Letters to the Editor 04-16-1997
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Zurcher Remembered - Pay Raises - DARE Injustice - Tiger Band - Medicare
Zurcher Remembered
Editor, Times-Union:What a beautiful tribute expressed in a letter by Leanne Coffman, a former student of Vernon Zurcher, after his untimely death. I only knew him as a neighbor years ago and the reputation he shared with his wife and family and children and church. I'm sure many more whose lives were touched by this man also mourn his passing. Without fanfare or drums, he went about living his life and sharing his ideas and God-given talents with others.
What a contrast with the recent death of "Poetic Guru" Allen Ginsberg and the accolade granted him in a one-quarter page six-column dissertation. He is credited with the title of "counter culture guru who shattered conventions as poet laureate of the beat generation and influenced the next four decades of art, music and politics." Maybe that explains some of the problems with art, music and politics. His life was a blend of drug-inspired visions, hedonistic sex and communist upbringing. Among his other credits, he was plaintiff in a U.S. Supreme Court case aimed at knocking down federal regulations on the hours "indecent programming" could air on TV and radio. I venture to say that the memory and influence of Vernon Zurcher's life on others will overshadow the degradation left by Allen Ginsberg. I pray it will.
Marianne Watson North Webster
Pay Raises
Editor, Times-Union:In reference to pay raises for state senators: Why?
It's a part-time job that pays (per diem) even when legislators are not in session. We, the taxpayers, already contribute 400 percent of the amount our legislators save from their salary and per diem. They save $1, we give them $4 to add to it. Where else do part-time jobs pay these (outrageous) benefits? In addition, why should part-time employment have a pension plan? This costs the taxpayers millions of dollars. Part-time employment does not have benefits in the private sector.
Get smart, people! In only three elections the taxpayers (voters) could abolish this. Only elect candidates that would vote these benefits down. Then perhaps, just perhaps, Indiana could afford other items, like textbooks.
Dennis G. Lundgren Warsaw
DARE Injustice
Editor, Times-Union:I am writing hopefully to correct what I feel was a gross injustice to a child. Our granddaughter, Katrina Fink, recently graduated from the Triton fifth grade DARE program. As part of the program each fifth-grader was requested to write an essay as to what DARE meant to them. Katrina wrote her essay; what I believe is an excellent one. Each child was asked to read theirs before their class. Katrina is a very shy and sensitive child and could not bring herself to read before the class. Three boys each offered to read it for her. Officer Collins would not permit this, grabbed the essay from her hand, wadded it up and threw it on the desk. Katrina's regular teacher was not present or would probably have interceded on her behalf. Subsequently, her essay was not permitted to be entered into the DARE essay contest. I feel Officer Collins lost the respect of Katrina's class that day. Below is her essay.
< 219> What DARE means to me.
DARE to be a Daniel
DARE to stand alone,
DARE to have a purpose firm
DARE to make it known.
Just like Daniel in the Bible, I know you have to take a stand for what you believe. Daniel refused to eat the rich food and drink the wine that the King offered. He chose to eat healthy food and drink lots of water. He grew stronger and smarter than the other youths.
I don't want to smoke cigarettes because it can cause cancer, heart disease and death. Smoking can also irritate asthma. I wish to keep my lungs and heart strong and healthy. I also don't want the smelly breath and clothes that smokers have. Alcohol causes: loss of coordination, inability to learn and remember, and changes in personality. It can cause heart and liver damage. I wish to be in control of my coordination, my thinking, and my personality. I don't want to damage my body by drinking. Marijuana has some of the same effects on the mind and body as alcohol. It causes: slow reflexes, poor memory, short attention span, inability to think, and changes in sense of time and space. I want to be in control, not drugs. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug. Cocaine causes breathing problems, heart attacks and death. These are all things I can live without. I want to grow up like Daniel; strong, healthy and smart. DARE has helped us learn how bad drugs can be. I want to give a special thanks to Officer Collins for taking the time to teach us about drugs and DARE.
Katrina A. Fink I appreciate all the time and effort Officer Collins and others in our law enforcement have put into this program. I believe it is very important. Important too, however, are the feelings of the children who participate. I pray that next year Officer Collins will be more sensitive to the feelings and efforts of our children when he conducts this class. They need to be built up, not embarrassed before their peers.
