Letters to the Editor 05-28-1999
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Stamp Out Hunger - Don't Sell Guns - Buy Your Kid A Gun - Thanks From Fashion Show
Stamp Out Hunger
Editor, Times-Union:Combined Community Services would like to express our gratitude to the Warsaw postal workers and their families for all the hard work they put into a successful "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. On a wet and cold Saturday, the postal workers kept to their slogan and delivered around 5,000 pounds of nonperishable food items to CCS.
For five years in a row, the postal workers have been delivering this food for CCS at a time in the year when our pantry is starting to run low. The food that was collected will stay in Kosciusko County and put food on the table for many families that are in need of food during the summer months.
For all the hard work that the postal workers did, they are only a portion of the many people that deserve a special thank you and this is our way of saying thanks to each of you. CCS wishes to thank every person in Warsaw who contributed to this food drive. Without your help CCS can't continue "Helping Neighbors Help Neighbors." This community continually amazes me at how much they care about others by their support of CCS. I am truly proud to be able to call Kosciusko County home.
I would like to say a special thanks to Jeff Dotson, who has spent a lot of time organizing the food drive. He is vital to the success of this very important food drive for CCS. Also, Reinholt's Town Square furniture deserves special recognition for the generous use of their truck to haul the food from the post office to CCS.
Thanks to everyone who had a part in this event.
Jake Murray, Assistant Director of CCS
Don't Sell Guns
Editor, Times-Union:Today there was yet another school shooting. This time a 15-year-old boy shot 6 people in Georgia. This happened on the 1-month anniversary of the tragic Colorado school shooting.
What prompted me to write this letter is, yesterday (5-19) I was looking through the garage sale ads and I saw something that horrified me. Someone had advertised that they have shotguns for sale at their garage sale. Hasn't anyone learned anything from all these school shootings that have happened in the past year and a half? With everybody fighting for tougher gun laws, someone advertises in a local paper that they have shotguns for sale. A tragedy can happen in Warsaw, Ind. My mom and I just moved here a few months ago from Iowa. I am 21 and a friend of mine was shot and killed at the high school I attended by another student. This is something you never get out of your mind.
I know that the Constitution says we have the right to bear arms. But when that was written I don't think our forefathers meant for kids to get ahold of guns and kill other kids.
If people don't want guns in their homes anymore then why not take them to our local police station and let them dispose of the guns in a responsible manner. But please, do not make it easier for teen-agers and criminals to buy guns.
Courtney Robertson, Warsaw
Buy Your Kid A Gun
Editor, Times-Union:Want to drastically reduce the chance your child will commit a gun-related crime or go on a shooting spree? Here's a surprising suggestion from the Libertarian Party: Buy your youngster a gun.
"The evidence is in: The simplest way to reduce firearm-related violence among children is to buy them a gun and teach them how to use is responsibly," said Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian Party.
When it comes to preventing youthful violence, the Second Amendment apparently works better than the so-called solutions being proposed by politicians, such as a ban on assault weapons or "child-proof" safety locks on guns, says a detailed study by the federal government titled "Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse." The study was conducted in 1993-95 by U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Attempting to determine the relationship between "problem behaviors" like drug use, teen pregnancy and crime, psychologists tracked 4000 boys and girls ages 6 to 15 in Denver, Pittsburgh and Rochester, N.Y. The findings were a slap in the face to "conventional wisdom" about children and guns and a sharp rebuke to the vote by the U.S. Senate to enact gun-control laws that impact on teenagers.
The study says:
n Children who get guns from their parents don't commit gun crimes (0%), while children who get illegal guns are very likely to do so (21%).
n Children who get guns from parents are less likely to commit any kind of street crime (14%) than children who have no gun in the house (24%), and are drastically less likely to do so than children who acquire an illegal gun (74%).
n Children who get guns from parents are less likely to use drugs (13%) than children who get illegal guns (41%).
n "Boys who own legal firearms have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use (than boys who own illegal guns) and are even slightly less delinquent than non-owners of guns," the study reported.
If the federal government knows children and guns are not, in and of themselves, a dangerous combination, why are politicians demanding that laws be passed to "protect" children?
Politicians are apparently more interested in demonizing guns, and repealing the Second Amendment on the installment plan, than they are in facts. But as this study shows, if gun ownership by kids is not the problem, banning gun ownership by kids can't be the solution.
Are Libertarians saying that every parent should buy their child a gun? "Of course not," said Dasbach. Deciding whether to give your son or daughter a gun is a serious decision that every parent will have to make. Many parents may decide that their children are not mature enough to responsibly and safely learn how to use a gun, and you have to respect that decision.
The point is: Parents are better able to understand that the best way to reduce gun crimes by juveniles is to promote more responsible gun ownership, not more irresponsible gun bans.
Daniel Stevens, Warsaw
Thanks From Fashion Show
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many local merchants who were so generous in giving door prizes for the YMCA "Women in Action" 3rd Annual Fashion Show April 29, at the Leesburg Lions Community Center. And a special thanks to the local stores who supplied the fashions.
