Letters to the Editor 03-16-2004
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Warsaw Parents - Gay Marriage - Letter Writer Defended - Bush Lacks Character - God Decides - Supports Eric Miller - Bowling's A Sport, Too
Warsaw Parents
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Mr. Bruce Ferguson's letter regarding school closings, I have but one comment. Where have Warsaw parents been? Where were all of you Warsaw elementary parents when we started fighting the board four years ago? Where were your signatures on petitions, where were your numerous letters to the editor? Where were your calls into the superintendent's office? Where were your dollars at our fund-raisers to help keep the schools open? And, yes, we even had fund-raisers to save our schools. Why did we not have outrageous standing room only during school board meetings? Why were you not marching in parades trying to helps us then? Why did your businesses not put up signs in Warsaw to save Silver Lake, Claypool and Atwood THEN? Why did you not contact other media forms on behalf of the so-called community school corporation?
I'll tell you why. Because it only affected these "tiny" schools and in the beginning you turned your heads. Like you have for the past 20 years Why didn't you have a public outrage in 1984 when our own promised new school in Silver Lake was abandoned? Why did parents not listen to us when we urged them that closing these schools would be bad for all Warsaw elementaries? Why didn't you stop and listen to the various committees that laid out the facts? And now suddenly you are upset that your student might have to have an education in a trailer behind Washington elementary? That your child's new bus route may take them on an hour and half-long ride? That your kindergartner might have to rise at 6 a.m. to catch the bus for a long ride for only three hours of school and have another long ride back. I also have to wonder how this is going to affect so many parents whose children's ISTEP scores are going to drop because of larger classrooms. Excuses were made by too many Warsaw parents for far too long. We have been outraged and walked on long enough by you. The farther south you travel the more real estate signs you see. People are giving up on Warsaw school system, they are no longer going to be the ones who are pushed around. We have put up with your silence and this is what you get. Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool are not just towns. They are not just brick and mortar. They are communities, memories, good teachers, generations and ways of life. These are places where grandparents, parents and children live as neighbors. These towns are where pride runs deep and loyalty is true. Where the real lessons in life aren't how big your house is, but if the people who live in them can be counted on. You have proven to us what we have known all along. You can say we are "backward" but it is you who are ignorant. We only pity you that you didn't get a chance to taste the good life we have. Maybe now you will see what we have been saying to you for so long. To the small handful of Warsaw parents that attended meetings, thank you. You know what we have fought against, something the media has not reflected. If you really want to make a difference, call your own school board member, because according to them, this is what you want.
J.K. Brown
Syracuse
via e-mail
Gay Marriage
Editor, Times-Union:The sodomites and lesbians are deliberately breaking the law and destroying the sanctity of marriage. Bill O'Reilly of the "O'Reilly Factor" holds a milquetoast position on homosexual marriage claiming that he doesn't care if sodomites get married. He along with others feels that everyone has the right to pursue happiness. If the pursuit of happiness is the basis of marriage, then polygamy, polyandry, marrying brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, pigs, dogs, should all be allowed. The North American Man Boy Love Association NAMBLA mantra is "Sex before 8, before it's too late." Should they be allowed to pursue their happiness? Homosexuals reproduce by molesting children. People become homosexuals by choice mostly due to being molested by a homosexual as a child. Sodomites and lesbians are not born that way, it is a choice that they make. I feel sorry for homosexuals in that they had to endure some form of molestation as a child, but I do not condone their choice of promulgating the lifestyle, much in the same way that an abused child has no excuse to abuse their children. If the homosexual will be honest with themselves and with others, they will admit that they were sexually abused as a child. If homosexuals would admit that they were abused and seek help out of their destructive lifestyle, they would find the happiness and security that they were stripped from as a child. Having their innocence and security so violently raped from them leaves them confused and crying out for help. Reparation therapy is available for homosexual behavior. It helps the confused to become enlightened. Reparation therapy is extremely successful. Honest homosexuals who seek the truth and expunge the hurt and hate built up from their childhood can truly find the peace and happiness they are desperately seeking. There is no need for homosexual marriages, only the need for healing.
