Untitled Document
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.
EVERYBODY, USE THE SIDEWALK! I almost killed a man on Oct. 3. I was driving back to
work after lunch, and a man ran from a side street, past a delivery truck
that was parked illegally and blocking my view of the side street, right in
front of my car. Had I been driving my previous car, with its smaller disks
and no ABS, or had I been speeding, I would surely have run over the fool.
He kept running, oblivious to everything around him, as these stupid,
stupid, stupid people do. I sat there for a full two minutes, heart
pounding. Yesterday evening there were several youths walking
down the street, despite the fact that there was a perfectly good sidewalk.
When I’m downtown, I notice that people cross
the street anywhere they please, regardless of the traffic signals. I
thought I saw somewhere that Springfield was contemplating putting
“countdown” walk signals up. Why? Nobody pays attention to them
anyway! Is it too much to ask that the police actually enforce
the laws against jaywalking? Why even have laws, or police? Every one of
those runners, full of endorphins and every bit as intoxicated and addicted
as any heroin addict (the chemical naturally produced in runners is
similar) is putting their lives at risk. People, please run on the
sidewalk! The sidewalks are there for pedestrians, the streets are for
vehicles. I would ask that you fools please stay on the sidewalk and
cross with the lights at the intersections. I don’t want your death
on my conscience for the rest of my life. And I intend on voting against
Mayor Tim Davlin unless the police force that he is ultimately responsible
for starts ticketing jaywalkers! Steve McGrew Springfield
END DISCRIMINATION NOW Congress is considering federal law that would end
discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity. Current federal law protects employees against discrimination
based on their race, sex, religion, national origin, and disability, but not that based on sexual
orientation or gender identity. In 31 states, it’s legal to fire
otherwise qualified employees because they are gay (or straight). In 39
states, the same is true based on gender identity. The Employment
Non-Discrimination Act would give gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered
employees the same rights that heterosexuals take for granted every day.
ENDA is not a radical concept. It is about fairness
and equality. ENDA has the endorsement of 237 members of Congress, more
than 1,300 faith leaders, and more than 290 law-enforcement, civil-rights,
civic, and religious organizations. As of this last spring, nearly 90
percent of Fortune 500 companies included sexual orientation in their
nondiscrimination policies. And for decades 85 to 90 percent of Americans
— cutting across race, religion, and ideology — have believed
that gays and lesbians should have equal employment opportunities.
It’s time the government caught up.
Pat Langley Athens
MIXED SIGNALS It was great to find out that WQNA (88.3 FM) won the
Best Radio Station for Music this year; however, my show was misrepresented
[“Best of Springfield,” Sept. 20]. I’m sure it was a
simple mistake, but it says “Lisa Hensley’s show Esoterica.” Actually, my
show is Esoterica (Tuesdays at 10 p.m.) and Lisa’s show is Earthtones (Wednesdays at 9 p.m.).
Lisa’s show is world music and mine is experimental and local. Again,
though, we appreciated the mention either way.
Ted Keylon Springfield
FOR THE RECORD I am sorry that Ed Cunningham did not include my name
in his article “Bringing soccer to Springfield” [Oct. 4].
Actually, if my memory is correct, Yavuz Gonulsen, the Christofilakos
brothers, John Watts, and I were the first to play soccer in Springfield.
We started playing before there was a YMCA soccer club. In the winter, we
played indoors at the YMCA. I am talking about an earlier time; that is,
1966-1968. Arnaldo Gomes de Carvalho, MD Springfield
A FLOOD OF MEMORIES The recent article by Ed Cunningham “Bringing
soccer to Springfield” [Oct. 4] was a nostalgic return to my
introduction into local soccer 35 years ago. The names of the early club
members are so familiar to me that they’re like family members (I
still see many of them at the YMCA).
When I arrived in the capital city, I met team members
Aydin and Yavuz Gonulsen at the YMCA, along with Harold and George
Christofilakos and, later, John Watts — all members of the
men’s team. Players were made up of native Turks, Greeks, Brits, a
Scot, Central and South Americans, Germans, Poles, and Africans and a
sprinkling of other nationalities, including a couple of us Americans. It
didn’t take long to discover that I was a foreigner on an
international team — an American-born player from St. Louis. We had a lot of fun traveling around the state to play
college and club teams. Some we won, some we lost — but we always
gave a good showing on the field for a bunch of older guys. Once we rented
a bus and traveled to Fort Campbell, Ky., to play — and handily beat
— players from the 101st Airborne, then moved on to Carbondale, where
we had a raucous match with the SIU club team. Over the years there were
many memorable trips and highly competitive games. But we usually ended the
day’s game with a social event. As Cunningham points out, when the decision was made
to grow the YMCA Youth Soccer Program in the early ’70s, our group
enthusiastically promoted the program to the community. A committee was
formed to make a presentation to the Springfield school board to consider
implementing soccer in the high schools. But budget constraints prevented
soccer from being considered at that time.
It took a couple of years, but our persistence paid
off and high-school soccer came alive in Springfield. Later on, the
parochial schools and neighboring communities implemented high-school
soccer and eventually opened the sport to high-school girls. The soccer
community finally had succeeded in bringing an international sport to
Springfield for all ages and skill level.
In digging through old soccer files, I came across our
first yearbook (1975-1976) that featured our youth teams and showed players
and coaches. The program covered high school (five teams) and middle school
(seven teams), as well as the YMCA youth teams (21 boys and six girls
teams). I often run into these men and women nowadays, and they tell me
their grandchildren are now playing soccer.
Our board of directors included Yavuz Gonulsen,
president; John Watts, vice president; Anax Barraza, secretary/treasurer;
directors Bob Lehrman, Gerald Rawling, and myself; and Aydin Gonulsen,
YMCA. Talk about memories flooding back — those were unforgettable
times. From modest beginnings we’ve watched the sport
grow to tens of thousands kids who now play soccer year-round. Ed
Cunningham, John Watts, and the rest of the men’s team, along with
hundreds of dedicated parents, gave their time and energy to help grow
youth soccer in Springfield. Today they now enjoy watching their
children’s children play our beloved game of soccer. Stan Zielinski Springfield
THE FORGOTTEN MINORITY In a recent article about minority employees in state
government, it was shocking that one group of Americans — people with
disabilities, who have the highest level of unemployment — was not
mentioned [R.L. Nave, “Minority report,” Oct. 4]. What is most shocking is that when it comes to
underrepresentation, this same minority group with the highest level of
underrepresentation, well over 50 percent, was simply forgotten. Recent research has confirmed that the economic
expansion of the 1990s has significantly boosted the incomes of most
working-age men and women without disabilities, regardless of race or
ethnicity. But men and women with disabilities have been left behind and
did not share in the economic growth of the 1990s. Not only did their
employment and labor earnings fall during the recession of the early 1990s,
but employment and earnings also continued to fall during the long economic
expansion that followed. Many of these people are skilled professionals who
are highly marketable in today’s economy. Studies have also shown that people with disabilities
who find jobs earn less than their co-workers and are less likely to be
promoted. It’s time persons with disabilities stop being
the forgotten minority and it’s time for employers to understand that
people with disabilities have valuable skills, strong work ethics, and
mortgages. They deserve to be counted.
Michael
Knepler
Springfield
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2007.
