HOW TO AVOID TAX
I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read the letter from the smoker who challenges non-smokers to contribute to the cause (tobacco taxes) just as smokers do [“Letters,” April 22]. I took a moment to digest this diatribe until I realized this guy may just be having fun with us. Now I realize that there’s an abundance of ignorance out there. For nonsmokers to pay taxes because smokers have to pay them is quite an odd way of thinking, if thinking is even possible since proven medical evidence may be unable to enter nicotine-embedded and petrified brains. Nonsmokers consciously understand the high risks they would face from lung cancer and other diseases if they were to use tobacco. So why would we even consider supporting this absurd demand that we pay a tax for not smoking?
Now smokers, read the following advice – and I’ve written it real slow so you can comprehend the following warning: If you want to avoid having to pay increased tobacco taxes (and remember, tobacco companies just pass those taxes along to you) and, if you want to avoid a crippling disease and an agonizing death; you too can enjoy a free ride along with us non-smokers, then, pay attention now: Just quit!
Stan Zielinski
Springfield
WALMART: REMEMBER ROOTS
Memo to WalMart: If you are not going to continue “buying locally” as we know it, please change your ads [see “Wal-Mart reduces dairy business with Prairie Farms,” by Patrick Yeagle, April 15]. It is impossible to imagine that you can buy and ship from Texas cheaper than you can here within the state.
We certainly would consider buying at Wal-Mart more readily if we could find more things “made in America” within your store. When a company begins breaking down that which has made them great and yet continuing to claim that greatness, it is lying, deceiving, and basically wrong.
Norma Golike
Bethalto
SMTD IS DEAF
I was interviewed by Patrick Yeagle after my testimony at the SMTD April 7 hearing [see “Springfield bus routes undergo major changes,” April 15]. I also submitted written testimony and have been in contact with executive director, Linda Tisdale, and the consultant, Thomas Whitman. It was an extreme disappointment to our handicapped son, Gary, and to us to learn that the testimonies given on April 7 and 8 were the same as a kangaroo court — foregone conclusions had already been made and they were just going through the motions pretending to
be fair.
We asked for two minor tweaks to Route 14 to get Gary to work. Getting him home would be a challenge with the two possible proposed routes but taking longer to get home is not as hard as getting to work on time. Even testifying was difficult because we had no schedules and did not really know if anything would work. They appear to want him to use the ACCESS van which charges $2 each way and demands a two-hour window for pickup, which is not workable for Gary.
We have been in Sherwood subdivision for 36 years. My husband and children have used the bus regularly. When we thought of moving we found that Sherwood had the best bus service in town and decided to stay put. Now we are older and poorer and moving is not an option. So it is hard to accept the changes which are so drastic for Gary’s purposes, and not really good for my older husband who uses the buses, too. I appreciated your article and including us in the discussion. It is just so sad that my testimony and that of others fell on deaf ears.
Margaret A. Wood
Springfield
Enough of the backwards-looking anti-nuclear-power whining. The 70's are gone.
We have better, fail-safe designs now. Waste can be managed, and it doesn't have to add to terrorism or proliferation. The biggest problem in nuclear power has not been technical, it has been one of oversight. The French get more than half their power from fission plants and have an excellent record, in fact they dominate the industry world-wide, using American-based designs. Why?
What they do better is they have better management. Their managers have to live right next door to the plants they manage, for one thing, the assumption correctly being you wouldn't cut corners on safety if your own wife and kids were right next door. If utility executives were afraid of themselves going to real prisons for flaunting safety rules, instead of paying fines or sacrificing anonymous fall-guy technicians for violations, THEN plants would be run better, and that goes for ANY kind of power plant.
We can do this. Wind and Solar and conservation are good but not enough. For the base load we depend on, it has to be nuclear power, and we need to get going: the old plants in Illinois are all aging out and we need to be working on their replacements now.