Letters to the editor

The PC in BCC

Socratic method: The truth is revealed through questioning

Editor, The Times:

If Bellevue Community College even remotely resembled the vision of totalitarian ideological intolerance that editorial writer Bruce Ramsey depicts, it would have gotten rid of its philosophers long ago ["Censure of BCC math teacher just doesn't add up," Times editorial column, Oct. 4]. But I'm happy to report we are still here and flourishing.

As any competent village philosopher would, I have been openly questioning the notion of punishing a person in the absence of bad intent or significant negligence since shortly after math professor Peter Ratener's penalty was announced. Further, I have been doing so freely with no fear of reprisal.

I can understand how some may fear intolerance after the emotional spring we had at BCC. But such fear can only be maintained by systematically avoiding the many opportunities available on this campus to share thoughts and feelings about the events of spring quarter.

Those of us who won't be silenced know there is nothing to fear in speaking up at BCC. What I have found is that concern about the justness of punishing Ratener is widespread among faculty and staff at BCC. But what speaks especially well of this institution is the high degree of respect I am accorded by those who don't always agree with me.

— W. Russ Payne (Philosophy, Bellevue Community College), Bellevue

Calculus for life

As someone who works at Bellevue Community College and who is quite willing to put my name to my words, I am surprised that with so little information and some misinformation, Bruce Ramsey could assert there was and is political thought control at Bellevue Community College. The opposite is true.

The "math incident" triggered an unabated outpouring of opinion across the spectrum that we hope will lead to an outpouring of solutions because these incidents derail a student's life. They stop students from finishing college — an economic cost calculated by The Times as $1 million over a lifetime, not to mention health costs, decreased life span, and the loss of the individual's full contribution to society.

— Leslie Lum (faculty, Bellevue Community College), Bellevue

Degraded for substance

Though all-too-typical of college administrations these days, the weak-kneed and sheepish response of BCC's administration to the mob in the case of Peter Ratener is still disheartening to read about. Bruce Ramsey's comparison of the railroading of Ratener to the Chinese Cultural Revolution is accurate.

While I'm familiar with the stereotype of black people and watermelons and find a test question involving "Condoleezza" throwing a watermelon bizarre, I think withdrawal of the test and a statement by Ratener that no offense was intended should have been sufficient.

For the BCC administration to hang him out to dry and pander to the "I am offended" mentality of parties who are likely looking to do nothing more than create some excitement is reprehensible.

By apologizing for something he had nothing to apologize for, Ratener debased the value of a sincere apology. Shame on the BCC administration and Ratener's union for not supporting him.

— James Paden, Blaine

Dropping out

We learned all we need

Since I live in a part of the city (Montlake) with a high-performing school that has been selected for closure and have watched in horror the antics of the Seattle School Board and Superintendent Raj Manhas over the past few years, the only conclusion I can arrive at is that it's time for the neighborhoods to withdraw from Seattle School District and form their own locally managed school boards ["Seattle School Board meeting turns unruly," Local News, Oct. 5].

We have reconstructed the School Board over the past couple elections with people who claimed to bring a new perspective, only to have our hopes dashed with the same tired approach to problem-solving their predecessors had. It tells me the problem is endemic to the School District, probably finding its source in the superintendent's office.

The neighborhood-friendly solution is for each to step out of the Seattle School District taking nothing but the facilities with them. After all, the board and superintendent have sold us on the fact that these old buildings are worthless, so the cost of facilities for the new school district certainly should be sufficiently modest.

Then each neighborhood can decide for itself whether it prioritizes academic performance or hundred-million-dollar sports complexes, cross-town busing and parking lots.

— Robert Humphrey, Seattle

The balance sheet

Gains from other side

I can fully understand and sympathize with the owners of family-owned businesses who fear that the business will either pass out of the families' hands or vanish entirely.

The Times states it is not unreasonable to tax the rich but that taxes should be taken out bit-by-bit so the "bite" is manageable ["Repeal the death tax," editorial, Oct. 1]. Thus, taxing the lump-sum distribution of an estate is unfair, in The Times' way of thinking.

What The Times fails to see is that the estate tax is not [levied] on the deceased. They are dead, and cannot pay taxes. The heirs of an estate are paying the taxes. These taxes are on income. If I make a windfall income, I will have to pay a lot of tax on that in the year I received that income. It is not fair that heirs should be taxed less (or not at all!) just because they were lucky to be born into a wealthy family and receive a large lump income one year.

If The Times feels paying taxes should be spread out, why haven't the owners sold The Times piece-by-piece to the eventual heirs to make the tax bite more "manageable"?

There are aspects of estate taxes that are unfair, such as tax rates and taxation of assets which have no immediate cash value (such as privately held stocks), but inheritance is just another form of income, the same as lottery winnings, and should be taxed accordingly.

— John Snow, Woodinville

Losses on paper

In order to prevent the takeover of small businesses by conglomerates, tax policy should provide an incentive to preserve family control. Inherited stocks should be taxed at a low rate (perhaps 15 percent). If that stock is sold at any time by those benefiting from the inheritance, they would be taxed at the rate in effect at the time of the inheritance or at the time of the sale, which ever is higher.

This would ensure family control through inheritance while preventing inheritors from gaining excessively from the sale of the businesses created by previous generations' hard work.

Now that The L.A. Times and other independent newspapers are being absorbed into conglomerates, independent reporting will also disappear.

— John M. Maloof Jr., Seattle

Toast

To thief's cachet

"136 stolen cars, 1 suspect: 'He enjoyed driving,' " [page one, Oct. 6]. And now he probably enjoys being in the spotlight because of The Times.

Gee, should we invite him over for dinner? You make him sound like he's just a little angel gone astray. What a great example to set.

A criminal by any other name smells as rotten.

— Shannon Greer, Tacoma