Letters to the Editor

Nuclear Iran
I think by now it is very clear to anyone paying attention that Iran is not the least interested in enriching Uranium to enrich the lives of its citizens, but rather to build a nuclear arsenal for the express purpose of destroying its enemies! It’s time for all freedom-loving countries to join together to stop this threat to the entire planet. If we don’t act now, it will be too late and we will be handing down to our children the chains and bondage of slavery to a one-world government, run by bullies and held in place by constant threat of annihilation. Even the other Arab and Muslim nations should realize that the Iranian regime is bent on the destruction of anyone who disagrees with him, Muslim or non-Muslim! The two factions of Islam will never agree on every point, but to allow such powerful capabilities to become reality in the hands of such a radical leader is beyond imagining and completely unthinkable if this earth is to survive. Global climate change will pale in comparison and in fact will become irrelevant altogether if Iran becomes a nuclear power! Stop this travesty and retore the possibility of peace in the Middle East. Impose sanctions, freeze assets, halt funding and loans, refuse to insure shipments, whatever it takes to get the point across. Please act now!

Rebecca J. Huseby
Bonners Ferry, Idaho

Deep Cuts
The sad news that Spokane County must cut 150 employees makes me propose an unlikely solution. It is to ask that the likely 150 folks on that staff who have voted in the past decade for any of the anti-tax initiatives of Tim Eyman and Mike Fagan to resign. These measures to bankrupt state government have trickled down upon municipalities with cuts in social services, threats to public safety, erosion of infrastructure and now, loss of jobs. Eyman’s campaign is a right-wing anarchist movement that has been one of the most destructive in Washington state history.

Surely, such voters profess to have the community’s welfare in mind. (Oops, wrong word!) They could demonstrate the voluntarism that they usually extol and pull themselves away from the fodder in the public trough they have long fed from.

For that matter, much money can be saved by the voluntary departure of 150 anti-tax fanatics from city and state jobs as well. Some of them even enjoy cushy upper management positions, many of which are sinecures (a good word to remember, meaning good pay with few responsibilities, deriving from the Latin for “without a care”). Certainly they would be philosophically more at home in the private sector, with less scrutiny and accountability. Some could join their ideological partners, the pirates of Wall Street, and continue to destroy our economy.

Morton Alexander
Spokane, Wash.

No New Jail
On Dec. 10 at a Spokane County workshop on the siting of the new jail, much of the public testimony turned from siting the jail to rejection of the new jail. The predominant testimony was not NIMBY-ISM but rather changing our system to negate the need for a new jail. The audience suggested other options including mental health care, substance-abuse treatment, community service and alternatives to jail sentences; Of defendants in Spokane District Court, 77 percent go to jail; nationwide, it is 23 percent.

The U.S. has the highest per-capita incarceration rate in the whole world. Violent crime in the U.S. is decreasing. Washington state is shutting down prisons. Jails have not solved the 40-year war on drugs. Seattle has de-prioritized marijuana arrests, essentially decriminalizing it. We need to look at our system in this county and reduce our jail population, not build a new jail.

Stevens County turned down a new jail by a two-to-one margin. From the testimony at the hearing, I expect the same will happen in Spokane County.  
 
Linda Krogh
Spokane, Wash.

Ban Choppers
USFS officials are very close to a decision whether to approve or deny Idaho Dept of Fish and Game’s (IDF&G) dubious request to land helicopters in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness for the ostensible purpose of counting and radio-collaring wolves. Whether it’s counting wolves or counting widgets motorized, helicopter landings are clearly prohibited in Federal Wilderness by the 1964 Wilderness Act.

We have already witnessed the horrible recent decision by IDF&G to extend the wolf hunting season until March 31 when wolves are denning, the females pregnant and newborn pups entirely defenseless. Does the USFS really want to have a “partnership” with an unscrupulous IDF&G?

While I hold out hope that the USFS will redeem their clear legal responsibility to uphold the law, your help is urgently needed. Please stand up for your irreplaceable Wilderness Resource and the law and urge the decision makers to reject the helicopter landings.

Please send comments to William Wood, Supervisor, Salmon Challis National Forest (wwood@fs.fed.us) and Intermountain Regional Forester Harvey Forsgren. (hforsgren@fs.fed.us)

Scott Phillips
Hailey, Idaho

Help With Solutions
I was bummed to read that article the slams on faith, Hillyard, the police and parents (“Bitter Roots,” 11/19/09). I hope our youth have more vision and heart about the city and future than that.

If Christian action, charity and the ongoing work of compassion were removed from Spokane, the hole in human services would be crippling.

