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
VOTE FOR ME: I WRITE LETTERS
The Republican Party needs to rebuild if it expects to win in the
future. When Republicans picked Alan Keyes to run, they threw in the towel [John
K. Wilson, “Keyes to victory?” Aug. 12]. I can’t believe they couldn’t find
someone in Illinois to run for the seat. I would have had a better chance of
winning than Keyes. I believe I have more name recognition that Keyes. I have
more than 40 years of writing letters to the editor. I’m sorry that I wasn’t
asked.
Danny Faulkner
Springfield
THEY REAP WHAT THEY SOW
Republicans can thank Kenneth Starr for the withdrawal of our U.S.
Senate candidate in Illinois and for the subsequent implosion of the Illinois
GOP during the search for a replacement.
The 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois has illustrated that the fallout from
Starr’s report isn’t over. It is just beginning.
Appointed to investigate a real-estate deal in Arkansas, Starr [pursued] President
Bill Clinton’s extracurricular sexual activities. Those who permitted the publication
of Starr’s final report have set the stage for all future Republican candidates
to be vulnerable to [charges of] hypocrisy. In Jack Ryan’s case, marital fidelity
within the bounds of the law was not sufficient.
I recognize that technically there was a sexual-harassment lawsuit against
President Bill Clinton that made the explicit sexual detail relevant to Starr’s
report. That technicality was used to justify the embarrassment of a sitting
president.
How could Republican leaders explain to voters in Illinois that Clinton’s
shenanigans were impeachable but Jack Ryan’s were defensible? They inherently
knew that they could not articulate the legal distinctions between the two.
Their demand for Ryan to withdraw from the race is the equivalent to their finally
admitting that sex and nothing else motivated the Clinton investigation. It
was never about preserving the rule of law, as purported.
If preserving the rule of law was Starr’s true motivation, Republican leaders
would not have felt the pressures of hypocrisy bearing down on them after it
was revealed that Ryan allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to have sex with his
wife in a few legal clubs open for such business. The rule-of-law rhetoric was
gone.
I am reluctant to call myself a Republican these days. My generation is inheriting
a pending financial train wreck, and the U.S. is running up record debt. Religious
zealots in the party are speaking for me and acting on my behalf.
Michael P. Shannon
Park Ridge
SHOW ALL OF US THE MONEY
I had no idea that slave reparations was a tenet of the Republican
Party at any level. As a fourth generation black Republican, I am really interested
in the GOP aggressively pursuing this program.
I am just a little hesitant of becoming actively involved right now without
more details. My concerns stem from the fact that my family, though predominantly
black, has intermarried with so many other races that some may not be properly
identified in order to receive any forthcoming benefits.
We are all proud Americans of African descent who, for at least seven or more
generations, [have married] whites, including French Canadians and Germans,
as well as Hispanics and American Indians. All of whom we certainly would want
included in any type of compensation program.
Every generation and branch also has at least one member who served with distinction
in every single war this country has fought and I strongly feel that reparations
should at least include some kind of expanded veterans benefits for all the
families.
Bring it on Mr. Keyes — it’s probably the only idea that makes sense for your
candidacy in Illinois.
Carol A Jones
Springfield
LET’S BE REASONABLE, FOLKS
I can’t believe someone wrote “please follow your heart and search
for the truth in this election year” in defense of the Bush push for reelection.
And someone else wrote, “Some people want to forget about freeing 50 million
people in Iraq.” Also, I find it interesting that it’s OK to “hate” President
Bill Clinton (years after and during his time in office), but hating President
George W. Bush is promoting just a wee bit too much hate in today’s crazy, mixed-up
world [“Letters,” Aug. 12]!
Look, there’s nothing wrong with being a staunch conservative Republican —
nothing at all. But some of us (other) God-fearing Americans “know” that the
“truth” and the Bush administration [go together like] Mike Tyson and common
sense. I may not agree with the directness of “Love America, Hate Bush” on a
T-shirt, but I agree with their freedom of speech without government persecution
(which is what those arrests were) [Jim Hightower, “Is this America?” Aug. 5]!
I know it’s a hotly contested election year, but please, while we’re counting
the carbs, how about a little less bull?
A.J. Woodson
Springfield
ENFORCE THE DESEG ORDER
Over the years, the NAACP, black parents, and voters have attempted
to force District 186 to live up to the desegregation order, to no avail. To
acknowledge anything less would be dishonest.
In 1999, 76 African-American citizens of Springfield signed a petition that
was filed with the Illinois State Board of Education. This petition asked for
a hearing. The board immediately contacted the federal court and never moved
beyond reporting on its contacts. The petition should have been moved to the
Illinois attorney general’s office for action.
Blacks in Springfield have spoken out against discrimination in District 186
repeatedly, but we have been out-politicked in each instance.
I have read and listened to Springfield citizens run down and denigrate African-American
children repeatedly. African-American children’s behavior is no worse or better
than white children’s behavior. There are African-American children who are
excelling — as there are white children who are excelling. There are African-American
children who are failing — as there are white children who are failing. There
are African-American children who are rebelling — as there are white children
who are rebelling. The difference is that black children are also faced with
racism. They can never escape the impact of racism.
We must recognize that Springfield’s children are all our children,
regardless of their race, and we must seek to give them all the best
possible education.
Margaret J. Collins
Springfield
NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN CHARGED
Recently I have become aware of a letter to the editor by Becky Sanders
[May 20] in response to a commentary by David Brothers of the University of
Tampa [“Answers needed in the Julie Rea-Harper case,” May 13].
I disagree with Ms. Sanders’ statements regarding Julie Rea-Harper. Having
observed the murder case of Joel Kirkpatrick unfold, it is clear [to me] that
Rea-Harper did not commit this crime. She, like her son, is a victim — only
she has survived. Her behavior in court, which Ms. Sanders references, proves
her injury by the intruder.
Mr. Brothers made a direct point-to-fact statement in his May 13 commentary
that proper evidence and samples from the crime scene had not been obtained.
At one time, within the past year or so, the prosecution claimed that DNA testing
was not available before or at the time of Rea-Harper’s indictment in October
2000, during her trial (winter of 2002), or sentencing hearing (May 2002). The
public should also be aware that state appellate prosecutor David Rands claimed,
during the postconviction hearing, that “massive testing” had been performed.
Mitochondrial-DNA testing has been available in the United States since at
least 1996, several months before Joel’s murder and more than two years before
Rea-Harper’s indictment. Nuclear-DNA testing has been accessible for many years
before, although the results may sometimes be less conclusive.
No one in Lawrence County, the state of Illinois, the United States, or the
world will learn the truth regarding Joel’s death until the proper specimens
are taken and sent for proper DNA evaluations — and even today this has yet
to be done.
Julie Rea-Harper should have never been indicted or convicted for her son’s
murder. She did not commit this horrendous act. Lawrence County may be shocked,
however, when it learns who truly killed Joel.
Dr. June M. Caruso
Lansdowne, Pa.
This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2004.
