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Peotone would be great for freight
June 7, 2001
I have one word for those advocating a Peotone solution for the problems at O'Hare Airport: freight.
If Peotone were developed as a freight-only airport, with no terminals, it would significantly reduce the most disturbing impact for those living around O'Hare: late-night jet noise.
Much of the very late-night/early-morning flights into O'Hare are FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.--not United or KLM flights. I know this because we used to live on the Northwest Side, right under the twin glide paths from the east. Those 5 a.m. runs somehow seem louder than the ones around rush hour.
Fine. Move the air freight traffic to Peotone.
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and the Republicans (now there's an interesting band) would get their jobs, their infrastructure improvements and their economic development, and O'Hare would have more capacity opened to passenger traffic.
Imagine it: No need for Peotone-to-O'Hare connections or duplicated hubs that drive up landing fees. Most of that land around O'Hare given to freight warehouses would open up, creating opportunities for more office and hotel development around O'Hare. Much of the crushing amount of truck traffic would also shift toward the distant south suburbs (closer to the main east-west rail lines, by the way).
Everybody wins.
Now could Mayor Daley, Gov. Ryan and the Four Tops please get back to such things as education funding?
Eric Davis, Oak Park
In bad taste
What is the world coming to? Why should one of Chicago's most popular summer attractions be marred by such a problem as this? Suggesting that people take a gun to a place where there are children and families having a good time is not a good thing['' 'Concealed gun' group targets the Taste,'' news story, May 29]. It is downright stupid.
We already have enough problems with guns and shootings in our neighborhoods. The Taste of Chicago is the one place where guns shouldn't be allowed at all. Those who think they are tough because they have a gun might come across someone who is just as tough, and confrontations will happen. Or maybe just freak accidents if a gun happens to go off and hits someone.
Terry Jones, New City A clear view
As a motorist by car, I appreciate the fact that motorcyclists have their headlights on at all times of day, but to be better seen, it would help if they also would wear a light-reflective orange and yellow safety vest.
I say this because I saw a cyclist wearing one, and he stood out more with it on. I don't want this to be a mandatory law, but rather a helpful aid for all involved while driving on these busy highways and byways. My sister, who used to train trotters, wore such a vest while on the track, and she got a lot of laughs when doing so, but she was seen, and this is what really counts. Being seen can count in stopping of accidents.
Albert R. Croarkin,
Bolingbrook Thompson's flip-flop
Once again we hear from a former politician who made promises while running or while in office. Former Gov. Jim Thompson was against expanding gambling in Illinois and against new runways at O'Hare while he was in office.
After leaving office, Thompson was all for casino gambling, and now he is trying to push new runways at O'Hare [news story, May 24]. Also, now Thompson is not concerned about votes of the people who live near O'Hare. His only concern is filling his pockets with attorney's fees, and I'll bet he has deep pockets.
Robert Buck, Norwood Park Harboring the truth
With moviemakers and understandably nervous Japanese Americans courting public opinion, the long-submerged truth about the U.S. government and the attack on Pearl Harbor could be a continuing casualty of that war.
As documented in Robert Stinnett's book and by the British Broadcasting Corporation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his top advisers not only knew the attack was coming, they manipulated the Japanese government into making the attack (''Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor''). Stinnett, a World War II veteran and reporter for the Baltimore Sun, believed in the stated objectives of the war, but wanted the truth about the ''sneak attack'' to come out. Though many war-era documents remain classified to this day in what one can only conclude is necessary to protect the lie and the liars, Stinnett documents that FDR conspired early on to place impossible demands on the Japanese, such as demanding that they get out of China and restricting their access to raw materials.
Had the Japanese demanded that the United States get out of Hawaii, which had been grabbed from the Hawaiian people only some 50 years earlier, and attempted to restrict U.S. trade, Washington would have sent a fleet into Tokyo harbor much as it had done in the 1850s. The Japanese leadership had reason to believe that U.S. foreign policy was expansionist and that it had to strike the first blow to block U.S. hegemony in the Pacific.
