Beck's claim of racism not so far-fetched

Editor, The Times:

According to The Times ["Mt. Vernon not united on mayor's 'Beck Day,' " News, Sept. 3], there are some who disagree with the mayor of Mount Vernon declaring a Glenn Beck Day and awarding Beck with the keys to the city.

Their objection to the recognition and award is that Glenn said he felt our president was a racist.

Let's see how Beck might have arrived at that conclusion. The one instance that stands out to all who heard President Obama is the statement he made about the white police officer who arrested the black professor when the professor would not cooperate with the officer and was causing a disturbance in the professor's neighborhood.

Without any knowledge of the facts or hearing both sides of the issue, our president called the officer stupid for his actions. That comes under the classification of assuming.

I learned a long time ago as an adjuster for a major insurance company that decisions must not be made without all the facts. My guess is that Beck and other people thought Obama was showing signs of racism by speaking out for the black professor before the whole story came to light. It's up to all of us, I would think now, to draw our own conclusions.

The mayor of Mount Vernon is trying to honor a native guy who rose from a simple beginning in that town to a giant in the TV world with listener ratings going through the roof. Apparently liberals in Mount Vernon are not thrilled with this fact.

-- Ed Anderson, Kirkland

In honorary day, an endorsement of Beck's radical views

Surely Mayor Bud Norris knows this announcement of Glenn Beck Day amounts to a sanction of Beck's current program views.

His notoriety comes from these views and his program! It is not like he is a talented singer, painter or scientist with shockingly nasty views on the side.

Paris Hilton Day for our daughters anyone?

-- Martin Walters, Renton

A Glenn Beck Day of fear-mongering and hate-spewing

I was aghast to read in The Seattle Times that the mayor of Mount Vernon is throwing wide the doors of the city for an official Glenn Beck Day later this month.

Glenn Beck is a fear-mongering, hate-spewing, ignorant and ridiculous jerk. If Mount Vernon goes ahead with this insane plan, the city will not see one more dime of my money, nor that of anyone else I know who has a grain of intelligence.

-- Judy K. Faaberg, Everett

Beck has a wide audience, smartly critical voice

Why is it so wrong for a mayor of a small town to give recognition to a very successful person who grew up in Mount Vernon. I would guess that if this were Keith Olbermann the tone of Mark Rahner's article would be different.

I am getting tired of the lack of neutrality demonstrated by the press. Does Glenn Beck criticize the president? Yes he does. But why is it wrong to criticize President Obama but OK to bash [former President] Bush?

I feel The Times and most of the media should be ashamed in the lack of reporting. You are giving the public a one-sided view of the facts. For example, Glenn Beck's ratings are much higher than counterparts on CNN and MSNBC.

Rahner, you should watch Glenn's show. I watch both the Fox shows and CNN and MSNBC. I feel Glenn is no more biased than other hosts on the other network or yourself.
Glenn is not liked by the liberal media because he brings up topics like President Obama's green jobs czars Van Jones' past and views. Many Americans would not agree with Jones.

Maybe this is why the ratings for Glenn Beck's show are killing MSNBC. His show is seen by 2.8 million people while the combined total of Hard Ball, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann is less.

Glenn is not a reporter.

Rahner, are you?

-- Ken Hodges, Woodinville

Would mayor invite Hitler, too?

Ordinarily when someone does something especially stupid it is best just to ignore them, but The Times' story ["Mt. Vernon not united on mayor's 'Beck Day,' " News, Sept. 3] about the mayor of Mount Vernon giving a key to the city to Glenn "I don't have a clue" Beck is just too much.

Are you kidding me? The only thing in the entire story that made a small bit of sense was the notion that Beck considers himself an entertainer. That seems appropriate since he works for that famous oxymoron, Fox News.

The mayor says he wants to recognize him because he is from the Mount Vernon area. Presumably, if Adolf Hitler were from Mount Vernon, Mayor Bud Norris would want to recognize him, too.

-- Terry Mercier, Woodinville

Reversing the races, would Beck's criticism have Mt. Vernon up in arms still?

Just consider that if we had a white president who had a history of attending a church for 20 years whose minister spewed out hatred toward blacks and suggested they should all be shipped back to Africa.

Then consider that this same president's reaction to a black policeman handcuffing a uncooperative white professor was to call his actions stupid and then admit he really did not know the whole story.

Then some well-known figure from Mount Vernon decided this demonstrated a hatred toward blacks and then called this white president a racist.

Would you still have a problem with the mayor of Mount Vernon giving this celebrity the keys to the city? Would you condemn this Mount Vernon celebrity?

-- Darrel Nash, Maple Valley

In energy bill, include funding to save pika, other species at risk

The pika is but one of many animals that may become endangered due to changes brought about by global warming ["High-country icon in peril?" page one, Aug. 21]. Rising temperatures, changing rainfall and disrupted snowfall patterns are also impacting the Northwest's salmon and native birds.

The same issues driving pika to possible extinction are also threatening wildlife in national parks across the country. The National Parks Conservation Association recently issued a report suggesting management strategies to alleviate the stress on animals in parks.

Strategies include protecting critical habitat, developing corridors to allow wildlife access to new habitat as their current ranges become unsuitable and reducing additional stresses from pollution, invasive plants and disease.

We urge Congress to support setting aside modest funding in the energy bill for projects on our public lands that will help animals adapt to climate change. We need to preserve our national park heritage and animals, including the pika, so our children and grandchildren can also enjoy those "brave squeaks."

-- Sean Smith, National Parks Conservation Association policy director, Seattle

Boy's big catch nothing to celebrate

I was disheartened to read the celebratory tone used in your story and accompanying "Good day, bad day" photographs about the 150-pound sixgill shark caught near Burien ["Boy's 150-pound fish tale is true," NWTuesday, Aug. 11].

Celebrating this catch does a huge disservice to the efforts to restore and recover a rapidly declining Puget Sound ecosystem, a nationally significant issue The Times has covered frequently.

It also does a disservice to shark-conservation efforts under way around the globe. Although the shark was released, and The Times included information about the decline of the sixgill shark in Puget Sound, the celebratory tone was unmistakable.

I am saddened to think this article will inspire young boys throughout the region to go shark hunting in hopes of getting a spread in your paper. It will be a very good day when the sixgill shark and other species in decline in Puget Sound are recovered.

But I remain highly skeptical about this outcome if the media remains steeped in outdated and harmful modes of thinking.

-- Hilary Culverwell, Bellingham

Group Health innovative, but maybe not affordable

I enjoyed the article about Group Health Cooperative ["Does Group Health hold answers in health-care debate?" page one, Aug. 23] and certainly have been satisfied with the quality of care I've received from it during the years when I was working.

However, as a model for affordable health-care reform, it is too expensive for the unemployed. The costs for my wife and I range from $10,692 to $12,932 annually for Group Health's two plans that are not burdened by higher deductibles or higher out of pocket limits. Couple this with their annual double-digit increases and those costs will hit $24,000 per year in just seven years.

Now I ask, how can the unemployed afford that or those who are forced to take Social Security early at 62 at a lesser amount and are too young to qualify for Medicare?

MSNBC just quoted today the average Social Security check as being $1,153 per month or $13,836 per year. Seems to me the Social Security check is not going to cover Group Health, food and rent.

We need some kind of health care that is truly affordable since many who don't think reform matters because they have employer coverage may soon find themselves laid off in this wretched economy.

-- Clayton Chinn, Seattle

Those who saw U.S. change should know better in health-care debate

When Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, angry people screamed that the national pastime was doomed. In the 1960s, anger erupted during the civil rights and women's liberation movements. Change seems to create fear, making people susceptible to misinformation and emotional appeals.

Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck lament the loss of the America they grew up in. I grew up in that America, too, and remember it was segregated --that I could be punished as a female college student for wearing pants on campus. That the search for communist conspiracies turned Americans against each other. That political assassinations became a too common occurrence. So I am amazed when I see people, who grew up like me in those tumultuous decades, angrily shouting at town-hall meetings.

Baseball did not end because Robinson played. Grandparents delight in seeing their granddaughters have opportunities for education and careers that were once denied them. Change is not a conspiracy but is often a positive in our lives.

We may have differences on issues, but by not listening, we become pawns in a narrative not based on facts or fairness. Conflict sells better than reasoned discussion. People who have lived through periods of hatefulness before should know better than to contribute to its rise again.

-- Nancy L. Snyder, Shelton

Nazi comparison only about socialist policies

Leonard Pitts Jr. secured his reputation as a fiery, emotionally charged writer with his post-9/11 syndicated column, but his pretended ingenuousness ["The other 'N' word," Opinion, syndicated column, Aug. 20] over the issue of comparing President Obama's plans for socialism in America to Nazi Germany's socialism goes too far.

No, Pitts; the right is not saying Obama wants to murder Jews, as Nazi Germany did. Most of us don't even think he wants to invade Poland.

The comparison -- and all radio hosts I've heard discuss it have been very clear on this matter -- is with the Nazi Party's socialism in their health care and economic policies.