Steven Hite
Warsaw
via e-mail
Letter Writer Defended
Editor, Times-Union:Re: Mr. Perry's letter.
I know Mr. Kitson to be a kind and caring individual.
Given the chance to vote on the smartest of the three (Mr. Kitson, the pitbull, or Mr. Perry), I rank Mr. Kitson first, the pitbull second and Mr. Perry a distant third.
Paul Kurosky
Warsaw
via e-mail
Bush Lacks Character
Editor, Times-Union:As we have narrowed down the choices in this year's presidential campaign, great scrutiny will be paid to the conduct of the Democrat candidate, Senator John Kerry, as he discusses foreign policy issues relating to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism in general.
Imagine the outcry if Senator Kerry ran a television commercial with the body count from the World Trade Center, with name after name of innocent victim, implying that the television viewer should blame President Bush for those deaths. The families would be rightly and appropriately outraged, and even good Democrats like myself would protest his actions. Undoubtedly the many people who have written to this newspaper objecting to criticism of President Bush during this time of war would be doubly outraged.
I hope those same persons are currently furious at President Bush for using footage from the World Trade Center disaster as a reason to elect George Bush. It is wrong to use the victims of this tragedy in this fashion. President Bush began running his commercials in 16 different states on March 4, and even though we Hoosiers will be unlikely to see those ads, all of us should protest the president's conduct.
Many people, including this writer, were greatly concerned during the summer of 2002 when both President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card, admitted in national publications that the push against Iraq was timed for political advantage heading into the congressional elections of November 2002. Now we see that the president and his political advisers are continuing to use the instruments of war and the trauma of innocent casualties as political tools. President Bush's timing of the war in Iraq for political advantage, and his use of the thousands of victims who were killed on September 11th, are indecent, immoral and outrageous.
Character is not what you say, it is what you do, and the president's admitted manipulation of military action and the tragedy of September 11th speaks volumes about his character.
Jay A. Rigdon
North Webster
via e-mail
God Decides
Editor, Times-Union:In response to the letters of March 10th from Kusserow and Webb: First of all what do you mean, "Who decides what moral values are correct and right for this country?" The answer is God and the country does not matter. He is the creator of all of heaven and Earth and everything in it including you and he decided long ago right from wrong. His complete instructions for living can be found in a book called the Bible, have you read it? Apparently not or you would know that marriage is reserved for and between one man and one woman exclusively. Homosexuality is an abomination unto the lord. He destroyed the entire population save for Noah and his family with a great flood that covered the entire Earth and he completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven for the same reason. The Bible says the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were doing as the people of Noah's day before the great flood. So what makes you people think he has changed his attitude toward your sin? God is the same today as he was yesterday and he will be the same tomorrow and until the end of time.
You say in your letter that you believe everyone should be allowed to decide for themselves what is morally right or wrong. If that were the case then not only could one decide that homosexuality was OK but one could also decide that murder, rape, incest, adultery, child abuse, etc., could be OK also.
No one is born homosexual. It is sin and it is perverted and no child is born that way, that is just another lame excuse for a choice you have made.
God gave us a free will because he didn't want to force us to love and serve him, but rather he wanted us to love and follow him of our own free will. Everything is about choices, any act of sex between adults other than rape is a choice we make. And any act of sex outside the boundaries of a marriage between one man and one woman is sin.
God made us in the image of himself and all he wanted was to love us as his children and for us to love him as our father. To love him is to reject the world and the sin therein.
As for you, Miss Webb, read the Bible, then tell yourself it is OK to be homosexual. You were not meant to be gay, it was not OK back in Noah's day or the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is not OK today and it will never be OK. Yes, it is a very messed up world but because of sin, not because you cannot marry another woman. We are either living God's way or Satan's. If you are not following God's plan, then you are following Satan's.
