Editor, Times-Union: It is a great privilege for me to recognize the many, many volunteers who diligently support our Kosciusko County Chapter of the American Red Cross! The week of April 17-23 has been declared as National Volunteer Week, and a time to celebrate the contributions of volunteers everywhere. We are blessed with great volunteers at the American Red Cross and we salute each one because they do an awesome job!
Clearly, our chapter would essentially go out of business tomorrow - if we did not have those wonderful people who share their time and talents to assist our chapter in so many ways. Consider just a few examples: Volunteers who:
n Serve on our board of directors providing governance and direction.
n Donate blood during one of more than 45 annual blood drives.
n Contributors who support our chapter financially.
n Serve on our disaster action team providing assistance and support when and where disaster strikes during all hours of the day or night.
n Assist with blood drives doing everything from registration to providing canteen services to coordinating meals for staff, etc.
n Serve as instructors in the lifesaving skills course and water safety and lifeguarding courses.
n Provide emergency message support and coordination for our armed forces emergency services program.
n Coordinate special events from fundraising to making quilts for disaster victims and their families.
There is much more I could say about our Red Cross volunteers, but I really need to say thank you for all that you do! The willingness of people to volunteer to help their fellow citizens is one of the fundamental values that set America apart from other countries around the world! We, at the Red Cross, observe this every day and we are so very grateful for each volunteer.
We believe the Red Cross has a job for everyone, and if you would like to volunteer, contact our Red Cross Chapter and we can share the opportunities we have available because we really belive "that together we can save a life!"
Larry E. Peppel Executive Director American Red Cross Kosciusko County
Political Gymnastics
Editor, Times-Union: Our sages in Indianapolis have decreed that while they and others may make laws for public safety affecting the way we live and perhaps the way we die, 21st century technology to monitor compliance with these laws may not be used. Then one can presume there will be no more Troopers hiding along Indiana interstates with radar guns, no more "spies in the skies." That is heavy-handed governmental interference with private life. This perspective is especially interesting and paradoxical in the light of the recent members of Congress and the Administration intrusion into a private and painful event.
Those who remember American history will recall at the turn of the 20th century that while it escaped the notice of those properly pious Victorian captains of industry, children working in the meat-packing industry in Chicago were falling into the huge vats and meeting a gruesome end. However, this did not escape the notice of those irascible, muckraking journalists and other agitators who would not let the issue go away. Eventually and possibly reluctantly the federal government passed the Child Labor Act. Heavy-handed Big Brotherism or much-needed regulation "to promote the general welfare," as preambled in our Constitution?
One has to wonder whether the legislators who spurned cameras at critical intersections because of intrusiveness never batted an eye or a piece of gray matter over two sections of the Patriot Act which cozy right up to the police state practices.
Ever wonder why political gymnastics is not an Olympic event?
