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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
WHEN ADULTS GO BAD
This comment is regarding the “Unplugged” article by Todd Spivak [July 29]. The article is excellent, but the story is frustrating. I’m 23 years old and currently live in Springfield but grew up in Decatur. In my teenage years there weren’t many places to hang out indoors, so we’d sit on Eldorado Street, which cuts through Decatur. We’d sit somewhere for maybe two or three Saturday nights, and then the cops would come and make us move to a different spot. People didn’t want to see, hear, or even deal with us. So I can relate to the teens in that article, especially Dustin Eskew, who says, “This is the only place around for us to go.” Why is that, Dustin?
Adults say that teens shouldn’t drink or do drugs, but what do they do about it? Someone tries to put together something that teens/young adults will like, and people complain about it being too noisy, too many cars, and so on. Do people who live by the fairgrounds complain when the truck and tractor pulls come to town? Do people who live beside an airport call the mayor to complain when a plane lands? I think not. I think the parking lot was also mentioned as being “unsafe.” I worked at Wal-Mart as a cart-pusher for one day and almost got hit three times. Any parking lot can be unsafe. To anyone who reads this article, my point is this: Instead of ignoring teens/young adults and just shoving them away from you to God knows where else just so you don’t have to hear their music, how about people take Justin Ford’s lead and find (or build) someplace where people can go and not bother anyone (or be bothered)? How hard can it be? It would keep kids off the streets and give them someplace to hang out. The live-band venues are awesome and are a great way to hang out and interact with other people (not to mention listen to great music).
Kyle Waddell
Springfield
A DESTROYER OF FEDERALISM
I am glad that the Illinois Republican Party has finally found its senatorial candidate — in Maryland. I find it interesting that the Illinois Republican Party is so desperate to choose just about anyone to run for U.S. Senate that they actually believe that a resident from a state halfway across the country is more in touch with the feelings of Illinoisans than Barack Obama. It further intrigues me that Alan Keyes is running in Illinois even though he said, “I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton’s willingness to go into a state she doesn’t even live in and pretend to represent people there, so I certainly wouldn’t imitate it.” Perhaps Alan Keyes should follow what he said.
Byron Thompson
Lisle
WHEN LIBERALS TALK, I DON’T LISTEN
We, the people, must make an informed decision, not just [fall for] the spin, rhetoric, and half-truths that the liberals are trying to sell us. When I see or hear a liberal on TV or radio anymore, I automatically turn it off — they have nothing of value for me to listen to. I also am very offended that the so-called celebrities think that they have enough clout with us that they will change our minds or influence our vote. They must think we are very shallow that we cannot think for ourselves. Please follow your heart and search for the truth in this election year. It could be the difference between life and death, considering the seriousness with which President Bush takes the terrorist threat versus John Kerry.
Brenda Ford
Springfield
DON’T BE A HATER
I, too, wonder how those folks could have been arrested who apparently did no more than quietly wear T-shirts declaring “Love America, Hate Bush” during a recent presidential visit in West Virginia [Jim Hightower, “Is this America?” Aug. 5].
Perhaps officials believed these slogans could incite violence, but that would certainly be a stretch. It was also a stupid move for the Bush administration, if indeed they orchestrated the arrest, because of what would appear to be Gestapo tactics.
On the other hand, I think sporting these words on T-shirts was very tasteless. It’s one thing to show your displeasure with the Bush administration with words such as “Love America, Vote for Kerry,” “Love America, Hate Bush’s Policies,” or maybe even “I Love America, I Hate Bush.”
But exhorting others to hate our president, or anyone other person for that matter, no matter how much you disagree with that person, is a little much. Isn’t there already enough hate in today’s world without promoting even more? Here in America we have the cherished right to express our opinions, but let’s not abuse that right.
Dick McLane
Springfield
LET ME WRITE ABOUT MY DATES
Wow, Mr. Kevin Johnson said it all but said it rather harshly [“Letters,” July 29]. Grace Smith’s column is very boring and saturated with minute details of her social life that nobody cares about. It’s like reading her weekend calendar. I, for one, am not the least bit interested in what she and her boyfriend do on the weekends. She has great writing potential that could be used for other things. If you want someone to write about her full weekends and her dating life, sign me up if it’s a paying job.
Victoria Taylor
Springfield
SOME PEOPLE WOULD RATHER FORGET
A vote for George W. Bush is a vote for the best candidate. Some people want to forget about the 1.5 million jobs created since last August from President Bush’s tax cuts. Some people want to forget about freeing 50 million people in Iraq. Some people want to forget about the first democratic elections in Afghanistan. A vote for Bush is a vote for freedom, prosperity, and leadership.
Andy Biggs
Chatham
THOSE REVISIONISTS KEEP REVISING
Revisionist history accelerates with the New Philadelphia archeology dig. The directors of the project have stated in their grant and to the press that “New Philadelphia was the first town incorporated by an African American.” Most people understand “town incorporation” as a legal term, [but] not the revisionists, who now provide a new construction, stripping the term of its legal specificity. As Georgia Lee Elledge wrote, “Free Frank McWorter incorporated (incorporate: to give real form to something, to merge something into a whole) New Philadelphia” [“Letters,” July 22]. Yet in a July 24 article in the Boston Globe, it was reported that archeologist Shackel said that Free Frank “incorporated the town six years later after wrestling with the state Legislature.” Revisionism continues with historical omission. Both terms, not just town platting, are discussed in Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier, in which I wrote: “While the Illinois Town Platting Act did not preclude blacks from founding towns, the state’s Town Incorporation Act specifically limited the right to incorporate a town to whites.” Information on the Town Incorporation Act followed, stating that only white men can incorporate a town and an incorporated town had to have a population of 150. Free Frank died in 1854. The 1855 Illinois State Census lists 53 people in New Philadelphia. As the dig continues, in what other ways will the factual documented history of Free Frank, New Philadelphia, and antebellum race relations be revised?
Dr. Juliet E. K. Walker
Professor of History
University of Texas at Austin
MORE ISSUES, LESS POLITICS
Politics floods the media, but one thing is missing — the issues. Kerry bashes Bush, and Bush bashes Kerry. You know, they can bash each other all they want, but the public needs the facts. I, for one, think that we need to know the issues on who stands for what. Is it possible to set aside a section of the newspaper to print the facts about national security and education? We need this to be put in our papers, and over the airwaves.
Troy Voyles
Atlanta
I DON’T PARTY WITH THE DEAD
I am voting for George W. Bush again, because he has proved himself to be a man of integrity and compassion, even amongst the wolves. I also will vote for him again, even though I was raised a Democrat, because he believes in the sanctity of life, and I can find no politicos who believe life begins at conception, which leads me away from the party of my elders, to the party of the ‘living.’
Sandra Fuiten
Springfield
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2004.
