Letters to the Editor 08-01-2006
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Old Teacher Rules - Souder Wrong - Lake Access - Christian Duties - Patronized - Israel
Old Teacher Rules
Editor, Times-Union:Rules for teachers - 1872
1 - Teachers each day fill lamp and clean chimney.
2 - Teachers to bring bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day.
3 - Men teachers may take one evening a week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
4 - After 10 hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
5 - Woman teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
6 - Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings to his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
7 - Any teach who smokes, uses liquor in any form; frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
8 - The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given increase of 25 cents per week in his pay providing the board of education approves.
Take note to 5 - I think women teachers who marry were expected to be a homemaker.
Example of how times have changed:
1 - Prior to World War II, I delivered milk to houses. I could put the milk on the porch any time of day or year, usually there was someone home to take it in. When men went in service, the wives went to work in factories. I sometime then put the milk in the icebox in their house.
2 - About 75 years ago my dad was a janitor at a county court house. One of his jobs was to carry the money to the bank two times a day. My dad got two weeks vacation a year with pay. I took his place those two weeks each year. I carried the money walking down the street with no trouble. Today, I suppose they have armored trucks. I then lived in Michigan. I now live in Indiana.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Souder Wrong
Editor, Times-Union:Reference Times-Union Saturday July 22 - Rep. Mark Souder comments.
The House of Representatives failed to pass an amendment banning gay marriages.
Sauder stated, "Indiana may be forced to recognize gay marriage as couples leave Indiana to marry in another state, then return."
Once again Sauder has suffered convenient amnesia. In 1996 (I think), the Congress enacted into law the Defense of Marriage Act.
Under the law the federal government will not recognize same sex marriage or civil unions - such marriages and civil unions will not be allowed to file joint tax returns, share Social Security and Medicare benefits, etc.
Also, individual states are not required, nor compelled to accept, or recognize such marriage or unions of other states, if the state involved does not allow such marriages/unions to be performed.
This is an election year and perhaps Mark is running scared. It won't work. Surely there must be another Tim Roemer out there to run against Sauder.
Don Guard, via e-mail
Leesburg
Lake Access
Editor, Times-Union:Urgent! The vast majority of the residents of Kosciusko County are about to be kept from using the county's most valuable natural resource - its lakes!
You might have noticed the term "funnelling" used in the news over the past few months in regard to this issue.
Through the efforts of the Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association, and now other owners associations around the county'sÊlakes, there is an amendment being presented to the Area Plan CommissionÊWednesday to effectively exclude you, your children, grandchildren, etc., from being able to purchase newÊlake access property around any of the lakes in the county.ÊThe "Haves" want the "Have Nots" off what they thinkÊare "their lakes."
They are stating that your access to "their" lakes, that your tax money goes to maintain,Êresults in overcrowding, sanitation issues, noise, parking and public safety problems, overuse of the lakes, trash cleanup, etc.
I take great exception to this and so should you. I have had homes on Winona Lake, Chapman Lake, Dewart Lake, Syracuse Lake, Lake Wawasee and currently reside at Lake Tippecanoe and have been a member of LTPOA for several years.ÊI'm embarrassed and angry about what some ofÊmy neighbors are trying to do to you, the general public. I personally have never experienced their stated problems inÊthe decadesÊI've lived on the lakes.
Throughout the week I look out over the lakes and seldom see more than a handful of boatsÊon the water at any given time.Ê Overuse? I think not.ÊBesides, theÊfact is, usage is self-regulating in that if the lake is too crowded, peopleÊdon'tÊgo out, and that is only on the weekends.
Their proposedÊordinance amendment will effectively deny you the ability to purchase lake access property as no new subdivisions, condominiums, etc. will be allowed to be built across theÊstreet from a lake unless the subdivision has:
"75 feet of shoreline for the first residential unit, 50 feet for the second residential unit and 20 feet for each additional residence." That means that to haveÊjust three lots across the street from a lake, 145 feet of lakefront shoreline will be necessary. At a cost of approximately $3,000 to $18,000Êper lakefront foot, that means you'll need to pony up $435,000 to $2,610,000Êto have three lots with lake access.ÊI can assure there are no 145 feet tracts ofÊground around the lakes available for purchase and if there was anyone paying thatÊkind of money, they are going to live on the lake, not across the street.ÊYou, the general public, will never have the ability toÊpurchaseÊnewly developed, lake access property again.ÊA typical, smallÊsubdivision ofÊjust 30 building sites would need 685 feet of lakefront shoreline with thisÊamendment.ÊThat means a cost of $2,055,000 to $12,330,000 plus the cost of the ground across the street, plus the cost of developing it. That will put theÊcost of a building site just with lake access at over $100,000.ÊThat's now. I don't know what the future will bring,Êbut I believe you know the answer.