What Obama is calling for isn't new; socialist societies have been failing for many decades now. The atrocities came much later and not necessarily as a result of the socialism, though that's a debatable point.

Presenting some of the facts can be just as dishonest as presenting untruths, Pitts. Please try to play fair.

-- Daniel Gilmore, Des Moines

In shut parks, a lost connection to earth

Editor, The Times:

A great sadness filled me as I read of the possibility that 39 King County parks may be shut down due to recent economic woes ["39 King County parks may be shut down," page one, Aug. 18].

Alas, what a devastating picture of national economic and global policies over these past eight years coming home to roost in our local neighborhoods, where there is little money for the needs of ordinary citizens but billions of dollars still handily available nationally for wars and corporations.

What will become of us if our green spaces are inaccessible? What will become of our children, many of whom have little access as it is to experiencing the joys of running across an open field or lying on the sweet green grass to look up through leafy trees at clouds against a blue sky?

How will our young ones learn to love the Earth so they grow up to become citizens who will care for it?

-- Jackie Leksen, Lynnwood

No sense in expensive light rail, closed parks

There are many, but rarely have I seen a better example of a dangerous malady that has been sweeping this state and country. A recent Seattle Times headline read, "39 King County parks may be shut down."

At the same time, Seattle opened a $2.5 billion light-rail line. This is the most expensive light rail ever constructed, costing $180 million per mile or $10,000 per Seattle household. Now, the operations of the train must be subsidized by taxpayers with $10 per ride if the number of riders estimated by Sound Transit are realized, which is doubtful. Further, Sound Transit is planning to spend many billions more to expand this ineffective rail system.

This indicates an unconscionable disregard for community priorities and the placing of politics and ideology ahead of the community's greater good. There are no winners but many victims.

Those who need transit and have no alternative will pay more and have less service, taxpayers will subsidize mostly people who have an alternative and the more than 90 percent of travelers who use the roads will continue to experience increasing congestion because money wasted on rail systems will not improve congestion or pollution.

When will we connect the dots between this stupidity and elected officials?

-- Jim Skaggs, Gig Harbor

Lands commissioner
should stop logging plan

We appreciate Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark's thoughtful commentary on protecting Puget Sound ["We must raise the standards bar to protect Puget Sound," Opinion, Aug. 10]. But we wonder why he fails to apply the same standard to the last great coastal forest remaining on the shores of Puget Sound.

Blanchard Mountain, in Skagit County, encompasses 5,000 acres of Departmetn of Natural Resources-managed forestland in a spectacular setting between two of the state's fastest-growing urban areas. Much of Blanchard is roadless, and its naturally generated forest is well on the way to becoming old-growth.

It is exactly the kind of forest that scientists say we should be setting aside to sequester carbon as we tackle climate change.

It's the only place on the entire rim of the Sound where threatened marbled murrelets nest in big trees close to saltwater. A wide variety of raptors migrate through the area. Most of the fish in its lakes and streams are listed as threatened or endangered.

Blanchard's summit, at nearly 2,400 feet, is the highest in the Chuckanut Mountains. The area is dubbed the "Issaquah Alps by the Sea" and is the most heavily visited, year-round trails destination north of Seattle. Tens of thousands of hikers roam Blanchard's 20-mile trail system annually, enjoying panoramic views of the San Juan Islands and three mountain ranges. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, signed into law by President Obama in March, traverses through the heart of Blanchard Mountain -- across areas the DNR, and apparently Commissioner Goldmark, are determined to log.

The DNR's own studies agree the area should be protected for wildlife and recreation. Instead, the agency is defending plans to log two-thirds of the mountain and build miles of new logging roads -- despite road failures as recent as last winter.

The Chuckanut Conservancy won a court ruling last year that required the agency to prepare an environmental-impact statement before carrying out its logging plan. Instead, the DNR has appealed the ruling and is spending scarce taxpayer dollars defending its controversial plan.

As a Skagitonian concerned about the future of both Puget Sound and Blanchard Mountain, I'm disappointed that the "conservation-minded" lands commissioner we thought we elected last fall has elected to defend the logging plan of his predecessor.

-- Frank Eventoff, Chuckanut Conservancy, Bow

Seagulls, like the Needle, a Seattle landmark

I wonder what Ivar Haglund, founder of Ivar's restaurant, would think about the new War on Seagulls ["The war on seagulls," front page, August 4].

Can't speak for him, but I'm pretty sure if someone had called Ivar's Acres of Clams while he was still alive and asked for comments on his "feed the seagulls" sign, they'd have gotten quite an earful.

Especially if they had told him people were gassing baby seagulls and others were trying to blame the "seagull problem" on his restaurant.

His sign has been there since the early '70s; seagulls have been munching there for even longer than that without hurting anyone, and they're every bit a Seattle landmark as the Space Needle.

-- Andre Duval, Seattle

Aggressive seagulls only defending their young

All respectable parents, of any species, become aggressive if they have to defend their young ones.

I have seen crows divebomb our cats if they come too near a nest. If only we could see ourselves as the nuisance animals we are and learn to live in harmony with the wild critters who were here first, long before people were riding ferries and long before Ivar put his "Seagulls welcome here" sign up outside his restaurant.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife should be aggressive in educating people to not feed wildlife. Children love the ritual of feeding seabirds, but they are also the first, if appropriately explained at home and in school, to understand that it hurts the animals and, as in the case of the seagulls, may lead to their brutal death.

-- Ruth Kildall, Seattle

Seagull problem? Eat it away

If an endangered, threatened or protected species becomes an inconvenience, well then get rid of it. That's just human nature.

But don't waste those seagulls. Eat them. Having feasted on leftover fries and such from Ivar's, they should be fat and plump. If cooked properly they ought to taste pretty good -- a little bit like bald eagle and a little bit like barred owl.

-- Marshall Sanborn, Friday Harbor

Just follow the signs to see why Boeing may leave

A recent visit to the Boeing plant in Mukilteo provides a poignant metaphor for the relationship between Boeing and Greater Seattle. Many other visitors and I got lost on the way to the Boeing tour due to insufficient signs.

Boeing advised us that the government highway authorities thought there were too many signs already and refused to allow Boeing to put up signs directing visitors to their tourist facilities. I can assure you South Carolina will ask Boeing, "How many signs?" and "Where shall we put 'em?"

Sam Howe Verhovek ["Boeing and Puget Sound -- shared DNA," Opinion, guest columnist, July 19] engages in some wishful thinking in hypothesizing that Boeing rocket scientists have overlooked important factors in their move.

What is surprising is that they have waited this long. Boeing gives me the same feeling that Caterpillar did in the '90 s when they were dealing with labor unrest. They made the tough decisions and have been the darling of Wall Street ever since.

Boeing is appropriately responding to Seattle's tepid embrace.

-- Bob Bell, Brooklyn, New York

Unions aren't team players for Boeing success

A word of advice to Boeing unions, specifically the International Association of Machinists: As an outsider looking in, I can tell you that you're being led down a dark path with no future.

Your leaders are relics from the past and their strong-arm tactics are tiresome. Consider that Boeing's nonunion employees look for ways to improve processes to stay competitive, yet you are encouraged to do the bare minimum. A company needs team members working toward a common goal, but you're labeled as adversarial antagonists by the public. Boeing is in business to make money for everyone's benefit, not to be held for ransom losing billions of dollars in revenue and forcing customers to look elsewhere while you're on strike, and the list goes on.

Boeing doesn't want volatile workers on their payroll and neither would you. Get your heads out of the sand, guys and gals: Boeing doesn't have to negotiate with you anymore. They will just move away. You've got a chance to think for yourselves, and do what's right for Boeing, its entire work force, its customers and suppliers.

Be team members, and change for the better.

-- Conrad Rupp, Renton

Plastic bags for plastic wings?

Could it be that, secretly, Boeing is behind the plastic grocery bag ban because it needs plastic bags for the wing repair on the 787 Dreamliner?

-- Ed Anderson, Kirkland

100-degree summer days will be the future of Seattle

Editor, The Times:

Professor Clifford Mass neglects climate change in his statement, "One day, your grandchildren will ask you did you really experience the temperatures of July 29, 2009?"

What was it like? How did you survive it? I hope my grandchildren ask me those questions. But it is more likely they will ask, "Were there really summers in Seattle when the temperature never reached 100 degrees?"

-- Gregory Johnson, Seattle

High temps just more proof of climate change

So, hearing much from the global-warming deniers lately?

-- Bill Moritz, Bothell

Doubt global warming exists? Climb a mountain, try to find a glacier

As a mountain climber since the mid-'90 s, I have personally witnessed the shrinking of glaciers on our surrounding mountains. It is unmistakable.

George F. Will ["Turning a cold shoulder to climate-change," Opinion, syndicated column, July 24] may be cavorting around an uninformed or disinterested group of people in order to conclude "skepticism about the evidence that supposedly supports current alarmism about climate change is growing."All scientific data has uncertainty. Unfortunately, the data on global warming just keeps on giving, and it is growing more certain with time, not less.