The Christianity is evil line is painfully ignorant; in regards to the reality of the good it pours out on the good and the bad in all cities.
I hope those guys find a way to use their anger, frustration and sense of moral judgment on the real problems in Spokane, like homelessness, poverty, addiction, injustice, ignorance, bigotry, sickness and disease. Real problems that the faith community is knee deep in working to serve and solve.

Eric Blauer
Spokane, Wash.

More Plugs
It was nice to find the lovely article and photos of the low-income and homeless and disadvantaged here in Spokane (“Faces of Homelessness,” 12/3/09). The resources are pretty stretched this year especially. So your bringing the light of day to shine on the dark corners is a big help.

I would gently point out that you left two of the major “plugs in the dike” unlisted in your resource list. House of Charity, of course, has a feeding program as well as an overnight sleeping program for homeless men. They also operate one of the few warming shelters when the temps drop to 15 or below. You also failed to mention Shalom Ministries at Central Methodist Church, where we feed a large hot breakfast four mornings a week, as well as two dinners a week. Crosswalk, Union Gospel Mission, Truth Ministries, Women and Children’s Free Restaurant, Mid City Concerns and others were not included either. Maselow’s hierarchy of needs includes food in the top three, for without that you cannot access or process well enough to move toward the resources you listed.

“Chef” Gus Olsen
Shalom Ministries

Never Forget
As a proud U.S. Air Force retiree and former VFW Post Commander who is preparing for Veterans Day, I find it tragic that so many of my fellow Americans view Nov. 11 as just another day off from work. With wars on two fronts and the VA workload topping one million claims, it’s time for all Americans to remember the true meaning of Veterans Day.

I hope everyone in our area will remember what Veterans Day is all about. Call one of our local VFW Posts to take part in our ceremonies. And as we near the holidays, please keep our deployed troops and their families in your prayers. Send a care package or donate to a program that supports our troops and veterans, such as VFW Operation Uplink, www.operationuplink.org. Always remember those who have fought for your freedom!

Michael Donaldson
USAF MSgt (Retired)
Spokane Valley, Wash.

Misinformed Masses
Paul Haeder’s article on the EWU Press closing (“A Case for Books,” 10/8/09) raises a couple of questions. One: Are there ANY small press companies north of WSU between the Cascades and Missoula anymore? Ye Olde Galleon is long gone, and Arthur H. Clarke recently left town for the Midwest. Both were significant publishers of local and regional history, and the departure of all three leaves a big lack.

The second, more scary question comes from Paul’s statistics about reading: With so few adults able and willing to read something besides electrons (assuming they read those), the future of the country is very much in question since it was based on a literate, informed citizenry voting wisely based on being fully informed about what was best for the country. Without the depth provided by books, misinformation is rampant.

[It worked reasonably well when they started with a small country, but maybe it’s totally unrealistic to trust an informed electorate as a governance system when the country is this big. That’s another discussion.]

Thanks for considering this. Keep up the great publication — it’s the only source that looks at the big issues we have.

Eric C. Johnson
Spokane, Wash.

Postcard from Patrice
My sister-in-law, Mrs. William Safranek, who lives in Spokane, was kind enough to send me a copy of your marvelous article about Venice Beach (“Postcard From Venice Beach, CA,” 10/1/09). It is one of my favorite places in the world, and you captured it perfectly. I wouldn’t think of going to California and not spending some delicious time in Venice Beach. I’ve sent a copy of your article to my daughters who reside in Santa Monica and Temecula, California. I know they will enjoy it as much as I have.

Patrice Munsel
Schroon Lake, NY

Be Sensible
I’d like to congratulate Jacey Hoag and the Association for coming to terms with the fact that their operational model is illegal (“Going Underground,” 10/29/09). I’d also like to chastise The Inlander for your shameless attempt to marginalize Kevin Oliver, director of Inland Northwest NORML, considering everything his organization has done to advance the cause. At least Mr. Oliver is forthright with his true agenda. This is not about medicinal or recreational marijuana use. It’s about civil liberties and freedoms.

I find it interesting that Mr. Hoag wants to stay away from discussions of full legalization considering the fact that his Association, along with Change and SpoCannabis, has made significant strides in blurring the line between medicinal and illicit markets. While everyone is busy discussing the one patient at one time rule, no one is asking where the supply is coming from. If no money is exchanged, how are operations paid for?

It’s time to stop dancing around loopholes and stop infighting and start coming together as a community at large to create lasting, transparent solutions that can benefit everyone.

