Letters to the Editor 04-01-2004
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Misconceptions - Secure Property? - Stolen Video - Take Action - Bible Origins - School Capacities - Act Of Kindness
Misconceptions
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Ms. Webb's letter about homosexuality, I just want to clear up some of her misconceptions about God and the Bible. But first, I have a question about being born gay. Since you don't believe the Bible, I'll be scientific. A person is born with a combination of their parent's genes. If a person's parents are heterosexual, how then can a person be born homosexual if their parent didn't have the supposed "gay gene"? You will find no scientific studies that prove whether or not a person is born a homosexual, but even the main "gay gene" researcher Simon LeVay claims that multiple factors play a role and it is not solely a biological issue (see the 1996 edition of Queer Science for proof).
Now about some of your misconceptions about God and the Bible. Nowhere does God subject women to "something to look at and to have children." He does tell women to obey their husbands as they would obey Him. He does not mean for women to be slaves of their husbands. If you want an example of a strong, independent woman in the Bible, look at Proverbs 31:10-31. You might be surprised about God's view of women. I do agree with you that we are all sinners. Because of our sin, the only way to avoid hell is through God.
Lastly, the Bible states we are "created in the God's image," not "out of him," as you said. We can't be created physically like God because in John chapter 4 it says God is spirit and does not reside in a physical body. He is also not a sexual being. He does love everyone and everything he created, but love can exist without it being sexual. Just because he loves us, doesn't mean he approves of everything we do. Just as a parent who loves a child who does wrong, God still loves us when we do wrong. "In his image" means he created us as intelligent, rational beings with a soul and free will, just as he is.
I know you and I and most "Bible-thumpers," as you so eloquently called them, will never agree on this issue, but that is only because of where our beliefs come from.
Josh Brown
Warsaw
via e-mail
Secure Property?
Editor, Times-Union:How secure is your property?
A clerk in the Kosciusko County Auditor or Treasurer's office "could" make a mistake on an address and the Post Office return a tax statement to those offices as "undeliverable as addressed." Should that happen, a taxpayer would "never" receive property tax statements or notices regarding delinquent tax or sale of property. Indiana statute currently requires those offices to "notify the owner" "at the last address of the owner for the property as indicated in the records of the county auditor." If the Auditor's Office has an erroneous address, it will mail notices of delinquency and tax sale to an invalid address and the taxpayer will remain in the dark! "Failure by an owner to receive or accept the notice required by this section does not affect the validity of the judgment and order." In other words, those offices have no obligation toward a taxpayer after mailing a certified notice to the wrong address!
The Treasurer's Office "ignored our agent's change of address" recorded plainly on a payment check and the Treasurer's statement! A clerk in the Treasurer's office held both items in hand! The Treasurer's office simply ignored both notices! Kosciusko County taxpayers should stand face to face with a clerk in the Auditor and Treasurer's offices each year to verify address details, otherwise their property may be at risk!
Legislators need to delete the phrase, "at the last known address" from the statute. Deleting that phrase causes county offices "to actually contact the owner!" Currently the phrase allows both offices to continue sending certified notices to bogus addresses without actually having to contact the owner of an at-risk property. The phrase "at the last known address" actually negates the previous phrase, "must contact the owner."
Moved? The Treasurer's Office currently incorporates a change of address form when sending out tax statements, which may not be valid for notification of a property owner because the statute reads: "at the last address of the owner for the property as indicated in the records of the "county auditor." In our case, the county Treasurer's office failed to acknowledge our change of address and failed to notify the Auditor of our address change! In short, the treasurer's form may not validate your address with the Auditor's Office! A face-to-face visit will substantiate your details. We sent a change of address to the Treasurer's office and it cost us our property! No one bothered to apprise us of a problem! Although the county has had our current address since October 2002, we have yet to receive an official notification from the county concerning the sale of our property!
Tom Huffman
Sherman
via e-mail
Stolen Video
Editor, Times-Union:On March 24, our house was broken into. Among the items that were stolen, a very precious video was also missing. This video is one that no insurance company can replace. It was a video that I, the owner have only watched once.
