Letters for May 25, 2023

A public thank you

I thank Commissioners Kuney, French, Kerns, Waldref and Jordan, as well as Sr. Director of Law and Justice Mr. Sparber, for the unanimous vote to appoint the 13th Superior Court Judge. The new judge will greatly assist the sitting judges to hear critically backlogged and newly filed lawsuits. The citizens of Spokane County will be better served with this next step in improving the public’s access to the courts with a more timely opportunity to be heard.

C. Matthew Andersen

Past president of the Spokane County Bar Association

Spokane

Prize money revisited

Several readers challenge my claim to Randolph Yates’ $500 award for showing biblical authorization to kill babies.

Schneider, Peterson, Kelley and Yates himself attempt to disqualify my claim for dubious reasons. In Genesis 22:2, God commands Abraham to kill his son. Yes, God changes his mind but he did indeed OK the killing. There’s a quibble about Isaac maybe not still being a baby, not a good defense. Matthew 2:16, Herod’s order to kill all boys less than 2. My challengers point out this was Herod’s order. Yates’ challenge was to show biblical sanction, not God’s. Herod, king of Judea, indeed had the authority to order the killings.

Kelly adds a qualifier to the original challenge. “In the womb” was not a stated condition.

Yates brings up the constitution, forgetting he said Bible or constitution. He then goes off on a couple tangents. Nowhere did I state anything regarding my position on abortion, I’m just after some prize money. “Life begins at conception” is a non-sequitur but any biology text will tell you gametes are living cells. Life begins at ovulation if not earlier.

Schneider’s claim to my money citing Amalekite infant slaughter in Samuel 15:3 is possibly legitimate even though I was first, but I’ll be generous and give him one-third ($166.67) upon receipt from Randolph.

If Yates doesn’t intend to honor his offer, I get it. Some people practice what they preach and some people just … preach.

Steve Sauser

Spokane

Three anti-gun letters

In response to Meg McCoy’s letter about new laws being the right direction (“Gun control and steps in the right direction,” May 21), the new laws only affect the honest law-abiding gun owners and the gun dealers in Washington state. You can go to Idaho and buy whatever you want at the gun shows and private sales legally. These laws only hurt the gun dealers who pay taxes and live here.

In response to Jason Ernsting’s letter (“NRA needs to change their slogan,” May 21) about NRA and carry laws in Texas, he should be aware that people carrying should never engage someone during a shooting for anything but self-defense, because if police show up, they won’t know whom should they engage. Our carry laws don’t allow you to do police work.

In response to Michael Moore’s Second Amendment letter (“A well-regulated militia,” May 21), this militia wording has been tested in court for over 100 years and the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed is our right guaranteed by our Constitution. We have limited some weapons like fully automatic, but AR-15’s are semi-automatic similar to about 50% of guns today.

Our problems with shootings in our country today is mental illness, we have systematically emptied out institutions for 50 years and have allowed and legalized drugs. Our rich society allows and supports people to pursue lives of intoxication. It is not going to get better the way we are going.

E. Allen Cook

Spokane Valley

Dog park proposal

I was taken by surprise as I read my paper and learned of a proposed dog park along Upriver Drive. I wonder if those who are pushing this have any idea of the current traffic on the Upriver/Frederic corridor. I live in the Minnehaha neighborhood. We see hundreds of commuters each morning and afternoon, driving fast as they approach the intersection with North Freya, also packed with cars. Unfortunately, Cooper Elementary School is located there. We pray every day kids will make it safely to and from school.

As the open land along Upriver is developed, traffic will only get worse. Our neighborhood has already been negatively impacted by the North Spokane Corridor and you want to add a dog park to this mess. Please don’t!

Paul Dorning

Spokane