Letters, 10/14: Waste of time

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My thought on the Ken Hambleton article “Seeing the city from the 27th Street bus” (The (402), LJS, Oct. 9):

Time Ken wasted on bus … 56 minutes.

Time I wasted reading his article … 2 minutes, 23 seconds.

Content of article … pointless.

StarTran … priceless.

Marie C. Hoesing, Lincoln

Throwing away schools

We threw away Havelock, Bethany, Willard, Whittier, now Arnold Heights — perhaps next Hawthorne and Dawes.

Is the lifetime of a school to be from now on just 55 years?

This richness lets us talk people into quarter-billion-dollar bond issues.

Norman Dority, Lincoln

Vote down school closing

With regard to the proposal reported in the Oct. 6 Lincoln Journal Star by Lincoln Public Schools board members Ed Zimmer and Richard Meginnis to close Dawes Middle School and Hawthorne Elementary, I would like information as to the “other purposes” for which these schools would be used, and whether that use will justify the maintenance, heating, cooling and other care required to keep them open, and further, if this justifies the expense of building new schools and busing students to the new schools.

I wholeheartedly support Kathy Danek in her position that this proposal should be voted down.

Jerry Rauch, Lincoln

Can’t move memories

It seems incredible that University of Nebraska-Lincoln leadership, Chamber of Commerce leadership and the 2015 Vision group desire greatly to remove the State Fair from its existing grounds.

Probably many a 4-H-er and FFA-er chose UNL as their college after experiencing the State Fair and the city of Lincoln.

The State Fair has brought many a dollar to Lincoln over the years, something every chamber of commerce would cherish.

The 2015 Vision group would be at its best with ideas that enhance assets that already exist along with their bold new ideas.

State Fair Park and the State Fair are practically one entity. To move the State Fair while it is in recovery mode and under excellent leadership I’m afraid could severely cripple it.

You can’t move a hundred years of tradition and memories. The older buildings actually enhance the State Fair experience. The 4-H Building, for example, speaks loudly of many a youthful triumph.

Gary Cuda, Lincoln

Examine foster system

A first-of-its-kind study by the National Foster Parent Association, the University of Maryland School of Social Work, and Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy organization, found that reimbursement rates in Nebraska for families who open their homes and their lives to foster children are among the lowest in the country.  Nebraska’s base rate for children from birth to age five is $226 per month, the lowest in the country, compared with the study’s minimum adequate rate of $636 per month.    

In response to the report, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services chose to question the study’s methodology, rather than examine whether their foster care payments meet the needs of foster families and the children they serve (“HHS officials dispute study on foster care payments,” LJS, Oct. 3).

Even if you quibble about methodology, Nebraska’s foster care rate is still significantly lower than it should be.  Inadequate rates affect the state’s ability to retain foster parents by failing to give them the resources and support they need.  Without enough quality foster homes available, children get shuffled around from placement to placement, further disrupting their lives and reducing their opportunity for permanency.  

This is yet another example of the department claiming to be serious about real reform of our foster care system but failing to acknowledge and address common-sense barriers to doing so.

Instead of using state resources to challenge this report, the department should use this information to advocate for desperately needed supports for foster children and foster parents.  

Sarah Helvey, Lincoln, Staff Attorney, Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest

Closed minds don’t win

What a comfort to see that racism is alive and well in Nebraska. In my naivete, I had almost resigned to accepting that society had grown up. Now it seems like the racism that for generations targeted blacks now targets Latinos and Semites.

A Latina had been murdered. It is reasonable to assume that the people who know her might want to read about it. It is also reasonable that many of them do not yet speak or read English.

The Journal Star’s reprinting of the news story in Spanish was an admirable and appropriate attempt at inclusion. Didn’t the critics notice the murder story and connect the dots?

The criticisms “I pay for an English language newspaper” or “they should assimilate” are tired vestiges of small thinking.

I pay for a newspaper, too. The sports section is utterly useless to me, yet every day I must wade through that section (some days two to three sections) to get to the rest of the paper.

Does the daily inclusion of a sports section cause me to cancel my subscription? No, because I realize in our small market that can support only one newspaper, that one newspaper must be as diverse and inclusive as possible.

Immigrants to our great nation are trying to assimilate, if whitey will let them. But on the way, they must continue to read and speak their own language, while learning ours.

I’m only guessing that having both languages side by side accelerates learning. Bilingual stories, signs and products are an opportunity for us to learn another language, too.

Evidently, it is too much for the white-bread cake-eaters of southeast Nebraska. Are they paranoid about being outdone by the influx of immigrants? They should be paranoid. Aliens are eager to learn and open their minds. Against such a quest for knowledge, closed minds and rigid ways don’t stand a chance.

Mike Powers, Palmyra