Scary oversight
In last week’s listing of area Haunted Houses, we neglected to mention the
Springfield Jaycees Haunted House, a local institution since 1979. Proceeds
fund a variety of charity programs, including the purchase of Christmas gifts
for underprivileged children. This year’s haunted house will be at the Capitol
City Shopping Center, October 15 through November 1; hours are 6:30 to 9:30
p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 6:30 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission
is $4 per person. Kids can come when the lights are on from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday
and Sunday; admission is then $2. Anyone interested in volunteering with the
construction or operation of the Springfield Jaycees Haunted House should call
528-8669. For a complete listing of all upcoming haunted houses, check out future
issues of the Illinois Times.
Scary oversight II
Dear sir,
Thank you for your recent coverage of the SPAM contest at the Illinois State
Fair [August 14]. However, I wish your reporter had taken the time to make the
article accurate.
First of all, my name is Sandy Potthoff, and I am the superintendent of the
textile and culinary departments.
Second, the first prize winner did not just receive an apron, as the article
stated. She received $150, her award ribbon, the SPAM apron, a SPAM shirt, and
a SPAM bank, and her recipe was automatically entered into the national contest
with a chance at a $2,500 shopping spree at the Mall of America (this prize
was won by the Illinois State Fair winner 2 years ago).
I wish your reporter had checked her facts a little more before submitting
her article.
Again, thank your for the coverage.
Sincerely,
Sandra Potthoff
Superintendent
Textiles and Culinary
CWLP needs independent oversight
To the editor,
CWLP’s recent proposal to raise rates in order to expand its power generation
capacity may not be in the best interests of Springfield citizen-taxpayers.
Any plan to get back into the power marketing and sales business should be based
on an expert independent cost and risk analysis. Otherwise the tens of millions
lost in 1998 may look small in comparison.
Springfield residents should not face substantial rate increases so that CWLP
can continue to sell discounted “excess” power to outsiders. CWLP’s so-called
economic proposal involves Springfield citizen-taxpayers incurring cost and
incurring risk on behalf of outsiders. Mayor Davlin pledged to run Springfield
like a business, but it appears his CWLP leadership is using the ENRON model.
Sincerely,
Peter J. Wagner
Springfield
Pagans are people too
Dear America,
Three months after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, in December of
2001, I was all comfortable under my blanket, remote in hand, surfing TV land.
I stopped on CNN to check on the crisis situation of our war on terrorism. I
always read the flow of the ticker tape at the bottom of the screen for a quick
news fix, but as I read a passing line I couldn’t believe my eyes–I thought
I had stepped back in time. The sentence said, “Baptist group protests Harry
Potter because they believe it promotes Paganism.” A new millennium and religious
intolerance was alive and kickin’.
They say “Paganism” as if it were a bad thing. It is a religious belief like
any other. Some groups use words like the terrorists use bombs–as a means to
force their belief system on others out of fear not faith. The next step is
to justify killing in the name of God.
The date has changed, and it is now the summer of 2003. I open the newspaper
and see an article on the seventh Harry Potter book. But now Harry Potter is
said to be promoting Christianity. An author named Granger is sure that Harry
Potter is promoting the Christian belief system, that author J.K. Rowling’s
delicate use of medieval symbols provides a hidden key to the moral of the story.
Harry’s supernatural adventures have supplied my own imagination with enchantment
that has little to do with my religious convictions. The stories are so fantastic
and well-written that I applaud Rowling. I see a lot of people trying to jump
on her bandwagon and ride in her parade.
Alongside the Harry Potter article was a story on the topic of Wicca, a newly
formed revision of an old religion that involves the use of witchcraft, not
unlike the wizardry of Harry Potter. Wiccans are Pagans. Pagan is an umbrella
term used for all native religions. Wiccans study the elements and call on the
forces of nature in their spells (spells, by the way, are prayers with props).
They light candles and burn incense, like other religions. Instead of a piano
or organ, they use a drum or flute, and they chant instead of sing (sometimes
they sing too). All this is to reach out to an unseen force, a power greater
than themselves, a Higher Power. But because their expressions are different
from the mainstream, they are wrong.
They believe in Gods and Goddesses and that ain’t right, according to a quote
from the pastor of the First Apostolic Church, Kenneth Murray, published in
the Commercial News in Danville. All to stop a new Wicca school from
operating in Hoopeston. Does freedom truly ring in the good ole U.S.A.?
The Constitution allows all belief systems, but communities can drive out
anyone they choose. Terrorism is not something that only comes from outside
our country–sometimes we do it to each other. It is an act of terrorism to verbally
or physically attack someone for his or her beliefs. If someone’s faith, sexual
preference, skin color, or langauage bothers us, we have to ask why. What are
we afraid of?
Hitler’s rein of terror has scarred generations of Jews. Witches have been
burned and tortured, first in Europe and then on American soil. Jesus Christ
brought compassion and light into the world only to be hung on a cross, judged
and murdered for his beliefs.
Come on, America, it’s time to break the chains that bind us from freedom.
Love thy neighbor, and live and let live for Goodness sake. Wicca is a part
of the oldest form of spiritual expression, better known as religion.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Gypsy Starwyn
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2003.
