Letters to the Editor

by Inlander Readers


Oh My, Oh Mullet! -- Amy Sinisterra truly warmed my heart with her Best Of mullet article, "Best Place For Mullet Watching" (3/25/04). Mullets really are a tragedy. They're not right; in fact, they are just pure wrong.


I mean, mullet haircuts are "not happening at all" as they never were and never could be, even in a retro way. Even the word "mullet" is kind of ugly. I hope you don't mind if I point out that they did exist as far back as 1973. I believe that they were a result of the hair stylists going too far with a shag haircut, which was rampant then. It's like if a shag haircut grew in reverse for a few months it would become a mullet, and vice-versa. Believe me, I was there.


But I suppose you're right that, overall, mullets were more widespread in the '80s (even though one of the main hair themes of that time was relatively short back and sides) than during the '70s. Unfortunately, it even ran into the early '90s.


Some funny things came to mind after reading your article. I realize that you may have already heard or thought of them, since there is more mullet watching than I had ever realized. A "mullet intervention," self explanatory, and "mullet by default," which would be a result of someone who used to, or wants to wear it long and perhaps even in a proper way -- but can't because they are unfortunately losing their hair. I guess it's sort of the "skullet" concept. Anyway, thank you for your wonderful, yet tragic, story.





Paul V. Knight


Spokane, Wash.





Healthy Transit a Must -- The recent article, "Back on the Bus, Y'All," by Ann Colford (4/01/04), gives a good overview of the challenges the Spokane Transit Authority faces as well as the folks who depend on public transportation. Given the loss of revenue due to the motor vehicle excise tax rollback four years ago, we can expect that STA will continue to look for new revenue and ways to save money. But STA still needs 100 percent funding. We all require good bus service in Spokane, not just the folks that actually ride the bus. If you have the luxury of owning and driving a car, you can be thankful that those who can't afford insurance, can't see or are disabled have transit available to them. If you care about less traffic congestion or a healthy regional economy where people can get to their jobs, you also care about a healthy transit system. And finally if you care about your own future where you may not be able to afford a car or be able to drive, then you care about healthy transit. If you are concerned about quality of life in Spokane, you will support all efforts to fund a reliable, safe and convenient transit system for our community.





Lori Kinnear


Spokane, Wash.





Dam Good Memory -- In his scramble to win Nethercutt's seat in Congress, Republican candidate Shaun Cross said, "The last time Eastern Washington had a senator, we got the Grand Coulee Dam."


What Mr. Cross did not say is important. That Senator was Clarence Cleveland Dill, who served from 1923-35. C.C. Dill was a Democrat. It is also worth remembering the other force behind the Grand Coulee Dam was Franklin Roosevelt.





Larry Armstrong


Spokane, Wash.





Marriage Doesn't Need Bush -- Of all matters laughable relative to the government's desire to emulate Professor Stupid, the recently announced initiative by the Bush administration to fund a multi-billion-dollar program encouraging heterosexual marriage makes one think that perhaps this country has been populated by frustrated eunuchs and lobotomized yahoos.


How, I ask, does one go about promoting a social norm steeped in thousands of years of tradition, a practice of which virtually 100 percent of us are familiar and which is subject to absolute failure 50 percent of the time? How does one promote an act in which so many "eternally" commit repeatedly in an attempt to get it right?


Rather than the currently considered bill designated to somehow defend marriage through obtuse means, consider, rather, a bill designed to protect married couples and their families -- gay or straight -- through sundry incentives. Such incentives should include myriad tax credits, guaranteed mortgage loans with default protection, job protection, affordable health care, life insurance and assurances from the government that parents are allowed to parent without the intrusion of social engineers whose sole ambition it is to wiggle into the American home and manage the family dynamic through wholesale nonsense.





Robert Glenn


Spokane, Wash.





Disc Golf Rocks -- The Inlander's "Best of The Inland Northwest" issue (3/25/04) listings appear to be centered on places to go and spend money. If we want a little exercise, it appears we should join a fitness center, the Spokane Club, or pay to play golf or climb walls.


Nowhere is disc golf even acknowledged as an alternative to spending a lot of dough on fitness. The "Best Of" workout category mentions taking a walk in the park, which is great but how often do you feel like aimlessly wandering in the name of exercise?


If you want to walk for fitness, you need a plan, and disc golf gives you one. Public and private courses are available all over the Inland Northwest, with Spokane boasting four of them alone. Disc golf gives you something fun to do while out on your daily walk, and the best part is it's free.


So pack up the kids and dog, grab some discs and go out and give it a try, but be careful. Disc Golf may be addictive and contagious. At the very least, habit forming. For more disc golf information, see pdga.com, disclife.com or, locally, spokaneoutdoors.com





Steve Simmons


Spokane, Wash.





More Kennedy Theories -- I am responding to the recent controversy concerning the final chapter of the documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, which aired in November on the History Channel.


I'm referring to the segment called "The Guilty Men," referring to J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Baines Johnson, who were alleged to be the brains behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Since the broadcast, Lady Bird Johnson, along with former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Bill Moyers and Jack Valenti, have demanded an investigation into Lyndon Johnson's involvement in this national tragedy in order to clear his name.


Moyers, a former speech writer for Johnson, and Valenti, who worked for Johnson, and Lady Bird were not invited to the secret meeting at Clint Murchison's ranch in Houston the night of November 21, 1963 as depicted in "The Guilty Men" segment.


I go along with Lady Bird -- there should be an investigation. And I can understand Gerald Ford's concern. He worked for Hoover on the Warren Commission. But why is Jimmy Carter interested? Maybe he thinks that this is only the tip of the iceberg.


And it may well be. That Party at Clint's ranch was a Who's Who of powerful politicians and businessmen. There was former vice president Richard Nixon. Why was he there? Gerald Ford, a Warren commissioner and a future president, would also be in Dallas following the assassination to interview Jack Ruby, along with commissioners Earl Warren and former CIA director Allen Dullas, who was fired by Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs. Oh yes, Gen. Charles Cabell, the deputy director of the CIA to Dullas -- also fired by Kennedy -- was at Clint's party that night. He is the brother of the Mayor of Dallas, Earle Cabell, who changed Kennedy's route that night that would lead to the crossfire in Dealey Plaza.


If there can be an investigation, they should also look into the fact there was another future president at that party that night. I'll give you a hint: It wasn't Ronald Reagan.





John A. Gaetano


Spokane, Wash.





Publication date: 04/08/04