Letters, 5/3: Vote for Soper

 6 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

I’m writing to express my support for Tami Soper, who is running for the Legislature in District 21.

I have known Tami Soper for several years. She is and has always been a people person. Her slogan “Putting People before Politics” is true, and that is her lifestyle.

When our nonprofit was starting out, we needed funds to support our Hispanic youth organization. We didn’t really know Soper, but my husband heard about her, and we got in contact. She wanted to help us and was willing to give her time and her grant-writing ability to do so. Not only did she meet with us, she came to our home, brought her daughter along, got to know us and the organization, and became a supporter and even more, a friend.

Soper visited with us several times and became familiar with our mission and our needs. She did write a grant application, and it was approved. We were able to get the jump-start that we needed, and we are still going strong after six years.

I support Tami Soper not only as a politician but as a friend who cares about others!

Dana Rodriguez, Lincoln

Johnson got it done

Let’s hear three hips and a hooray for the heroes of the city of Johnson. They cleaned up their town after the tornado devastated it without waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come in and take charge.

Guess that’s how Midwesterners get the tough jobs done — just put your shoulder to the wheel and “git ’er done.”

Roger L. Kopf, Nebraska City

Some arena questions

The city of Lincoln has now chosen an architect and a builder for the arena and related projects, that is, if it passes the vote of the people. It’s amazing that it’s even asking the people of this city what they want.

I was born and raised in Lincoln, and I am in close to my sixth decade in this city. I have voted in every election since I turned 21, so it’s pretty safe to say I know a little bit about this city. I have a couple of questions about this new arena.

First, did city officials think by blighting that area it would help them get the arena in place?

Second, most of that land is owned by the railroad, and blighting doesn’t bother it. Has or does the city hold the title to that land so the city can legally build on it, or are city officials in negotiating mode with the railroad to buy that land?

Now, I don’t know how much you know about the railroad, but many towns have gone into financial peril trying to fight railroads over land such as the land that their main line runs down, right where the city wants its new arena.

My husband and I come from railroad families, and talking to current employees of the railroad, they just laugh because city officials think if they blight the area, the railroad will move. Can we afford the price of litigation?

Sharon K. Fish-Radke, Lincoln

No quick oil fix

Being in our upper 60s, we realize we’ll not live long enough to see an end to the oil crisis. There’s no permanent quick fix. A long-term solution is to start opening up U.S. land to mine our own oil beneath.

Most suggestions I’ve heard are only a Band-Aid. One suggestion is to open the oil reserve. What’ll happen when the reserve is depleted? Another one is to negotiate with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which doesn’t make sense. A third is alternative fuel, which is helping some but is creating other problems. A fourth suggestion is to make car manufacturing companies make more fuel-efficient cars, but as long as people keep buying gas guzzlers, automakers will keep making them. Lastly, the United States could make oil companies pay a windfall tax, but that’ll only move more cost back to the consumer.

The big problem is, while we’re spinning our wheels, the Chinas and Indias are taking advantage.

Bill Allen, Blue Springs