Velma Heeley, YMCA
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- Stamp Out Hunger - Don't Sell Guns - Buy Your Kid A Gun - Thanks From Fashion Show
Stamp Out Hunger
Editor, Times-Union:Combined Community Services would like to express our gratitude to the Warsaw postal workers and their families for all the hard work they put into a successful "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive. On a wet and cold Saturday, the postal workers kept to their slogan and delivered around 5,000 pounds of nonperishable food items to CCS.
For five years in a row, the postal workers have been delivering this food for CCS at a time in the year when our pantry is starting to run low. The food that was collected will stay in Kosciusko County and put food on the table for many families that are in need of food during the summer months.
For all the hard work that the postal workers did, they are only a portion of the many people that deserve a special thank you and this is our way of saying thanks to each of you. CCS wishes to thank every person in Warsaw who contributed to this food drive. Without your help CCS can't continue "Helping Neighbors Help Neighbors." This community continually amazes me at how much they care about others by their support of CCS. I am truly proud to be able to call Kosciusko County home.
I would like to say a special thanks to Jeff Dotson, who has spent a lot of time organizing the food drive. He is vital to the success of this very important food drive for CCS. Also, Reinholt's Town Square furniture deserves special recognition for the generous use of their truck to haul the food from the post office to CCS.
Thanks to everyone who had a part in this event.
Jake Murray, Assistant Director of CCS
Don't Sell Guns
Editor, Times-Union:Today there was yet another school shooting. This time a 15-year-old boy shot 6 people in Georgia. This happened on the 1-month anniversary of the tragic Colorado school shooting.
What prompted me to write this letter is, yesterday (5-19) I was looking through the garage sale ads and I saw something that horrified me. Someone had advertised that they have shotguns for sale at their garage sale. Hasn't anyone learned anything from all these school shootings that have happened in the past year and a half? With everybody fighting for tougher gun laws, someone advertises in a local paper that they have shotguns for sale. A tragedy can happen in Warsaw, Ind. My mom and I just moved here a few months ago from Iowa. I am 21 and a friend of mine was shot and killed at the high school I attended by another student. This is something you never get out of your mind.
I know that the Constitution says we have the right to bear arms. But when that was written I don't think our forefathers meant for kids to get ahold of guns and kill other kids.
If people don't want guns in their homes anymore then why not take them to our local police station and let them dispose of the guns in a responsible manner. But please, do not make it easier for teen-agers and criminals to buy guns.
Courtney Robertson, Warsaw
Buy Your Kid A Gun
Editor, Times-Union:Want to drastically reduce the chance your child will commit a gun-related crime or go on a shooting spree? Here's a surprising suggestion from the Libertarian Party: Buy your youngster a gun.
"The evidence is in: The simplest way to reduce firearm-related violence among children is to buy them a gun and teach them how to use is responsibly," said Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian Party.
When it comes to preventing youthful violence, the Second Amendment apparently works better than the so-called solutions being proposed by politicians, such as a ban on assault weapons or "child-proof" safety locks on guns, says a detailed study by the federal government titled "Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse." The study was conducted in 1993-95 by U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Attempting to determine the relationship between "problem behaviors" like drug use, teen pregnancy and crime, psychologists tracked 4000 boys and girls ages 6 to 15 in Denver, Pittsburgh and Rochester, N.Y. The findings were a slap in the face to "conventional wisdom" about children and guns and a sharp rebuke to the vote by the U.S. Senate to enact gun-control laws that impact on teenagers.
The study says:
n Children who get guns from their parents don't commit gun crimes (0%), while children who get illegal guns are very likely to do so (21%).
n Children who get guns from parents are less likely to commit any kind of street crime (14%) than children who have no gun in the house (24%), and are drastically less likely to do so than children who acquire an illegal gun (74%).
n Children who get guns from parents are less likely to use drugs (13%) than children who get illegal guns (41%).
n "Boys who own legal firearms have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use (than boys who own illegal guns) and are even slightly less delinquent than non-owners of guns," the study reported.
If the federal government knows children and guns are not, in and of themselves, a dangerous combination, why are politicians demanding that laws be passed to "protect" children?
Politicians are apparently more interested in demonizing guns, and repealing the Second Amendment on the installment plan, than they are in facts. But as this study shows, if gun ownership by kids is not the problem, banning gun ownership by kids can't be the solution.
Are Libertarians saying that every parent should buy their child a gun? "Of course not," said Dasbach. Deciding whether to give your son or daughter a gun is a serious decision that every parent will have to make. Many parents may decide that their children are not mature enough to responsibly and safely learn how to use a gun, and you have to respect that decision.
The point is: Parents are better able to understand that the best way to reduce gun crimes by juveniles is to promote more responsible gun ownership, not more irresponsible gun bans.
Daniel Stevens, Warsaw
Thanks From Fashion Show
Editor, Times-Union:I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many local merchants who were so generous in giving door prizes for the YMCA "Women in Action" 3rd Annual Fashion Show April 29, at the Leesburg Lions Community Center. And a special thanks to the local stores who supplied the fashions.
Velma Heeley, YMCA
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