This "precious" video had our deceased son on it as well as my deceased brothers and my last hug on it. That is the only video we have of our baby when he was alive, and I cannot begin to believe that somebody would steal this.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are, please know this: we will not press charges if only if we receive this video unharmed. If you are "man" enough to break into people's homes, then you should be "man" enough to return this video. All you have to do is put it in an envelope and turn it in to the police station. Or, now that you know where we live, put it in my mailbox.
Please, again I beg you, we just want that video back, please.
Angela and David Lowman
Milford
Take Action
Editor, Times-Union:After attending the March 15th Warsaw School Board meeting, the residents of the Warsaw Community School district should do the following.
1. Help in anyway with the upcoming lawsuit that Concerned Citizens for Quality Education has filed against the school board.
2. Attend the monthly school board meetings and speak up during the public comment session but keep it short and to the point and also try to be polite and avoid repeating what others have already said.
3. Start putting pressure on school board members to start voting "no" more often, which is in sharp contrast to what happened Monday evening with only a very few exceptions to the unanimous approval, or if you can't beat them join them by voting with their mentality that was on display.
4. Ask for the resignation of the superintendent and the pro-consolidation faction of the school board.
5. This November vote the pro-consolidation faction out of office.
6. Homeschooling and private schooling are still legal and very unregulated options in the state of Indiana, make use of them.
7. Get involved in your child's education by helping them with areas of their school work where they are not adequately being instructed.
Start taking these steps before it's too late.
Alexander Houze
Leesburg
Bible Origins
Editor, Times-Union:This is in response to Mr. Lowe's "Dogma Response" posted 3/23/04.
The Holy Catholic Church (the word Catholic meaning universal, nothing more), which was established by Jesus Christ, existed before the Bible. That is a fact, not an opinion and certainly not fallacious. Here are some more facts about the Bible:
The Bible is a book of the Holy Catholic Church. The New Testament of the holy Bible exists because Catholic priests and bishops (the apostles) wrote it for faithful Catholics who were under their pastoral care. The Old Testament of the Bible exists as it does today because of Catholics. St. Jerome, a fourth century Catholic priest and doctor of the church, carefully and faithfully translated all of Sacred Scripture into Latin, which was the language of the common people. This is fact. It is recorded history.
Furthermore, each Bible had to be handwritten, a task lovingly undertaken by dedicated Catholics. It is completely illogical to presume that the Christian faith had to wait until the invention of the printing press to be disseminated. Are we to believe that no one was "saved" until the Bible was widely available?
The holy Bible is only one part of the sacred deposit of faith; the other part is tradition. The Bible was never intended to stand on its own merits, but on the merits of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as testimony to the true faith received by the Apostles. So, then, the Bible proceeded from the Church. It is for this reason that its interpretation is subject to her.
These statements are true. They are neither deceptive nor misleading.
It is the duty of every confirmed Catholic to defend the faith when it is attacked, but to do so by quoting scripture - outside the context of Christ's Holy Bride - would be inappropriate, neither efficacious nor charitable. There are several reasons why this is so, but they coalesce upon this one: would the reader receive it in the light of faith, the light of Christ? When one extracts the Bible from the Catholic faith, one is reading in the dark, setting oneself up as a mini-pope. This is not faith - it is pride, and its fruits, division.
I find it sadly ironic that Ms. Kurosky's young detractor uses words of the first pope, St. Peter, to envelope his own insolence. Moreover, he takes the words of St. John, the apostle to whom our Lord entrusted the care of his blessed mother, out of context to contort the truth. If one reads the verse immediately preceding the one which led his letter, the meaning clearly changes. Scripture is sacred and should be treated with the utmost respect and reverence; it should be used prudently and charitably as St. Peter does. As such, quoting scripture is not a sport.
I encourage the young writer to look up the specific church councils that gave us the Bible, with his parents' permission of course, at dailycatholic.org. He could also find an online Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible at DRBO.org if he would like to read the Bible as it was really written.
Dorothy Clemmer
Warsaw
via e-mail
School Capacities
Editor, Times-Union:Let me start off by saying that Ron Yeiter has no reason to send a retraction. The numbers he has are from a study that our school corporation paid for. There are several different numbers out there on the capacity of our school buildings. The people in charge who make the decisions for us, decide which numbers to use, to suit there own needs.