Ian Moody
Chairman, Citizens for a Sensible Spokane

Marriage Misfire
David Moses’ letter (“What’s Next?” 10/29/09) echoes Senator Rick Santorum’s famous argument that gay marriage will lead to bestiality and, I suppose, marriage with critters. Despite an intensive Internet search, I was unable to find any indication that Vermonters have to keep the animals under lock and key. Does he really equate homosexual human beings with animals?
Moses also argues that the Founders would have written an explicit right to gay marriage into the Constitution had they wanted to sanction it. But until quite recently there was no right to interracial marriage either.

If gays are just human, then they deserve the same rights as do heterosexual couples.

Jeff Bourget
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

The Electeds Failed
One piece of the misinformation pie that the opposition to Prop 4 keeps serving up is that 15 percent of neighborhood “unelecteds” could stop development in Spokane. Currently, one developer can disregard the petition of hundreds of citizens to build something we believe is detrimental to our neighborhoods. We’re told to follow “the process” only to find that City Hall will change codes and overturn decisions, ignoring the neighborhoods, to accommodate the developer. In fact, if the electeds defended the Comp Plan even a fraction of the time, Envision Spokane would not have been created.

“Neighborhood Rights,” as written in Prop 4, will require a Neighborhood Council to concur with 15 percent of neighbors (who have voted in the last general election) that a development goes against their Neighborhood Plan and the Comp Plan. Should the council disagree with the residents, it will then take 50 percent of the voting neighbors to override their council, stopping that development until the problem is resolved.

Once developers respect the rights of residents to plan and maintain the integrity of our neighborhoods, we envision collaboration that will create a win-win-win environment for developers, residents and the city.

Lori Aluna
Peaceful Valley

Liberal Haters
It is no surprise that the liberal intelligentsia begins to come out of the woodwork in opposition to the Community Bill of Rights. They are lending their names and images to the advertising by the No on Prop 4 folks, and now comes Robert Herold to call us Soviets (“The Wrong Rights,” 10/15/09). He says we should wait for the “reformers” to get us out of the mess — economic, environmental and democratic — that we find ourselves in. Never mind that it is and has been those same reformers throughout American history who have compromised and surrendered the power of the people. I don’t think “all governing power derives from the consent of the governed” came from the Politburo, Bob.

So if we just are patient, if we just ask nicely, maybe those oligarchs will agree to sit down at the table of partnership and seek a solution that works for all the stakeholders. We who support Proposition 4 are frankly tired of that crap, because it got us in the mess we’re in, and the only chance we have to get out of it is to take the system back. Bob, you can wait for the reformers. What if the suffragists and the abolitionists had waited for the reformers to do things the right way?

All liberals seem to be able to say to us is “you can’t,” yet they can’t provide any real alternative to the system which, as George Carlin liked to say, screwed us over generations ago.

Brad Read
President, Envision Spokane

Chicken Littles
Your beginning line (“No on I-1033,” 10/22/09) is your typical veiled threat. If we vote for I-1033, the entire state will become some vague kind of disaster. Your comparison to Colorado’s TABOR is apples and oranges. You really cannot compare the two. The fact is, when keep throwing money at our state’s problems, perhaps we should just fire the politicians and hire someone who can actually fix them. That’s a proposal, but one that will never happen because we have all become chicken littles. We respond to the dire warnings without checking out the chicken’s qualifications and his/her statements of doom.

D. DeLong
Spokane Wash.

No Free Lunch
Election time approaches, and as usual Tim Eyman is offering another free lunch: Initiative 1033. This measure would make it illegal to increase budgets for public services (police, fire, schools, health care or anything else) above today’s depressed levels. Additional revenues, should they magically appear, would be distributed as property tax rebates — a giveaway to fat-cat property owners, while ordinary folks, if they’re lucky, might get a couple of bucks knocked off their tax bill.

This stinker of an initiative would be bad enough in good times, but we’re struggling with the worst economy in 70 years. Last year, the state’s income fell $9 billion, and lawmakers made draconian cuts, including $1.5 billion for education. Libraries have been shuttered, and jails emptied to save money.

Such cuts don’t come out of Eyman’s mythical “fat” — the stuff he’s so sure is out there, somewhere. If Eyman’s measure is approved, it would be illegal when times improve to increase expenses in order to reinstate curtailed services. Budgets would be trapped at Great Recession levels for years to come.

This is not responsible budget management. Free lunches don’t exist. Vote no on Initiative 1033.

Del Lusk
Spokane, Wash.