That the Japanese government had on its hands the blood of many people does not require repeating here. What needs to be written is that many U.S. and Japanese soldiers and Japanese civilians died so that the U.S. business class could emerge victorious from that war that had nothing to do with ''democracy'' and self-determination of nations, and everything to do with control of resources, trade monopolies and profits.
Bob Schwartz, Edgewater Preserving 'smart growth'
Bill Rumbler misses the point in his criticism of our Heritage Foundation paper, ''Housing Costs and Homeownership'' [Homelife column, May 25]. It is true that the leadership of the smart-growth movement generally opposes downzoning and favors higher densities. But what has made smart growth so popular in suburban communities is exactly the opposite: People want to preserve more open space, hold down population growth, and make development less dense. Many of the successful referendums that smart-growth advocates proudly cite do nothing more than force densities lower, serving goals that are opposite those of smart growth, and in the process excluding from the community those who cannot afford the higher design standards.
And if only urban growth boundaries were indeed a ''dead horse.'' They have been made mandatory in Oregon, Washington and Tennessee, and were on statewide referendums in Colorado and Arizona. Smart-growth legislative proposals routinely include urban growth boundaries. Households aspiring to homeownership should be thankful if, as Rumbler suggests, they are not on the agenda in Chicago.
Wendell Cox, Belleville
Ronald D. Utt,
Heritage Foundation,
Washington, D.C. Daschle misguided
I heard Sen. Tom Daschle's comments recently about the changes that will occur now that he is ''taking over'' as majority leader. First, let us remind Daschle that he did not ''take over'' anything. It was given to him. He has less of a mandate than he claims President Bush has. Second, his comments that the ''power-sharing'' agreement is null and void is a great example of his lack of commitment to bipartisanship. Third, good luck. I hope the Republicans don't believe in the old adage, ''What goes around, comes around.''
Daniel Mathis,
Vernon Hills No love for celibacy rules
Congratulations are in order to Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo for his courageous stance against celibacy for Roman Catholics [''Archbishop marries,'' Nation/World Briefs, May 28].
Having been Catholic all my life and knowing the endless bounds of love, I have always taken the stance that there is an abundance of love to be shared by priests and sisters. The love I have been shown has clearly demonstrated that not only can they love God immensely but that they also would be ideal parents. While not correcting all wrongs in the Catholic Church I'm certainly sure it would correct some.
Perhaps the greatest correction would be the hypocritical feeling we get when we have our church families and private families, and we know we are a party to the priest and sisters not having the same private families we enjoy. I urge all Roman Catholics and our religious counterparts to actively speak out against celibacy as just plain barbaric and inhumane. We have a pope who has corrected many wrongs thus far. I beg this wrong does not elude him.
Sylvester Hartigan,
North Riverside Newspapers snub Catholics
Editors of our Chicago newspapers demonstrated questionable judgment in the St. Sabina athletic league controversy. By no stretch of the imagination can a vote of 11-9 by a legitimate authority be described as racist. Promulgating the hateful remarks of the Rev. Michael Pfleger does great harm to the parents and children of St. Sabina as well as Catholic residents on the Southwest Side of Chicago.
If news editors and Pfleger had the interest of the children and Catholic communities at heart, they would not engage in sick, anti-authority name calling. An 11-9 vote was obviously not deliberately anti-black or anti much of anything. The pastors of the 21 parishes could have and would reconsider the vote if called upon to do so. That route would not suit the demagoguery of the pastor of St. Sabina.
Pfleger has been preaching anti-white--especially anti-Catholic white--nonsense for too many years. The parents and children of St. Sabina have been denied their rightful pastoral care of the Catholic Church that is based in ''love one another.''
Ray Scannell, Lake View
June 7, 2001
June 7, 2001
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