For example: We need to build new schools to relieve some of the overcrowding. Or for financial reasons we need to close the small elementaries, we have plenty of room at the other existing buildings. So which is it, are we crowded or not?
Also, I wish someone would stick to a story here. I am tired of hearing that this is a financial situation while in the next breath, your children will have a better education at these other schools because they can offer more. Let me ask you this, if these other schools can offer more, then whose fault is that?
It is NOT the fault of these small schools or our teachers. But the fault of administrators and school board members who make the decisions. Now for the capacity, you have 25 classrooms and a portable for music. All of the rooms are being utilized with class sizes that are within reason. What happens if there is a need for another class? Take a drive one day and look at the new housing additions going up. Warsaw is cutting themselves short right now.
As for the administrators working with everyone to make this smooth. I hate to wake you up but that is WRONG! I am a parent and part of the PTO and I can tell you first hand we are in the dark on everything. One of the main things I want answered in public is; What time will school start or end if this goes through? Apparently we are not buying any more buses. The bus for the high school stops at my house between 3:30 and 3:35. I am not the furthest in the county either. So how are they going to get to Washington by the time they get out? Oh , I know these kids can sit there and wait until one can arrive. The old saying is true; it is easier to sit there and get bits and pieces of information and do nothing, than it is to actually take a stand, ask questions, and speak in public. I would rather be proven wrong than not get any answers. So if anyone wants to learn about this situation and see the documents to back it up, call me my cell 574-286-9445 leave a message if I do not answer. I would love to get a cup of coffee and sit down with you. Not only would I tell you what I know, but I would listen to your point of view, who knows we both could learn something.
Angela Fulton
Silver Lake
via e-mail
Act Of Kindness
Editor, Times-Union:On Saturday evening I had car trouble on Ind. 13 south of Pierceton. I had my little daughter with me and I was stranded. I got a ride home and my husband went down to the police department to report my car stranded. The policeman on duty, Jeff Davis, went back to the car with him and worked to get the car home. This was such a kindness on his part and was such a role model for my two small children. They can now see what great friends our policemen are.
Kris VanCuren
Pierceton
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- Misconceptions - Secure Property? - Stolen Video - Take Action - Bible Origins - School Capacities - Act Of Kindness
Misconceptions
Editor, Times-Union:In response to Ms. Webb's letter about homosexuality, I just want to clear up some of her misconceptions about God and the Bible. But first, I have a question about being born gay. Since you don't believe the Bible, I'll be scientific. A person is born with a combination of their parent's genes. If a person's parents are heterosexual, how then can a person be born homosexual if their parent didn't have the supposed "gay gene"? You will find no scientific studies that prove whether or not a person is born a homosexual, but even the main "gay gene" researcher Simon LeVay claims that multiple factors play a role and it is not solely a biological issue (see the 1996 edition of Queer Science for proof).
Now about some of your misconceptions about God and the Bible. Nowhere does God subject women to "something to look at and to have children." He does tell women to obey their husbands as they would obey Him. He does not mean for women to be slaves of their husbands. If you want an example of a strong, independent woman in the Bible, look at Proverbs 31:10-31. You might be surprised about God's view of women. I do agree with you that we are all sinners. Because of our sin, the only way to avoid hell is through God.
Lastly, the Bible states we are "created in the God's image," not "out of him," as you said. We can't be created physically like God because in John chapter 4 it says God is spirit and does not reside in a physical body. He is also not a sexual being. He does love everyone and everything he created, but love can exist without it being sexual. Just because he loves us, doesn't mean he approves of everything we do. Just as a parent who loves a child who does wrong, God still loves us when we do wrong. "In his image" means he created us as intelligent, rational beings with a soul and free will, just as he is.
I know you and I and most "Bible-thumpers," as you so eloquently called them, will never agree on this issue, but that is only because of where our beliefs come from.
Josh Brown
Warsaw
via e-mail
Secure Property?
Editor, Times-Union:How secure is your property?
