Letters to the Editor

I-892

Gambling argument, Eyman not credible

I was disappointed to see that you allocated half of your “Forum” page to Tim Eyman’s propaganda on Oct. 8. Mr. Eyman’s rantings about the merits of Initiative 892 are about as plausible as President Bush’s contention that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Mr. Eyman states that there would be absolutely no cost to Washington state if I-892 were to pass, this is nonsense. Any proliferation in gambling has associated costs. The impact on families and communities is not a statistic that Mr. Eyman can place a convenient numerical value on. The overwhelming majority of people who regularly engage in gambling and gaming are economically stressed, politically disenfranchised and under-educated. The poor choices that these people make trying to get ahead by gambling, end up having myriad costs to society and all of our social infrastructure.

Mr. Eyman employs the same old xenophobic and racial justifications for his position by pitting everyone against the Native American community. This is always a good tactic to bring out those “quality” voters who know nothing about the real issues, but have a strong opinion on the divisive ones.

In terms of credibility, everyone seems to have forgotten Mr. Eyman’s history as a campaign coordinator and financier. And this is the guy that so many Washingtonians are willing to follow to the cliff like a herd of lemmings? I think the name of Mr. Eyman’s corporation speaks for itself. Mr. Eyman is most certainly a “Permanent Offense” in every sense.

JEFFREY POLLACK

Mountlake Terrace

Eyman ignores the costs left behind

Interesting to see The Enterprise printing Tim Eyman’s poorly thought out reasoning on I-892.

He comments this is the “most unique tax initiative” ever offered. It will not cost the government a penny. But I’d like to know what it pays for?

It does not pay for programs for people with disabilities. It does not help pay for better education in our schools. It does not help pay for better law enforcement or traffic control. It panders to those citizens who can think only of their own wants; you notice, I do not say needs. So yes, in the long run it does cost our government quite a few pennies.

I am also quite bothered about Eyman’s bias showing in his anti-Indian rationalization for supporting I-892. He thinks the so-called playing field between tribal and non-tribal establishments should be leveled. Maybe there he’s right, but not in the way he means. The playing field was wiped out in the 1800s, and only in the last 50-60 years have the Indian nations regained some of their strength using, among other tools, the casinos with which they’ve been so successful. I daresay jealously plays a part in Mr. Eyman’s (and others) rationalization used in support of this initiative.

PHOEBE WOLD

Shoreline

Wrong word for

Eyman description

So Tim Eyman writes that “I-892 is the most unique tax initiative we’ve ever offered….” Surely, Tim, no doubt you must have meant that it is the uniquest.

RANDY FRANCISCO

Shoreline

Eyman’s push

a bad bet for state

I opened this week’s Enterprise and turned to the editorial page. This is my very favorite page of the paper.

I was stunned to see Tim Eyman’s stingy face and greedy eyes looking at me. His slot machine issue is given top billing. This is shameful. I hate to think there might be enough stingy tax-hating voters in the state to pass such a measure.

Letting the owner of the store, tavern, or whatever, where the slot machine is located keep more than 60 percent, giving the state a supposed 35 percent user fee and some small amount to the player-victim.

Eyman tells us that there will be no need for new players. The existing players put enough into tribal slot machines to support the state and all its needs. All they need to do is to lose it in the neighborhood tavern or store. I have never believed Tim Eyman and his fantasies. Apart from the big fee he gets for promoting this, what is his game? How simple does he think we are?

Simple Eyman met a pieman, etc…

DICK LEMMON

Shoreline

Gambling measure doesn’t pay off for state

We are all being scammed. Everyone seems to be focusing on whether or not gambling should be expanded in Washington. Nowhere have I read about the puny return to Washington citizens if I-892 passes.

Who decided that one-third to the citizens and two-thirds to the promoters was OK? It seems to me that the cost of equipment and administration of the program is the same as that in Oregon. Oregon citizens, however, get the two-thirds portion. How much do other states get? I don’t believe this is a well-thought-out initiative.

Why would Washington citizens accept half of what they might realize? Who negotiated this deal? Why the organizers and promoters did, of course. Why would we accept such a deal?

Do we look like good sports? (Read that: dupes, patsies, gullible, and generally dumb!)

I, for one, am voting against I-892.

JOHN T. QUAST

Edmonds

Primary

Old way was

the best way

Thanks for Andrea Miller’s article in the Sept. 24 editions of The Enterprise. You have hit the feelings of most voters on the nose – we are with your thoughts. I felt like the process was completely out of my hands and what is next in store for us?