Deanna Newton
Warsaw
via e-mail
Supports Eric Miller
Editor, Times-Union:I am proud to write on behalf of my friend Eric Miller, a candidate on the Republican ticket for governor of Indiana. Three years ago, I had never met Eric but I had followed his efforts on behalf of families, business and churches with the Indiana Legislature. I allocated 15 minutes on my appointment book. I figured I would meet him, hear his stump speech, give him a small donation, wish him well and get him on his way. Plus, who was I to turn down Governor "Doc" Otis Bowen's request for me to meet Eric.
After three hours of asking him all types of questions and liking his common-sense approach and straight answers, I agreed to help him in his bid to become the next governor.
During the last 23 years, Eric has traveled the state many times meeting individuals, business leaders and elected officials to learn of their problems. Just this year alone, he has been in our county to attend the fair, speak at Optimist, visit high school classes at Warsaw and Wawasee, speak at Grace College, participate in the rally on the courthouse steps and visit Dig's Diner, the emporium of choice in downtown Warsaw. Oh yes, his wife is a graduate of Wawasee. Over the years, he began to realize that what he heard was that Indiana was going the wrong way.
While we were paying more and more in property and income taxes, the state was spending more than they took in. As a banker, I understand that approach to financial management leads to a deficit.
Eric has shared some of his thoughts for assisting our State to reign in its spending. His plan on capping spending at 1 percent over last years budget since 1998 would have reduced spending in those five years by $1.5 billion.
His plan to issue license plates through auto dealerships shows his willingness to think outside of the box and work with business in addressing a better way to provide the services we all need.
His stand on moral issues is based upon the ideals this country was founded on: The sanctity of life from the moment of conception to death, and now the issue of same-sex marriage. His stands are well known. Our country achieved its greatness by abiding by these well-defined principles that have recently become fuzzy because of a lack of doing what is right.
Eric didn't need to be recruited. Eric is not from Indianapolis. Eric does not need to check with any special interest group to find out what direction to take. Eric has built a grassroots effort that covers every nook and cranny of our state.
I like the phrase that Doc Bowen has used in introducing Eric. "Our man Eric." That indicates a broad level of support that represents the people of our great state. When you enter the voting booth on May 4, remember that Eric Miller has prepared for this job for 23 years. I believe that an "our man" approach represents many more individuals and businesses throughout Indiana than a "my man" approach.
Make your own decision when you enter the booth. You can vote for Eric Miller, a proven leader. And remember to check your ballot to make sure there are no hanging chads.
John Elliott
Warsaw
via e-mail
Bowling's A Sport, Too
Editor, Times-Union:Bowling at this time is considered to be a high school sports club but if you were to ask any high school bowler their opinion of this topic chances are you'd get a response similar to "it should be considered a high school sport." Although we do not endure all the physical attributes as football, basketball or any other contact sport, there is still a great deal of intensity to the game of bowling. Self-discipline and mental strength are two very large attributes in the game of bowling. Reading the oil patterns on the lanes and being able to make minor adjustments with your feet or moving your mark are also very important. Each sport has its difficulties and no matter the sport you have to work toward excellence. Saturday, the Warsaw Girl's Bowling team will be traveling to Chippewa Bowl in South Bend to bowl in the Indiana High School Bowling's Semi State competition. The team consists of Stephanie Himes (senior), Whitney Heagy (senior), Heather Hughes (senior), Suzi Fluke (junior), Jennifer Cordill (junior), and Ashley Gunter (sophomore). The girls placed first in their conference with an undefeated season, they also placed first in sectionals.
Last weekend Regionals were held in Lafayette and the ladies placed fourth, moving on to semi state. The Lady Tiger Bowlers would like to thank our coaches but especially those behind the scenes: Chris Curl, Mark Himes, Robin Fluke and Cindy Cordill for all of the support, coaching and cheering you have provided this season, we couldn't have made it this far without you! The Lady Tiger Bowling Team would also like to thank all those in the community who have supported us. If you are interested in attending Semi-State, competition will be held in South Bend at Chippewa Bowl at 9 a.m.
