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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.
LET’S ELEVATE THE DEBATE I appreciate the fact that your article was kinder to
the proposal of the corn mill in Piatt County than most articles I’ve
been reading, but I have a question about one of the statements you made
[R.L. Nave, “Tortilla flap,” July 19]. The statement itself
wouldn’t be such a big deal, except it symbolizes what those of us in
support of the plant have to contend with every day — misinformation.
Your statement, not a quote, was that the property is located on a
floodplain. Did someone tell you that, or did you research it? It is most
definitely not on, or even near, a floodplain. This can be verified by the
Piatt County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Connie Hendrix Monticello
Editor’s note: Ms. Hendrix is correct; the
article was wrong. We regret the error.
WHERE CREDIT IS DUE It was great to see Jacksonville in Illinois Times for art
[Marissa Monson, “Art works,” July 26]. However, why were the
artists not given credit for their work? Two of my paintings, the two large
ones on the right side of the page, are on the cover. I’m curious,
who decided on the images to use? They obviously have good taste.
Brian Sherwin
Roodhouse
LIFE’S HARD FOR LANDLORDS When you rent to someone or sell a house contract for
deed and then they decide not to pay rent anymore, it is not easy to get
them out. You have to go to the courthouse and file papers to give them
more time, while they are getting free rent. This is a long, drawn-out
process that is very time-consuming and nerve-racking. Sometimes you have
to hire a lawyer and the sheriff gets involved. In the meantime, the
tenants are poking holes in the walls, letting their pets use your house
for a toilet, leaving a mess that is spewing into the neighbors’
yards, and trashing everything in their path. The landlord has to clean the
yard [and] the neighbors’ yard and fix holes in the walls. Sometimes,
more often than not, a Dumpster is required, or a trip to the dump. If the
landlord is not capable of this, he has to hire it done. They he must fix,
paint, patch, and get ready to have the house ready for the next people,
who are probably going to do this also. The courts are for the tenants, not
the landlords. Something needs to be done about this.
Rose Luparell Buffalo
CONFESSING AN AWFUL TRUTH I have something to confess. Just the other night, I
rediscovered that a lot of people think it’s something really, really
bad.
To get a similar reaction, I could have admitted to
heavy drug use. Or selling heavy drugs. Selling heavy drugs to kids. Using
drugs with heavy kids. Teaching drugged-up kids about weird sexual
perversions. Attending a family reunion and taking a relative home for
sexual perversions — and heavy drugs. Yeah, that’s how my confession was received. I thought maybe I should seek out a 12-step program
— you know, where you meet in a church basement with several other
folks who share your shame, and you talk about it. “I’m Barry, and I . . . ”
Yup, that’s how it would happen, except I
don’t want to go through a 12-step program. Those programs are
supposed to lead to recovery. I don’t want to recover at all. That’s because, no matter how terrible some
folks might view it, I don’t think my confession is so terrible. But
you be the judge. You see, I’m Barry, and I . . . I love the
Illinois State Fair. That’s right. I love it. I love the way it looks, the way
it sounds, the way it smells. I enjoy walking down Main Street and smelling
the air heavy with the scent of deep-fry oil. I love the unique perfume
created by vendors cooking corn dogs, french fries, gyros, funnel cakes,
and batter-dipped everything deep-fried on a stick. I love the Illinois State Fair early in the morning,
which basically means anytime before 1 p.m. I watch the vendors getting
their stands up and running, getting the oil hot and smoking, and serving
early customers. I also love the Illinois State Fair in the evening, when
the lights on the rides and the stands illuminate the Springfield sky for
miles. I love eating honey ice cream, drinking lemon
shakeups, ogling the butter cow, and checking out the winners of the fruit
and vegetable competitions. A couple years ago the Illinois State Fair had
a 1,300-pound pumpkin — where else you gonna see something like that?
I grew up on the North End (yet another confession
— I’m Barry, and I’m a native North Ender), nearly within
smelling distance of the fairgrounds. My house was definitely within
walking distance of the fairgrounds, because that’s how I got there
for years. My family knows about my state-fair affliction, and
they indulge me. They go to the fair with me and smile when I hop up and
down as we get close to the ticket booth just to get in to the fair. You
expect such behavior in a 9-year-old, but you can barely tolerate it in a
40-year-old. You think a guy will calm down by the time he’s 50. Not so much. I know that some will roll their eyes in disbelief.
And I’ve rediscovered the fact that some will react with disgust.
Still others will simply shake their head in pity. So let me confess, and
then I’ll keep it to myself — at least, I’ll keep it to
myself until Aug. 10 gets here and I can’t control myself. I’m Barry, and I love the Illinois State Fair. Barry House Chatham
A REAL REASON TO IMPEACH I kind of agree with the Beni Kitching letter [in the
July 26 edition], only opposite. It would have been Democrats’ duty
to impeach George W. Bush had he not made the long-past-due decision to fight back in the
“IslamoNazi” 1,400-plus year war against Western civilization. One has to literally look back to the Thomas
Jefferson administration to find another president that aggressively took
on Islamofascists. Back then, our nascent merchant shipping fleet was being
attacked. Same enemy. Same modus operandi. Convert, enslave, or kill
— first two, of course, being optional. Jefferson was able to beat
back the Barbary pirate threat. Does the American left have the courage and patience
to allow this Islamic cancer to be excised from the earth? Or will their
children be the first American generation to gain intimate firsthand
knowledge of the “liberation” achieved by clitoridectomies,
honor killings, and all aspects of sharia law? At the end of the day, that is precisely what the
Kitchings of this world are arguing for.
Steve
Rossman
Springfield
IF YOU BELIEVE THE INTERNET . . . Recently, in western Massachusetts, a group of
lawyers asked U.S. Rep. John Olver to support them in impeaching Bush and
Cheney. Olver replied that he would not support impeachment because soon
the U.S. would attack Iran, and this would be followed by the imposition of
a martial-law regime here. Does this sound far-fetched? Maybe not. In the
past several months, Bush has been issuing a flurry of presidential
directives and executive orders that violate the First, Fourth, and Fifth
amendments of the Constitution, some which would be triggered in a national
emergency. Very little of this has been mentioned in the mainstream media,
but it has appeared on the Internet. Can Bush and Cheney pull this off?
Well, they just might. How about a war with Iran using nuclear weapons? The
intelligence is already being “cooked,” just like it was in the
lead-up to the Iraq war. Beni Kitching Springfield
MISSING HIS “FLICKS” FIX I haven’t noticed any reviews from Marc
Sigoloff recently. I hope you have not removed his column from circulation.
His reviews are one of the primary reasons that I continue to peruse Illinois Times despite moving
from the area. The man has an individual voice and viewpoints that, while I
don’t always agree with them, always come from a refreshing angle,
and he’s not averse to going against popular opinion with his views.
Please return his column to circulation, as he is one the key writers that
gives the Illinois Times its distinct flavor.
Scott
Jeffreys
Johnstown, Pa.
This article appears in Jul 26 – Aug 1, 2007.