Jean Wells Bourbon
Tiger Band
Editor, Times-Union:We wanted to congratulate the Warsaw Tiger Marching Band for a wonderful performance at Disney World on April 8. This was truly a great example of Tiger pride displayed before people from all over the world. We heard compliments from people all around us during the parade and were very proud of our home town being represented so well. Great job, Tigers!
Mark and Chris Bonifield
Medicare
Editor, Times-Union:President Clinton, Speaker Gingrich and Rose Burkett, what do these three people have in common? The answer is Medicare. Medicare is financed by deductions from paychecks. If you pay taxes, this brings you into the equation.
Speaker Gingrich attempted to restrain the growth of Medicare to about 6 percent per year and he was accused of extremist cuts and of wanting to abandon our most vulnerable citizens ("Just wanting to let them die," said Vice President Gore). President Clinton suggested limiting the growth of Medicare to about 6 percent per year and he was lauded for forward thinking and for trying to save Medicare for future generations.
Rose Burkett has Alzheimer's disease and on Jan. 14 fell and broke her hip. After her hospital stay she was transferred to a health care center with a skilled therapy unit so she could relearn the ability to walk.
The first 20 days were paid entirely by Medicare. Days 21 through 100 are paid 80 percent by Medicare, 20 percent by Mrs. Burkett through supplement insurance she had kept in force for a long time. Mrs. Burkett's 20 percent share is $95 per day. This means the Medicare share is $380 per day (four times 20 percent is 80 percent). The total is $475 per day.
On day 101 Mrs. Burkett's Medicare will no longer pay anything and she will be forced to pay 100 percent. Does this mean $475 per day, you may wonder? No, once Mrs. Burkett is forced to pay 100 percent, her payment will be $89.50 per day, or $5.50 < 219>less than when Medicare was paying 80 percent. Mrs. Burkett has no complaint, nor do I as her son and guardian. However, as a taxpayer, you the reader should be outraged. Since the health care facility must be able to cover costs at $89.50 per day, you are being overcharged $385.50 for the first 100 days. This is not the health care facility's fault; this is the system and the rules and they have to play by them.
However, if you multiply $385.50 per day by the number of little old ladies coast to coast, you will have a nice little sum that could be saved under either the Clinton or Gingrich plan. And I'll bet Rose Burkett is still able to explain it to them.
Richard Burkett Warsaw
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- Zurcher Remembered - Pay Raises - DARE Injustice - Tiger Band - Medicare
Zurcher Remembered
Editor, Times-Union:What a beautiful tribute expressed in a letter by Leanne Coffman, a former student of Vernon Zurcher, after his untimely death. I only knew him as a neighbor years ago and the reputation he shared with his wife and family and children and church. I'm sure many more whose lives were touched by this man also mourn his passing. Without fanfare or drums, he went about living his life and sharing his ideas and God-given talents with others.
What a contrast with the recent death of "Poetic Guru" Allen Ginsberg and the accolade granted him in a one-quarter page six-column dissertation. He is credited with the title of "counter culture guru who shattered conventions as poet laureate of the beat generation and influenced the next four decades of art, music and politics." Maybe that explains some of the problems with art, music and politics. His life was a blend of drug-inspired visions, hedonistic sex and communist upbringing. Among his other credits, he was plaintiff in a U.S. Supreme Court case aimed at knocking down federal regulations on the hours "indecent programming" could air on TV and radio. I venture to say that the memory and influence of Vernon Zurcher's life on others will overshadow the degradation left by Allen Ginsberg. I pray it will.
Marianne Watson North Webster
Pay Raises
Editor, Times-Union:In reference to pay raises for state senators: Why?
It's a part-time job that pays (per diem) even when legislators are not in session. We, the taxpayers, already contribute 400 percent of the amount our legislators save from their salary and per diem. They save $1, we give them $4 to add to it. Where else do part-time jobs pay these (outrageous) benefits? In addition, why should part-time employment have a pension plan? This costs the taxpayers millions of dollars. Part-time employment does not have benefits in the private sector.
Get smart, people! In only three elections the taxpayers (voters) could abolish this. Only elect candidates that would vote these benefits down. Then perhaps, just perhaps, Indiana could afford other items, like textbooks.
