Music Center exposes our children’s talents
Chicago has been blessed to have Darlene and Howard Sandifer, and their staff bring qualify music to the West Side children [Grooming a generation of musicians, Aug. 20]. They’ve exposed them to the beautiful world of all types of music and given them the ability to perform it with the God-given talents they have been given.
Thanks Chicago West Community Music Center and continued blessings to all of you.
Shirley Sandifer-McIntosh
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
Let’s save Kiddieland
Please let me know what I can do to save Kiddieland [Cook County board – yes, you can save Kiddieland, Arlene Jones, July 9]. I would like my family to be able to enjoy Kiddieland as I did without driving to Gurnee.
Tivadar Szabo
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
Gun deaths connected to drugs
The article points out the problem – gun deaths are connected to drugs [Shootings rampant despite gun ban, Aug. 27]. Instead of everyone intruding on our rights as stated in the Second Amendment, why not get rid of the drugs? That cannot be impossible if the Chicago cops would get out of their cars and out from behind their desks and hit the streets. A cost of $2.5 billion annually for gun deaths could go a long ways to eradicating drug dealers.
A gun is a tool. It does not shoot anything. Only the person pulling the trigger shoots anything.
I cannot believe the stupidity of officials in dealing with the problem. Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed frequently, and for the same reason.
Jim Johnson
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
Lock up the shooters
Make a mandatory sentence for committing a felony with a firearm at least 10 years. No plea bargaining. That would go a long way in stopping people who know they are going to jail – for sure.
Ben Lavitt
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
Welcome back to the South Side
Congratulations on your grand opening; it was very exciting, and I was glad to be in attendance [Chicago Defender marks its return to Bronzeville, July 16].
It is a blessing to work on the South Side of Chicago and in the Bronzeville community for many years. And having you next door to us, The Charles A. Hayes Family Investment Center, is a double blessing, and having had the opportunity to meet a few of your staff members as you were getting settled into your new home was a pleasure. I found them to be very friendly and professional.
Welcome neighbor; and I will be stopping in soon.
Emmer McGarry
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
We must be educated before we can invest
How can we promote successful investing when we can’t get our youth to understand the importance of education period [Getting more blacks to invest, Aug. 13]? Look at the 50-plus percent dropout rates in most American cities, a majority of which are Black. That doesn’t leave much for us to educate financially.
Curtis Gwin Jr.Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
No government-controlled health care
Wake up! It’s not just politicians who can see that this plan will not work best for the people, it’s concerned citizens that want there own insurance and little or no government involvement [Without public option, Obama-care will flat line, Robert Felton, Aug. 20].
If it is so great, why are politicians spending the majority of their time trying to stuff this thing down our throats? It seems to me: if it was a good thing, if it actually gave us a choice and reformed health care, there would be little debate.
I sincerely hope something good comes out of this that will benefit the American people, but they have a long way to go. Nobody wants the government to control our health care. Listen to the people, not the politicians.
Dwight Schober
Submitted at AustinWeeklyNews.com
