LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — DEC. 26, 2007

Dog nativity scene photo was meant with humor, not disrespect

Re: Letter from Barbara Patterson about the Dog Nativity Scene (The Peninsula Gateway, Dec. 19).

I am constantly amazed by the lengths to which some people will go in search of things about which to be offended.

My suggestion to Ms. Patterson is that she get a grip and a sense of humor. If she can lighten up a bit, smile and say “please,” perhaps Santa Claus will drop a sense of humor in her Christmas stocking when he makes his appointed rounds on Christmas Eve.

In no way do I believe the news media is “ignorant of matters of religious faith.” Nor does the Gateway owe anyone an apology for what Ms. Patterson perceives as “disrespect.”

There were many of us who thought the photo was funny. Perhaps she would be better served if she explained her fuzzy analogy regarding the golden wedding anniversary of one’s “beloved parents,” in what even she admitted was an “imperfect example.” (I’ll say!)

Was she trying to suggest that people would be offended if their parents were portrayed as dogs in their wedding photos? In some cases, that might also be amusing, but only to those of us who were blessed with a keen sense of humor.

The only thing that offended me was not using cats! (That’s humor, y’all!)

Nora Lee Fryxell, Gig Harbor

‘Vigilantes’ in high school OK with parents, friends and neighbors

Just when it became a little safer to drive in Gig Harbor, since people have finally learned to drive the rotaries (roundabouts) using the law, we now have “vigilantes” in the high school.

Not to worry — the parents, friends and neighbors all approve of it.

Mary Cate, Gig Harbor

Despite cover-up attempts, secrets explain U.S. torture

It was with sadness that I signed my name this grey morning to a letter resigning my commission in the U.S. Navy.

There was a time when I served with pride, knowing that by serving with the finest men and women in the country, we were part of an organization whose core values required us to “do the right thing,” and that we were far different from the Soviet Union and its gulags, the Vietcong with their torture camps and a society of surveillance and informers like Nazi Germany.

We were part of the shining light on the hill who didn’t do those things. Sadly, no more.

The final straw for me was listening to General Hartmann, the highest-ranking military lawyer in charge of the military commissions, testify that he refused to say that waterboarding captured U.S. soldiers by Iranian operatives would be torture.

His testimony had just sold all the soldiers and sailors at risk of capture and subsequent torture down the river. Indeed, he would not rule out waterboarding as torture when done by the United States and indeed felt evidence obtained by such methods could be used in future trials.

Thank you, General Hartmann, for finally admitting the United States is now part of a long tradition of torturers going back to the Inquisition.

In the middle ages, the Inquisition called waterboarding “toca” and used it with great success. In colonial times, it was used by the Dutch East India Company during the Amboyna Massacre of 1623.

Waterboarding was used by the Nazi Gestapo and the feared Japanese Kempeitai. In World War II, our grandfathers had the wisdom to convict Japanese Officer Yukio Asano of waterboarding and other torture practices in 1947, giving him 15 years hard labor.

Waterboarding was practiced by the Khmer Rouge at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison. Most recently, the U.S. Army court martialed a soldier for the practice in 1968 during the Vietnam conflict.

General Hartmann, following orders was not an excuse for anyone put on trial in Nuremberg, and it will not be an excuse for you or your superiors, either.

Despite the CIA and the administration attempting to cover up the practice by destroying interrogation tapes, in direct violation of a court order, and congressional requests, the truth about torture, illegal spying on Americans and secret renditions is coming out.

Andrew Williams, Gig Harbor

Eyman does what he preaches against: Tells only half the story

The column last week by Tim Eyman raised some interesting questions about the role that Mr. Eyman himself played in the events of the past few weeks.

When the state Supreme Court overturned Eyman’s Initiative-747, he called for the Legislature to restore I-747’s 1 percent limit on property tax increases.

When the Legislature passed a bill that was identical to I-747, Eyman told The Associated Press that he was “ecstatic” about the results.

