Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Jul 04, 2002 -- When is a Gift Not a Gift?

To the Editor:

According to an article in The Seattle Times July 11, 2001, written by Gina Kim, staff reporter, "Major League Baseball Commissioner, Bud Selig, presented a check for $1 million to the City of Seattle..."

Actually, that is not what happened at all! Major League interests, including the Mariners Baseball Club front office and including certain Parks Department executives (Superintendent Kenneth Bounds, public information officer David Takami and others) were aware for a period of nearly a year that this gesture was not a "gift", as such, but a bribe. Strings were attached!

The "strings", in this case, were a stipulation that unless Lower Woodland Park's playfield was named for Major League Baseball's interests (such as the "2001 All-Star Baseball Legacy Field") no money would be donated to the city! Major League Baseball and the Mariners front office held this stipulation over the heads of the Parks Departments leaders, saying, in effect, "here is a million bucks...if you want it, you'll have to danced to our tune."

The Parks Department has established specific rules and criteria having to do the with naming of any facility. They require all applicants to adhere to these rules...Nowhere in this document does it stipulate that a special sweetheart deal may be made between parties to avoid having to go through the formality of the Naming Committee policy! And yet, that is exactly what we are told is happening with the Mariners (a multi-billion dollar club) and Major League Baseball (a multi-billion dollar industry).

We do not wish to see a trend at Woodland Park to be established which will allow private corporations, such as the Mariners and/or Major League Baseball, or any other corporate structure that is not non-profit by nature, to begin to have parks and/or portions of parks and recreation facilities named after the corporation and/or any activity of that money-making firm.

We favor recognition of the 2001 Baseball All-Star game, as well as the expression of gratitude for the gift of funds for the facilities; to be placed on a plaque or monument, appropriate to the Lower Woodland Park surroundings. The name of Woodland Park should dominate the plaque, and ample room for wording on the structure should be allowed. Naming any facility after a money-making corporation of any kind is repugnant to the interests of history and community aesthetics.

We will aggressively work against any move to "slide this under the door" and accomplish this disgraceful action by deception and collusion. We consider this a matter of arrogance on the part of the Mariners front office and Major League Baseball.

Our city, and its parks, are not for sale, Mr. Gillick and Mr. Selig!

Gene Buck

An Open Letter to Rainier Beach QFC

Owners, QFC:

Recently I bought a candy in your Rainier Beach store which touted them at four for a dollar. The clerk asked if I had a "card", which I do, but it was late at night and I was in a hurry and I didn't give him the card. So he rang up the purchase and charged me 50 cents instead of the 25 cents posted price on the candy bins.

I'm afraid my contempt for your (and Safeway's and others') schemes to manipulate customers to get more of their money finally surfaced.

I told this man the scheme "stinks" and asked for the 50 cents back. (he had already refused to change the price to the posted 25 cents price because, as he said, I had not given him the card initially.

The clerk checker isn't at fault in this; he is as victimized and manipulated as the customers--perhaps more so, as the men and women who work for you are pressured from both sides.

It took some time for this refund to be effected by another checker. The result of this ridiculous incident? You lose the sale and you lose whatever trust I still had for your stores.

I've been a homeowner in this area for 42 years; I've outlasted several of your predecessor businesses in the same building that you now occupy. And I intend to see whatever succeeds you there.

As I told the checker, your "card" scam stinks. Your professed caring for the customers' welfare, and the rigged "savings" are all just more shallow, phony efforts to invade and profit from customers' lives.

You and Safeway are the two local shills for this scheme; whatever success you enjoy comes not from your upper management scams like this, but in spite of them.

And you clever as you are, scheming as you are, may actually be too stupid to realize that. But most customers, meek though they may seem, do recognize this.

They recognize your schemes and buy the "specials" and skip the stuff you've marked up. And you are thus scamming yourselves.

Even the unwary, trusting people you've dragged into this will soon see the sham, and we'll all continue "playing" you. So, who's really stupid here?

People should not have to carry cards to get phony "savings." If you were honest and intelligent in dealing, you'd profit more. But you seem neither honest nor intelligent. And your store here is inferior in every way to your predecessor in this building, the big old laid back Stock Market. And your stock shrinkage here indicates you may be in trouble already.

Gordon L. Anderson

Keep Scouting Open to All

To the Editor:

Last year, the American Medical Association called on youth organizations to reverse policies that exclude gays, citing "the increased risk of suicide in the adolescent homosexual population."

Although introduced by a Rhode Island scoutmaster and clearly aimed at the Boy Scouts of America, the BSA has not changed its policies of exclusion. But for thousands of scouts who recognize somewhere in their teens that they may be at risk of exclusion, there is new hope.