A clerk in the Kosciusko County Auditor or Treasurer's office "could" make a mistake on an address and the Post Office return a tax statement to those offices as "undeliverable as addressed." Should that happen, a taxpayer would "never" receive property tax statements or notices regarding delinquent tax or sale of property. Indiana statute currently requires those offices to "notify the owner" "at the last address of the owner for the property as indicated in the records of the county auditor." If the Auditor's Office has an erroneous address, it will mail notices of delinquency and tax sale to an invalid address and the taxpayer will remain in the dark! "Failure by an owner to receive or accept the notice required by this section does not affect the validity of the judgment and order." In other words, those offices have no obligation toward a taxpayer after mailing a certified notice to the wrong address!
The Treasurer's Office "ignored our agent's change of address" recorded plainly on a payment check and the Treasurer's statement! A clerk in the Treasurer's office held both items in hand! The Treasurer's office simply ignored both notices! Kosciusko County taxpayers should stand face to face with a clerk in the Auditor and Treasurer's offices each year to verify address details, otherwise their property may be at risk!
Legislators need to delete the phrase, "at the last known address" from the statute. Deleting that phrase causes county offices "to actually contact the owner!" Currently the phrase allows both offices to continue sending certified notices to bogus addresses without actually having to contact the owner of an at-risk property. The phrase "at the last known address" actually negates the previous phrase, "must contact the owner."
Moved? The Treasurer's Office currently incorporates a change of address form when sending out tax statements, which may not be valid for notification of a property owner because the statute reads: "at the last address of the owner for the property as indicated in the records of the "county auditor." In our case, the county Treasurer's office failed to acknowledge our change of address and failed to notify the Auditor of our address change! In short, the treasurer's form may not validate your address with the Auditor's Office! A face-to-face visit will substantiate your details. We sent a change of address to the Treasurer's office and it cost us our property! No one bothered to apprise us of a problem! Although the county has had our current address since October 2002, we have yet to receive an official notification from the county concerning the sale of our property!
Tom Huffman
Sherman
via e-mail
Stolen Video
Editor, Times-Union:On March 24, our house was broken into. Among the items that were stolen, a very precious video was also missing. This video is one that no insurance company can replace. It was a video that I, the owner have only watched once.
This "precious" video had our deceased son on it as well as my deceased brothers and my last hug on it. That is the only video we have of our baby when he was alive, and I cannot begin to believe that somebody would steal this.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are, please know this: we will not press charges if only if we receive this video unharmed. If you are "man" enough to break into people's homes, then you should be "man" enough to return this video. All you have to do is put it in an envelope and turn it in to the police station. Or, now that you know where we live, put it in my mailbox.
Please, again I beg you, we just want that video back, please.
Angela and David Lowman
Milford
Take Action
Editor, Times-Union:After attending the March 15th Warsaw School Board meeting, the residents of the Warsaw Community School district should do the following.
1. Help in anyway with the upcoming lawsuit that Concerned Citizens for Quality Education has filed against the school board.
2. Attend the monthly school board meetings and speak up during the public comment session but keep it short and to the point and also try to be polite and avoid repeating what others have already said.
3. Start putting pressure on school board members to start voting "no" more often, which is in sharp contrast to what happened Monday evening with only a very few exceptions to the unanimous approval, or if you can't beat them join them by voting with their mentality that was on display.
4. Ask for the resignation of the superintendent and the pro-consolidation faction of the school board.
5. This November vote the pro-consolidation faction out of office.
6. Homeschooling and private schooling are still legal and very unregulated options in the state of Indiana, make use of them.
7. Get involved in your child's education by helping them with areas of their school work where they are not adequately being instructed.
Start taking these steps before it's too late.
Alexander Houze
Leesburg
Bible Origins
Editor, Times-Union:This is in response to Mr. Lowe's "Dogma Response" posted 3/23/04.
The Holy Catholic Church (the word Catholic meaning universal, nothing more), which was established by Jesus Christ, existed before the Bible. That is a fact, not an opinion and certainly not fallacious. Here are some more facts about the Bible:
The Bible is a book of the Holy Catholic Church. The New Testament of the holy Bible exists because Catholic priests and bishops (the apostles) wrote it for faithful Catholics who were under their pastoral care. The Old Testament of the Bible exists as it does today because of Catholics. St. Jerome, a fourth century Catholic priest and doctor of the church, carefully and faithfully translated all of Sacred Scripture into Latin, which was the language of the common people. This is fact. It is recorded history.