What’s Next?
Your views on the vote, and your endorsements (10/22/09) were predictable. In your recommendation on R-71, you state “Thomas Jefferson must be rolling over in his grave” regarding R-71. You are right, the Founding Fathers are spinning in their graves upon the knowledge of our moral decline. If the Founding Fathers intended to sanction gay rights, they would have. It was simply inconceivable that this would have been possible at the time the Constitution was drafted.

Civil unions and domestic partnerships are the camel’s nose under the tent. Once it is in, gay marriage is soon to follow. The best example is Vermont, where this is exactly what happened. The Libertarian argument is the best regarding marriage. Government should not have any role in sanctioning what is acceptable or legal marriage. This has traditionally been left up to churches and families to decide. The opportunity to turn a legitimate institution (marriage) upside down is wide open to a handful of legislators. What is next, legalizing marriage to animals?

David Moses
Spokane, Wash.

Basic Human Rights
As we drive around Spokane, we see many signs to Reject Ref. 71. But I wonder, do people really know what they are rejecting? You are rejecting rights for normal families and their children. You are allowing fear to get in the way of a person being allowed to say goodbye to their dying partner. You are allowing fear to keep one’s children from the right to have their only known parents’ medical insurance. You are allowing fear to keep people from having the same basic rights as a heterosexual couple. You are rejecting basic human rights for all Americans.

My 18-year-old daughter is hurt, angry, confused and appalled. She feels normal even though she was raised by two moms. This makes no sense to her.

Please know, we are not trying to infringe upon your heterosexual family and your love for each other. We are not trying to change your way of life or love. Please, do not fear us. We are normal. We are loving people who want the same for our families as you have for yours. Please vote yes on the side of love.

Mary Layton
Spokane, Wash.

Tune In What’s Tuned Out
Thanks very much for publishing the Project Censored list of the 10 most censored stories (10/1/09). I’d like to point out that if people enjoyed that piece, they can get this type of ignored and censored information every day on KYRS-Thin Air Community Radio on programs like Democracy Now, Free Speech Radio News, Does That Answer Your Question and others. You can tune in to KYRS on 92.3 & 89.9 FM and online at www.kyrs.org. Discerning Spokane radio listeners can follow stories like this when they happen, rather than waiting a year for the annual report from California.

Lupito Flores
Station Manager
KYRS-Thin Air Community Radio

Don’t Tear Down Sign
What a shame that a journalist can’t bring himself to simply say, “Thank you.” I am writing about the frankly nasty article (“Welcome to: Your Town,” 9/3/09) Joel Smith wrote about the sign that the Associated Garden Clubs funded. That sign may not be his ideal of beauty, but it represents nine years of dedication on the part of countless volunteers who at least deserve a simple thank you.

Is it the idea of the Associated Garden Clubs? No, they would have like the phrase “The Lilac City” to be included, among other things. However, the final design was not something Associated was allowed to decide. That design was the honest effort of Dave Steele working within the restrictions placed on him by city, county, state and interstate highway regulations. Mr. Steele spent many hours trying to come up with something that would meet as many expectations as possible. But did Mr. Smith note this? No — he spent two paragraphs on the placement of the silly colon. That is not journalism; it is Mr. Smith looking for a put-down.

Mr. Smith also mocked the placement of the sign. He failed to mention that the site was also not something Associated was allowed to choose, but was in fact the starting point of a beautification corridor going towards the river on Division. The culmination of this process is far into the future and will have many players. But did Mr. Smith represent this bigger picture? No, he spent three paragraphs quoting the negative impressions of an individual who had nothing to do with the project.

Associated did not back away from their commitment. They made the best of what was offered to them and honored the promise they made to fund a sign, to welcome travelers and returning Spokanites back home.

When you denigrate the contributions of organizations like the Associated Garden Clubs, you discourage other organizations and individuals from making similar contributions to the life and beauty of their city. What contributions are you making to Spokane by discouraging such civic-minded generosity?

Members of the Associated Garden Clubs
Spokane, Wash.

Bad Comparison
I just love it when individuals like Robert Herold, in his “Too Keyed Up” commentary (9/24/09) get all wild and reckless in their analysis. He failed to mention one small fact in his Glenn Beck/Madoff comparison. Bernie was tried and convicted of committing a crime and is doing time. I am not aware of Beck being tried for anything. He is often accused of being a big mouth and a name-caller, among other things. If Robert thinks that attitude warrants hard time, we better start building some huge gulags because there are lots of people, including The Inlander staff, that would qualify.

The Becks in this country don’t concern me really as much as the Dodds, Franks, Pelosis, Obamas, Geithners and the federal government’s spending programs here and abroad.

Mel Schrempp
Spokane, Wash.