What is ironic is that China and India are certain to be some of the first countries to experience the major changes that occur with warming of the planet. When the Himalayan glaciers that supply one billion of their people with water disappear, they will see social change that cannot be mollified with economic growth.

The data on these glaciers is certain, irrefutable.

-- Steven Short, M.D., Mercer Island

Will is wrong; U.S. must be leader in cutting emissions

George F. Will argues we should do nothing to mitigate global warming because India, China and other developed countries will do nothing.

While we can't be certain what other nations will do, we can be pretty sure that if we don't do anything, they won't either. It is still true that the average American produces five times as much carbon dioxide as the average Chinese citizen and about 20 times as much as the average Indian.

Because Will and others are working hard to foster skepticism about the science, he may be right that skepticism is growing, but the evidence that global warming is a huge problem is moving in precisely the opposite direction.

If the U.S. acts, we have good reason to believe developing nations will conclude that most of them will be hit as hard or harder by warming than developed nations, that there are effective ways to mitigate global warming without destroying the economy and that we are all in this together.

-- Conway Leovy, Seattle

Welcome to Heattle

After waking up for the third time last night, I rolled over and saw Seattle change to Heattle.

It certainly captures our family's sentiments about the weather this week. Off to swim in Lake Washington.

-- Timothy Colman, Seattle

Come to Hawaii, where it's cooler than Seattle

Seattle's heat wave has created a convenient truth for Hawaii's struggling visitor industry.
While you are facing the possibility of an all-time high of 101 degrees today, it will be a shivery 83 degrees here on beautiful Kaneohe Bay. And we have the trade winds.

We anticipate full-page ads from the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau in markets like yours screaming: "Beat the heat. Visit subtropical Hawaii and chill!"

-- Walter Wright, Kaneohe, Hawaii

Removing dams, bringing back recreation

Editor, The Times:

I am a professional fly-fishing guide on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. I read Lance Dickie's recent column on the Snake River dam removals ["Reservoirs of uncertainty behind the Snake River dams," Opinion, July 24] with great interest.

As the column pointed out, the promises of a great economic boon to the region, as a result of building the dams, never materialized. Much of the river traffic engaged in shipping and barging comes at an unrealistic cost. The dams themselves have done more to harm the environment and the economy than they have ever done to contribute anything positive to the domestic life of the region.

The benefits of removing these dams are virtually guaranteed; a free-flowing river would bring recreation, paddling, river trips, scenic adventures, birding, camping and fishing back to the region.

All of these activities have one great thing in common: They do not damage the quality of the water or the environment, and they take nothing away but memories. Though this may seem a small contribution, recreational angling alone counts as a multibillion-dollar contribution to our economy already.

Add to this the benefit of increased cash flow and social culture to the Lewiston and Clarkston communities and the potential for a vast improvement in the fishing life of the tribal stakeholders, and it is hard to understand why the politicians are dragging their feet. Dam fools!

-- Bob Triggs, Port Townsend

Dam closure will be a win for both economy and environment

I liked everything about Lance Dickie's column on the changing dynamics in the Inland Northwest concerning salmon recovery and the fate of the lower Snake River dams -- except his characterization that this is another debate pitting the environment against jobs.

I am a fishing guide and a store manager at Creekside Angling Company in Issaquah. My livelihood depends on healthy fish populations. These fisheries depend on a healthy habitat.

Just like any other creature, salmon and steelhead exemplify the essential connection between environment and economy. It is most encouraging to see local leaders in Lewiston and Clarkston taking the initiative to push for the resolution of this dogged issue.

Whether the dams stay or go, our region needs to work together right now to restore healthy runs of salmon in a manner that benefits and serves any affected communities.

-- Brett Wedeking, Kirkland

Follow example of neighbors in salmon recovery

After what I consider nearly two decades of failures, it is hard not to be discouraged about Columbia Basin salmon-recovery efforts. Lance Dickie's column, however, gives me new hope at a time when change really does seem afoot -- except perhaps here in Washington state.

Idaho's senators have expressed support for convening stakeholders to tackle this issue. In Oregon, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Gov. Ted Kulongoski have said the same, and President Obama has recommitted the federal government to science-guided policymaking.

There is, however, a deafening silence coming from our congressional offices here at home. Pulling together the various competing stakeholders around a single table to work together to craft a lawful, effective and responsible recovery plan strikes me as something out of a Politics 101 course.

To Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell in particular: We need you on board and as part of the solution, not part of the problem.

-- K. Robert Johnson, Renton

Fremont Zombie Walk coverage made light of serious holiday

Of all the Fourth of July front-page stories you could feature -- about our troops, our Northwest military pride, the freedom we enjoy today -- you chose to print some obscene picture with a nonsense zombie story with the headline "Spritzing up for the red, white and dead" [page one, July 4]? What were you thinking?

Thank you, though, for your merchant marine story ["Merchant marine veterans wage battle for recognition," page one, July 4]. That was worth it. Too bad it was so badly overshadowed.

Give us more insightful, personal and newsworthy front-page features like these Marines' story and choose your publication days wisely.

Thanks to our fighting men and women for allowing me the freedom to vent.

-- Gib Hinz, Freeland

No to zombies on front page

When I glanced at the page-one story with the headline "Spritzing up for the red, white and dead," I thought it might be about our military on the red, white and blue national holiday. How disappointed and dismayed I was to see this article featured the Fremont Zombie Walk, which hoped to attract more than 5,000 zombies and break a Guinness World Record.

From someone who attended, I learned the event was a lot of fun, and I'm not taking umbrage with that. But the cover picture of fake blood on a young participant is an insult to our young military men and women who suffer wounds with real blood.

What incredibly poor judgment you used to herald this event so prominently on the Fourth of July.

-- Eleanor G. Nash, Kenmore

Endanger countless species of marine life

The only green aspect of utilities looking to place power-generation turbines in Puget Sound will be the color of money they hope to make at the expense of extinction of Puget Sound salmon, halibut and orca whales ["Tidal-energy project on course after tests," NW Wednesday, April 15].

Fishermen know that salmon and halibut inhabit the bottom 30 feet of the water column where utilities propose to install underwater turbines. These massive 30-foot-diameter turbines will decimate salmon and halibut, as well as the resident Puget Sound orca whales who feed on the salmon.

The unintended consequences of turbine-based underwater power generation will be on the magnitude of the decimation of the native salmon runs in our Northwest rivers caused by hydroelectric dams. The Bonneville Dam was erected in 1937 and was the first federal dam constructed on the Columbia. In less than 75 years, it and its sister dams have caused the near extinction of countless salmon and other species, leaving us spending hundred of millions of dollars yearly trying to replace them with weakened and genetically inferior hatchery strains. Admiralty Inlet is one of the few places left in Puget Sound that has a healthy underwater environment that is a critical habitat for Pacific halibut breeding.

Rockfish, lingcod, endangered nine-gill sharks and innumerable other species inhabit these waters as well. If these turbines are placed, the waters of Puget Sound will soon run red with the blood of these species.

There are current based-power generation technologies that do not require turbines that will be much less harmful to aquatic life. These include fishtail-like structures that sway in the current, rather than creating a wall of rapidly rotating sharp blades. These slowly swaying mechanisms could actually improve the underwater habitat by providing structure and shelter.

We should ban underwater turbines from the tidal waters of Puget Sound to protect our marine life.

-- Benjamin Hu, Coupeville

Follow the orcas

I was dismayed by the way your article "Salish Sea: We're already sailing on it" [page one, March 14] treated the name: as though it was something that deserved controversy.

The term the Salish Sea does not rename Puget Sound. The fact is, Puget Sound is part of a larger transboundary ecosystem. George Vancouver named the fjord -- the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows -- after Peter Puget. The United States Geological Survey defines Puget Sound as the waters south of Admiralty Inlet, Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel.

The term Puget Sound recently has been expanded to the Canadian border. This disregards nature keeps us from being able to even see our ecosystem, much less solve its problems and human effects.

In the past 25 years, that bioregion's population has more than doubled. Its 2020 population is expected to reach 4 million in Canada and exceed 5 million south of the border.

The orcas enter by the transboundary Strait of Juan de Fuca, and travel up the transboundary Haro Strait, along the west side of San Juan Island, following the salmon returning to Canada's Fraser River. Try explaining that by using only the term Puget Sound.

-- Shann Weston, Friday Harbor

A commendable idea

Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times

The lighthouse on the northern tip of Patos Island looking southeast across the Rosario Strait with Sucia Island and Orcas Island is seen in the distance. Biologist Bert Weber would like to rename this area the Salish Sea.

As a resident of Sinclair (Cottonwood) Island, in the heart of the Salish Sea, I strongly support efforts to designate the inland waters encompassing the Strait of Georgia, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound the Salish Sea ["'Salish Sea' proposed name for waters Washington, B.C. share," Times, Local News, March 14].

