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
GIVE THEM SHELTER
I was very shocked to read the story about the homeless problem here
in Springfield [Todd Spivak, “Packed house,” May 6]. I’m also shocked that there
is a committee that doesn’t know anything about its purpose. It sounds like
the mayor isn’t very organized with this committee. All around Springfield there
are vacant apartment buildings and houses — and people who don’t get into shelters
are on the street at night. Something’s wrong with this whole situation.
Joseph E. Perkinton
Springfield
SUPPORT THE YWCA
The YWCA’s recent “Women of Excellence” award banquet on April 29, 2004 provided
Springfield with a reminder of this quiet heroine of a local organization in
our midst.
The YW not only provides a historic gathering place for community activities:
Through its many programs it also empowers women of all backgrounds, particularly
the poor. As evidenced by the million-plus participants of the recent March
for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., the need for support of women is greater
now than ever before; and any group that supports women is well deserving of
financial support.
Women of Springfield can learn more about the YW at a 95th Anniversary Celebration
Afternoon Tea at the Executive Mansion to be held on Saturday, June 5 (call
522-8828 for pre-registration).
Diane Lopez Hughes
Springfield
LOG ROLLING
As Americans struggle with difficult economic times, the U.S. Forest
Service is giving away millions of tax dollars to corporations for clear-cutting
our old-growth Tongass National Forest. The logging industry gets cheap old-growth
trees, and we get the bill.
Illinois citizens can ill afford this tax burden. Every year, more than $30
million in tax dollars is spent building roads to nowhere in the world’s largest
intact coastal temperate rainforest. This great wilderness land in Alaska is
threatened by a history of pandering to shortsighted special-interest groups.
We must let our U.S. senators and congressmen know that using tax dollars
in this manner is unacceptable. Why should we pay the price for the destruction
of our natural legacy?
Lynn Rotunno
Alaska Coalition of Illinois
Glen Ellyn
This article appears in May 13-19, 2004.