Whitney Heagy
Warsaw
via e-mail
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- Warsaw Parents - Gay Marriage - Letter Writer Defended - Bush Lacks Character - God Decides - Supports Eric Miller - Bowling's A Sport, Too
Warsaw Parents
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Mr. Bruce Ferguson's letter regarding school closings, I have but one comment. Where have Warsaw parents been? Where were all of you Warsaw elementary parents when we started fighting the board four years ago? Where were your signatures on petitions, where were your numerous letters to the editor? Where were your calls into the superintendent's office? Where were your dollars at our fund-raisers to help keep the schools open? And, yes, we even had fund-raisers to save our schools. Why did we not have outrageous standing room only during school board meetings? Why were you not marching in parades trying to helps us then? Why did your businesses not put up signs in Warsaw to save Silver Lake, Claypool and Atwood THEN? Why did you not contact other media forms on behalf of the so-called community school corporation?
I'll tell you why. Because it only affected these "tiny" schools and in the beginning you turned your heads. Like you have for the past 20 years Why didn't you have a public outrage in 1984 when our own promised new school in Silver Lake was abandoned? Why did parents not listen to us when we urged them that closing these schools would be bad for all Warsaw elementaries? Why didn't you stop and listen to the various committees that laid out the facts? And now suddenly you are upset that your student might have to have an education in a trailer behind Washington elementary? That your child's new bus route may take them on an hour and half-long ride? That your kindergartner might have to rise at 6 a.m. to catch the bus for a long ride for only three hours of school and have another long ride back. I also have to wonder how this is going to affect so many parents whose children's ISTEP scores are going to drop because of larger classrooms. Excuses were made by too many Warsaw parents for far too long. We have been outraged and walked on long enough by you. The farther south you travel the more real estate signs you see. People are giving up on Warsaw school system, they are no longer going to be the ones who are pushed around. We have put up with your silence and this is what you get. Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool are not just towns. They are not just brick and mortar. They are communities, memories, good teachers, generations and ways of life. These are places where grandparents, parents and children live as neighbors. These towns are where pride runs deep and loyalty is true. Where the real lessons in life aren't how big your house is, but if the people who live in them can be counted on. You have proven to us what we have known all along. You can say we are "backward" but it is you who are ignorant. We only pity you that you didn't get a chance to taste the good life we have. Maybe now you will see what we have been saying to you for so long. To the small handful of Warsaw parents that attended meetings, thank you. You know what we have fought against, something the media has not reflected. If you really want to make a difference, call your own school board member, because according to them, this is what you want.
J.K. Brown
Syracuse
via e-mail
Gay Marriage
Editor, Times-Union:The sodomites and lesbians are deliberately breaking the law and destroying the sanctity of marriage. Bill O'Reilly of the "O'Reilly Factor" holds a milquetoast position on homosexual marriage claiming that he doesn't care if sodomites get married. He along with others feels that everyone has the right to pursue happiness. If the pursuit of happiness is the basis of marriage, then polygamy, polyandry, marrying brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, pigs, dogs, should all be allowed. The North American Man Boy Love Association NAMBLA mantra is "Sex before 8, before it's too late." Should they be allowed to pursue their happiness? Homosexuals reproduce by molesting children. People become homosexuals by choice mostly due to being molested by a homosexual as a child. Sodomites and lesbians are not born that way, it is a choice that they make. I feel sorry for homosexuals in that they had to endure some form of molestation as a child, but I do not condone their choice of promulgating the lifestyle, much in the same way that an abused child has no excuse to abuse their children. If the homosexual will be honest with themselves and with others, they will admit that they were sexually abused as a child. If homosexuals would admit that they were abused and seek help out of their destructive lifestyle, they would find the happiness and security that they were stripped from as a child. Having their innocence and security so violently raped from them leaves them confused and crying out for help. Reparation therapy is available for homosexual behavior. It helps the confused to become enlightened. Reparation therapy is extremely successful. Honest homosexuals who seek the truth and expunge the hurt and hate built up from their childhood can truly find the peace and happiness they are desperately seeking. There is no need for homosexual marriages, only the need for healing.