Now, Eyman has changed his mind — or decided that he needs a new fund-raising tool — and is complaining that the Legislature’s bill ignored problems that his own initiative never fixed in the first place!

Eyman’s threatened “scarlet letter” is something Joe McCarthy would be proud of — a partisan hit list of Democratic legislators, regardless of how they voted, that ignores Republicans who voted with them!

Eyman conveniently fails to mention that the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate — Joseph Zarelli — said voting for the Democrats’ bill was “an easy decision.”

Sen. Val Stevens (R-Arlington) joined Democrats and said “This vote was a no-brainer,” and Sen. Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) said “taxpayers win” when he joined Democrats in supporting the bill.

Why is Eyman doing this — only giving us half the story, and not even giving it straight? Maybe because every time he invites someone to sign one of his lists, letters or initiatives at his Web site, he also has a convenient way for them to contribute with their Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

Kate Whiting, Gig Harbor

School district’s ‘focus groups’ should highlight achievement

Peninsula School District Superintendent Terry Bouck has been conducting numerous “focus groups” to ascertain what our community wants for our schools. Our thoughtful focus group, revealing a strong consensus, wants simply “higher student achievement” — to reach their potential and to assure better success in their next grade level, college, careers, families and life.

To ensure “higher student achievement,” our school system needs better teachers (merit pay); more parental choice in schools (charter schools, vouchers); stricter classroom discipline; more rigorous assessment standards and testing (WASLs, SATs); more emphasis on math, science, writing and reading (to compete with foreign students and to meet our future highly competitive economic, cultural and industrial needs); more effective use of available technology (in teaching and administration), and strict personal accountability in the performance of students, teachers and administrators.

Yes, more parental encouragement and training are essential, but most parents are not sufficiently competent to ensure the desired “higher student achievement” by their children. They must rely on higher teacher performance.

The need for major reform in education is urgent — but doable, if only the teachers union will get out of the way and allow our educational emphasis to be directed to “higher student achievement” rather than to the “personal greed” of too many teachers.

Burt L. Talcott, Gig Harbor

The next youth-centered facility needs to be built on the Key Peninsula

As I read the article regarding the new Boys & Girls Club being built in Gig Harbor to serve the Key Peninsula, I became angry — again.

When will the youth of the Key Peninsula really get something to serve them? Our leaders appear to be paying lip service in order to secure funding for one more facility in Gig Harbor that takes potential funding away from the KP.

For youth, the real key to utilization is convenience. The new Boys & Girls Club will not be convenient to the KP boys and girls. Quite the contrary, just crossing the Purdy Sand Spit on state Route 302 after school takes 30 minutes.

The Key Peninsula is being short-changed in youth-related recreational facilities and has been for a long time. Several years ago, zoo tax money allocated for the KP was used to build the high school football field in Purdy. Even today, the Peninsula School District buses the KP kids out of the area to Gig Harbor because we lack facilities and not just the high school.

It even spreads to libraries, where taxpayers of the KP paid $1.3 million last year to maintain the 2,000-square-foot facility in Key Center.

It’s not that we don’t pay our fair share. Even our Pierce County Councilman, Terry Lee, will tell you that the KP is a donor district.

It’s time to stand up and say something. The next youth-related facility should be built to serve the KP, on the KP.

Chuck West, Key Center

Our tax money priorities should be spent on attacking causes of crime, poverty

Crime is bred in poverty and desperation, in defiance and injustice, in drug addiction and in mental illness.

Mass incarceration, which seems to be our present policy, is a very expensive response to crime. The expenditure of $1 million per life sentence to keep non-violent people in prison for all of their lives without the possibility of parole is an extravagant, wasteful use of public money.

We should be attacking the causes of crime and promoting the prevention of it.

Every day we see news articles and hear newscasts lamenting one tax or another. Every day we hear of crisis in one fund or another. Our schools, our police and firefighters, our transportation systems and other significant services could certainly use more money.

Where are our priorities?

Sam Donaghe, Steilacoom