Letters to the Editor

In one of the articles on the East Coast sniper in Friday's Post-Intelligencer, your headline indicated that the sniper had an illegal weapon. In fact, he is suspected of illegally possessing a legal weapon. There is a significant difference.

Considering the political bent of your publication in general, I do not believe this error was unintended. I, or the rest of the newspaper reading public, should not have to filter out your slant on the news to get the pure facts. We are capable of forming our own opinions. We don't need yours.

Steven E. Trimble
Bothell

Gun regulations would make us all feel safer

For more than a year, President Bush has been promising to use all means necessary to protect the nation from terrorism.

Now that it is established that two homicidal losers with an assault rifle can terrorize our capital, will the president stand up to the gun zealots and support reasonable gun regulation, beginning with assault rifles?

Richard J. Hilfer
Seattle

President needs to stop putting gun owners first

Even as our nation's capital was terrorized by an assassin armed with a high-powered rifle, George W. Bush and the National Rifle Association continued to value the rights of gun owners and special interests over the well-being and safety of the general public. Bush has restated his resistance, on privacy grounds, to the creation of a national database of weapon "fingerprints" that would allow authorities to identify the owner of a particular gun through ballistics matches. While this stance may bring great cheer for Bush's handlers at the NRA, it is small comfort to the innocent victims and is a further demonstration of the cynically compromised priorities of this administration.

Ron Dickson
Seattle

Criminals fear rights of law-abiding citizens

Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland have the strictest gun-control laws in the nation and, therefore, one of the very highest rates for violent crime including the recent sniper attacks. Maryland's Victim Disarmament Laws have resulted in that state having the nation's highest rate for robbery; it is in fourth place for violent crime and murder.

One of the organizations criminals fear and hate the most is the National Rifle Association because by protecting our Second Amendment rights, it ensures that law-abiding citizens can own guns to protect themselves against criminals.

To criminals -- robbers, rapists, burglars, snipers, etc. -- I can only say that if you want to operate in a criminal's paradise, rich with unarmed victims, Washington, D.C., or Maryland is the place to go. But for your own safety, stay out of states where your victims may be armed.

Robert Wassman
Vancouver

CHARTER AMENDMENT

Initiative process is a right worth preserving

I disagree with the Post-Intelligencer's endorsement of Seattle Charter Amendment 3. This amendment eliminates the requirement that initiative signatures be certified and sent to the City Council within 20 days of submission.

The initiative process is the first right reserved by the people of Seattle. Community groups that utilize this process oppose this amendment because it eliminates the ability to guarantee a spot on the ballot. Now, with explicit time restraints written into the law, initiative backers can predict the date by which they must have their petitions in. This amendment eliminates those time restraints and the ability to guarantee a spot on the current year's ballot.

Currently, initiatives must be in by mid-July to guarantee a spot on the ballot. With this amendment, that date will move up an indefinite amount of time -- I predict one month. That eliminates important summer signature-gathering events such as the Fremont Fair, which can bring in thousands of signatures. This amendment makes it much harder to get an initiative on the ballot.

This charter amendment was introduced on the same day it was passed, with no public notice and no public comment. Alternatives to this restraint on our initiative rights were not heard. The citizens of Seattle should be appalled at this amendment and at the secretive way in which it was placed on the ballot. Simple housecleaning this is not. Vote no.

Ben Livingston
Treasurer, Sensible Seattle Coalition

Charter amendment would mean fewer initiatives

Seattle voters should reject Proposed Charter Amendment 3. This measure would change the 20-day period in which the city clerk is required to transmit the verification of the sufficiency of petition signatures to the City Council after the petitions are submitted. Under the proposal the period would start running after the county finishes the signature-verification process instead of when the petitions are turned in. This would give the county an unspecified amount of time to count the signatures and 20 days after the counting for the city clerk to take the report upstairs to the City Council.

The charter amendment would create uncertainty and would essentially mean there will be no or at least very few citizen initiatives in the future. Remember, it was citizen initiatives that saved the Pike Place Market, protected the Washington Park Arboretum from fences and fees and protected Seattle parks from disposal for non-park purposes, just to name a few over the years. In your Saturday editorial, you state that initiative proponents can just press the county and the city to move expeditiously in verifying signatures. Initiative proponents have tried this and it hasn't worked.

With the advent of computers and technological advances, it would seem there should be no problem in verifying petition signatures within the current 20-day rule. But, there is a problem -- the failure of local government to act promptly on initiatives, and in some cases to take them seriously. This is why the framers of the charter granted the initiative as the "first power reserved by the people." Initiatives have been proposed when the City Council fails to act. Yes, improvements are needed to the local initiative process, but Charter Amendment 3 is not the answer. This year's charter amendments were proposed with no notice to citizens and no opportunity to comment on the proposals. The amendments were introduced and passed on the same day. This is not the "Seattle Way."

Betty Sullivan and Annette Holcomb
Co-Presidents
League of Women Voters

U.S. CONSTITUTION

All politicians need to read preamble

Homework assignment for the president, members of Congress and congressional candidates: Re-read the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and come to work prepared to act in accordance with it. (Hint: A key phrase is "provide for the common defense." Note that there is no reference to world domination.) Supplementary reading assignment: The recent Council on Foreign Relations report on major gaps in homeland security since 9/11.

For extra credit, read the last paragraph in the "National Security Strategy of the United States," made public by the Bush administration last month and memorize the first two sentences of that paragraph:

"Ultimately, the foundation of American strength is at home. It is in the skills of our people, the dynamism of our economy and the resilience of our institutions."

There will be a test.

Bill Sieverling
Seattle

HEROES

Todd Beamer represents selflessness and courage

The name Todd Beamer for our newest high school in Federal Way is drawing flak. I'm sure there are many people who lived lives of worth who could have had their names emblazoned across the front of this new hall of education. However, I am pleased because this man represented something young people need to be taught more about.

This man, representative of other nameless but just as heroic airline passengers on 9/11, modeled selflessness and courage. He wasn't doing what he did so he could get his 15 minutes of fame on the nation's news reports; he wasn't pushing his political agenda; he wasn't getting some psychological thrill. He was a man of character doing what men do when they live a life of character. He pushed beyond fear to the strength God gives to those laying down their lives for others.

Harriet Cook
Federal Way

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