Not only does this title honor the original inhabitants of this area, but it recognizes and draws attention to the greater inland water ecosystem that needs our care. That some detractors fear such recognition would be an assault on the national boundary between Canada and the U.S. represents outdated, nonsensical and provincial thinking.

I commend marine biologist Bert Weber for his efforts.

-- Ferdi Businger, Anacortes

Serving special interests, not vessels in distress

The proposal to station a tugboat at Neah Bay ["State coast may get coveted rescue tug," Local News, March 7] will benefit some special interests: residents of Neah Bay, who will benefit economically from the people and equipment stationed there, and the lucky tug company that wins the contract to park one of their boats on the coast and get paid for it.

It will not provide the environmental safety net that some would have us believe.

Every day, hundreds of active tugboats ply Puget Sound waters 24/7. At any one time, several of these big oceangoing tugs are in closer proximity to disabled vessels than a Neah Bay tug would be.

These are the tugs that currently respond to vessels in distress. Thanks to these working "rescue tugs," there has not been a drift grounding in Puget Sound since before World War II.

Further, wind and current conditions would push a disabled vessel north, away from the U.S. coastline -- and the Neah Bay tug's ability to chase it.

A better station for such a tug would be Tofino on Vancouver Island, where a tug could come out to meet a disabled vessel.

But, where's the financial benefit to U.S. special interests in that?

-- Peter Philips, Seattle

Seattle gloom calls for a cheery mood

Eric Lacitis' article ["Friendless in Seattle," page one, Jan. 17] about the "Seattle Freeze" was spot on and it was easy for me to identify with the young newcomer to the city when she said, "Even in Chicago, crossing paths, you make eye contact and might smile to acknowledge the other person. Here, everybody looks down or straight ahead."

Unfortunately, that has also been my experience.

There is a reason you never hear someone say, "I'm so glad I moved to Seattle -- the people here are so friendly!" Your city is a lovely one, and people here are nice enough when you come into contact with them in such circumstances as a retail transaction or participation in a mutually held-interest group. However, there is an unmistakable coolness exuded by many inhabitants of this city toward people they don't know; it exceeds what I would consider "normal."

For example, I've been visiting a friend who lives near the zoo an average of once or twice a month for over three years now. Her next-door neighbor knows I am a frequent guest who stays in the house adjacent to her own. She no doubt recognizes me and my car. But when I attempt to make eye contact with her to say hello, she completely ignores my presence.

I encounter the same thing when I take long walks around the neighborhood. People here simply are not in the habit of exchanging greetings unless they know one another. Anyone reading this who has lived somewhere else where the majority of people act more friendly knows what I'm talking about. Life is hard enough for all of us and a momentary exchange of smiles and pleasantries between strangers can serve to brighten a gloomy day, of which there is no shortage here in Seattle.

In this city, the prevailing attitude seems to be: "I don't know you, so there is no reason for me to acknowledge you, let alone be civil toward you. I have my world, and you're not even on the periphery of it."

Perhaps, this is a Pacific Northwest thing, as everyday civility isn't much better in Portland, where I currently live.

To those residents who do indeed exchange greetings with people they've never seen before, and may never see again, know that you are doing your part to diminish the pervasiveness of the "Seattle Freeze."

-- Dan Possumato, Portland

The duopoly of laziness

I paid for two-day delivery for a couple of Christmas gifts; two weeks later they still had not arrived ["UPS, FedEx clearing backlog of late packages," News, Jan. 1].

There used to be a time when there were at least four of these companies operating and the competition tended to ensure that the service provided was dependable. Now that there are basically just two, consumers do not have much of an option. They have to pay the fees, accept delays, damaged packages and a rude customer-service staff.

On a brighter note, the weather did not seem to deter the folks that deliver the newspapers to our homes. Nor did it deter the folks that delivery the mail. I saw the postal worker pretty much every day battling through the snow. On one occasion, he wasn't able to turn into the cul-de-sac because the snow was so deep. Undeterred, he got out his vehicle, tramped through the snow to deliver packages to our homes and mail to the boxes.

It is probably a better option to use the USPS [United States Postal Service] in the future -- especially if there is the threat of inclement weather.

-- Jonathan Love, Kirkland

Do not forsake us

As the co-owner of a small, Seattle-based company, I was surprised to read that Gov. Christine Gregoire plans to give away pollution permits in the state's groundbreaking cap-and-trade program ["Governor favors mostly free permits for polluters," Politics & Government," Dec. 13]. This is the worst possible decision for Washington consumers and small businesses.

We've come this far, blazing the trail for smart, effective policy to slow global warming and build a robust clean-energy economy (with good jobs and local industries) for the state. The governor should be commended for all the progress we've made. Why backpedal now?

By giving away permits instead of auctioning them for the public good, Gregoire is making the decision to hand windfall profits to oil companies at the expense of consumers. What's more tragic is that it's just as easy to do this right. Designed with protections for local families, cap-and-trade generates revenue for investments in our communities, for rebating energy costs directly to Washington consumers, and for creating good jobs and stabilizing our economy. Investments like these not only take care of immediate economic woes, but they position our state to lead as the nation and world moves to clean-energy technology.

We have an opportunity to do this right. There's no good reason that Gregoire would make the decision to forsake Washington's families as we move into a cleaner, greener era.

-- Judith Dailey, Seattle

Ellen M. Banner / The Seattle Times

One of the many cars stuck in the snow and slush over the past week.

When in Rome

Editor, The Times:

If the Romans could salt Carthage, why can't Mayor Greg Nickels salt Seattle ["Sand on roads worse than salt, environmentalists say," Times, News, Dec. 24]? Whatever happened to the concept of the "greater good for the greater number?"

The argument of salt going into the Sound is ludicrously oxymoronic; there is salt in the Sound.

And if you own a business, an apartment or house, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a concert hall, you are obligated to clean those sidewalks adjacent to your property, so people aren't breaking their asses, elbows and pelvi on your mis-account because of snow/ice/snow buildup.

Not everyone has the luxury of being a weather shut-in.

The church is nearby, but the roads are icy; the tavern is farther away, but I shall walk very carefully.

-- Fred Ketteman, Seattle

Make it work

What is the city thinking? So we are saving the environment by not letting salt run into Puget Sound. The Sound is saltwater and has a lot less salinity than the ocean due to the freshwater runoff.

Ask the guys at Bangor who submerge in the Sound; they will tell you. Salt probably will be the most benign thing we will ever dump into the Sound, ever.

The consequences of this policy are devastating. Emergency/fire crews cannot respond, mail is not delivered, garbage is not picked up, people cannot get to work, buses don't run, caregivers cannot get to those they care for and people cannot shop.

This policy has to change. The mayor and City Council's job is to make our city work.

-- Chris Warner, Seattle

We are not salmon

Former Mayor Paul Schell lost his job because of his gross misjudgement of WTO [World Trade Organization]; Mayor Greg Nickels might see his job in jeopardy for putting the welfare of Puget Sound salmon above the need of the people of the community he leads to be able to move about.

-- Wight Reade, Seattle

Chill out

I applaud the city's policy of not using salt on the roads.

The East Coast has already made a mess of a lot of their local environments, but maybe we will be able to avoid that outcome. Salt is not only harmful to the Sound, but it also damages the soil's ability to grow plants. It is also corrosive to everything metal, including your car.

We have very little and infrequent snow in this area and I think most residents can manage to survive a few inconveniences in their daily lives once every five or 10 years. Take a break and try to remember why you are here on Earth.

-- Elizabeth Erickson, Seattle

Makes total sense

Let me get this straight: the city of Seattle refuses to use salt on the roads for fear that it might pollute Puget Sound, which is a body of saltwater.

-- Dick Dickinson, Seattle

Lean on each other

I applaud the city of Seattle's choice not to use salt on our roadways. We do not need to add to the burden of the Puget Sound ecosystem, upon which we all rely, for our transient convenience.

Everyone with a passing knowledge of Seattle weather knows that we get snow almost every year and heavy snow every 10 years or so. This weather is no surprise and we have had days of warnings.

A reasonable person will have prepared for this with, at a minimum, tire chains, a full tank of gas and a few days worth of extra food. A well-prepared person will have an all-wheel-drive vehicle because they are not only better on snow but also on wet pavement, which we get a few times per year, too.

We live in an urban environment and also within neighborhoods, so with a little extra effort and concern for our neighbors, we should all be able to feed and care for ourselves and each other.

Perhaps this is an inconvenience, but tolerable. The snow is not going to stay and things will be back to normal soon. No need to panic.

This inconvenience has everyone in a tizzy and calling for greater expenditures for snow plows, chemical and salt for the roads. What we should be doing is helping each other to get through this. Shop locally instead of driving to Costco or a mall. Car pool to work.

We certainly do not need to poison the environment to mitigate a minor, transient inconvenience.

-- David Gill, Seattle

Don't sacrifice your car

In your front-page story you attempt to minimize the environmental impacts from the use of salt on the roads, and it is considerable.

