Letters to the editor: 01/16/03

Grants not needed for downtown revitalization

To the Editor:

After reading this past week's news article on grant money for store front facades and Mill Street renovations, I have one question. Why?

I have stood back for a couple of years watching SPIR and local officials claim how wonderful downtown renovations are progressing. They are progressing, but at a pace so slow a turtle with two broken legs could out run it.

If you want to get a quick boost in renovating downtown, try enforcing the zoning laws for all of the people, not just a few. Grant money should not have to be awarded to maintain store fronts; it should be the responsibility of the owner to keep up with that.

Some property owners have the bird disease - "CHEAP! CHEAP!" They want someone else to provide money for the upkeep of their buildings while they get all of the glory and profit.

What ever happened to the American way of living? A little hard work and taking pride in what you own will go a long way.

David Kelly

Sylva

Citizens urged to speak out against war in Iraq

To the Editor:

President Bush should have the solid backing of the international community before going to war with Iraq. The whole world must have a sense that Iraq is a clear and present danger to world security before action is taken. The international community does not have the sense that military invasion is needed.

While lraq may have weapons of mass destruction, so far the UN weapon inspectors have not been able to find them. North Korea has weapons of mass destruction and is just as hostile to the United States if not more so than Iraq. Yet we aren't moving 100,000 troops over there. Perhaps they don't have oil reserves and would not be the prize that lraq is.

If we could feed and board U.S. troops for $10 a day, the cost would now be $1 million dollars a day. I expect that the cost to the taxpayers is 50 times that for a cost of 80 million dollars a day today. News reports say that it may take 350,000 troops to invade and conquer Iraq.

I am patriotic and support American troops. I served in the U.S. Navy myself. I do not fear for our troops because they will win any battles they fight. Certainly Sadaam is an evil man and should not be in office. However it is not our place to replace every evil leader in the world.

A war in lraq will result in huge loss of lives of innocent children, women and old people and would be immoral. It seems that Mr. Bush is leading us to the brink of being an aggressor nation.

Iraq is in no way a threat to the United States. In 1991 they invaded Kuwait, and the senior Mr. Bush had the world's support to send them back home. No such situation exists now.

I believe it is time for Americans to speak up, to our representatives in Washington, to Mr. Bush, and to the media and let our views be known. This weekend a huge anti-war rally is being held in Washington, D.C. If we say nothing, then our leaders can only assume that we support a war that I believe is both unjust and unnecessary and will kill a lot of innocent women, children and elderly people in Iraq.

Thank you,

Rev. John Reid

Letters to the editor: 01/16/03

Grants not needed for downtown revitalization

To the Editor:

Citizens urged to speak out against war in Iraq

To the Editor:

Back to Archive: 01/16/03.