actually raising taxes for some people in the bottom levels.

As former governor Dixy Lee Ray said, “Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell and have them thank you for it.” Gingrich and friends keep assuring the average voter they’re working in their behalf, but actions speak louder than words. Andy P. Kelly Spokane

Medical marijuana pill available

Medical marijuana is already available in a prescription form called Marinol. Many writers don’t face the fact that smoke could kill and they are living in a pipe dream. Wells J. Longshore Spokane