Letters to the Editor 05-29-2003
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Tippy Auditorium - Thanks To Cemetery - Budget Numbers - Back The President
Tippy Auditorium
Editor, Times-Union:We would like to thank all the performing arts parents for your support in response to our last letter regarding the building project at Tippecanoe Valley High School. Many of you attended the community meeting on May 19th and expressed your support. We were also encouraged by the many written responses we received supporting this project. You made it very clear to the school board that there is support within our community for the building of an auditorium at Tippecanoe Valley High School.
At the first meeting, the public was presented with the plans and costs of the project and discussion followed. The role of the school board was to listen and get a feel for public reaction to the plans. The next step in this process is a hearing to be held on June 2 at 7 p.m. in the TVHS lecture room. At this hearing, the extent of the financing will be determined and public input is allowed and encouraged.
The school board will vote on the future of the project at this hearing!
Our initial efforts were a success, but now we must have even more support at this hearing to show the board that we need this project. This will be our last chance!
We can't wait another 29 years to decide if the time is right to get this project started. Our students are worth more than that.
Let's invest in our children. After all, they are our future.
Mindy Imhausen, H.S. Drama Director
Beth Anglin, M.S. Drama Director
Dale Pace, H.S./M.S. Choir Director, H.S. Musical Director
Janell Riner, H.S./M.S. Band Director
Thanks To Cemetery
Editor, Times-Union:A big thanks to the workers at Oakwood Cemetery. The cemetery was beautiful through Memorial weekend and very well kept up all through the year. These men work hard to keep it this way. I have seen them raking leaves in the snow and rain. Many times they can be seen weed whipping our loved ones' stones with the cold winds off the lake blowing in their faces, and in the rain. They work hard and endlessly to keep the final resting place of our loved ones a peaceful and beautiful place to visit. Please take a little time the next time you visit Oakwood Cemetery to stop and tell them thanks.
Pamela Hiers
Mentone
Budget Numbers
Editor, Times-Union;As the war of words between Republicans and Democrats over the national budget, tax cuts and lost budget surpluses heats up, Americans need to be aware of the fact that there never was any budget surpluses to begin with despite what countless politicians, major media outlets and even the objective weekly publication Facts on File state. If you want proof, go to the Bureau of Public Debt, a division of the United States Treasury Department's Web site: www.public debt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
Some highlights from the public debt Web site and Facts on File are the following:
n The national debt for fiscal year 1987 was at $2.4 trillion; it is now, as of May 9, at $6.4 trillion.
n For fiscal year 1997, the year before the so-called budget surpluses started, the national debt stood at $5.4 trillion.
n The budgets for fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, which were authorized during the second term of the Clinton administration, added nearly $400 billion in debt and not the nearly $600 billion in surpluses as was claimed at the time.
Here is an exact breakdown for those years:
Fiscal year Alleged Surplus Actual Deficit
1998 +69.2 billion -113 billion
1999 +124.5 billion -130 billion
2000 +236.4 billion -18 billion
2001 +127.1 billion -133 billion
Totals +557.2 billion -394 billion
n If there would have been actual budget surpluses, the Bush administration would have inherited a national debt of $5.4 trillion instead of $5.8 trillion. By the way, the Bush administration has added nearly $654 billion so far, hardly the mark of a fiscally conservative administration.
n If the nearly $600 billion in alleged budget surpluses had been used for the Social Security Trust Fund or for paying down the debt, the national debt would have been around $4.8 trillion when George W. Bush took office.
The real question raised by all of this is why countless politicians, media outlets and the Congressional Budget Office, along with the Office of Management and Budget, claimed the national budget was balanced with record surpluses to top it off too, when accurate information to the contrary was freely available to the general public at another national government agency Web site.
Alex Houze
Leesburg
Back The President
Editor, Times-Union:After reading Mr. Lundgren's views, I just had to reply.
For some reason Mr. Lundgren believed that President Clinton was impeached for "his morals only." Well, first of all President Clinton showed the country that he has no morals, so we know that this was not the reason for the impeachment. Let's look at another possibility for the impeachment. Let's try, "PERJURY," yes, I think that this is an excellent reason for impeachment of a president. I don't know the exact statute for this, but I do know that if I were to lie under oath, that I could be imprisoned for several years and fined some amount of money. Is it OK to commit a felony if you're the president? I for one feel that a president, of any party, is no better than anyone else and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if evidence indicates that he committed a felony.
Let's address the "harm's way." I received an e-mail several months ago that addressed seven or eight terrorist attacks that occurred during President Clinton's terms in office. I'm sorry I did not keep that list, but here are some documented attacks: "... Response To Past Terrorist Attacks ..."; www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/100802hill.html; The 1996 attack on the U.S. military barracks, Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia; the attack in 1998 of two embassies in Africa; 1993 attack of the World Trade Centers; the 1999 "Millennium" plot; the attack in 2000 against the USS Cole. After each and every one of these attacks President Clinton told the country, but he did not point his finger at us those times, that the U.S. "would track down and punish the responsible parties." Maybe if he had followed through with his statement, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks never would have happened. Let's not forget who gave North Korea the technology that has helped them develop their nuclear power capabilities, the guy before President Bush. I'm not sure, but from the past attacks and the actions of the past president, the people and the country are and have been in harm's way.
I'm not saying that I agree with everything that President Bush does, but it is nice to have a president that follows through with what he says. Don't forget that the elected congress took a vote and backed the decision. No matter what, the people voted President Bush into office, and all the people need to back their president (unless he commits a felony, then impeach him).