The lakes' homeowners associations have mounted a huge campaign to have hundreds of their residents at the Aug. 2 meeting at 1 p.m. in the old court room on the third floor of the court house. This is an effort to show their solidarity and try to convince the Area Plan Commission that you need to be forced off the lakes.ÊYou need to be there Aug. 2 to protect the future of the county and your families.
Edd Habegger, via e-mail
Leesburg
Editor's Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit stated in the Times-Union Letters Policy.
Christian Duties
Editor, Times-Union:Please, please do not be a rocking-chair Christian (one who sits in a chair, rocks and rocks and gets nowhere).
We plant flowers for our enjoyment. God has created you and I for a purpose and for his enjoyment. Please don't let Him down (disappoint Him). Everyone can do something. So, make a contribution to society. Be alive spiritually. There is work to be done. Even a little from many will make a difference.
The Bible reads we must tell others the good news. People needed to be reminded. Christians you (we) are "the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the worked. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put in under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives lights to all when are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16.
Reading the above, take note: Christians are the salt of the earth, but when the salt has lost its flavor (not active), the salt is good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?" James 2:14. As you mind your earthy duties, keep heaven in mind.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Patronized
Editor, Times-Union:The oddest thing happened. On July 14, I received a letter written on July 13.
And a letter to the editor appeared in The Times-Union the same day.
Except for the first paragraph, the letters were the same, word for word, except my letter was signed by a Steve Rhodes CEO of KREMC and the one in the Times-Union was signed by a Kimberly Shumaker, communications specialist of KREMC.
Makes me wonder who really wrote the letter.
First, neither one was her and couldn't really swear who I talked to or what was said.
If the one I spoke to has 28 years of field experience, then he must have started when he was still in diapers.
As for my tree being close to the lines, I have more than one witness that the tree was not interfering with the lines.
And at my age I know when I'm being patronized.
Helen B. Wise
Claypool
Israel
Editor, Times-Union:If anything is to be learned from the latest Middle East conflict, it is that there is no fool-proof system in preventing terrorist attacks.
I was in Israel in February. I was impressed by their tight security, especially on Israeli airliners. They have a high level of security in northern Israel around the Sea of Galilee near the Syrian and Lebanon borders. Still, as you know now it was not enough. The electronic fences and mine fields there were not enough to keep them out.
Arabs are not the problem. About 1.5 million Israeli citizens are Arabs. They vote and six of them serve in parliament. All road signs are written in Arabic, Hebrew and English. It is the Hamas and Hezbollah groups wanting to destroy Israel who are the problem.
On another level, I was with the U.S. Army in England before the invasion into France. The security there, also tight. Our letters were censored, phones were monitored and we were challenged often, everywhere. Still, the Germans seemed to know when and where every troop unit arriving in England was to be located. They always sent over the bombers or V-bombs to welcome them. The British executed spies when they caught them, but they never got them all.
England had been under constant attack for four years and still was when I arrived there in 1944. Israel, likewise, has been under nearly constant attack for decades. Even with all of their long experience with terrorists they never achieved total security.
I think our very own homeland security system faces an uphill battle with our open borders.
On a further comment: There seems to be a far greater number of Americans in Gaza City and Beirut, Lebanon, than is necessary. I am sure these people were amply warned about the dangers of traveling to or living in the Middle East. There seems to be an endless bashing of the government about getting these people evacuated quickly.
At the communion services by the garden tomb in Israel, a show of hands indicated nearly 100 percent of us were warned not to travel to the Middle East.
I know the danger when I went, and I was in the areas under attack. I certainly would not expect the government to risk other lives by sending them into a war zone to rescue those of us who went there fully knowing the dangers.
