We welcome letters. Please include your full name,
address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256,
Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com.
9/11 SURVIVOR FROM SPRINGFIELD
Mr. Wilkins, you have my sympathy and understanding [
See “I’m a 9/11 survivor living in Springfield,” Sept.
18]. I too am from Springfield but live in New York City and was there that
day. Though I wasn’t downtown and an eyewitness, just being in the
same city was terrifying. This country was under attack and we didn’t
know where the next shoe would fall for hours. For weeks and months
afterward if the wind shifted, you could smell the smoke from Ground Zero
all over New York City. The fire burned for nearly three months. I contend
that everyone within the tri-state area was affected by the toxins in the
air. Those in charge, led by Governor Christie Todd Whitman of New Jersey,
have yet to acknowledge it. So many who didn’t have asthma and
respiratory problems before, now do. Also, there is an epidemic of asthma
among New York schoolchildren.
I had a friend (Lt. Rene Davila of the New York City
Fire Department) — I say had because he passed away unexpectedly in
May — who was the first paramedic on the scene. He went to work
wanting and expecting to have a routine workday like everyone else did and
ended up in a war zone. This is not the job that people signed up to do. He
managed to go back to work for several years and received a medal from
Mayor Bloomberg. When the coverage of Hurricane Katrina was televised and
he saw the human suffering and the government’s response, he mentally
lost it and began having extreme personal difficulties. The New York City
Fire Department fired him and refused to pay him disability and caused him
to lose any hope of treatment because of lack of money and health
insurance. He fought them for years and then just didn’t wake up one
day at 57 years of age. I am outraged by that.
I too ended up with no job and found it impossible to
find a new one. People were outraged by the cutting and taxing of
unemployment benefits during a “jobless recovery.” I worked a
computer help desk and my position was outsourced to a foreign country. No
matter how hard it is, we must continue to fight and let the general public
know what really happened and where the money went — a useless war in
Iraq, corporate welfare, tax cuts for the rich, etc. Some of the chickens
appear to be coming home to roost this week and we, the public, are the
ones who will be paying the price as always.
Llewelyn Triche Barton
New York, NY
ROUTE 66 FLIX
Thanks for the wonderful article and support for the
Seventh Annual Route 66 Film Festival held last weekend (Sept. 20-21) [See
“Route 66 flix,” IT, Sept. 11]. Despite lots of press, TV commercials,
interviews at three local TV stations and several radio shows and even
offering free admission for two of the screenings, Springfieldians
stayed away in droves.
Talented filmmakers visiting from New York, Miami,
Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Missouri, California and other
cities in Illinois were impressed with our downtown and Lincoln sites. Too
bad they didn’t get to meet many of our residents.
If you missed the festival, you missed some
outstanding films and meeting some of the “most fun people to be in
Springfield for a long time,” as one of the audience said.
Don’t let that happen next year.
Linda McElroy, director
Route 66 Film Festival
Springfield
GROUND THE GOVERNOR
I am writing about a letter written by Eric Fisher [IT, 9/11] that suggested that
impeaching the governor is not a solution. In my opinion, the impeachment
of the governor will solve numerous problems.
Sen. Larry Bomke is on target when he says it’s
an issue that needs to be debated at the Capitol. The budget mess needs to
be brought under control. Showing Gov. Blagojevich the door will end the
gridlock at the Capitol. His partner in gridlock, Emil Jones, is on his way
out, too.
Additionally, Sen. Bomke proposed permitting voters to
recall the governor. That measure was blocked by, you guessed it, Emil
Jones, a loyal Blagojevich supporter.
This governor has spent money the General Assembly did
not authorize him to spend. He maintains what amounts to slush funds inside
the budget to hand out to his loyal supporters as he sees fit. He has
declared war on Springfield as a city, and central Illinois as a region.
The capital of the state is Springfield, not Chicago
or Harrisburg. This governor flies into Springfield on a taxpayer-paid
plane and out again the same day. He uses the state aircraft like a taxi.
Speaking of offering proposals, Sen. Bomke has proposed grounding Air
Blagojevich to one flight a week.
Mr. Fisher proposed sending another Blagojevich
Democrat to the state Senate. That is the last thing we need. We need to
keep Sen. Bomke in office.
Bob Benedict
Lincoln
ALL LIT UP
Everyone is saying how high their electric bills are,
while Ameren reaps record profits. We are forever trying to think of ways
to cut down on our bill so we can afford to pay it. These include turning
our thermostats down in the winter lower than we’ve ever had them
before and trying the new energy-saving lightbulbs. Why can’t Ameren
do their part? I tried calling Ameren and got no results. Why, on this
bright sunny day at noon with barely a cloud in the sky, are the highway
lights behind my house on I-72 going out of Decatur to the west toward
Springfield all lit up as far as I can see, burning away and using up
electricity unnecessarily?
Jean Stables
Decatur
PROTECT THE CHILDREN
Recently, the Illinois House restored more than $218
million in cuts to
vital human services made by the governor, including
more than $27
million to the Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services. As a
private human service organization dedicated to
protecting children and
strengthening families, Kids Hope United is greatly
appreciative.
This is a step in the right direction, but funding
needs to be fully
restored — and as soon as possible.
To date, the Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services has
experienced a total of more than $45 million in cuts
that will affect a
variety of programs, including residential,
independent living, foster
care, counseling and adoption support programs. These
are all programs
that support the security and well-being of children
and families in the
face of their difficult personal obstacles now and in
the future.
Kids Hope United alone faces a 42 percent cut to
System of Care funding
that will cost us $800,000 in fiscal year 2009. System
of Care works to
stabilize children in their foster homes to prevent
unnecessary changes
in placement — keeping children from
“bouncing around” from foster
home to foster home. Such a cut will force us to cut
in half our staff
serving 25 counties and, consequently, serve fewer
vulnerable children
and families.
Though legislators are increasingly faced with making
hard decisions
during this tough economic time, it is imperative that
we protect our
most vulnerable citizens — our children.
Patricia Griffith, executive director
Kids Hope United
Springfield
This article appears in Sep 18-24, 2008.
