DOING BETTER
Reading about how our community comes together to support one another, in the midst of difficult times, brings hope that better times lie ahead (“The micropantry movement,” May 4). Springfield is extremely fortunate to have community leaders and volunteers who make certain that we are doing better by each other each and every day.
Aaron Graves
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BAD FOR BUSINESS
Minimum wage, high taxes and an anti-business regulatory environment make it extremely difficult for the small businesses to survive (“Independent benefits,” April 20). Huge companies like Lowe’s and Menard’s have the capital and muscle family-owned businesses lack.
As always, the chickens eventually come home to roost.
Ted Harvatin
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BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
I went to Springfield High School when Nicky and Tracey both attended (“Moments after No Title for Tracey,” April 20). Nicki was a freshman, I was a sophomore and Tracey a senior. I always knew Tracy was a brainiac, as we called them. But she was far from a nerd. She was beautiful, a cheerleader and very popular.
It sickens me that she was denied the award of valedictorian because of the color of her skin. As a then-15-year-old, we expected honesty from the adults we looked up to and obeyed. I’m thrilled she finally received the honor she earned, but 38 years late is a bitter pill to swallow.
Bissi Shafer
MAKE PARENTS READ
Scott Reeder’s article reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, which describes the struggle between man’s desire for knowledge and individuality in a society that expects ignorance and conformity (“When books are banned,” April 27). As you say, using government to keep other people’s children from reading books with which they disagree is deplorable. It supports ignorance. If there has to be legislation, perhaps it should be to mandate parents to read the same books as those assigned to their children so they can discuss it at home and prepare their children for informed discussion and debate at school and in the world.
Jane Locasio
NOT BANNED
I think we do a disservice to people when columnists like Scott Reeder start talking about “banned books.” This may come as a shock, but there are no banned books in the United States. None. If you want a book, you can get it. If you want Mein Kampf, you can get it. If you want The Communist Manifesto, you can get it. If you want some racist screed written by a member of the Klan or the Nation of Islam, you can get that too. You can get any book you want, and absolutely no one from the government will come knocking at your door to haul you away.
The issue Reeder addresses isn’t whether or not books are banned. They aren’t. If a parent wants his child to read This Book is Gay, he is perfectly free to buy it. The issue is whether or not taxpayers should be forced to pay for books that tell minors how to use gay dating apps so they can have one-night stands with grown men.
School libraries, like all other libraries, have a limited amount of space. Just because a school chooses not to offer a book doesn’t mean it’s banned. If Reeder truly wants his children to read gay pornography, I guess it’s his right to go out and buy it. Just don’t expect the taxpayers to pay for it and don’t perpetuate the fiction that there are banned books in this country. There aren’t.
Robert Huck
Springfield
CORREX
People or organizations who would like to make a monetary donation or host a food drive to benefit the micropantries should contact Mary McDonald at marymmcd323@gmail.com.
This article appears in Construction season.