George Plew
Warsaw
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- Old Teacher Rules - Souder Wrong - Lake Access - Christian Duties - Patronized - Israel
Old Teacher Rules
Editor, Times-Union:Rules for teachers - 1872
1 - Teachers each day fill lamp and clean chimney.
2 - Teachers to bring bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day.
3 - Men teachers may take one evening a week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
4 - After 10 hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
5 - Woman teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
6 - Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings to his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
7 - Any teach who smokes, uses liquor in any form; frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
8 - The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given increase of 25 cents per week in his pay providing the board of education approves.
Take note to 5 - I think women teachers who marry were expected to be a homemaker.
Example of how times have changed:
1 - Prior to World War II, I delivered milk to houses. I could put the milk on the porch any time of day or year, usually there was someone home to take it in. When men went in service, the wives went to work in factories. I sometime then put the milk in the icebox in their house.
2 - About 75 years ago my dad was a janitor at a county court house. One of his jobs was to carry the money to the bank two times a day. My dad got two weeks vacation a year with pay. I took his place those two weeks each year. I carried the money walking down the street with no trouble. Today, I suppose they have armored trucks. I then lived in Michigan. I now live in Indiana.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Souder Wrong
Editor, Times-Union:Reference Times-Union Saturday July 22 - Rep. Mark Souder comments.
The House of Representatives failed to pass an amendment banning gay marriages.
Sauder stated, "Indiana may be forced to recognize gay marriage as couples leave Indiana to marry in another state, then return."
Once again Sauder has suffered convenient amnesia. In 1996 (I think), the Congress enacted into law the Defense of Marriage Act.
Under the law the federal government will not recognize same sex marriage or civil unions - such marriages and civil unions will not be allowed to file joint tax returns, share Social Security and Medicare benefits, etc.
Also, individual states are not required, nor compelled to accept, or recognize such marriage or unions of other states, if the state involved does not allow such marriages/unions to be performed.
This is an election year and perhaps Mark is running scared. It won't work. Surely there must be another Tim Roemer out there to run against Sauder.
Don Guard, via e-mail
Leesburg
Lake Access
Editor, Times-Union:Urgent! The vast majority of the residents of Kosciusko County are about to be kept from using the county's most valuable natural resource - its lakes!
You might have noticed the term "funnelling" used in the news over the past few months in regard to this issue.
Through the efforts of the Lake Tippecanoe Property Owners Association, and now other owners associations around the county'sÊlakes, there is an amendment being presented to the Area Plan CommissionÊWednesday to effectively exclude you, your children, grandchildren, etc., from being able to purchase newÊlake access property around any of the lakes in the county.ÊThe "Haves" want the "Have Nots" off what they thinkÊare "their lakes."
They are stating that your access to "their" lakes, that your tax money goes to maintain,Êresults in overcrowding, sanitation issues, noise, parking and public safety problems, overuse of the lakes, trash cleanup, etc.
I take great exception to this and so should you. I have had homes on Winona Lake, Chapman Lake, Dewart Lake, Syracuse Lake, Lake Wawasee and currently reside at Lake Tippecanoe and have been a member of LTPOA for several years.ÊI'm embarrassed and angry about what some ofÊmy neighbors are trying to do to you, the general public. I personally have never experienced their stated problems inÊthe decadesÊI've lived on the lakes.
Throughout the week I look out over the lakes and seldom see more than a handful of boatsÊon the water at any given time.Ê Overuse? I think not.ÊBesides, theÊfact is, usage is self-regulating in that if the lake is too crowded, peopleÊdon'tÊgo out, and that is only on the weekends.
Their proposedÊordinance amendment will effectively deny you the ability to purchase lake access property as no new subdivisions, condominiums, etc. will be allowed to be built across theÊstreet from a lake unless the subdivision has:
"75 feet of shoreline for the first residential unit, 50 feet for the second residential unit and 20 feet for each additional residence." That means that to haveÊjust three lots across the street from a lake, 145 feet of lakefront shoreline will be necessary. At a cost of approximately $3,000 to $18,000Êper lakefront foot, that means you'll need to pony up $435,000 to $2,610,000Êto have three lots with lake access.ÊI can assure there are no 145 feet tracts ofÊground around the lakes available for purchase and if there was anyone paying thatÊkind of money, they are going to live on the lake, not across the street.ÊYou, the general public, will never have the ability toÊpurchaseÊnewly developed, lake access property again.ÊA typical, smallÊsubdivision ofÊjust 30 building sites would need 685 feet of lakefront shoreline with thisÊamendment.ÊThat means a cost of $2,055,000 to $12,330,000 plus the cost of the ground across the street, plus the cost of developing it. That will put theÊcost of a building site just with lake access at over $100,000.ÊThat's now. I don't know what the future will bring,Êbut I believe you know the answer.
