Letters for Aug. 17, 2023
Embrace the weeds
While Mike Looper’s comments (“Yellow lawns are not the answer,” Aug. 6) about oxygen production from lawns sounds convincing up front, once you think it through it becomes apparent that he is omitting some important aspects of the question. Perhaps grass does produce oxygen. However, when you factor in the amount of CO2 produced by the lawnmower (electric or gas) and the dying grass clippings, as well as the amount of chemicals used to maintain the lawn in its green state, the benefit, in my opinion, does not outweigh the cost.
I was out weeding my yard today and wondering to myself, why do we put up such a fight against plants that want to grow, that demand no special attention, that need no extra watering, and that are just as green as grass? Why do we let ourselves be the victims of generations of brainwashing by buying into the idea that a “perfect” lawn – meaning non-native species and unnatural density – is beautiful? If we could just embrace the weeds, we could save water, save money, save the environment, and be less frustrated when we look out at our yards. I say, if it’s green and soft, let it grow and stop wasting resources on lawns!
Sara Preisig
Cheney
Vestal uses too many words to say nothing
Shawn Vestal’s exceedingly verbose column on Aug. 13 (“Developer Stone’s role in homelessness efforts stirs debate,”) spent thousands words over three pages to tell us pretty much nothing.
Basically, he seemed to say that a number of people on the left, who initially fundamentally supported the idea of a regional authority to combat homelessness, are now suspicious of the idea, recently formalized in rough form by Spokane Unite, because Larry Stone is involved in the process.
As with many of Vestal’s columns, it was long on innuendo (“process stinks,” “Trojan horse,” “Very little trust”) and short on specifics. As deep as he got into the actual items at issue was to acknowledge that elected officials have “concerns about the nuts-and-bolts details.”
What exactly are they arguing about? What are the differing ideas regarding composition and selection process for the governing board, how it would get its money, how large its budget would be, which departments it might replace, how it would measure success, how it might be disbanded, etc.?
Some discussion of these questions, and which faction supports which ideas, would actually be informative. But it is neither informative nor useful to spend three pages telling us that people on one side are upset for no better reason than that they have to deal with some of the people on the other side.
Bob Douthitt
Spokane
Trump wants to be king
A very religious acquaintance recently told me that “God told me to vote for Trump.” I listened because here is a clue why a right-minded person might vote for Trump. We are told that Christ died on the cross, a martyr, to save us from our sins. Trump tells us, very convincingly, that he is our retribution and casts himself as a martyr. The connection, if one chooses to make it, is not hard. Christ was not “King of Kings” in a temporal way. He spoke for God, whom kings have always drawn authority from, however. On the other hand, Trump, a flawed man, wants to be a temporal king of us all, not just the believers.
If that is what you want, you might get it.
Allan deLaubenfels
Spokane Valley
Acknowledgments are necessary history
In his letter published on Aug. 6, Warren Walker (“History and land acknowledgements,”) equates facts with truth. The truth will always be more than the sum of facts. Facts can be misleading. Walker’s “fact” that the 1877 Spokane Tribal treaty involved the Upper and Lower Bands, actually only involved the Lower Band. However, the inaccuracy of this “fact” is secondary to the narrowness of Walker’s view of the truth.
Narrow, because Walker’s case against the use of the word “unceded” might be deemed valid, but only if solely based upon King George’s 1763 Royal Crown of England decree “giving” the tribes title to all lands within British colonial territory. Ironically, the order was intended to control expansion of the 13 colonies but morphed into the policy tool of U.S. “manifest destiny.”
Titled land ownership imported by European colonists was foreign to Indigenous cultures in North America, and imposed upon Indian Country by the U.S. federal government and military to legitimize settler takeover. Cession occurred based upon forced conditions for tribal survival and inadequate compensation. Treaties were persistently violated and their legality has been litigated for over 100 years.
The traditional occupants saw themselves as “people of the land.” The U.S. democracy viewed the entire continent as the “land of the people,” but “people” did not include dispossessed Native Americans. This crucial difference underscores the cultural violence behind tribal cession, as well as the reason for land acknowledgments. In this broader sense, land cession has no validity.
Ian Cunningham
Spokane
Homelessness is a symptom
The number one issue for our mayoral candidates is how we treat our homeless crisis. But homelessness is not the problem. It is the symptom of our problem. The problem begins with our social mores. Society has lost track of the value system that has kept America safe and productive since its inception. When I was a child, homeless people were called bums. Life for them was intentionally hard because they were given nothing unless they worked for it.
Now we subsidize them with food, lodging and sometimes smart phones and TVs. This leads to more people becoming homeless. Yes, some people are homeless due to housing costs. A few, mostly due to poor lifestyle choices, are homeless due to addictions. But many are homeless simply because they can be. I see them every day, smoking whatever and leaving their garbage behind.
The Houston solution everyone on the left is raving about will not solve homelessness. It will probably reduce the symptom, but that is not a long-term fix. And it will continue to be very costly.
What if we require those homeless people who are capable of working at least four to six hours a day to perform physical labor in order to receive benefits? Picking up litter, painting graffiti, and weeding our green areas could have a twofold benefit. Many of our current homeless would either leave or get a solid job, and our city would look better. Or we can continue our slide to become San Francisco.
Hal Dixon
Spokane