Letters

Stevens Hospital

Plenty of good things at facility

I read, with extreme surprise, the letter written by Sharon Ross concerning Stevens Hospital (Enterprise, Sept. 1). I was dumbfounded by her letter and would like to respond to it.

I have nothing but praise for Stevens Hospital. Over the past 36-plus years I personally have had 19 surgeries, two daughters and yes, positive experiences with visits to the emergency room, most recently in February immediately following a serious car accident.

LINDA SOLBECK

Lynnwood

SoCo LoCo

Festival a letdown, but it has potential

I too was one of the few Sunday visitors to the SoCo LoCo event and was disappointed. Firstly, the name SoCo LoCo does not grab me.

The acoustics in the music area were horrible. It should have been in a tent or building where there are less distractions and people can have a shady place to sit and rest.

What the event needs is reasonably priced food. It also needs a full blown arts and crafts fair and farmer’s market. What it does not need is to be top heavy with commercial businesses hawking their services and products.

Of the redeeming points: easy accessible parking, no gate fee, and the psychic booth. Maybe the committee should consult them.

Would I go again? Yes. It could be part of Lynnwood culture.

VIRGIL BAKKEN

Lynnwood

Smoking

District policy invades privacy

I wish to thank Lynnwood City Council Member Jim Smith and County Council member Dave Gossett for their strong opposition as members of the Snohomish County Health District to a misguided new policy that is just plain bigoted. The health board, in an 8-4 vote, decided to use personal information about job applicants’ smoking habits off the job to decide if they should be hired.

It is none of the government’s business to micromanage any employee’s personal life outside the job. Like it or not, tobacco products are legal to use. Yet, the health board has decided to make smoking at home tantamount to a crime. The reason given is that smokers cost the government more in health related expenses. Yet, the policy is discriminatory because it does not factor in other legal and self harming practices like overeating, drinking alcohol, skydiving, driving too fast, staying up late, to mention only a few.

Would the health board refuse to hire anyone who engages in any of those behaviors? Well, no, the board doesn’t care about those habits, only smoking. That’s because government tracks only smoking.

Smokers should pay the difference between smokers and nonsmokers health care premiums. Yet, they already pay a lot more than average taxpayers for participating in their sin. So while smokers cost us somewhat more they pay more all through their lives. Government tracking should not be used as a weapon against them in hiring unless the government is going to factor everyone else’s private, off-the-job sins as well. The government would do well to butt out.

CRAIG SPICER

Lynnwood

National

Diversity not to blame for rampage

I love my country too much to let Craig Spicer’s letter of Sept. 1 go unchallenged. Mr. Spicer rightly decries Naveed Haq’s murderous rampage. But Mr. Spicer goes on to imply that multi-culturalism breeds violence. Nonsense. The Columbine High School and Oklahoma City attacks were not the results of multi-culturalism. In fact, Sept. 11 was an attack on multi-culturalism. The cultural assimilation Mr. Spicer advocates will not reduce violence; only education, communication and compassion will.

There’s no such thing as “Islamic fascism.” Al-Qaeda are religious extremists; fascism is a secular political theory that advocates dictatorial powers in an executive, state control of the media, and a merging of big business and government. Osama bin Ladin’s views are closer to Pat Robertson’s than to Mussolini’s. Dick Cheney, with his “unitary executive theory,” his endless media manipulation, and his merging of Halliburton and Enron with the federal government, has views closer to Mussolini’s. And while it’s true that America has not suffered a major terrorist attack since Sept. 11, America only suffered Sept. 11 because President Bush ignored the clear warnings he received.

Mr. Spicer incorrectly calls Naveed Haq a Muslim. Haq apparently hadn’t attended mosque for some time, and had recently been baptized a Christian. He soon stopped attending church as well. Haq is a drifter and sick, but no Muslim.

Israel has suffered terribly from terrorism, in ways few Americans can imagine; still, to call the killing of over 1,000 Lebanese civilians “defensive,” as Mr. Spicer does, is inaccurate. Like Bush’s invasion of Iraq, Israel committed an act of aggression, and as with the invasion of Iraq, few terrorists, but many women, elderly and children, have been killed.

Like Mr. Spicer, I’d like to see an end to the mayhem. I’d say multi-culturalism is our best bet for the future – not a multi-culturalism of isolated communities, but the kind celebrated at Lynnwood’s Multicultural Fair.

KEITH AUBREY

Lynnwood