I am less concerned with the environment as I am with the condition of my car. Salt will rot a car's body and undercarriage in an incredibly fast and destructive manner.

Ask anyone who lives where salt is used on the roads.

Cars thus rendered old and useless before their time quickly become piles of junk in wrecking yards, where even the parts cannot be recycled. There's your environmental impact.

Most years, we have no snow and usually in the years when we do it is gone in a day or two. I for one won't care how bare the streets will become from the use of salt. I won't be driving my car on any road thus treated until it is thoroughly washed away.

-- Marshall Dunlap, Kent

Be warned

Our recent small snowstorm has unveiled how weak and fragile our city's infrastructure systems are. Yes, the recent winter storms that came through our region are very unusual and have caused major chaos for the area. But compared with the other larger cities in the East Coast in which I've lived, this event is not that big of a deal for the winter season.

I agree with all of the contributing writers and the stories regarding all of the issues we are faced with. This storm is not considered a "real emergency," but what if the city were faced with real natural disasters, or a "real emergency?" We have only one freeway [Interstate 5] to get in and out of the city.

Not using salt to de-ice the road? What about sand that will end up in our water and drainage systems that will cause serious damage to the systems?

Seattle, we all need to re-evaluate and adjust our infrastructure and be prepared for real emergencies that can be devastating to our livelihoods.

And to all the city officials and the mayor, shame on all of you.

-- Joseph Woo, Mercer Island

Sending the bill to you

Seattle's snow-removal policies have now incapacitated our city for seven days. To think that using salt in this one incident is going to cause any type of measurable harm is nothing short of lunacy.

The lack of leadership and willingness to be flexible during "The December Storm" staggers the mind.
Shall we bill you, Mayor Greg Nickels, for the lost wages, accidents and lack of retail sales that have resulted from your inability to make an intelligent decision that would protect our city and offer basic services?

I am talking about some reasonable thinking in this one extraordinary situation.

It is a shame that our leadership has not shown the ability to step up and demonstrate "extraordinary" thinking in this case. The price tag on this to our city is rising as we speak.

-- Janet Engel, Seattle

Calling all authorities

For 18 years, I have been using Metro as my main means of transportation. For 18 years, I have yet to see a planned, organized response to winter snows. It seems it is always improvised from year to year with nobody taking the time or effort to learn from the past.

King County Executive Ron Sims is supposed to be the head of Metro. In all of his time in office he has shown no leadership in planning for these sorts of disasters. It is clear that the current series of days of collapsing bus service falls on him and his lack of leadership.

I would hope that somebody in Metro would call a conference of appropriate authorities, including riders, and plan for different response levels to Seattle winter storms.

This plan would include reallocation of resources, a way of educating the public of those plans, and finding a means to keep riders informed of the situation.

But given the level of customer service on fair-weather days, I doubt it will ever happen until somebody replaces Sims and shows some appropriate leadership.

-- Don Carter, Seattle

Courtney Blethen/ The Seattle Times

Pedestrians take over Denny Street on Capitol Hill. The street has been closed to vehicles all week due to dangerous snowy and icy conditions.

What's a few kids?

Editor, The Times:

I'm a little tired of all of the letters scolding Mayor Greg Nickels for not putting salt on the road during this severe weather ["Seattle refuses to use salt; roads 'snow packed' by design," Times, News, Dec. 23].
So a few buses filled with kids might go off a bridge.

Don't people realize that the salt on the roads might get into Puget Sound and pollute the saltwater with salt?

I drove in severe weather for most of my adult life in Alaska before I moved here. The mayor is teaching these city folks how to be independent and protect the environment at the same time. No salt on the roads means no salt polluting our green parks and being ingested by the helpless birds and fishes in our local area.

Nothing could make a granola-eating tree-hugger like me happier.

If I need traction I always keep a couple of dead spotted owls in my trunk. You just throw them under the tires when you get stuck. Nothing gets better traction than a spotted owl, not even chains.

-- Dennis Doucette, Auburn

SUVs make a comeback

I just wanted to thank the Seattle government for their stand on not using salt on the roads during this terrible snowstorm. It is absolutely awful to think that salty runoff could possibly make its way to the Puget Sound, which last I checked was comprised of saltwater.

But, honestly, Seattle's use of sand instead of salt cleared the roads of all traffic, allowing my 6,000 pound, 15 mpg, 4-wheel-drive truck traffic-less transportation for a solid four days.

Finally, my tax dollars hard at work to relieve congestion.

In addition, I am glad that Seattle has finally put its foot down and decided full-heartedly to support the promotion of oversized, overweighted gas hogs.

-- John Foster, Bothell

I don't get it

The Times revealed that Seattle is not salting our icy and dangerous streets for fear that the salt will ultimately leach into Puget Sound. Isn't the sound already a saltwater body of water. Am I missing something?

-- Martin Paup, Seattle

The benefit is greater

The first question to be asked about the decision not to use salt on the roads it simple: Did anyone determine the amount of salt to be used would be sufficient to have any measurable environmental effect on Puget Sound?

Puget Sound is large and deep, with strong tides assuring rapid mixing. Was there any calculation of salt concentration of runoff water showing a higher concentration than that of the Sound?

Road salt contains calcium, which is also a component of seawater, integral to the formation of crustacean shells. Road salt is mildly corrosive, but as snow is rare here, it will quickly be washed away from cars and structures once typical rains resume.

Salt has long been routinely used for melting. Whatever problems, it has been almost universally concluded that the benefit is greater.

The consequences are not trivial and are beyond the obvious impassibility of streets and unnecessary property damage. People are missing work and income. This past week is crucial for many retailers and the lost business causes genuine hardship to both business and employees. Can anyone in City Hall show evidence of equal benefit from this absurdity?

-- Bronston Kenney, Shoreline

Sidewalks are for people, not snow

Tuesday's story about the messy condition of Seattle's roadways overlooks the condition of the sidewalks.
I have it on the authority of the chairman of the City Council, Richard Conlin, that there is a code requirement that sidewalks be cleared of snow by property owners, who otherwise can be fined.

However, the requirement is ignored by many property owners with impunity.

-- Anita Warmflash, Seattle

Blatant disregard

The complete inattention and indifference that the cities of Olympia and Lacey have shown toward the enabling of transportation around the city streets during this freak snowstorm is utterly unbelievable.

No roads have been scraped, people are ruining their bodies and vehicles trying to drive on clots of snow and ice mixed with slush that are six or more inches deep.

Driving on these roads is like driving on the rocky bottoms of river beds. Do you know we have had no trash pick up?

What about the fact that this is an emergency? What about renting backhoes and tractors and clearing the ice-rocks from the city and neighborhood streets?

What about asking the neighboring cities for help?

Why is it OK to just wait until it warms up? I am reminded of the tales of governmental disregard in New Orleans during/after the flooding of Hurricane Katrina.

What about people who need an ambulance? What about the large elderly population in Olympia? Why is it acceptable to make them navigate river-rock roads?

Never have I seen such an inept, blatant disregard for citizens and their well-being.

-- Carolyn Foster, Lacey

Never again

The abominable response by the city of Seattle to this winter's unusual storm is about as responsible as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Not only is it foolish and inept, it's arrogant.

Those of us who've lived other places where snow and ice are handled competently have been appalled by the manner in which a major U.S. city has been paralyzed for a week because of Mayor Greg Nickels' ridiculous attitude about possible solutions.

This is not to say that we are not concerned about environmental matters. But Seattle's knee-jerk response has been way out of balance considering the situation.

Since these storms do not happen often here, let's try something different. Let's say for the first week of a major storm like this one, we can use salt for the roads and we can use decent blades on the plows -- blades that will actually clear the roadway.

That won't be enough to do any significant harm to the environment and it won't cause rust on our cars. After that, we go back to the current methods.

But we never again leave the city in the paralysis in which it's been this past week.

-- Molly Cook, Langley

Do more than this

If it's economics, say so.

If it's poor emergency management, apologize, but don't pull the "green card" with total disregard for public safety.

"By design," two charter buses narrowly escape a crash onto Interstate 5. Vehicles spin out, businesses are temporarily shut down. Hundreds of cars sit idling in snarled traffic.

The storms crippled the entire region. Where are the state Department of Transportation snowplows?
Thanks to city and county employees for their hard work under challenging conditions. But this was not an unexpected storm.

We shouldn't see young soldiers stuck at the bus station, or a mother and her children sleeping on the floor at Sea-Tac Airport for days. Airlines had no choice but to cancel flights when they couldn't get new supplies of de-icing material delivered. What a blow to their financial stability in these times.

The mess in Seattle can't be "by design." Alex Wiggins [chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation], please say you did all you could do.

-- Anne Varga, North Bend

Let's get salty

I'm all for not dumping toxic crud into Puget Sound, so as not to screw up the lives of salmon, clams, orcas and so forth. But Seattle's policy of just packing down the snow on city streets into ice confines the city's human folks to their caves until the weather seriously warms up.