The lakes' homeowners associations have mounted a huge campaign to have hundreds of their residents at the Aug. 2 meeting at 1 p.m. in the old court room on the third floor of the court house. This is an effort to show their solidarity and try to convince the Area Plan Commission that you need to be forced off the lakes.ÊYou need to be there Aug. 2 to protect the future of the county and your families.
Edd Habegger, via e-mail
Leesburg
Editor's Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit stated in the Times-Union Letters Policy.
Christian Duties
Editor, Times-Union:Please, please do not be a rocking-chair Christian (one who sits in a chair, rocks and rocks and gets nowhere).
We plant flowers for our enjoyment. God has created you and I for a purpose and for his enjoyment. Please don't let Him down (disappoint Him). Everyone can do something. So, make a contribution to society. Be alive spiritually. There is work to be done. Even a little from many will make a difference.
The Bible reads we must tell others the good news. People needed to be reminded. Christians you (we) are "the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the worked. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put in under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives lights to all when are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify our Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16.
Reading the above, take note: Christians are the salt of the earth, but when the salt has lost its flavor (not active), the salt is good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.
"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?" James 2:14. As you mind your earthy duties, keep heaven in mind.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Patronized
Editor, Times-Union:The oddest thing happened. On July 14, I received a letter written on July 13.
And a letter to the editor appeared in The Times-Union the same day.
Except for the first paragraph, the letters were the same, word for word, except my letter was signed by a Steve Rhodes CEO of KREMC and the one in the Times-Union was signed by a Kimberly Shumaker, communications specialist of KREMC.
Makes me wonder who really wrote the letter.
First, neither one was her and couldn't really swear who I talked to or what was said.
If the one I spoke to has 28 years of field experience, then he must have started when he was still in diapers.
As for my tree being close to the lines, I have more than one witness that the tree was not interfering with the lines.
And at my age I know when I'm being patronized.
Helen B. Wise
Claypool
Israel
Editor, Times-Union:If anything is to be learned from the latest Middle East conflict, it is that there is no fool-proof system in preventing terrorist attacks.
I was in Israel in February. I was impressed by their tight security, especially on Israeli airliners. They have a high level of security in northern Israel around the Sea of Galilee near the Syrian and Lebanon borders. Still, as you know now it was not enough. The electronic fences and mine fields there were not enough to keep them out.
Arabs are not the problem. About 1.5 million Israeli citizens are Arabs. They vote and six of them serve in parliament. All road signs are written in Arabic, Hebrew and English. It is the Hamas and Hezbollah groups wanting to destroy Israel who are the problem.
On another level, I was with the U.S. Army in England before the invasion into France. The security there, also tight. Our letters were censored, phones were monitored and we were challenged often, everywhere. Still, the Germans seemed to know when and where every troop unit arriving in England was to be located. They always sent over the bombers or V-bombs to welcome them. The British executed spies when they caught them, but they never got them all.
England had been under constant attack for four years and still was when I arrived there in 1944. Israel, likewise, has been under nearly constant attack for decades. Even with all of their long experience with terrorists they never achieved total security.
I think our very own homeland security system faces an uphill battle with our open borders.
On a further comment: There seems to be a far greater number of Americans in Gaza City and Beirut, Lebanon, than is necessary. I am sure these people were amply warned about the dangers of traveling to or living in the Middle East. There seems to be an endless bashing of the government about getting these people evacuated quickly.
At the communion services by the garden tomb in Israel, a show of hands indicated nearly 100 percent of us were warned not to travel to the Middle East.
I know the danger when I went, and I was in the areas under attack. I certainly would not expect the government to risk other lives by sending them into a war zone to rescue those of us who went there fully knowing the dangers.
George Plew
Warsaw
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