Educational system needs change

To the Editor:

Thanks for your coverage of Illinois' ongoing budget disaster. I also appreciate your coverage of educational issues. I would really like to see some hard-hitting coverage of how education money is acquired and spent in the state.

I am billed every year, in the amount of about $2,500, for a service which I neither use nor approve of. This service is the state education system. It is huge, wasteful, and generally does a poor job at its mission. This is well-documented. I don't think anyone would appreciate receiving a bill from me to pay for my children's education, and I find it offensive that some other people don't mind billing me for theirs.

Yes, education is important to our society. It is, in fact, too important to be handed over to a government monopoly. Parents must be given back the responsibility and the power to educate their children. I am pro-choice on education, and I hope many more Illinoisans will join me. The wealthy have educational choice; the poor do not.

There are several organizations in Illinois working hard to correct this injustice. School Choice Illinois (http://www.schoolchoice

illinois.org/) and the Illinois Policy Institute (http://www.illinoispolicyinstitute.org/) are two of these.

I appreciate The Southern as a voice for

the people of Illinois, and I hope you will begin to help bring educational choice to our region.

Jeff Trexler

Murphysboro

Gambling with the budget

To the Editor:

Sen. John Bradley has taken some heat for voting against the expansion of gambling in Illinois. Gambling allows representatives to raise money without jeopardizing their re-election.

Unfortunately, the heavy reliance on gambling revenue is poor economic policy, hurts those who can least afford it and encourages citizens to spend money on entertainment rather than on things that improve our society.

When someone in our state purchases an automobile, goes to college, or contributes to church, these expenditures create factory jobs, improve preparation for the workforce, and provide for counseling and spiritual growth. In addition, this spending creates jobs with solid futures.

What does gambling provide? Entertainment, which benefits only the one entertained. Revenue is created by taxing profit and employee wages, but this could be accomplished by having the state invest in a healthy business environment that creates a stronger economic base for our state.

Most forms of gambling prey on the poor, take advantage of those with gambling addictions, and shift money away from local economies with the hope that the gambling revenue will be taxed and eventually find its way back to Southern Illinois.

Isn't it more likely that any revenue generated will find its way to Chicago rather than Carbondale? We should encourage our governmental representatives to find real solutions to this state's problems that improve the lives of its citizens. Sen. Bradley should be applauded, not panned. Let's not vote ourselves bread and circuses but instead vote for opportunity, both for ourselves and for our neighbors.

Michael Young

Herrin

Fair could revive town square

To the Editor:

I want to take this opportunity to thank Carbondale Main Street, the city of Carbondale and all the sponsors for hosting the Downtown Art and Wine Fair recently on the town square. It brought many folks to the square in a festive manner that I hope will become an annual event.

Oftentimes, people don't make it any further than the mall area when they think of Carbondale. I hope that this event will help remind them that there is much more to our city, such as the local merchants on the town square offering quality customer service, unique choices and tasty options.

The town squares of our country used to be the place where people gathered for entertainment and to exchange ideas and information and it is wonderful to see that tradition revived here in Carbondale.

René Cook

General Manager

Town Square Market