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Send letters to: Letters, Illinois Times. P.O. Box 5256. Springfield, Illinois
62705. Fax: (217) 753-3958. E-mail: editor@illinoistimes.com
MORE BIG-CAT SIGHTINGS
I really enjoyed “The beast of the
bluffs” [Scott Maruna, July 28], about the cougars east of
the Mississippi and also, surprisingly enough, along the Illinois
River.
Last summer, while I was staying a few weeks
on the family farm in Pike County, my sister-in-law said that a
large tan one ran alongside her vehicle for some way on the New
Canton/Barry blacktop road. The week before, just a few miles away,
some other members of the community had a similar experience. It
seems that they like to run alongside vehicles, as well as run
around people working on tractors!
In 1995, a black one brushed the side of my
car in the westbound land approaching the bluffs exit in Scott
County. I reported it by calling 911 at the time. It was really
startling when something like that happened out of the blue.
I have talked to many people in Pike County
over the years with first- and secondhand accounts of the big cats.
Most of the farmers said that they shot and buried all of those
that they could. I was always quiet and somewhat skeptical as I
listened. I have heard of the black ones for the last 35 years and,
for the last 20, of the tan ones. The largest number of panther
stories come from the Pleasant Hill, New Canton, El Dara, and Pearl
areas.
Some of my pioneering ancestors to the rural
Barry/El Dara area (which is an area with an extremely dense population
of whitetail deer) were documented to have blown up small caves to help
run off the panthers. Although that was a long time ago, a few summers
ago, in 1999, I was growing some pumpkin and gourds in a creek-bottom
patch. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched. Now, I am a very
outdoorsy woman and never felt like that before. I have walked 15 miles
or more on lone jaunts down the rocky creeks of Pike County and many
places, for that matter. However, that weird sense or feeling could not
be ignored, and the hair on the back of my head was actually standing
up. Very slowly, I turned around and peered out from behind the hedge
tree I was standing under, across the fork in the creek to the tall tan
grassy patch in front of the woods that runs down into the creek and
spring. My plan was to lay down my work, pee, and run out of there as
fast as I could go! As I proceeded to do just that, I heard the thing
growl! I thought I must be out of my mind. I suppose that my very blond
hair may have made him think I was a deer sitting there.
I ran over to my folks’ place, on the
other side of that section — it was lunchtime, and my father
and brother would be in from the fields. My brother went over with
a gun; however, he didn’t see it. I did see what looked like
some tracks in the tilled soil I had worked.
I have other strange animal stories that I do
not wish to tell, as nobody would believe them, but do believe that
there are cougars in west-central Illinois. As Johnny Carson would
have said, “That’s weird stuff.”
Joni Grawe
Springfield
WHO PAYS AND WHO PROFITS
The number of American soldiers killed in
Iraq is now over 1,800. The actual number of civilian fatalities
has been estimated to be in excess of 100,000. The monetary cost to
the United States is in the billions of dollars.
The deaths and injuries, both physical and
mental, are referred to as “the costs” of war. Much has
been written about the human “costs.” But little has
been revealed as to who is benefiting from the financial costs.
There have been reports of fraud by the civilian contractors. But
even those stories have a short life in the media.
One firm profiting from the Afghanistan and
Iraq wars is Orbit International Corp. It manufactures high-tech
products for all branches of our military. Since the beginning of
the two wars, their net sales have increased from $2.4 million to
$17.1 million. CEO Dennis Sunshine stated that his firm will
continue to benefit from the expanding military and
homeland-security marketplace.
A larger firm, Engineered Support Systems
Inc., quadrupled its net revenues between 1999 and 2003 when it
reached $572.7 million. Top officers of the firm in a signed report
stated, “As we have always said, rapid deployment of our
armed forces drives our business.” William H.T. Bush, an
uncle of George W. Bush’s, is on the board of directors of
the company. Engineered Support Systems is a holding company for
six subsidiaries. The combined companies supply the armed forces
with numerous and diverse products. The most notable are tanks and
biological and chemical-filtering and decontamination equipment.
The connection between this company, the Bush family, and the White
House is obvious.
Another example of the Bush family’s
profiting from the wars is the involvement of George H.W. Bush in
the Carlyle Group. The company specializes in the acquisition of
defense companies that have a low market value. Then, with the
political connections of Bush, as well as ex-Secretary of State
James A. Baker, and former Secretary of Defense Frank C. Carlucci,
both of whom have held strong influential positions with Carlyle,
the acquired companies begin to get lucrative defense contracts
with the government. The value of the companies increase, and they
are sold for a huge profit.
These are just a few examples of the Bush
family’s connection and involvement with companies that have
government contracts.
Yes, there are great costs in waging wars.
But only the little people suffer. Their “costs” are
the lives of loved ones.
John D. Kolaz
Springfield
THE FIRST SYMPTOM: BAD PUNS
We’ve heard about mad-cow disease,
which affects the animal’s brain and spinal cord, rendering
it unable to function in a purposeful and useful manner. Watch out
for irritable-voter syndrome, whose victims are very, very angry
about local, state, and national issues related to congressmen and
other political figures. It affects the rational-thinking process
of the brain and trickles into the spinal cord and nervous system,
putting its host into a passive state, unable to vote because of
the apathy virus. If you want to beef about something, go out and vote March 16 for
primary reasons. Don’t let a candidate steer you wrong!
Mark Reddel
Springfield
SPEAKING OF BAD PUNS . . .
It has been said that rumors fly fast. This
morning, it was rumored that the death of Saudi Arabia’s king
caused [the price of] crude oil to rise [Editor’s note: King
Fahd bin Abdel Aziz al-Saud died Monday, Aug. 1]. Within an hour,
the price of gas went to $2.45 a gallon. That is fast — or
should I say “half-fast”?
Donald E. Palmer
Springfield
BUSH’S DISDAIN FOR CONGRESS
President George W. Bush’s recess
appointment of John Bolton once again clearly demonstrates his
disdain for congressional oversight of the executive branch.
Meanwhile, certain members of Congress, such as U.S. Sen. Rick
Santorum, continue a vitriolic assault on the judicial branch while
oddly defending a president who doesn’t seem to respect their
office. The courts remain traditionally silent on the
balance-of-power debate, but some members of Congress argue that
court decisions alone demonstrate elitist values out of touch with
the people and usurp the Constitution. The three branches of our
government now look like three corners of conflict. In the end, who
wins? It’s hard to say. What’s clear is who loses: the
American people.
Daymon Kiliman
Springfield
HOUSE IGNORES VETS’ NEEDS
The U.S. House of Representatives voted for
an energy bill that does not address our need for Mideast oil. And
they voted for a free-trade pact that will cost more of our jobs.
But they did not vote for veterans, the men and women who bled for
you and this country. The budget for the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs is still $1.5 billion short. What does that mean?
Cuts to veterans’ programs. Where do you think your wounded
troops go after they get out of the military hospitals? The VA.
Dale P. Peters
Darien
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2005.