How about using sea salt on Seattle streets? It would make Puget Sound a few hundredths of a percent more salty.

-- Chuck Hastings, Federal Way

Take the hint

I ventured into Seattle [Tuesday] for a business meeting and sought to escape at 2 p.m. via Mercer Street to the freeway. I have never seen a street in worse condition. It literally felt like moving east in a boat.
Drops off ice mounds in some case were 8 to 10 inches.

I'd say a better plan is warranted for clearing Seattle's streets.

I drove home to Lynnwood, and there was ice here and there, but on the major arterials there was pavement under the tires. Is the region's premier city clueless or just poorly led?

-- Bill Kirlin-Hackett, Lynnwood

Do more research

I am disappointed at Susan Kelleher's investigative reporting concerning Seattle's refusal to use salt on its roads. Kelleher fails to describe fully the principles, conversations and reasons that begot Seattle's current policy.

Moreover, she primarily compares Seattle's response to urban areas that are not near large, ecologically sensitive bodies of water. Those cities do not have to consider the impacts of salt on Puget Sound.

Denver's complaint about sand causing problems is true for them; however, its impacts in Seattle may be different due to variances -- for example, in municipal infrastructure and snow type. The use of salt and de-icer by WSDOT [Washington State Department of Transportation] does not baptize their effects in waterways.

To be sure, Seattle's response to this snow has not been effective; policy changes must certainly arise. Nonetheless, rashly adopting a policy to use whatever chemical or salt "works" in the short-term would supplant a wiser principle of considering the long-term effects of everything we do.

-- Daniel Escher, Bellingham

Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times

A Metro driver peers around his stranded bus while passengers begin to unload Monday. The bus' southbound route on Lake City Way at Northeast 85th Street stalls near the Maple Leaf area. This bus lost traction despite the chains.

It's about health
and safety

Editor, The Times:

As a local University of Washington physician, I am not prone to tirades. But, I am so angry at Mayor Greg Nickels and his lack of leadership in the face of what amounts to a snow emergency ["Seattle refuses to use salt; roads 'snow packed' by design," Times, News, Dec. 23].

His legacy should be reflected in his complete and utter failure to lead the city at such a paralyzing moment.

It's not simply an inconvenience issue. This is a health and safety issue.

When I see the number of selfless, hardworking health-care employees risking their lives and property to try to get to work to help save the lives of others, it makes me seethe at his complete and absolute ineptitude to clear a street.

Nickels had a golden opportunity to keep this city moving. That moment is long gone and in my eyes he will forever be the mayor who could not plow the streets -- in front of the local hospitals on First Hill, let alone downtown.

Plowing the streets is not a complicated concept. His leadership here has been utterly abysmal.

-- Eric Stern, Seattle

Our NaCl is better than yours

Mayor Greg Nickels has shirked his sworn duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Seattle.

The inmates running the asylum of Seattle City Hall would prefer to have kids get hit by sliding cars, massive property damage to vehicles and city property, and the huge loss in sales revenue the week before Christmas rather than let salt get into Puget Sound.

Salt, the stuff that they take out of saltwater.

Isn't Puget Sound saltwater?

I guess we need a $1 billion salt-extraction facility so that we can get "native" Puget Sound salt since our NaCl is different from the NaCl used in every other big city on the planet.

Nickles needs to look at the picture of that bus that almost killed everyone aboard and change this insane policy.

-- Apollo Fuhriman, Bothell

No action required

I know it doesn't snow here very often and that's why there are only 27 plows. Quaint, isn't it?

Come on, this isn't exactly rocket science. You go out and buy a few hundred plow blades and stick 'em in a few warehouses around the region. If there's going to be a lot of snow, you stick the blades on garbage trucks and push the snow off to the side of the arterial roads and streets. I'm sure the garbage-hauling companies could be persuaded to earn some extra cash doing it.

It costs too much, you say? Even if it only happens once every decade or so, how much does it cost to shut down Puget Sound for a week?

How many stores lost how much business? How many restaurants are closed?

What about emergency services that aren't delivered? A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money this week, and a few might lose more than just money.

Hey, forget I ever mentioned it. Or better yet, remember that I mentioned it and spend the next 20 years debating it. That's how we do things here, right?

-- Charles Pluckhahn, Seattle

The new half-pipe

The current Seattle snow raises the obvious question: Can Seattle be trusted with a new elevated viaduct? It might just be a tribute to our school system -- how we Seattle drivers see snow and need to test the laws of physics. An SUV in motion will remain in motion, unless acted upon by a bus.

That being said, isn't an elevated viaduct just one big ski jump? As a citizen strictly opposed to dangling buses, I say stick to the surface option.

-- Frank Lufkin, Seattle

Here comes the Schwinn

Having grown up in the unforgiving terrain of upstate New York, I was raised amid snow storms, ice storms and blizzards. At least two times every year, cars were buried, power went out and schools were closed.

Which is why its interesting that the first time I saw chains that were intended to be wrapped around car tires was when I moved to Seattle in 2002.

When and if it snowed, would there not be the logical (and lifesaving) salting of the roads or adequate plowing?

What I was told blew my mind: There was sand, not salt. Salt, I was told, was harmful to the roads and to wildlife, should they ingest the remnants of it maybe once a year. Even the accepted sand, according to your story, is now frowned upon because of a "dusting" factor that affects air quality.

And the plows that Seattle uses to clear the streets have rubber blades to minimize street damage? Why don't you just send out a little girl on a Schwinn with a broomstick? It would be just as effective.

I am now in Manhattan, where I can jog down the street the morning after a blizzard, knowing the ice has been salted away for my safety and my neighbors' safety.

I have nothing but respect for Seattle's pioneering attitude toward aggressively respecting the environment and wildlife. It's part of what makes it such a unique and beautiful place to be. But at what price?

I received numerous phone calls and e-mails from friends in Seattle this past week who were literally trapped -- couldn't go to work and go holiday shopping to contribute to the fledgling economy.

I saw news footage of car wrecks with people injured and trapped. While you were spinning, did you stop and silently thank your city's government that at least the wildlife won't have to ingest a minute amount of salt?

What's more important, human life and the economy or the small possibility of one salting a year having an unsubstantiated effect on the environment?

It doesn't have to be this way. We get a lot more snow here and get through it painlessly with the help of adequate, non-rubberized street plows and, the most crucial element, salt.

You can go to work, you don't need chains on your tires and no one has to die.

Prioritize.

-- Kathleen Laux, Manhattan, N.Y.

Get real

Based on a weather forecast that predicted snow, possibly as early as 3 p.m., the Seattle Public Schools shut down last Wednesday.

SPS officials say they were acting with excess caution. However, they acted in the face of a rapidly retreating forecast and foolishly caused us to have three snow days instead of two.

The problem for parents is that although SPS can panic and unnecessarily cancel school, other workplaces are generally less skittish. Parents cannot take a "dry-pavement snow day" without consequences, leaving parents to scramble to find safe child-care options. SPS needs to work more closely with weather forecasters to understand what the real risks are. It also needs to work with its transportation vendors to provide safer options for winter bus service.

What about chaining those buses, training drivers for winter driving, and working out alternative snow-bus routes ahead of the storms?

These lowland winter storms are not rare anymore, and SPS, the city of Seattle and all of us need to stop acting like we live in San Diego and start learning to deal with the reality of life in a northern climate.

-- Kathleen Barry, Seattle

Dunce cap for Alaska Airlines

At a time when Seattle is having severe weather problems, Alaska Airlines chose to quit communicating with their longtime customers about flight availability and flight cancellations. I was shocked to receive their phone message today that their lines were busy and if I wanted to communicate with them I needed to go to their Web site or send a flight cancellation to customer service.

My flight was available today for check-in at 11 a.m., so I printed my boarding pass and drove three hours to reach the Boise airport -- arriving five hours early. I was informed that my flight was canceled and that the earliest flight I could expect to possibly be confirmed was the next day at 9:30 p.m.

Alaska has my phone number and it would have been so much better if they had thought to hire some phone representatives to call their to let them know there were weather-related delays.

-- Cheri Watson, Hailey, Idaho

Common sense, anyone?

Here we are, under a lot of snow and ice. But we had plenty of warning. One of the weather services advised of an impending storm "of notable and historic" proportion.

Wouldn't you think that the ferry system could have stockpiled enough fuel? That Alaska Airlines could have purchased extra de-icer? That Amtrak could have been prepared to deal with the inevitable ice?

Instead, we are faced with idle ferries, trains that can't go anywhere, and a major chunk of air service out of commission -- wonderful examples of how much we can depend on public transportation when it really counts.

One would think that each of these agencies would have enough foresight to have emergency checklists, and people assigned to act on these checklists.

God help us if we need a new series of laws in order to compensate for what appears to have been a total lack of simple common sense.

-- Richard Karnes, Mercer Island

Paying it forward

On Monday the 22nd, after spending two frozen hours at a bus stop on First Avenue, a kind Samaritan stopped to ask if anyone needed a ride to West Seattle. My husband gladly accepted the offer. It turned out that the Samaritan had been the recipient of a similar gift the previous Friday and wanted to return the favor.