Steven Hite
Warsaw
via e-mail
Letter Writer Defended
Editor, Times-Union:Re: Mr. Perry's letter.
I know Mr. Kitson to be a kind and caring individual.
Given the chance to vote on the smartest of the three (Mr. Kitson, the pitbull, or Mr. Perry), I rank Mr. Kitson first, the pitbull second and Mr. Perry a distant third.
Paul Kurosky
Warsaw
via e-mail
Bush Lacks Character
Editor, Times-Union:As we have narrowed down the choices in this year's presidential campaign, great scrutiny will be paid to the conduct of the Democrat candidate, Senator John Kerry, as he discusses foreign policy issues relating to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism in general.
Imagine the outcry if Senator Kerry ran a television commercial with the body count from the World Trade Center, with name after name of innocent victim, implying that the television viewer should blame President Bush for those deaths. The families would be rightly and appropriately outraged, and even good Democrats like myself would protest his actions. Undoubtedly the many people who have written to this newspaper objecting to criticism of President Bush during this time of war would be doubly outraged.
I hope those same persons are currently furious at President Bush for using footage from the World Trade Center disaster as a reason to elect George Bush. It is wrong to use the victims of this tragedy in this fashion. President Bush began running his commercials in 16 different states on March 4, and even though we Hoosiers will be unlikely to see those ads, all of us should protest the president's conduct.
Many people, including this writer, were greatly concerned during the summer of 2002 when both President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card, admitted in national publications that the push against Iraq was timed for political advantage heading into the congressional elections of November 2002. Now we see that the president and his political advisers are continuing to use the instruments of war and the trauma of innocent casualties as political tools. President Bush's timing of the war in Iraq for political advantage, and his use of the thousands of victims who were killed on September 11th, are indecent, immoral and outrageous.
Character is not what you say, it is what you do, and the president's admitted manipulation of military action and the tragedy of September 11th speaks volumes about his character.
Jay A. Rigdon
North Webster
via e-mail
God Decides
Editor, Times-Union:In response to the letters of March 10th from Kusserow and Webb: First of all what do you mean, "Who decides what moral values are correct and right for this country?" The answer is God and the country does not matter. He is the creator of all of heaven and Earth and everything in it including you and he decided long ago right from wrong. His complete instructions for living can be found in a book called the Bible, have you read it? Apparently not or you would know that marriage is reserved for and between one man and one woman exclusively. Homosexuality is an abomination unto the lord. He destroyed the entire population save for Noah and his family with a great flood that covered the entire Earth and he completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from heaven for the same reason. The Bible says the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were doing as the people of Noah's day before the great flood. So what makes you people think he has changed his attitude toward your sin? God is the same today as he was yesterday and he will be the same tomorrow and until the end of time.
You say in your letter that you believe everyone should be allowed to decide for themselves what is morally right or wrong. If that were the case then not only could one decide that homosexuality was OK but one could also decide that murder, rape, incest, adultery, child abuse, etc., could be OK also.
No one is born homosexual. It is sin and it is perverted and no child is born that way, that is just another lame excuse for a choice you have made.
God gave us a free will because he didn't want to force us to love and serve him, but rather he wanted us to love and follow him of our own free will. Everything is about choices, any act of sex between adults other than rape is a choice we make. And any act of sex outside the boundaries of a marriage between one man and one woman is sin.
God made us in the image of himself and all he wanted was to love us as his children and for us to love him as our father. To love him is to reject the world and the sin therein.
As for you, Miss Webb, read the Bible, then tell yourself it is OK to be homosexual. You were not meant to be gay, it was not OK back in Noah's day or the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is not OK today and it will never be OK. Yes, it is a very messed up world but because of sin, not because you cannot marry another woman. We are either living God's way or Satan's. If you are not following God's plan, then you are following Satan's.
