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CONDITIONS AT RUSHVILLE
This is an alert to the taxpaying public concerning
an obscure Illinois civil law called Title 59 Commitment, which detains
citizens released from prison. Those who fall under this law are taken to
the Department of Human Services Detention and Treatment Center at
Rushville. There 300-plus so-called sexual offenders are detained, some
under maximum-security prison conditions.
Most need treatment emotionally, mentally and
psychologically. Others are beyond change. Still others were model
prisoners while serving time in prison. Some are born-again Christians. But
all sex offenders are lumped together without any individual consideration,
except for a previous psychological review.
Hearings and travel to court for these fellows
involve 10-15 hours on the road, only to appear before a judge who has
already made up his mind to give a continuance. The fellows are handcuffed
and shackled on these trips to their hearings. Urinal bottles are used
during travel.
Therapists at Rushville are dysfunctional and
non-professional. Group therapy is horrid. Health care is very poor. Eight
residents have died in four years. Recreation has been cut from 35 hours
per week to 10 hours per week. Food is poor, resulting in health problems
like diabetes and heart attacks.
The Illinois civil law is a game with illegal
amendments added to it. Individuals held in Rushville are cut off from
going on with their lives with their parents, wives and children who are
waiting for them to come home.
B. Jean Arnold
Chatham
NO BLANK CHECK BAILOUT
The Congressional bipartisan consensus is clear. A
blank check should not be handed over as requested by the Treasury
Department and the Federal Reserve as a bailout to the financial industry.
The Illinois Association of Minorities in Government (IAMG), a 21-year-old
nonpartisan advocacy organization, understands the need for federal
intervention to buy troubled investments to prevent sheer market collapse.
However, we concur with the bipartisan consensus that
a $700 billion blank check with no Congressional oversight could denote
fiscal irresponsibility, especially when it comes at the taxpayers’
expense. As many Americans are, IAMG is concerned that the complexity in
determining the value of the assets involved in the bailout may end in the
federal government paying more for these assets than what they are worth,
which appears to benefit financial institutions.
Although a bailout is needed, it must be understood
that it comes on the backs of taxpayers, many of whom are already
cash-strapped. Hence, it is incumbent upon the federal government to
restore confidence back into the financial system, via a bailout plan
devised through calculated risk. Why is this important? Like many
Americans, IAMG’s members struggle with the constant rise in the cost
of living and many face uncertain job security and no monetary work-related
increases to reflect the rise in the cost of living.
As a result, IAMG supports both presidential
candidates’ proposed bailout plans. They include reimbursement
measures for taxpayers should the bailout prove successful, financial
assistance to homeowners having difficulty in fulfilling their mortgage
obligations, a bipartisan board to offer oversight on the bailout, and
limits on any federal money earmarked as compensation to Wall Street
executives.
These conditions offer the beginning of a bailout
plan that could result in market confidence and a robust, healthy economy.
Jonathan Lackland, executive director
Illinois Association of Minorities in Government
Springfield
SHIMKUS ON WRONG
SIDE OF LONGWALL
The recent rise in the commodity price of coal
and the prospect of longwall mining has given pause to landowners
negotiating their mineral and surface rights with coal companies. The price
of Illinois coal has reached toward the $100/ton mark. This comes while the
proposed use of the longwall mining method can double the amount of
recoverable coal from beneath what is now prime farmland. Together these
forces contribute
a value of coal that can exceed a million dollars per
acre of recoverable coal.
The longwall method of mining adds to the mix by
contributing almost immediate subsidence of land surface by as much as five
feet or greater, in what is now highly productive cropland. Current mining
rules provide little or no assurance that the mining companies will restore
the surface damage caused by subsidence.Where once mineral rights were seen
as a secondary land value, if the mining of the coal diminishes the
agricultural value of the surface, farmers and landowners are taking a
second look at the prices they may consider for those rights.
Because Illinois mining rules cannot be more
stringent than federal rules, legislation to protect prime farmland
against subsidence mining damage must come from Washington. U.S.
Representative John Shimkus
has been quoted as saying that citizens who
want federal legislative changes made to protect Illinois prime farmland
from coal mining subsidence should get
the law changed. Unsaid is that
those citizens would need Congressman Shimkus’ support to get that
protection from Washington. Shimkus has strong support
from the mining
interests and he has shown no concern over the possible damages to
agriculture and farmers caused by mining.
Mary
A. Bates
Hillsboro
A FINE ART FAIR
On behalf of the board and staff of the Springfield Art
Association, we wish to thank the greater Springfield community for
supporting the SAA’s 20th Annual Edwards Place Fine Art Fair, a
milestone in our rich 95-year history. Many thanks also to the more than 90
artists from around the United States who displayed and sold their works of
art on the historic grounds of Edwards Place for the community’s
education and enjoyment. We would like to thank Fine Art Fair Chair Ann
Robert and Co-chair Lee Hallman, the 10-member Fine Art Fair Committee, our
event volunteers and the SAA staff. Lastly, we would like to thank Platinum
sponsors Mr. and Mrs. William Schnirring, Olive Garden, Midwest Family
Broadcasting, BOPI and Corbin Design for their generous support as well as
the additional 87 sponsors who enabled the Springfield Art Association to
present this vital outreach event for the community!
Angie Dunfee, executive director
Springfield Art Association
Springfield
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