Dale DeGroff
Warsaw
via e-mail
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- Tippy Auditorium - Thanks To Cemetery - Budget Numbers - Back The President
Tippy Auditorium
Editor, Times-Union:We would like to thank all the performing arts parents for your support in response to our last letter regarding the building project at Tippecanoe Valley High School. Many of you attended the community meeting on May 19th and expressed your support. We were also encouraged by the many written responses we received supporting this project. You made it very clear to the school board that there is support within our community for the building of an auditorium at Tippecanoe Valley High School.
At the first meeting, the public was presented with the plans and costs of the project and discussion followed. The role of the school board was to listen and get a feel for public reaction to the plans. The next step in this process is a hearing to be held on June 2 at 7 p.m. in the TVHS lecture room. At this hearing, the extent of the financing will be determined and public input is allowed and encouraged.
The school board will vote on the future of the project at this hearing!
Our initial efforts were a success, but now we must have even more support at this hearing to show the board that we need this project. This will be our last chance!
We can't wait another 29 years to decide if the time is right to get this project started. Our students are worth more than that.
Let's invest in our children. After all, they are our future.
Mindy Imhausen, H.S. Drama Director
Beth Anglin, M.S. Drama Director
Dale Pace, H.S./M.S. Choir Director, H.S. Musical Director
Janell Riner, H.S./M.S. Band Director
Thanks To Cemetery
Editor, Times-Union:A big thanks to the workers at Oakwood Cemetery. The cemetery was beautiful through Memorial weekend and very well kept up all through the year. These men work hard to keep it this way. I have seen them raking leaves in the snow and rain. Many times they can be seen weed whipping our loved ones' stones with the cold winds off the lake blowing in their faces, and in the rain. They work hard and endlessly to keep the final resting place of our loved ones a peaceful and beautiful place to visit. Please take a little time the next time you visit Oakwood Cemetery to stop and tell them thanks.
Pamela Hiers
Mentone
Budget Numbers
Editor, Times-Union;As the war of words between Republicans and Democrats over the national budget, tax cuts and lost budget surpluses heats up, Americans need to be aware of the fact that there never was any budget surpluses to begin with despite what countless politicians, major media outlets and even the objective weekly publication Facts on File state. If you want proof, go to the Bureau of Public Debt, a division of the United States Treasury Department's Web site: www.public debt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
Some highlights from the public debt Web site and Facts on File are the following:
n The national debt for fiscal year 1987 was at $2.4 trillion; it is now, as of May 9, at $6.4 trillion.
n For fiscal year 1997, the year before the so-called budget surpluses started, the national debt stood at $5.4 trillion.
n The budgets for fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, which were authorized during the second term of the Clinton administration, added nearly $400 billion in debt and not the nearly $600 billion in surpluses as was claimed at the time.
Here is an exact breakdown for those years:
Fiscal year Alleged Surplus Actual Deficit
1998 +69.2 billion -113 billion
1999 +124.5 billion -130 billion
2000 +236.4 billion -18 billion
2001 +127.1 billion -133 billion
Totals +557.2 billion -394 billion
n If there would have been actual budget surpluses, the Bush administration would have inherited a national debt of $5.4 trillion instead of $5.8 trillion. By the way, the Bush administration has added nearly $654 billion so far, hardly the mark of a fiscally conservative administration.
n If the nearly $600 billion in alleged budget surpluses had been used for the Social Security Trust Fund or for paying down the debt, the national debt would have been around $4.8 trillion when George W. Bush took office.
The real question raised by all of this is why countless politicians, media outlets and the Congressional Budget Office, along with the Office of Management and Budget, claimed the national budget was balanced with record surpluses to top it off too, when accurate information to the contrary was freely available to the general public at another national government agency Web site.
Alex Houze
Leesburg
Back The President
Editor, Times-Union:After reading Mr. Lundgren's views, I just had to reply.
For some reason Mr. Lundgren believed that President Clinton was impeached for "his morals only." Well, first of all President Clinton showed the country that he has no morals, so we know that this was not the reason for the impeachment. Let's look at another possibility for the impeachment. Let's try, "PERJURY," yes, I think that this is an excellent reason for impeachment of a president. I don't know the exact statute for this, but I do know that if I were to lie under oath, that I could be imprisoned for several years and fined some amount of money. Is it OK to commit a felony if you're the president? I for one feel that a president, of any party, is no better than anyone else and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if evidence indicates that he committed a felony.
Let's address the "harm's way." I received an e-mail several months ago that addressed seven or eight terrorist attacks that occurred during President Clinton's terms in office. I'm sorry I did not keep that list, but here are some documented attacks: "... Response To Past Terrorist Attacks ..."; www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/100802hill.html; The 1996 attack on the U.S. military barracks, Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia; the attack in 1998 of two embassies in Africa; 1993 attack of the World Trade Centers; the 1999 "Millennium" plot; the attack in 2000 against the USS Cole. After each and every one of these attacks President Clinton told the country, but he did not point his finger at us those times, that the U.S. "would track down and punish the responsible parties." Maybe if he had followed through with his statement, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks never would have happened. Let's not forget who gave North Korea the technology that has helped them develop their nuclear power capabilities, the guy before President Bush. I'm not sure, but from the past attacks and the actions of the past president, the people and the country are and have been in harm's way.
I'm not saying that I agree with everything that President Bush does, but it is nice to have a president that follows through with what he says. Don't forget that the elected congress took a vote and backed the decision. No matter what, the people voted President Bush into office, and all the people need to back their president (unless he commits a felony, then impeach him).
Dale DeGroff
Warsaw
via e-mail
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