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
RING SOME PHONES
Since it was established in 1919, the Coney Island restaurant has long been a downtown-Springfield landmark. In early 2000 it was forced to relocate to accommodate the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The owners decided to keep the popular restaurant downtown, and the famous Coney dogs, the wooden booths, and the familiar neon sign found a new home at 210 S. Fifth St. Earlier this summer, the restaurant moved to a newly renovated building across Fifth Street. Again the great food, wooden booths, and neon sign were packed up and relocated. You may have trouble finding it at its new location, though. It seems that the neon sign that identified the eatery on the east side of Fifth Street violates zoning regulations on the west side of Fifth Street. Hmm . . .
Hot dogs and buns. Mustards and ketchup. Coney Island and neon. You can’t have one without the other. I don’t live in Springfield, so I don’t have an alderman to call, but many of you do. Ring some phones. Make some noise. Here’s an opportunity to personally help preserve a piece of Springfield history and make it easier for visitors to find a local specialty, the Coney dog (onion and mustard optional)!
Jennifer Ericson
Pawnee
A REVOLTING IDEA
I couldn’t agree more with your article on the top censored stories [Camille T. Taiara, “Censored!” Sept. 9]. Steadily the rich in this country are leaving the rest of the population behind. There are many reasons for this. The tax system is just one of them.
Someone please explain the logic in spending hundreds of millions to win an election for a position that pays less than a half-million dollars a year. Money collected through special-interest groups, corporations, and other rich segments of our society is used to manipulate politicians across this country at every level of our government. Yet to find a common man with a working knowledge who can win an election with limited funds without financial backing is unheard-of today. The upcoming presidential election is a perfect example: Both leading candidates are from wealthy backgrounds.
Today’s politicians talk of reform but only deliver empty promises, all the while knowing full well that they are only going to be able to continue to serve the contributors to their campaigns. We need term limits for all public offices. We need real election reform. But will the wealthy politicians change this? Not! As seen throughout history, the rich will continue to serve themselves and their agendas while the rest of the world suffers in poverty and strife.
Oh, I can hear the politicians talking now: “If you want to change things, why don’t you run for office?” You see, I can’t. I am too busy working two jobs to support my family. Besides, I have a conscience. Perhaps when the workingman has seen enough of the control of special-interest groups, politicians, and the greedy corporations, we will see some change. I suspect it may take another revolution, though. Until then, let’s sit back and see which multimillionaire will be our next president.
Don Miller
Jacksonville
GRAMPS WAS A STINKER, TOO
I was fascinated by the “Censored!” story. Camille Taiara did her homework. There is one large, mostly forgotten item that she missed. It is a document issued about President George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush. This gentleman was known as “Hitler’s banker” in the United States. [An account of U.S. collaboration with the Third Reich is included in] Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 by Charles Higham (Delacorte Press, 1983). I for one would like to see Illinois Times do a complete exposé. All of the information is now accessible at the Library of Congress.
Terrance C. Gaffigan
Springfield
SUPPORTING THE TROOPS
I’m a former Springfield resident who still reads your paper online since I left. I’m writing in regard to several recent letters on the presidential election. I’m sick and tired of the Republicans’ repeatedly implying that they’re the only ones who support our troops. The idea that if you don’t support the war you don’t support the troops is ridiculous! Everyone supports our troops. They are putting their lives on the line for all of us, and the war isn’t their fault. After quite a bit of searching online, I finally found the perfect answer to the yellow “support our troops” ribbons being distributed by Bush supporters: a blue (the international color of peace) ribbon that says “Bring our troops home” at www.troopsribbon.com. Now, we all understand that we can’t just walk away from the mess we’ve made in Iraq, but our goal should be to finish it up as soon as possible, because what better way is there to support our troops than to bring them home to their families?
Colin Ernst
Pittsburgh
GIVING ABE HIS DUE
Wow! The Convention and Visitors Bureau is being swamped with calls. The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum is open, and word is getting around. Scholars and Lincoln students and Lincoln buffs are just now coming in great numbers.
But what is this? They’re not all happy calls from hotels and motels. The callers don’t sound thrilled. It seems that those who planned to stay are canceling after the first night. What? Some are not even checking in after they survey the literature left on the desk: Capital City Visitor.
The last hotel manager to call in gave us a list of the comments:
• The caricature on the Capital City Visitor is similar to the ones Mr. Lincoln’s political enemies used to publish.
• There seems to be little respect for the great man. He did not like to be called Abe, yet there is this silly truck running around with “Abe” flashing on it. Many of the souvenir shops are selling Lincoln mementos and, right next to them, Confederate flags.
•”I flew into Springfield, took a taxi to this hotel, and then learned that there is no public transportation for visitors in the evening. There hardly is any during the day.”
• The headlines in the local paper make it seem that even the political leaders who would call Mr. Lincoln “Honest Abe” don’t honor him with their words or actions. It also seems that President Lincoln is more respected by those in the rest of the world than those living here.
Are we ready for visitors and scholars from all over the United States and the world to come to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum?
Eugene R. Lamport
Dawson
GUESS WHO’D GET MY VOTE
I was caught off guard with the “Best of Springfield 2004” issue [Sept. 16]. The cute dog on the cover was great! The pictures of the cute dog throughout the issue were great. But there was not one single pet-related category in the entire “best of” selections for voting.
Pet parents in central Illinois love their pets and love to talk about them. I’m sure all of us would appreciate the opportunity to vote in pet-related categories for the “Best of Springfield” issue.
Perhaps next year?
Jeanette Lipe
Pampered Pet Center
Springfield
NOR IS HE A SCALAWAG
I do not think that it is fair to call Barack Obama a carpetbagger because he was born in Hawaii, raised as a Muslim in Indonesia, and educated in Hawaii and on the East Coast before coming to Illinois is the ’90s. He is not a carpetbagger, even if he cannot claim to be related to slaves and was raised by white people. These are facts you will not hear from the media or read on Obama’s Web site.
Jerald F. Jacobs
Decatur
CORRECTIONS
The correct Web address for the Cabin Concerts in Pleasant Plains is www.thecabinconcerts.com [Grace Smith, “A joyful noise,” Sept. 16]. Also, the name of the new film release,
Wimbledon, was misspelled last week.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2004.
