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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.
WRONG DEMOCRAT CREDITED Dusty Rhodes writes in her interview with Irv Smith:
“ ‘It used to be that to the victor belong the spoils. It was
Andy Jackson, a Democrat, who said that, and it worked very well,’
Smith says” [“Party animal,” April 19].
Although Smith was a history teacher, he
misattributes the quotation. It was spoken during Jackson’s
first administration, but not by Jackson. William Learned Marcy, a U.S.
senator from New York, said it on the Senate floor on Jan. 25, 1832:
“The politicians of New York . . . see nothing wrong in the rule,
that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” Marcy’s
speech was made in defense of fellow New Yorker Martin Van
Buren’s view of patronage and Van Buren’s appointment as
minister to England. Jonathan E. Reyman Springfield
THE AMERENCIPS BLUES I have been waiting patiently for a resolution. I
need some sort of closure in regard to the AmerenCIPS rate increase rip-off
presently plaguing its customers. Please don’t give me hope only to
disappoint me with a crushing blow. Due to the unaffordable rate hikes, some people have
resigned themselves to readjusting their spending habits. Please!
It’s not a matter of readjusting: It’s a matter
of being able to afford the basic necessities. We have elected
representatives and senators to ensure that we are allowed affordable
utilities. They were voted into office to protect our interests and rights.
Our rights are blatantly being exploited by pure and simple greed. I cannot
and will not feel any sympathy for a company justifying such outrageous
rate increases because they will lose some sort of wholesaler ranking while
paying their top-level executives millions of dollars a year. Legislators,
I urge you to find a way to correct this mess. Poor people and businesses
are suffering: One business in Murphysboro has attributed closing its doors
(partially) to the electric-rate hike. How many more are to follow? Do we
not have enough failed businesses and vacant buildings in our towns? I know
that my purchasing power has been crippled because of my latest electric
bills. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to continue to actively
participate in an already “drowning” southern Illinois economy
when your purchasing power has been greedily snatched up by a utility. My last two electric bills were $482 and $462 —
well over double of what I would normally pay. Come again? It’s an
electric bill — not a house payment! Kudos to the House, and shame on
the Senate. Whatever the resolution, key players and nonplayers will be
kept in my mind come election day. Karen Sweiger-Veil Johnston City
OUR RESIDENT WORKS OF ART On behalf of the board and staff of the Springfield
Art Association, we wish to thank the community for supporting the
Springfield Art Association’s third annual Personalities Paint
celebrity exhibition and live art auction. Proceeds from this unique event
benefit the SAA’s Gallery of Art, School of Art, Michael Victor II
Art Library, and Edwards Place historic home, which provide art and
educational programs to more than 98,000 people in the community annually.
We would like to thank Personalities Paint co-chairs
Marsha Narmont and Carol Herzog, auctioneer David Gaule, our event sponsors
and volunteers and SAA staff Amanda Gleason, Sharon Black, Jan Dungey, Jan
Delong and Aleta Lanier, who invested their time and talents to make this
event a success. We would also like to express our appreciation to the
24 local personalities who accepted the SAA’s invitation to create
paintings that depicted their “Favorite Person, Place or Thing in
Springfield,” which were auctioned off at Personalities Paint on
April 21. Personalities included Kari Anderson, Steve Arbuthnot, Rick
Brandt, Sam B. Davis, Tim Davlin, Jane Denes, Michelle Eccles, Butch Elzea,
Rob Flesher, Ashley Glass, Cinda Schien-Kincade, Ken Leonard, Bill
Marriott, Alison Novak, Dr. Michael A. Pick, Carlissa Puckett, Richard
Ringeisen, Virgil Rhodes Jr., Amber Sabin, T.J. Salsman, Dr. Sherry
Simmons, John Spalding, Charlotte Warren, and Neil Williamson. Thank you for supporting the Springfield Art
Association, whose art and educational programs have been contributing to
the quality of life in the greater Springfield community for 94 years!
Angie Dunfee
Executive Director
Springfield Art
Association
PROTECT US FROM OLD DRUNKS It is extremely frightening that a woman’s life
has been designated as disposable trash by the U.S. Supreme Court in order
to save the baby growing inside. Anyone who has seen the soul of a child
mangled by sick parenting would see that the scenes of partial-birth
abortion pale in comparison to a child being raised by addicts, sex
offenders, and sociopaths. We don’t protect our children nearly enough in
this country. If the courts want to truly protect children from conception,
why draw the line at sacrificing a woman’s life? What about the new
findings that sperm from old men causes birth defects? Let’s
criminalize old men having unprotected sex with younger women.
Alcohol-drenched sperm is also being seen as producing birth defects.
Let’s make criminals out of everyone who has unprotected drunken sex.
Perhaps the Supreme Court would then find themselves as disposable trash.
Anne Logue
Springfield
WATCH OUT FOR THAT FERMENTED HONEY Your article about bees indicated that there
hasn’t been a single reported case of colony collapse in central
Illinois [C.D. Stelzer, “BEEwitched, Bothered, and
BEEwildered,” April 26]. I’m afraid there may be, right here in
the Springfield area. A feral hive moved into a hollow tree on my property
near Divernon just over one year ago. This spring, they emerged and died.
There were no bodies at or near the tree — just a few wandering
survivors around the entrance of their hive. and they, too, soon vanished. I’m not an expert, and I haven’t read
every article or scientific study completed on this topic. However, from
what I’ve read, it seems that they die out over winter or shortly
thereafter; during the rest of the season, populations remain constant. If
this is true, it leads me to believe that it has something to do with their
food supply, manmade or otherwise. The honey they consume over the summer
months is relatively fresh; however, the winter supply has time to sit and,
for lack of a better term, ferment. This fermentation process, which never
affected the bees before, may now be causing the formation of a chemical or
other agent to concentrate in their food supply, killing them off or
leaving them in a severely weakened state come springtime. This is just a
guess from a concerned citizen. It’s not a far-off problem; it’s here in
Illinois. We must take note and action before it’s too late.
Kevin Smith
Virden
HELP ME HELP THE BEES, PLEASE While I appreciate the information that you provide,
such as the articles on the deaths of honeybees and the excess amount of
packing that comes on items, it only gives me two more things to worry
about. While I know the cause of the death of the bees has not been
determined, in both cases I wish you would provide ideas as to what I could do to help end these
problems. This is not the first time I have had this frustration. I
remember several years ago there was a lot of publicity about animals in a
zoo devastated by war or natural disaster, yet there was no contact info to
send donations or no indication as what someone like myself could do to
help. Please provide some follow-up at a later date when informative
articles like these appear.
Kathy
Dehen
Springfield
PARK YOUR CAR, RIDE A BIKE
I hate to say I told you so, but have you looked at gas prices
lately? That’s right! Gas prices have soared back to
more than $3 per gallon as they head for $4, $5, or even higher. I still believe that the best, if not the only, way
to bring gas prices back down, is to park as many gasoline-powered vehicles
as possible and have Illinois Times promote bicycling and walking. If gas stations are
selling almost no gas, how long will gas prices remain high when delivery
trucks must be turned away? I encourage readers to be nice to gas-station staff,
because cashiers and other staff have no control over gas prices. And I
encourage Illinois Times readers to park their cars, get out their bicycles, and
start riding our beautiful city. Norman Hinderliter
Springfield
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2007.
