Saturday, Jul. 11, 2009

Letters 7/11

Holding onto hope

You may have noticed lately that even with the escalation in Afghanistan and the onslaught of bombings in Iraq, there's been no cry from the left for daily body counts and photos of flag-draped coffins. No calling the president a war-mongering murderer anymore. No mass rallies on campus. Their guy is in, and this isn't a time to make waves.

Nor will you hear a peep about mass unemployment, bank bailouts, plant closings, government control of our private lives and industry, and the economy looking like post World War I Germany.

As pathetic as President George Bush's administration was, at least he and the milquetoast Republicans were held accountable for their part in this fiasco. As President Barack Obama keeps quoting, "He won." And indeed he did.

More perplexing is watching our neighbors still not understand that they, as have we all, been sold out. When not touring the globe and apologizing to the world for all of America's greed and misdeeds, the president (and Congress) have kicked in the afterburners of corruption to warp speed. The Castros and Chavezes of the worlds must be eating their hearts out in envy.

I'll give these diehard supporters one thing, they are as loyal and idolatrous as Michael Jackson fans -- still waving their "hope and change" banners with pride and searching for new excuses they haven't used yet. Possibly they are thinking one of those cushy federal jobs awaits.

And to think we could have had Hillary Clinton instead.

Donald Moeser

Addieville

Poor planning

In a recent Collinsville City Council meeting, Bob Knabel, city manager, made some comments that need explaining. It was about quarterly financial reports the finance director furnished at the end of April.

Typically, Knabel calls on department heads to make the comments about their respective department activities. But the manager took on the finance department reports even though Finance Director Tammy Ammann was present.

In part, Knabel said, "The biggest revenue numbers we have of course from the general fund is our sales tax, and as we all know we're experiencing a downturn in sales and our numbers were no different this year. Through the first three months we're down 7.83 percent from last year. And while we're at 25 percent of the year total fund expenses, we are under 20 percent of the budget. And so I think that is a very positive thing."

Under 20 percent of budget is really a negative thing since it indicates irresponsible projections the manager sold the council members in their crammed Thursday evening and Saturday morning November 2008 special meetings. The actual sales tax receipts for three quarters were known by then along with the actual receipts for the previous years.

Being under budget by 20 percent simply shows poor budgeting. A special meeting should now be planned for October to get a handle on how much revenue is expected for the 2010 budget.

Bob DesPain

Collinsville

Not the church's fault

Would some caller who's afraid to sign his name get the story right?

The Sound-off caller was crabbing about Fairmont City's Catholic Church, Holy Rosary, being partly responsible for the city's slow death. He said so many people have moved out because of the illegals moving in, which is condoned by the officials.

The caller said, "That the church has rolled out the red carpet for all the illegals for several decades. So, good-bye to Holy Rosary. It won't be missed." Well, hello. The church is not closing, the school is.

I know I and countless others will miss the school. I went to both, the old brick building and the new one. All of its teachers were something, especially the just retired principal who was there more than 40 years. That sure is a long time for one place.

So get it right, caller. Look at that red carpet coming off all the night-time buses and the Mexican Hall. Do something. Call your officials.

Wally Platz

Fairmont City

Public shut out

After reading the July 4 article on Keller Farms' corn stand in Belleville, the mayor's response was hollow at best. He said the new ordinance which will prohibit Keller's from operating was discussed for the past year. Discussed with whom? The business community, that's who.

Why wasn't this made public before this ban was passed?

Because of the public outcry, that's why.

Why in heaven's name would Belleville deny Keller's and allow firework vendors. This makes no sense to me. This was a back-room decision, typical behavior of our city leaders.

What's next, Belleville? When someone purchases flowers on-line, will the city impose a tax?

Get real, city leaders, residents will seek out Keller's no matter where its stand is located. The leaders are now catching the heat. They need to start governing like they are supposed to.

Michael Katricka

Belleville

The other score

I remember a time that I took one of my younger brothers to a baseball game. When we returned home my dad asked my brother if it was a good ball game. My brother answered, "I'll say it was, I had two hot dogs, three bottles of pop, an ice cream cone and a box of Cracker Jack." My dad said to me, "Well, I guess that was a better answer than giving me the score."

Nathan G. Wilson

Belleville

Already competitive

In a recent Sound-off column, a caller states, "I see UPS and FedEx boxes all over, but Postal Service boxes are nowhere to be found."

For the record, there are 68 U.S. Postal Service collection boxes in the Belleville/Swansea area. In comparison, UPS and FedEx each have 16 boxes in the same geographical area (based on information on their Web sites). In addition, the Postal Service has 97 mobile collection boxes -- the letter carriers who deliver to people's home and/or office six days a week. A carrier will take any outgoing mail a person has when they make their regular delivery.

The caller goes on to state, "If the Postal Service wants to compete, it needs to improve its ability to let customers use its services."

The Postal Service offers many services to allow customers mailing alternatives:

* Click-N-Ship -- Customers can print mailing labels and pay for postage on-line from their home or business at a discounted rate.

* Carrier pickup for Express Mail, Priority Mail, international ser-vices, merchandise return service and parcel return service. This service is free, regardless of the number of packages.

* Free Priority Mail packaging supplies delivered to a person's door.

Customers can find the location of the nearest collection box or information on our services by visiting our Web site at www.usps.com.

Steve McCarty

Postmaster, U.S. Postal Service

Belleville