Letters to the editor

I've felt like a centipede in tennis shoes since the article in the Nov. 1 edition of The Inlander came out about PEACH (People for Environmental Action and Children's Health) Safe Food co-op. The response has been nearly overwhelming from both folks who want to join and producers who want to participate -- how exciting that so many people are wanting local safe food!


We have doubled our membership in PEACH and filled the Monday orientations every week since the article --WOW. Thanks for the article.


BrightSpirit, president of PEACH


Davenport, Wash.





This Christmas, our thoughts and prayers are


with the families of victims of the September 11th attacks on the U.S. and also with our Allied troops.


But in this tragedy there are another set of victims. They are helpless. They are not able to fight back. They are the Afghan children. Little by little their plight is becoming known through the efforts of aid workers and the international press. We must ensure that these efforts are not "too little, too late."


World relief agencies have announced that thousands of Afghan refugee children are likely to die from the cold in the coming months of winter. These children desperately need help.


Relief agencies are now receiving some supplies, but are still working with insufficient quantities of food, medical equipment and shelter for these children.


Donations of just $4.00 will buy a woolen blanket to help save the life of a child during the approaching winter. Give generously to help make their suffering a little less. All donations must be monetary, due to the prohibitive cost of shipping goods to the region. Donations should be sent to the following address:


The Afghan Women's Mission


260 S. Lake Ave


Pasadena, CA 91101





Susan J. Teninty


Spokane, Wash.





Could someone help me understand better why there are still protests over the bombing in Afghanistan?Unless the news is completely wrong, I would have thought that the Taliban and Osama bin Laden (and, by extension, most terrorist organizations) would have completely lost moral authority and standing when most Afghans rebelled against them and when the Taliban and Al-Qaeda began executing anyone who wanted either to break ranks with them or to snub them.


It also seems clear by now that we are only bombing a few enemy strongholds as opposed to all of Afghanistan, and that most Afghans believe that we are trying to avoid inflicting civilian casualties in the course of helping them overthrow a despised regime.


Am I missing something in my understanding of the above?


Philip J. Mulligan


Spokane, Wash.





We appreciated reading the Nov. 15-21 edition of The Inlander this week, especially about Louis Davenport. So much of Spokane is gathered within the historic Davenport Hotel.


The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (EWGS) will be celebrating its 67th anniversary in the Isabella Room at the Davenport on June 1, 2002. We also had our 50th anniversary there.


The hotel played an important part in the beginning of the EWGS, as the founding members met on the mezzanine on Tuesday, January 31, 1935, to organize this society, which now has one of our area's best genealogical collections, located on the third floor of the downtown Spokane Public Library.


Today, we have more than 400 members and have hosted several Washington State Genealogical Society annual conferences, as well as the Regional National Genealogy Society conference, annual workshops and seminars.


Keep up your wonderful work.


Bette Butcher Topp


Spokane, Wash.





I'd like to thank your writer Sheri Boggs for the wonderful article on the Gay/Lesbian Film Festival (11/8/01). We so appreciated the generous publicity and enjoyed the well-written and attention-grabbing piece it was.


I spoke to more than one person at the festival who stated it was the publicity in The Inlander that brought the event to their attention. In fact, one individual from Moscow, Idaho, said The Inlander was her only source for such information.


The festival went very well and our attendance set records for the event. We are alreadey looking forward to next year. Thanks so much for your help.


Barb Lee


Spokane, Wash.





Correction


In our story about the layoffs at The Spokesman-Review ("More pink slips at The Review," 11/15/01), it should have stated that there are 12 family-owned daily newspapers with a circulation of above 100,000 left in the nation (including The Spokesman) -- not just 12 family-owned papers.