Furthermore, each Bible had to be handwritten, a task lovingly undertaken by dedicated Catholics. It is completely illogical to presume that the Christian faith had to wait until the invention of the printing press to be disseminated. Are we to believe that no one was "saved" until the Bible was widely available?
The holy Bible is only one part of the sacred deposit of faith; the other part is tradition. The Bible was never intended to stand on its own merits, but on the merits of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as testimony to the true faith received by the Apostles. So, then, the Bible proceeded from the Church. It is for this reason that its interpretation is subject to her.
These statements are true. They are neither deceptive nor misleading.
It is the duty of every confirmed Catholic to defend the faith when it is attacked, but to do so by quoting scripture - outside the context of Christ's Holy Bride - would be inappropriate, neither efficacious nor charitable. There are several reasons why this is so, but they coalesce upon this one: would the reader receive it in the light of faith, the light of Christ? When one extracts the Bible from the Catholic faith, one is reading in the dark, setting oneself up as a mini-pope. This is not faith - it is pride, and its fruits, division.
I find it sadly ironic that Ms. Kurosky's young detractor uses words of the first pope, St. Peter, to envelope his own insolence. Moreover, he takes the words of St. John, the apostle to whom our Lord entrusted the care of his blessed mother, out of context to contort the truth. If one reads the verse immediately preceding the one which led his letter, the meaning clearly changes. Scripture is sacred and should be treated with the utmost respect and reverence; it should be used prudently and charitably as St. Peter does. As such, quoting scripture is not a sport.
I encourage the young writer to look up the specific church councils that gave us the Bible, with his parents' permission of course, at dailycatholic.org. He could also find an online Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible at DRBO.org if he would like to read the Bible as it was really written.
Dorothy Clemmer
Warsaw
via e-mail
School Capacities
Editor, Times-Union:Let me start off by saying that Ron Yeiter has no reason to send a retraction. The numbers he has are from a study that our school corporation paid for. There are several different numbers out there on the capacity of our school buildings. The people in charge who make the decisions for us, decide which numbers to use, to suit there own needs.
For example: We need to build new schools to relieve some of the overcrowding. Or for financial reasons we need to close the small elementaries, we have plenty of room at the other existing buildings. So which is it, are we crowded or not?
Also, I wish someone would stick to a story here. I am tired of hearing that this is a financial situation while in the next breath, your children will have a better education at these other schools because they can offer more. Let me ask you this, if these other schools can offer more, then whose fault is that?
It is NOT the fault of these small schools or our teachers. But the fault of administrators and school board members who make the decisions. Now for the capacity, you have 25 classrooms and a portable for music. All of the rooms are being utilized with class sizes that are within reason. What happens if there is a need for another class? Take a drive one day and look at the new housing additions going up. Warsaw is cutting themselves short right now.
As for the administrators working with everyone to make this smooth. I hate to wake you up but that is WRONG! I am a parent and part of the PTO and I can tell you first hand we are in the dark on everything. One of the main things I want answered in public is; What time will school start or end if this goes through? Apparently we are not buying any more buses. The bus for the high school stops at my house between 3:30 and 3:35. I am not the furthest in the county either. So how are they going to get to Washington by the time they get out? Oh , I know these kids can sit there and wait until one can arrive. The old saying is true; it is easier to sit there and get bits and pieces of information and do nothing, than it is to actually take a stand, ask questions, and speak in public. I would rather be proven wrong than not get any answers. So if anyone wants to learn about this situation and see the documents to back it up, call me my cell 574-286-9445 leave a message if I do not answer. I would love to get a cup of coffee and sit down with you. Not only would I tell you what I know, but I would listen to your point of view, who knows we both could learn something.
Angela Fulton
Silver Lake
via e-mail
Act Of Kindness
Editor, Times-Union:On Saturday evening I had car trouble on Ind. 13 south of Pierceton. I had my little daughter with me and I was stranded. I got a ride home and my husband went down to the police department to report my car stranded. The policeman on duty, Jeff Davis, went back to the car with him and worked to get the car home. This was such a kindness on his part and was such a role model for my two small children. They can now see what great friends our policemen are.
Kris VanCuren
Pierceton
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