Letters policy
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address and a daytime
telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length and clarity.
Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois
62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com
NO ON ABORTION — AND THE WAR
Anne Logue, in her response to my letter of Dec. 30, missed the fact
that I’d stated that being too young emotionally and being unprepared financially
should both strongly figure in a teen’s decision [to have a child]. She also
missed the fact that I emphasized adoption as an alternative to abortion and
noted that adoption agencies pay for the needs of a pregnant teen. To Ms. Logue,
I’d say that I’m painfully aware that our country has problems in respect for
life in many ways. Abuse, rape, and incest are ugly realities. But allowing
an unborn innocent’s life to be snuffed out is not the answer. . . .
And yes, I’ll agree with her that the war in Iraq didn’t need to happen. It’s
a horrendous mess that never should have been started. Ms. Logue asks, “Where
were the voters to oppose this atrocity?” It was months before any soldiers
set foot over there that we, the American people, “walked for peace” in Washington
and in many other cities across the country. But guess what? The Bush administration
ignored our opinions, as well as those of people with wiser minds, not to start
this preemptive war.
I, too, am concerned about issues that affect our children’s welfare. So the
best thing to do is to get involved in any group or organization that is trying
to make a difference. Positive actions by well-intentioned people in a community
really can yield some big differences. It can also help us rest easier at night.
Janet Roth-Shaw
Springfield
WE THANK OUR SPONSORS
On Dec. 31, 2004, the Springfield Area Arts Council proudly presented
the 18th annual First Night Springfield. We thank the 5,000-plus people who
joined in this family-oriented New Year’s Eve celebration of the arts held in
downtown Springfield. The continued success of this event would not be possible
without the support of our sponsors, volunteers, performance artists, and the
community at large.
Bobette Gerlach, event co-chairwoman
Mark Pence, event co-chairman
Ann Frescura, executive director,
Springfield Area Arts Council
WE THANK OUR DONORS
When we first sat around the table with our Tree of Lights committee
and looked at the dollars that we needed to raise to meet the needs of 2005,
it was staggering. We realized that we needed a minimum of $350,000, and that
was the goal we set. Now, with immense gratitude, we thank everyone who helped
us exceed our goal by $33,284.
Thanks to everyone who mailed us a donation or put a donation in one of our
red kettles, we will be able to come closer to meeting the need of the hungry
and homeless in Sangamon County.
Lora Pearson, advisory-board chair
Capt. Deon and Michelle Oliver, commanding officers
Salvation Army
DOWN THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
A news article in the Chicago Tribune on Monday [Jan. 3] reported
that a group of parents at a Roman Catholic school in Costa Mesa, Calif., were
demanding that only families who pledge to abide by Catholic teachings be accepted
to the school. This was in response to a gay couple who enrolled their two adopted
sons.
Sounding much like fundamentalist Christian Coalition groups, John R. Nixon,
a parent at the school, was quoted as saying, “The teachings of the church seem
to have been abandoned. We send our children to a Catholic school because we
expect and demand that the teachings of our church will be adhered to.” The
Rev. Gerald Horan, superintendent of diocese schools there, responded that if
Catholic beliefs were strictly adhered to, children whose parents divorced,
used birth control, or married outside the church would also have to be banned.
“This is the quagmire that the parents’ position represents,” he said. “It’s
a slippery slope to go down.”
A slippery slope indeed. Current complaints and editorials about the ACLU,
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and other First Amendment
issues represent another slope we are sliding down. What most people do not
understand is that the separation of church and state protects all religions
in our country and protects our democratic government.
Closed-minded, intolerant people [who seek to] impose their view of reality
need to keep in mind that there are other religious fanatics in line behind
them, waiting to shred our democratic government and our First Amendment rights.
Take the example of the Catholic parents in California as a warning of what
could happen to our society if we don’t.
Karie Ellison
St. Anne
MUCH TOO MODEST
There was a serious omission in Phil Funkenbusch’s “A glimpse back,
a look ahead” column [“Backstage Pass,” Jan. 6]. No listing of Springfield theater
highlights for 2004 is complete without the inclusion of the beautiful and touching
production of Big River at the Muni this summer. Because Phil directed
this production, he was probably too modest to include it in his year-end review.
Without a doubt, this production deserved to be listed among the best productions
in Springfield last year. Congratulations to Phil and to everyone involved in
all the productions he recognized. Springfield has an amazing range of theater
talent, and 2004 provided a number of showcases for this talent.
Brian Pier
Springfield
TORT REFORM DOUBLE STANDARD
Tort reform activists like to claim that consumers and patients filing
frivolous lawsuits drive up business costs in general and health care costs
specifically. The insurance industry is the most strident voice for federal
legislation restricting consumers’ rights to file for damages. However, in Cook
County, Illinois, insurance companies filed almost 8,000 lawsuits in 2002 —
35 times the number of patient-initiated class action lawsuits in that venue
that year. In fact, the insurance industry has asked to be exempted from a model
tort reform law they themselves support.
As “patient rights” attorneys only get paid if a suit finds for damages, few
attorneys accept or pursue a case lacking significant merit. It would seem this
issue, like almost every judgment made by the Bush administration, is very much
for business and decidedly against the individual.
Tim Slack
Newburgh, Ind.
MILLIONS OF WOULD-BE TAXPAYERS GONE
It’s been 32 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was OK for
a woman to destroy her baby. [There have been] more than 45 million abortions
since 1973. These human beings would be in their teens, twenties, and thirties.
They would be taxpayers, supporting Social Security. We hear, so many times,
“God bless America.” When abortion ends, God will bless our country once again.
Danny Faulkner
Springfield
GAMBLING WITH SOCIAL SECURITY
Every serious proposal to privatize Social Security raises the retirement
age to 70. That might be fine if you’re a Washington special-interest lobbyist
but it is incredibly unfair to blue-collar Americans with tough, physical jobs,
or for African-Americans and Latinos with lower life expectancies.
Privatization means gambling with your retirement security. There is probably
an appropriate place for a little stock market risk in retirement planning —
but it isn’t Social Security. Privatization exposes your entire retirement portfolio
to stock market risks — and the risk that you’ll outlive any of your savings
at retirement.
Anne Logue
Springfield
HE SHOULD JUST ZIP IT
Bill Clinton urging Democrats to “engage the American heartland” in
some highfalutin “conversation about religion and values”? He would have done
better to simply keep his pecker in his pants instead of creating the Monica
Lewinsky scandal.
To the vast majority of religion-benighted Americans, “morality” is simply
anti-sex. Muddle-headed liberals, with all their social theory, would prefer
to inflate popular morality into something it isn’t.
Clinton fired Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders for advocating masturbation as
a way to prevent AIDS. We would all be better off today if that hypocrite had
taken her advice.
Jim Senyszyn
Peoria
CORRECTION
Richmond High School is in Richmond, Calif., near Oakland. A review
of the film Coach Carter gave an incorrect location [Chuck Koplinski,
“Jackson shines as Coach Carter,” Jan. 13].
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2005.