On the election ballet in November will we be able to read a clear option or do we get one of their choices again? I want to go back to the old form, we can answer a yes to – not a new form we can’t read clearly. Keep us informed.

Sincerely – another unhappy senior.

DOROTHY BROWN

Marysville

National

Kerry loses with own statements

If Senator Kerry has integrity, it’s been lost on me. He is the most consistent flip-flopper I have ever seen or heard.

If ever there was a military action that passed the “global test” – which Kerry argued for in the debate – the Persian Gulf War was it.

It overwhelmingly met Kerry’s dubious standard – and still he opposed it. This reveals a credibility problem of the first order. Almost defining credulity, Kerry said in a brief statement on the Senate floor, in an accompaniment to his vote against the Persian Gulf War, that the president made a mistake to unilaterally increase troops, set a date, and make war so probable.

Clearly, Kerry has a very strong aversion to the use of military power under virtually any circumstance. Of course, this raises serious questions about Kerry’s ability to conduct any military operations against our enemies. Can we really believe that the man who has called the war in Iraq a grand diversion, a colossal error, an incredible mess, and the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time – pessimistic and defeatist statements all — is capable of waging a strong foreign policy and prosecuting a military action of any sort? What’s really left here is the portrait of a politician steeped in ambiguity and equivocation who at bottom has a strong aversion to war of any kind, for any reason.

JACK LEICESTER

Shoreline

State senate

NRA’s Nethercutt request wrong

I received a letter and bumper sticker from the National Rifle Association urging me to vote for George Nethercutt in the November Election.

This is impossible. We are not looking at a single-issue vote. There are many issues facing us. The first two and largest are Bush’s basic incompetence and the mess in Iraq. Following closely are financial disaster and massive unemployment in the United States.

Folely did not lose years ago on a gun-control issue. He lost on the issue of having been in office too many terms. Nethercutt won on a single issue of multi-term office tenure. He promised not to stay in office too long. When his self-imposed limit arrived, he ran again for re-election. Simply put, he lied.

So, you see, I cannot vote for Nethercutt. As a long time member of the NRA, I urged them to stop this sort of nonsense. I have been a continuous member of the NRA for some 55 or 56 years.

I do not favor John Kerry in many ways. However, Bush must go.

DICK LEMMON

Shoreline

Stevens Hospital

Voters should expand board

The last decade has seen large changes in board of directors oversight in for-profit and non-profit companies. As we forge into the 21st Century, health care has become more complex. As one facet of a two-year reorganization process, the Stevens Hospital Board of Commissioners has recommended expanding their board from three to five members. This will allow better representation to the constituents in the hospital district, as well as, offering better Board oversight through having more board members who can be familiar with a variety of board responsibilities, including patient advocacy, as well as, finance, accounting and business. There is no organized opposition to this well thought out ballot measure.

The Stevens Hospital Medical Staff Executive Committee unanimously supports expansion of the Stevens Hospital Board of Commissioners and urges your support for this measure in the upcoming election.

Stevens Hospital Medical Executive Committee

Edmonds

Parking

Edmonds should fund enforcement

Shanti Hahler’s article, “Downtown Parking Enforcement Issue Resurfaces,” in the Oct. 8 Enterprise was well written. It sparked a lively discussion with my neighbors. My neighbors understand a parking enforcement officer would be beneficial to the downtown merchants, but they didn’t understand how enforcing the parking laws would be beneficial to them.

According to the city, the downtown area merchants contributed $1.001 million in the past 12 months in sales taxes. That’s 23.5 percent of all sales tax revenues for the city of Edmonds. In other words, for every 1 percent increase in retail sales, the city will receive an additional $10,000 in sales tax revenue from the downtown merchants. For every dollar the city receives from sales taxes, that is one less dollar property owners need to pay in property taxes to fund essential services.

It’s not just a dollars and sense issue. Illegal parking clogs up the downtown core. Try to get a parking space during the lunch hour. Plenty of parking may be available a block or two off Main or Fifth Avenue, but that’s a long way to walk for many of our older citizens, especially if they are disabled. Also, enforcing the parking laws would stop ferry commuters from parking overnight in Edmonds illegally and for free.

There is money from employee parking permits and in the old “in-lieu of parking” fund to pay for the initial cost of a full time parking enforcement officer. All of Edmonds would be rewarded if the City Council would budget for a full-time parking enforcement officer, except for those who continue to break the law.

DON KREIMAN

Edmonds