Park Board candidates forum
The Springfield Parks Foundation will hold a forum for the eight candidates vying for the three positions on the parks board in next weekÃs election. The forum will be held on Thursday, March 27, at 7 p.m. in the Springfield City Council Chambers, third floor, 300 S. Seventh, Municipal Center West. For more information, call 522-0583.
Eastsiders need to help themselves
Dear Editor,
Former senator Paul Simon once remarked, ìYou cannot legislate morality.î The logical extension of this statement is that you cannot save people from themselves. While I respect Mr. Pittman for his previous efforts in building the Eastside and Mr. Fafoglia for his Project Hope, I believe Mr. Fafoglia is missing the point as much as the mayoral candidates are [ìThe Eastside speaks,î March 20].
I have worked for 20 years as a social worker in various social service agencies. While poverty and racism are alive and unfortunately well, the root of the problem is not racism, a lack of money, or a lack of credit. The root of the problem is that the majority of the people we are trying to help, on the Eastside, are unwed ìwomenî overwhelmed with child care responsibilities. Mr. Pittman confirms this fact. Likewise, while the ìloan sharkî business is unfortunately all too alive, loan sharks do not go door to door and force people to accept credit with bad terms.
It used to discourage me beyond words that many of the unwed women with whom I worked were genuinely impassive about their chances of becoming pregnant and, once pregnant, the responsibilities that they would face as an unwed mother. Far worse, the men who made these women pregnant were nowhere to be seen after they got what they wanted. I remember one woman remarking with pride, ìThat is my babyÃs daddyî as her childÃs father rode by on his MX bicycle. The baby was seemingly, for her, a badge of honor or souvenir from a one-night stand.
I could seldom impress on these women that once pregnant there was no way for them to ever realize their own identity or success. An unwed mother is effectively condemned to a life of welfare payments and substandard housing. Likewise I could not impress on the men who impregnated these women that they were engaging in a far more important act than momentary sex.
The formula for success is really quite simple and oddly enough does not come from more money or more programs for housing. The formula was written nearly 30 years ago by a man who called himself Detroit Red before taking stock of his life, his identity, and his future. Regardless of his race and the worldÃs racism, he decided to improve his life and he did. That man was Malcom X. He helped himself without a government program. His actions ultimately reveal the secret of ìhelpingî peopleóthey have to help themselves by wanting to help themselves.
Unfortunately we continue to ignore this secret, believing in a sort of social alchemy where people will change fundamental beliefs if we only love them enough. That has simply not proven to be true. People must help themselves and this fact is first learned at home with responsible and loving parents, not well-meaning, misinformed social activists.
Name withheld by request
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BushÃs test
To the editor,
George Bush said that the war is to disarm Iraq and remove any chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. Once Iraq is subdued, he will have achieved this end.
But in the process, Bush has made billions of people mad at him. Like the SorcererÃs Apprentice, smashing one danger may only create tens, hundreds, thousands, millions more angry Muslims and Arabs. The most important resource terrorists have is anger, and anger can only be created by their enemy.
If Bush is truthful that his aim is to avoid future terrorism, he must stop when he has won and completely turn over Iraq to the U.N. or other neutral body to aid that country to become a democracy. Bush should support IraqÃs recovery with money only, not troops or administration.
Once the world sees that Bush was honestóand he leaves Iraq after achieving his stated goalóthen the world may grudgingly think that the U.S. did the best thing and begin to believe again in U.S. morality.
But if the U.S. stays in Iraq and takes all the contracts for U.S. companies, then the world will realize that BushÃs ideal is not democracy but oil, and that his God is not Jesus Christ but Mammon.
Tom Trottier
Ottawa
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Support our troops: bring Ãem home now
To the editor:
We are living at a time when mainstream media has an opportunity to clarify the distinction between those who oppose the Bush AdministrationÃs policy of pre-emptive war against Iraq and those who support it. The easiest response to the events of these days would be to simplify this complex problem into sound bites or easily digestible stereotypes; but this does not give justice to the issue nor the individuals who feel strongly about it.
A recent Channel 20 newscast covered a Springfield peace vigil, followed by a lead-in to the next story, ìMeanwhile, there are others in Springfield showing support for our troops.î This would imply that those at the peace vigil did not support the troops. That is not the case. We are concerned for the safety of the troops; our solution is that they return home as soon as possible. We all know someone who serves in the military, has children or relatives in the military, or has served in the military. But some of us also know people from Iraq and the Middle East. We are also concerned about the safety of innocent Iraqi women, children, and men in the belief that every life is sacred.
Obviously the issue of war is one of many in our society that polarize the public. But when the media contributes to the hype that those who oppose the war do not care about the military or the country, it inadvertently adds to conflict in our community and further diminishes the strength of our democracy.
Sincerely,
Diane Lopez Hughes
Springfield
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Bombs donÃt build democracies
Dear editor,
I appreciated reading your list of countries the U.S. has bombed since World War II [ìThe Hit Parade,î March 6]. But out of all those countriesóChina, Korea, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Libya, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Yugoslaviaóhow many have become democracies?
Richard Wood
Jacksonville
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WhereÃs Osama?
Where is the world is Osama bin Laden? Hint: HeÃs not in Iraq.
David Bruce
Athens
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One suggestion overlooked
by the mayoral candidates
Dear editor,
I have enjoyed country dancing since my senior year of high school and I am requesting that Springfield open a new and improved country dance bar. I never got to enjoy the big country dance bars such as The Dance Corral and Thunderfoot Junction, which were closed many years ago.
Many other individuals around this area share my opinion. I am from around the Taylorville area and I either drive an hour and fifteen minutes to Bloomington or about an hour down to Girard just so I can have a place to dance on a Saturday night. With the potential for gas going up to $3.00 this summer, I find this rather ridiculous!
Bloomington brags of The Wild West as Central Illinoisà largest dance club. The roomy dance floor is packed and walking through the crowd is like trying to find your way through a maze. They have a well-stocked bar, a restaurant, plenty of sitting room, and pool tables. Why canÃt Springfield open such a place to accompany their country crowd? With the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill (just to name a few) selling millions of records each year, country music is more popular than ever.
If anybody has considered opening such a place, PLEASE do so. There is an interest around the area and it is not just me. I speak for the many individuals at the PrairieLand Dance Club and the Country Gamblers who would like to have a decent place to go dancing on a Saturday night. I will make the 45 minute drive to Springfield, but only if somebody out there makes my dream a reality and makes the drive worth my time.
Sick of Traveling Central Illinois,
Jamie Herman
Blue Mound
This article appears in Mar 27 – Apr 2, 2003.
