Editor, Times-Union: In December 1865, the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery was adopted just months after the end of the Civil War, which finally put an end to the moral wrong of slavery - a form of forced association. However, another moral wrong from the Civil War, an even larger form of forced association, was not addressed by any constitutional amendments. That moral wrong is that any part of the United States may not leave the Union unless it is willing to fight its way out. Which is an unfortunate legacy left over from the Civil War when the North made every effort to preserve the Union. This leftover legacy also contradicts how our Republic was founded when 13 American colonies seceded from the British Empire by declaring their independence in 1776 in order to govern themselves. It also embraces a totalitarian concept, that all political unions are indivisible and can be held together by any means necessary including war, which makes any part of a country permanently joined to the whole.
The solution to reversing this problem is a constitutional amendment that prohibits the national government or the rest of the nation from waging war or acts of war against any part of the United States that has seceded from the Union by peaceful means. This amendment would define peaceful means as referendum by residents of the territory willing to secede or a special convention of representatives chosen by the people or their government of the seceding territory. The level of approval that would need to be achieved for a secession to occur could be one of the following: a solid simple majority, two-thirds majority, three-fourths majority or even a nine-tenths majority. Another part of the amendment would deal with the other options that would need to be exhausted first in solving the long-standing grievances that a part of the United States would have, before it decided to use the secession option. The amendment would also deal with the disposal of federal property and other assets in an orderly fashion. It could also set up a time period that would allow for reconsideration of secession and a time period to set up a new government and its related functions in the new territory. This would help in preventing secession for trivial reasons.
Such an amendment along with the 13th Amendment would finally put an end to all forms of forced association in the United States.
Alexander Houze Leesburg
Breadings Closing
Editor, Times-Union: Toooo bad ... sooooo sad ... Breadings is closing, one of the most historic businesses in downtown. On national TV, many newspapers known all over the Midwest, mentioned seven times in the current history of Warsaw plus a picture of the original business, picture of the current mayor in 1997 at the annual Christmas party, the mayor is a regular in Breadings.
Closing Breadings affects a large group of men plus many carry-out customers in the downtown area. Before I left for Florida, when out at any other area, I was asked, "What are you men going to do? Where are you going?" No more House of Knowledge. No more Christmas parties and no more daily discussions about all in the area plus sports and politics.
I personally remember Breadings when in high school in the late '30s and ever since, it was the place to go.
Enough. You have my 2 cents worth, but it is a terrible loss. This is my opinion plus many others. I only want to say that if given the chance, Breadings could have been saved by several of the regulars.
N. Bruce Howe Jr. Dream Lake Warsaw via e-mail
Farming Or Hunting?
Editor, Times-Union: There is big differences between farming and this type of hunting.
I will just touch on a few of the many. First thing this is not the place for this type of activity to take place in such a small area (40 acres) and the closeness to so many landowners' backyards.
I believe most people would not like to have any animal, deer or cows shot and slaughtered in their own backyards without some kind of say in the matter. On his Web site he says he has 2,000 acres and in a past article in the Times-Union he says he has 3,000 acres, so why does he have to do it on 40 acres and so close to so many people?
If this was such an ethical thing to do, why have over a dozen states made this illegal including Wyoming and Montana because they did not want this to go on in their state?
You talk of meat but I do not believe that any of the hunters participating are after the meat, they are after the rack, that's why they are all males. The person who runs this operation is not our neighbor he is an adjacent landowner.
Neighbors do not sue other neighbors for the things he is suing for. I would hope that you and your parents would come and talk to some of the people who have the "Stop Canned Hunting" signs in their yards so we can explain more of the problems that this operation creates.
After talking with us I strongly believe you would not want this next to you. Please call or come over.
Kevin Kerr Pierceton via e-mail
Legal Issues
Editor, Times-Union: This day and age, seems to me that Realtors will do just about anything to sell a home. If there are legal issues, well that's for the lawyers to take care of.
Well, I have found that the lawyers really aren't so anxious to jump on a case unless it's someone getting burned by coffee at a local restaurant, or a person trying to get away with murder. I am not to impressed with our local Realtors or lawyers.
About four years ago, my wife and I bought a home across the street from a lake in the North Webster area. We were told that the home had lake easement with a place to put our boat. Well, that proved to be false.
OK, I can deal with that, since my neighbors were so generous enough to let us put our boat on their pier. But most importantly, we were told by the Realtors and appraisers that our house was stick built. Now the real fun begins.
After my wife left me, I could not afford the home on my own. So I did the responsible thing and put the house up for sale. After a couple of months I received a full asking price offer. I thought things were finally going to start going in the right direction.
With just a couple of weeks to go before closing, a small glitch put a halt to the offer. An appraiser for the buyer came in and discovered that the home was manufactured.
The buyer couldn't come up with the extra money that the bank required for this type of home and the deal fell through. All fine and good except now I was stuck with a home that no one wanted to buy.
I know I wouldn't have wanted to buy it if I had known of this little fact a few years prior. The sad thing is, we had the home appraised three times from the time we purchased it, until the time I put it on the market, all by different companies.
We were never told anything different.
It seems like this would have been an open and shut case for a lawyer, seeing as how all the legal documents had signatures on them. But of the six in this county that were notified, no one would touch it. All of whom chose to be left anonymous.
Well, I have since lost the house. I know one thing, when I am ready to buy a house again, I will be looking for one that says, " For sale by owner."
Coincidentally, I now know the difference between a stick built home, a manufactured home and a modular home, and the fact that the "manufactured" home is the only one that has to be disclosed as such.
I used to feel that Kosciusko County was one of the best counties in Indiana to reside in. I still feel that way, but it is a shame how our lakes are exploited like they are.
Kevin Studabaker North Webster via e-mail
Russian Visitors
Editor, Times-Union: I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Russian visitors who stayed with us. We were a host family for the two of the students. We made lifetime friends and learned a great deal about Russia. We enjoyed trading viewpoints on issues, discussing politics, and best of all we laughed together every day. We will dearly miss our friends and we look forward to the day that they return. We hope to see you soon, Surgeui and Kirill.