Dennis G. Lundgren Warsaw
DARE Injustice
Editor, Times-Union:I am writing hopefully to correct what I feel was a gross injustice to a child. Our granddaughter, Katrina Fink, recently graduated from the Triton fifth grade DARE program. As part of the program each fifth-grader was requested to write an essay as to what DARE meant to them. Katrina wrote her essay; what I believe is an excellent one. Each child was asked to read theirs before their class. Katrina is a very shy and sensitive child and could not bring herself to read before the class. Three boys each offered to read it for her. Officer Collins would not permit this, grabbed the essay from her hand, wadded it up and threw it on the desk. Katrina's regular teacher was not present or would probably have interceded on her behalf. Subsequently, her essay was not permitted to be entered into the DARE essay contest. I feel Officer Collins lost the respect of Katrina's class that day. Below is her essay.
< 219> What DARE means to me.
DARE to be a Daniel
DARE to stand alone,
DARE to have a purpose firm
DARE to make it known.
Just like Daniel in the Bible, I know you have to take a stand for what you believe. Daniel refused to eat the rich food and drink the wine that the King offered. He chose to eat healthy food and drink lots of water. He grew stronger and smarter than the other youths.
I don't want to smoke cigarettes because it can cause cancer, heart disease and death. Smoking can also irritate asthma. I wish to keep my lungs and heart strong and healthy. I also don't want the smelly breath and clothes that smokers have. Alcohol causes: loss of coordination, inability to learn and remember, and changes in personality. It can cause heart and liver damage. I wish to be in control of my coordination, my thinking, and my personality. I don't want to damage my body by drinking. Marijuana has some of the same effects on the mind and body as alcohol. It causes: slow reflexes, poor memory, short attention span, inability to think, and changes in sense of time and space. I want to be in control, not drugs. Cocaine is a highly addictive drug. Cocaine causes breathing problems, heart attacks and death. These are all things I can live without. I want to grow up like Daniel; strong, healthy and smart. DARE has helped us learn how bad drugs can be. I want to give a special thanks to Officer Collins for taking the time to teach us about drugs and DARE.
Katrina A. Fink I appreciate all the time and effort Officer Collins and others in our law enforcement have put into this program. I believe it is very important. Important too, however, are the feelings of the children who participate. I pray that next year Officer Collins will be more sensitive to the feelings and efforts of our children when he conducts this class. They need to be built up, not embarrassed before their peers.
Jean Wells Bourbon
Tiger Band
Editor, Times-Union:We wanted to congratulate the Warsaw Tiger Marching Band for a wonderful performance at Disney World on April 8. This was truly a great example of Tiger pride displayed before people from all over the world. We heard compliments from people all around us during the parade and were very proud of our home town being represented so well. Great job, Tigers!
Mark and Chris Bonifield
Medicare
Editor, Times-Union:President Clinton, Speaker Gingrich and Rose Burkett, what do these three people have in common? The answer is Medicare. Medicare is financed by deductions from paychecks. If you pay taxes, this brings you into the equation.
Speaker Gingrich attempted to restrain the growth of Medicare to about 6 percent per year and he was accused of extremist cuts and of wanting to abandon our most vulnerable citizens ("Just wanting to let them die," said Vice President Gore). President Clinton suggested limiting the growth of Medicare to about 6 percent per year and he was lauded for forward thinking and for trying to save Medicare for future generations.
Rose Burkett has Alzheimer's disease and on Jan. 14 fell and broke her hip. After her hospital stay she was transferred to a health care center with a skilled therapy unit so she could relearn the ability to walk.
The first 20 days were paid entirely by Medicare. Days 21 through 100 are paid 80 percent by Medicare, 20 percent by Mrs. Burkett through supplement insurance she had kept in force for a long time. Mrs. Burkett's 20 percent share is $95 per day. This means the Medicare share is $380 per day (four times 20 percent is 80 percent). The total is $475 per day.
On day 101 Mrs. Burkett's Medicare will no longer pay anything and she will be forced to pay 100 percent. Does this mean $475 per day, you may wonder? No, once Mrs. Burkett is forced to pay 100 percent, her payment will be $89.50 per day, or $5.50 < 219>less than when Medicare was paying 80 percent. Mrs. Burkett has no complaint, nor do I as her son and guardian. However, as a taxpayer, you the reader should be outraged. Since the health care facility must be able to cover costs at $89.50 per day, you are being overcharged $385.50 for the first 100 days. This is not the health care facility's fault; this is the system and the rules and they have to play by them.
However, if you multiply $385.50 per day by the number of little old ladies coast to coast, you will have a nice little sum that could be saved under either the Clinton or Gingrich plan. And I'll bet Rose Burkett is still able to explain it to them.
Richard Burkett Warsaw
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