A small new patch for the Boy Scout uniform called the "Inclusive Scouting Award" has just been introduced. It looks similar to many other adult leader awards, and its motto is "You Earn it by Wearing it." It designates the wearer as someone who is supportive and safe to approach about issues of sexual orientation and religion, thus contributing to a healthier environment for the youth in the Scouting program.

It has already reached scouters in 30 states and three foreign countries, and is freely available to any scout leader willing to sew one on. More information on this project is available on the web at www.inclusivescouting.net or through the US Mail at: Coalition for Inclusive Scouting, P. O. Box 1004, Hanover, NH 03755.

Mark Noel
Coalition for Inclusive Scouting

An open letter on the Pledge of Allegiance

Dear Congressmen Mike Honda, Robert Scott and Pete Stark,

Thank you for standing up for The Constitution of the United States. Your courage on House Resolution 459 regarding the current Pledge of Allegiance was profoundly comforting and moving. Against overwhelming emotional furry, you prevailed and gave a voice to the millions of patriotic Americans who love the flag and the country for which it stands, but not the popular faith in god.

The heavy handed response from our leaders demonstrates that the phrase "under God" is loaded with religious intent. When President Bush dismisses the issue by stating that our "rights were derived from God," he is advancing a religious doctrine that cannot be forced into the mouths of children under the guise of patriotism. It is alarming that they would insist on erasing the line between their chosen belief of god and the definition of patriotism.

This challenge is not against the Pledge of Allegiance; it is against two words added to the original 1892 document by xenophobes in 1954, making it a public prayer. Every American citizen should be able to honor this country and pledge service to it without having to agree with the majority's religious convictions. Our children need to be released from this bond that stamps on them the notion that patriotism is tied to a belief in god. It is not.

There are many of us who gladly fight for this country and defend its principles, without needing to believe that it is blessed with supernatural powers to do so. We believe in the United States because of people like you, who in this climate of intellectual bullying stand up and say "NAY," carrying on your shoulders the legacy of the mortals who founded this country and their words, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Thank you for supporting and fighting for our Constitution, and for the principles for which it stands. Our nation, under liberty, shall prevail when people stand up and are heard without malice or fear, and with an eye toward justice for all.

You make us proud to be Americans, and we thank you for representing us.

Dr. and Mrs. Peter Wilson

Pledge for liberty

The liberal's have made a great mistake. They have become over confident in their social victories. In the slow heating of anti-American values they have become impatient, thus showing their true intent; the tearing down of the premise of liberty.

Our Judges are usurping their authority. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been the testing ground of the liberal agenda's tactics of distorting the meaning of our foundations. The ninth circuit court is the most liberal court in our nation and has been over-turned more than any other court in history.

It was a bold move to declare even a part of the "Pledge of Alegience" unconstutional. This should alert all who have the unbiased sense God gave them as to the direction the liberals desire to direct this country... away from freedom.

Thomas Jefferson said, "It is a very dangerous doctrine to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions. It is one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy." The recorded wisdom of our founding fathers is great.

The liberal elite in their attempts to destroy the fabric of American freedom cannot win without the aid of activist courts ruling against our foundations. We can expect more as the Democrats exert their partisan opposition to President Bush's Judicial appointments in favor of these type of liberal activist Judicial nominees. We can also expect similar decisions from Clinton's appointments that were ratified by the misguided non-partisan actions of the Republicans.

The preservation of liberty is being fought on two fronts: The 'War on Terrorism' and the war of ideologies. One if by land and... two if by Court.

Roger W Hancock

Reader Comments

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Jason	Mar 12, 2003	Akron Ohio	Truck Driver
I never thought that America would ever consider having this debate.I am ashamed at what this country is becoming.In my experience with debating with any liberal,it is ok for them to have a opinion to voice to people,but if I try to give my input on the subject I am attacked,and yelled at.I most of the time am just called a racist.The great thing about are nation is the freedom to be what you want.People come here legally,and illegally to enjoy the freedoms that we have.The freedoms that my Father and Grandfather fought for.Unfortunately war is sometime's necessary to protect are freedoms as well as other's.As for the people who dont think so I would like to here your suggestion on what we should of done during World WarII. These college student's who think they have the answer to everything,my suggestion to you is pick up a gun and defend this country that gives you your freedom to complain!I'll bet if that were the case,and you were over there now with are brave men and women,when times got hot in the heat of battle you would be praying to God to get you out of that alive.The same God you want to take out of the Pledge Of Allegiance.The thing that can solve this problem is when these issues come up,leave it up to America the people to vote what is best for us.Not some Judge and one person.Let the American people have their vote,and then if it is voted that it is unconstitutional than so be it.Until then this a great injustice to our Nation,and to the Men and Women who fight for our freedoms.


Laurie Brant	Mar 25, 2004	Bloomfield Hills, MI	Nurse Anesthetist
NO need to change the words of the pledge of Aligeance. I am voting to keep in the words "under G-d" as they are today.