This person had been rescued by a Vashon Islander and the person they rescued on that wintry Monday was another Islander. The Samaritan lived two blocks from the ferry and gave my husband a ride all the way to the dock.

My thanks to my Island neighbor, whoever you are, for the kind act that paid forward in a most unexpected way and to the West Seattle Samaritan for being a great Santa's elf.

Bless you both. Have a merry Christmas and a great New Year.

-- Karen Pruett, Seattle

Move it

How will the Port of Seattle and the city of Seattle respond to the placement of the Matson container ship, blocking the views from Anthony's Pier 66 and the Seattle Marriot waterfront ["Big ship eats into the view, restaurant business at pier," News, Dec. 17]?

How many private homes/condos lost their valuable view due to blocking construction? With what compensation? One I know of lost a magnificent Sound/mountain view to the brick back wall of a larger condo.

The owners of Anthony's and the Marriot possess sufficient clout to have some local agency accommodate them.

Will this boat be the next example of the "trust" foisted upon us by elected and/or appointed pawns of the powerful?

-- Dean Allard, Lynnwood

A lucky region

I was delighted to see the recent article on Northwest Watershed Institute's Tarboo watershed protection and restoration work in Pacific Northwest Magazine ["One creek, on patch of land at a time," Nov. 30]. The article by seasoned Seattle Times writer Warren Cornwall and photographer Alan Berner is a wonderful look at the beauty and challenge of trying to protect a bit of Puget Sound for future generations. However, though the description of our work as "one man and his band" may sound heroic, it is a far cry from how things are actually getting done.

While Northwest Watershed Institute has taken the lead in initiating and coordinating many aspects of the Tarboo watershed project, our success has come from strong partnerships with many landowners, as well as the talented and dedicated staff that work for more than 20 state, federal, tribal and nonprofit organizations. I only wish that the article had spread the credit around to those who richly earned it.

Chief among those deserving special mention is Jude Rubin, NWI's stewardship director and botanist who started our hugely popular Plant-A-Thon, where hundreds of local schoolchildren and their parents raise money for their schools by selling honorary tree cards and planting thousands of trees at restoration sites every year. Sean Gallagher, who has worked in the field for NWI since 2003, helped with everything from the original stream habitat surveys to supervising restoration crews. Wonderful people with the Jefferson Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, four tribes that share treaty rights in Hood Canal, and numerous county, state, federal and tribal agencies and nonprofits have worked in ways large and small to help projects succeed.

A diversity of funding programs have allowed NWI to make on-the-ground progress. Key to success in wetland acquisition has been the Pacific Coast Joint Venture Program, particularly their National Coastal Wetlands grant program. The USDA's [United States Department of Agriculture's] Natural Resource Conservation Service's Wetland Reserve Program is NWI's largest of many restoration funding sources that also include the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington's Aquatic Land Enhancement Account, Jefferson County Conservation Futures Program, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Bullitt Foundation among others.

Having just talked with a biologist from Texas, I am extremely grateful that here in Puget Sound we have so many people and organizations working together to try to protect and restore one the best places left on Earth.

-- Peter Bahls, Port Townsend

The Associated Press

A baby orca is seen swimming between family members of K-pod off the southern coast of San Juan Island in June 3.

Help them survive

Editor, The Times:

This is such an unfortunate turn of events for our resident orca whales ["Are orcas starving? UW puts Lab on case," Times, News, Nov. 19]. Their population has already been reduced to under 90 members and now they lose another seven.

There is no excuse for why these whales are disappearing, especially if the culprit is starvation. I know most people won't agree but I really believe we should put a halt to salmon fishing altogether ¬ at least until the population can make a comeback.

We as people have so many other alternatives for food. We have billions of animals slaughtered every year that are served up in various dishes.

We have people who feel it's necessary to go out and hunt wild game. We have other types of fish to choose from that aren't so threatened. and not only that but There are is also farmed salmon available.

I know there's good money in it and that wild salmon is a Pacific Northwest staple but so are the whales and I think The whales deserve our greatest effort at a chance for survival.

-- Allison McGinnis, Des Moines

Penalize dirty cars

Hurray for the Puget Sound Partnership draft action agenda ["Partnership releases blueprint for restoring Puget Sound," News, Nov. 6].

Now let's really get to it. My experience as an activist/volunteer for Washington State University Extension, Marine Resources Committee and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has taught me that the talk and planning don't mean much until the dirt goes under the nails.

In Warren Cornwall's story about the release of the draft plan, he points out that the problem is not about a lack of ways to tackle the challenges. I have a modest proposal for one of the most pervasive problems: the stormwater runoff that flushes at least 52 million pounds of petroleum, toxic metals and other pollutants into the Sound every year, according to David Dicks, the partnership's executive director.

It is very simple: As vehicle license registration renewals come due, require the cars to drive through a "no drip" inspection using a strip of recycled paper to detect obvious leaks. This process would be low-tech and low-cost. If the car does not pass, their registration will not be renewed.

I am confident that fines from noncompliance could easily fund a good share of the expense; it could be rolled out in a matter of a few months and would deliver a measurable change within one year. Instead of spending billions and trying to find ways to expand the plan, let's take a simple step. Cheap, fast and effective.

-- Steve Bailey, Bellingham

Follow the second path

I read the news of the Nov. 6 release of the Puget Sound Partnership's plan ["Draft plan released for Sound recovery," News, Nov. 7] with interest, but without much optimism. The Partnership has done a commendable job of identifying many of Puget Sound's most severe problems and recommending measures to address them.

What is lacking, however, are specific prescriptions as to what agencies must take, what actions by what dates, how compliance will be enforced and how much money will come from what sources to pay for it all.
If it is true that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it, then we should recall that we are supposed to be well on the way to healing the Sound.

In 1985, facing abundant evidence of an environmental crisis, our state government created the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority with the mission of charting a path back to health. In 1996, the Authority was recast as the Puget Sound Action Team. The problem was that the Authority never had adequate authority, and the Action Team took little meaningful action.

Consequently, Puget Sound is in worse condition today than in 1985, and another decade of reports and unenforceable recommendations will not reverse the decline. It's crunch time. The state of Washington must take a hard look in the mirror and decide whether we are going to continue business as usual and accept the death of Puget Sound, or invest the funds and establish the enforceable standards necessary for the Partnership to achieve its stated goal of restoring it to health by 2020.
The first path is easier, but the second is right.

-- C. Thomas Schaefer, Seattle

Eyman's initiative
is worth a shot

The state and federal government had 50 years to solve the Puget Sound area's serious traffic problems ["Federal transportation officials say Eyman's initiative could be costly to state," News, Oct. 25]. They saw the congestion, lost work hours, frustration and host of other problems coming and to this day still struggle for workable solutions.

What makes them think we should even listen to the same government that allowed the current financial meltdown and economic calamity?

The government lacks the leadership and vision to solve the traffic crisis.

I say we take matters in our owns hands and pass Initiative 985. We have to try something.

-- Bob Hoyden, Renton

You're not the boss of me

The idea of two federal officials (Daniel Mathis and Richard Krochalis) threatening to withhold moneys for opening up the HOV [High Occupancy Vehicle] lanes during nonpeak hours should irritate enough people to gain passage of Initiative 985.

Mind you, I don't think it should pass.

I certainly won't vote for it. It creates more danger for our drivers. Go to California, and drive the HOV lanes during nonpeak hours. Then tell me that California's elected officials allowed that threat to work.

There are other states that have done the same thing. We paid for the lanes, and the federal government has no business trying to tell us how to run them. Tell Paula Hammond to research things like this with other entities that have them. Do not go to the federal government and ask if it's OK for us to govern ourselves.

-- Ron Highfill, Lacey

Opening up carpool lanes
is a bad idea

The $224 million that I-985 would spend is to open up existing carpool lanes to single drivers during "nonpeak" hours. The initiative defines nonpeak hours as all times except for the fixed hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays only.

Opening up these lanes to single drivers is a bad idea at any time. During congested hours, carpool lanes reduce traveler delay by allowing vehicles with more people in them to move faster. During noncongested hours, traffic is moving freely in all lanes and there is no impact on congestion because there is no congestion.

Congested hours are different from route to route, vary from week to week, and occur outside the fixed hours in the initiative. Opening up these lanes would result in losing carpool lanes on some routes during congested hours, increasing total traveler delay.

I-985 allocates $224 million to implement the change, which would not only be wasted, but would in fact increase traveler delay. Washington voters should reject this bad idea.

-- Peter Smith, Normandy Park

Saudi Arabia
is rich enough

Tim Eyman's citizen petition to open HOV lanes to single-occupancy vehicles will be struck down by the federal government.

These are high-occupancy-vehicle lanes for buses, carpools and van pools. These were built to increase the capacity of freeways and to haul more people per hour.

