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
TAX REFORM INSTEAD OF GAMBLING
Expanding casino gambling to raise money to cover the budget deficits facing Illinois and Chicago governments is a risky bet with serious social costs [see Todd Spivak, “High stakes,” Nov. 11].
Casinos unfairly burden the people we need to support the most — low-income families with children. The social ills associated with problems and pathological gambling are clear: suicide, divorce, homelessness, domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.
As noted in a new special report by Voices for Illinois Children, even if projections are correct, new casinos won’t raise enough tax revenue to cover the state’s budget shortfall and provide enough funding for education. Casinos also don’t provide a revenue source that grows with the economy.
Instead, Illinois needs comprehensive tax reform that fixes the balance of tax revenues (by lowering property taxes, raising the income tax, and broadening the sales tax) and provides credits to offset the resulting higher tax burden on low- and moderate-income families. Only this approach will promote fairness and better opportunities and provide a secure foundation for public education.
Frank Kopecky
Pat Graham
Springfield Voices Leadership Committee
WE SHARE THE LOVE
I just finished reading the “Now Playing” column in Illinois Times and would like to thank Tom Irwin for taking the time to mention the Neil Young marathon airing on WQNA [“On ‘QNA, old man Young won’t fade away,” Nov. 11]. Although I was not directly involved, I am aware of the considerable planning and effort that the WQNA Saturday hosts have put into this all-day marathon.
All of us at WQNA believe in providing a service that benefits the music-listening community. As to the comment “Yes, Dave can be friendly,” anyone who takes the time to offer his or her love of unique music on the public airwaves (such as Dave Hustava, host of Fear and Loathing, or any of the other WQNA DJs ) is truly a friend indeed.
Dave “the other friendly Dave” Antoine
Host of Gardening at Night
WQNA (88.3FM)
HONESTY IS A MORAL VALUE
Of all the issues in this year’s election, moral values was described as the leading factor influencing voters — [scoring] higher than both the war in Iraq and the economy. Unfortunately, for most this translated into votes for a candidate who supports legislating morality. The irony is that the brutal regimes of the Middle East from which we are trying to free people also subscribe to this very concept of imposing morality.
Seth Bohlen
Springfield
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
The world just witnessed the funeral of President Yassir Arafat, one of the best known leaders of the Arab world. In Ramallah, Arafat was greeted by thousands of adoring Palestinians who loved and respected him not just as a leader but as a hero. Countries such as the United States and Great Britain do not understand that while Arafat was unsuccessful in giving the Palestinians what they wanted, he fought for them and never settled for anything less than what the Palestinians deserved.
Many saw the late leader as a terrorist, a stubborn negotiator, and an impediment to peace in the Middle East. However, Palestinians are not angry with him nor do they hold him responsible for the never-ending battle between Israel and Palestine.
Shayma Hasan
Springfield
THANKS TO AFSCME ORGANIZERS
I wanted to write a word of thanks to all the folks at the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees whohave been helping with the organizing effort at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. You have all been incredibly positive and respectful to each of us. It is very apparent that you love your work.
It was so exciting to be there the other night when it was announced that the clerical and paraprofessionals had reached majority and would have a union. You have empowered people to know that they have a voice, that what they feel matters. That is a wonderful accomplishment that can only spill over to those we serve.
Patricia Drake, R.N.
Springfield
TURN LAKE PROPERTY INTO A PRESERVE
Finally the boondoggle of Lake II — the darling pet project of the land sharks and developers — has been put to rest. Now Springfield has a golden opportunity to honor, instead of desecrate, the land near where it squats. The thousands of acres of riparian land bought up by City Water, Light & Power for the proposed lake should be designated as a forest-prairie preserve. It could be named in honor of Lake II’s proponent, John Hunter, or in honor of Abraham Lincoln. More important, it should honor the land, a concept that is foreign to most people, especially to developers and speculators.
We owe it to our descendants to preserve and add to the few fragments of forest and prairie we haven’t yet destroyed. And thanks to the dedicated fieldwork of the Friends of Sangamon Valley, this land is thoroughly inventoried, providing a blueprint for preservation and restoration projects. Unlike a lake with noisy, polluting motorboats and personal watercraft, a forest preserve is quiet and users are nonpolluting, as long as uses are restricted to nonmotorized uses: hiking, horseback riding, contemplative study of nature, and so on.
Let hunters, trappers, boaters, and fishermen and women and offroad-vehicle users do their thing in other designated places. Let this place be a sanctuary, for people and nature.
Springfield also has a golden opportunity to implement wise water-conservation policies and strategies. As conscientious citizens, we should seize the opportunity to take personal responsibility for our own extravagant, water-wasteful ways and work to reduce our consumption of this resource vital to all life.
Remember the three R’s: recycle, reuse, and reduce.
Robert Waldmire
Rochester
ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF WEAPONS?
It seems that all I am seeing and hearing now from the progressive media (since Nov. 2) is what Democrats and progressives can do differently in the next election, what we did wrong, and how we can “appeal” to voters who turned away from our message in 2004. I would say, it’s not what we failed to convey but somehow our ability to face obvious truths has been lost to us.
The media site, “The Black Commentator,” quoted George Orwell: “Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give the appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
Have we all bought this language to avoid feeling guilty for not stopping our president from invading Iraq? Translate the words “collateral damage.” It means dead civilians. How much intelligence and integrity does it take for anyone to say, “You know innocent people could be killed if we go in there and bomb their cities and countryside”? Do you think we ought to do that? What if someone then decided to do that to us? Or perhaps that is what happened on 9/11? So, why would we want to do the same thing to someone else?
It is as though we Americans don’t want to face our own weakness — that by doing so will make us weak or a target. We are a target because of our stupidity and arrogance. Intelligence and integrity are the biggest weapons a country can have. Do we have any left?
Anne Logue
Springfield
FLUFF BORN OF DEEP-SEATED FEAR
Are the media so afraid of evangelicals that they must print fluff like Jeannette Cooperman’s article [“God on their side,” Nov. 11]? As usual, not one mention of the financial engine that drives the evangelical movement and not one mention of the high-profile TV preachers who lead the movement.
Tom Ferrari
Tovey
CORRECTION
American Legion Post 809 bears the name of Col. Otis B. Duncan, a
celebrated World War I veteran from Springfield. The veterans’ post at 1800
E. Capitol Ave. was incorrectly identified in a “History Talk” column published
last week [Bob Cavanagh, “For many veterans, the sacrifices never ended,” Nov.
11]. Illinois Times regrets the error.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2004.