Deanna Newton
Warsaw
via e-mail
Supports Eric Miller
Editor, Times-Union:I am proud to write on behalf of my friend Eric Miller, a candidate on the Republican ticket for governor of Indiana. Three years ago, I had never met Eric but I had followed his efforts on behalf of families, business and churches with the Indiana Legislature. I allocated 15 minutes on my appointment book. I figured I would meet him, hear his stump speech, give him a small donation, wish him well and get him on his way. Plus, who was I to turn down Governor "Doc" Otis Bowen's request for me to meet Eric.
After three hours of asking him all types of questions and liking his common-sense approach and straight answers, I agreed to help him in his bid to become the next governor.
During the last 23 years, Eric has traveled the state many times meeting individuals, business leaders and elected officials to learn of their problems. Just this year alone, he has been in our county to attend the fair, speak at Optimist, visit high school classes at Warsaw and Wawasee, speak at Grace College, participate in the rally on the courthouse steps and visit Dig's Diner, the emporium of choice in downtown Warsaw. Oh yes, his wife is a graduate of Wawasee. Over the years, he began to realize that what he heard was that Indiana was going the wrong way.
While we were paying more and more in property and income taxes, the state was spending more than they took in. As a banker, I understand that approach to financial management leads to a deficit.
Eric has shared some of his thoughts for assisting our State to reign in its spending. His plan on capping spending at 1 percent over last years budget since 1998 would have reduced spending in those five years by $1.5 billion.
His plan to issue license plates through auto dealerships shows his willingness to think outside of the box and work with business in addressing a better way to provide the services we all need.
His stand on moral issues is based upon the ideals this country was founded on: The sanctity of life from the moment of conception to death, and now the issue of same-sex marriage. His stands are well known. Our country achieved its greatness by abiding by these well-defined principles that have recently become fuzzy because of a lack of doing what is right.
Eric didn't need to be recruited. Eric is not from Indianapolis. Eric does not need to check with any special interest group to find out what direction to take. Eric has built a grassroots effort that covers every nook and cranny of our state.
I like the phrase that Doc Bowen has used in introducing Eric. "Our man Eric." That indicates a broad level of support that represents the people of our great state. When you enter the voting booth on May 4, remember that Eric Miller has prepared for this job for 23 years. I believe that an "our man" approach represents many more individuals and businesses throughout Indiana than a "my man" approach.
Make your own decision when you enter the booth. You can vote for Eric Miller, a proven leader. And remember to check your ballot to make sure there are no hanging chads.
John Elliott
Warsaw
via e-mail
Bowling's A Sport, Too
Editor, Times-Union:Bowling at this time is considered to be a high school sports club but if you were to ask any high school bowler their opinion of this topic chances are you'd get a response similar to "it should be considered a high school sport." Although we do not endure all the physical attributes as football, basketball or any other contact sport, there is still a great deal of intensity to the game of bowling. Self-discipline and mental strength are two very large attributes in the game of bowling. Reading the oil patterns on the lanes and being able to make minor adjustments with your feet or moving your mark are also very important. Each sport has its difficulties and no matter the sport you have to work toward excellence. Saturday, the Warsaw Girl's Bowling team will be traveling to Chippewa Bowl in South Bend to bowl in the Indiana High School Bowling's Semi State competition. The team consists of Stephanie Himes (senior), Whitney Heagy (senior), Heather Hughes (senior), Suzi Fluke (junior), Jennifer Cordill (junior), and Ashley Gunter (sophomore). The girls placed first in their conference with an undefeated season, they also placed first in sectionals.
Last weekend Regionals were held in Lafayette and the ladies placed fourth, moving on to semi state. The Lady Tiger Bowlers would like to thank our coaches but especially those behind the scenes: Chris Curl, Mark Himes, Robin Fluke and Cindy Cordill for all of the support, coaching and cheering you have provided this season, we couldn't have made it this far without you! The Lady Tiger Bowling Team would also like to thank all those in the community who have supported us. If you are interested in attending Semi-State, competition will be held in South Bend at Chippewa Bowl at 9 a.m.
Whitney Heagy
Warsaw
via e-mail
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