Opening the lanes to SOVs [Single Occupancy Vehicles] would defeat these purposes, and only create more traffic accidents, air pollution and waste fuel.

The initiative also bundles traffic-light timing and roadside assistance, which is already being done.

Tim Eyman doesn't want to understand, there is a war over oil in the Middle East, and his persistent attempts to sabotage transit is only keeping the U.S. and Puget Sound more dependent on foreign oil.

Energy conservation and development of alternative-fuel buses is one of the major reasons for
development of a bus-express system. Like it or not, bus riders pay taxes also. His initiative will get the buses off schedule.

Gasoline cars are more expensive to drive and own than riding the bus. Eyman is doing a lot of damage to the local economy, and this will only help make the King of Saudia Arabia richer and us poorer.

-- Martin Nix, Seattle

Proposition 1 / light-rail expansion: Just do it

I am rather disappointed The Seattle Times does not have enough wisdom to see the need for expanding the Sound Transit light-rail system ["Reject Proposition 1's tax for light-rail expansion," editorial, Sept. 28].
We desperately need it and the arguments against it are weak:

"It won't relieve congestion." That is true, but Los Angeles built highways all over the place and they have some of the worst congestion in the country. Building more highways just makes more traffic. Nothing is going to make the congestion go away.

"It costs too much." Compared to what? What is the cost of building several more traffic lanes through Seattle? All of the options are going to be very, very expensive.

"It will take too long to build the new system." Again, does anyone really think that we could build more highways any faster?

So let's get realistic about rail transit. It is one component in a transportation system that we need. Rail is immune to traffic jams and will function even when the buses are stuck in the snow. Nearly every major city in the world relies on rail to provide the basis for their transportation system. So let's stop debating the need for rail and get serious about building it.

Once we get the system up and running we will wonder how we managed to get along for so long without it.

--Gary Maxwell, Lynnwood

Elaine Thompson / The Associated Press

Boeing machinists and supporters cheer outside a company administration building in Seattle following announcement that negotiations will resume.

Machinists should settle
Editor, The Times:
"Boeing, strikers, returning to table" [Times page one, Oct. 9] says the Machinists union is striking to maintain the jobs they still have left in the Northwest.

I think the union should settle because its members still are making a decent wage, and because the jobs could be outsourced to Illinois: There are plenty of Rust-Belt locations willing to set up a factory floor quickly.

In the 1980s, there was a company making strip-mining equipment in Danville, Ill. The union always demanded and got prevailing wages. The end result was that the company moved all but a sales office to Mississippi, where wages were lower. Nobody in the union thought it could happen. It did.

Does the International Association of Machinists really believe it can't happen here, just because the strike is costing the company money?
-- Keith Wellman, Freeland

Boeing continuing Confederate ways
Boeing spokesmen, facing the threat of a long Machinists strike, are now threatening to move production jobs to the South and turn Puget Sound into a rust belt (although aluminum and carbon fiber don't rust).

Let's put this into historical perspective: As far back as the 1930s, Southern senators, whose votes were crucial to the passage of FDR's New Deal legislation, managed to exclude application of minimum-wage laws to agricultural workers and domestic workers, aka African-American workers.

By the 1950s, Southern states, in an effort to fend off unions (and the prospects of -- horrors! -- black union membership) had passed so-called "Right to Work" laws.

Seeking ever-cheaper labor costs, Northern manufacturers moved their plants south. Detroit's competitors were not in Asia, but in Kentucky or Mississippi. The former Confederacy was for industrialists then what China is now.

Boeing continues to play the Southern strategy.

And isn't it interesting that Airbus, operating in nations with much more highly unionized work forces, is Boeing's major competitor?
-- David Echols, Kirkland

Management is the problem
I write as the Machinists strike at Boeing goes into its second month.

Issues such as pay and the cost of health insurance, which impacts pay, are part of the reason for the walkout. There is however, a more significant issue at stake, which involves whether there should be input by the union members when decisions are made concerning subcontracting or outsourcing of work presently done in-house.

Of course, the obvious concern of the union members is that they have done and can do the various subsets of the final product and, to a high degree of excellence, they see wage increases on the books of little benefit if the jobs are shipped elsewhere.

There is, however, a further consideration. During the 1980s, the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, the so-called author of the "Japan (production) miracle," had some vogue in the United States, and when implemented, were given credit for saving the Ford Motor Co. from bankruptcy.

Deming said, among other things, that the worker is not the problem; management is the problem. He taught that it was important to emphasize quality, that this was achieved by talking to the workers -- the actual people who made the product -- and by listening and accepting their input.

In my (long) experience in the factory, management strains mightily when workers on the line deign to offer that input, fighting it, actually in some cases to the detriment of the product. When workers, united in their union organization, make that joint effort to share in the decision-making process, seeking the goals of better products and of higher profits and, yes, consideration of community and national interests, they are seen by some as a threat to management authority and as a foe to be defeated.

The Boeing top-executive goal is to fragment production to many locations and nations, to nonunion shops to the detriment of quality; and not to actually save money, but rather to ensure sole management control without input from any people who actually have their hands on the product.

Deming must be rolling in his grave.
-- Carl Schwartz, Machinists District 751 (ret.), Sammamish

Union forced workers to strike
I have many patients who work for Boeing, and recently four or five said they did not vote for, nor do they agree with, the strike but support it because they feel forced to by the union.

They are getting $150 a week strike pay, costing their company untold millions at a time when our economy can ill afford it, and they are having to change their insurance to COBRA, which they cannot afford.
I think it is time for the workers to quit being so greedy and go back to work for the good of our community, our country and themselves.

It is a shame President Bush does not step in and stop the strike for our national security and the good of our economy. I supported Bush, but I think he has become totally dysfunctional.
-- Michael deBerardinis, M.D., Auburn

Find a way
I think both Boeing executives and IAM [International Association of Machinists] union leaders ought to have their heads whacked together to knock some sense into them.

The company's slogan is "find a way." How do the union and company think this strike is going to be solved? By burying their heads in the sand?

If they talked to one another again, maybe they would find some common ground.
Negotiation requires each side to give a little.
-- Rebecca R. Hathaway, Federal Way

Something is better than nothing
Boeing's chairman and CEO, Jim McNerney, is only stating a truism when he said that any union that emphasizes only wage and benefits in any settlement package will eventually negotiate themselves right out of a job. An increase in wage and benefits, without a corresponding increase in productivity, is a dead-end street for both the union and industry involved.

Those who choose to ignore this simple economic fact do so at their peril, as auto workers are now finding out. Many have lost their benefits, and those who have lost their jobs are now working for wages that are half of what they once earned.

Is all of this long-term pain really worth the short-term gain?

Settle for what you can get because it's better than nothing at all.
-- Roy Weston, Burnaby, B.C.

Outsourcing hurts everybody
I am an engineer at Boeing, in the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, and I support the International Association of Machinists' position of wanting to keep jobs at home as much as possible ["Simmering strike scorching both sides," Times, page one, Sept. 29].

We all understand that some jobs are going to leave the United States because of sales contracts, but it doesn't have to be as rampant as Boeing is allowing it to be. The fact of the matter is, Boeing sees a short-term gain by outsourcing work. However, in the long term, it's not going to be good for business.

The IAM -- and SPEEA, too -- is concerned about the long-term viability of this business. We want to continue to have jobs long into the future. We want Boeing to be successful, otherwise we'll all lose our jobs, union and non-union alike. But it is the unions that stand up and say, "This isn't the smartest business move, and we're so angry about it, we're going on strike."

Call it tough-love taken to the extreme, but it is necessary. The more jobs are outsourced, the more the talent on the home front dwindles. There are distinct advantages in having the building and design work done in proximity: We engineers can walk to the factory and look at what results from our designs and what we need to do to make it better, more efficient and more practical for maintenance when the customer receives the product, etc.

The scary thing here is, it almost seems like Boeing doesn't want to build airplanes anymore. It's like they just want to take the big pieces from around the world and slap them together here. The machinists on strike don't think that's a good way to build an airplane, and they ought to know -- they've been building airplanes for years! And, pretty soon, Boeing's going to find out that the engineers agree.

Outsourcing hurts. It hurts employees and employers. Outsourcing hurts even more than a strike does.
-- Sophia Jones, Snohomish

Eliminate strikes
At what point does society say "enough!" to the Machinist union's legal extortion practices? What kind of society would we have if everyone could hold their company hostage if they didn't like how they were treated?

There are alternatives to a strike, but it doesn't appear that union leadership is too interested in pursuing these options. And, why not? Well, it's because they don't suffer during a strike -- unfortunately, everyone else does. When Boeing union members strike it hurts everyone: other Boeing employees, suppliers, local businesses, Boeing's reputation and profit margin and, most importantly, Boeing's customers, who don't have to buy Boeing products.

Let's eliminate strikes, keep the wheels on the bus turning and try to achieve workable solutions via mediation and binding arbitration. Or -- better yet -- if you don't like your job, find a better one.
-- Greg Kisinger, Renton