Editor, Times-Union: I am disapointed in the sports reporting article - "TV Has Easy Time With Triton." I think that article was the most biased and unfair reporting I've ever read. Maybe Triton didn't have much to talk about, but the article was cruel and mean to the Triton team. Jeff Holsinger couldn't even get the right Triton coach, he said Laura Lamaster was the boys coach. For your information, she is the Triton girls tennis coach. Janet Beam is the boys tennis coach! I think Mr. Holsinger needs to apologize to the entire Triton tennis team for his blatant and cruel remarks. The only Triton win couldn't even get decent remarks. Let's be fair!
Lori Shafer Tippecanoe via e-mail
Chocola/Roemer
Editor, Times-Union: I am a registered voter in the Third District in Indiana and it is my understanding that Chris Chocola, the Republican nominee for Congress for the Third District, has invited the incumbent, Tim Roemer, to participate in a series of town hall meetings. Roemer has refused Chocola's offer.
As a registered voter, I am disappointed in Roemer's response. I think a series of town meetings would be an ideal setting for both candidates to lay forth their views on the important issues facing not only this district, but also the nation.
Roemer says his work in Congress keeps him too busy to come to Indiana for the series of town meetings that Chocola proposed. Yet, other congressmen are able to come home to Indiana on weekends. If other congressmen can return to their districts on weekends, why can't Roemer?
It appears Chocola might be right when he says we need a congressman that lives and has worked in the district. Other congressmen in Indiana and around the nation spend two or three nights a week in Washington when Congress is in session and visit their districts on the weekends. Roemer does not. Roemer spends his entire year in Washington and lives in Great Falls, Va. Even though during the last session Congress was out of session 228 days, Roemer was in the district for just 44 days.
How can Roemer effectively represent me when he doesn't live here or send his children to school here? I don't believe he has ever worked here in the district either.
Maybe it is time for a change.
David J. Irwin South Bend via e-mail
Juvenile DelinquentsEditor, Times-Union:
In the early morning hours of this past Saturday, while most teens are at home asleep, a few juvenile delinquents were out wreaking havoc on the residents of Warsaw. Per a police report, a couple of dozen residents along Main Street, Fort Wayne Street and Clark Street, including myself, awoke to find their tires slashed.
I understand that teens have, and will seek exciting, or should I say thoughtless, outlets to express their cooped-up energies or frustrations. This is not news. And it seems that as time goes by these outlets of expression tend to be more cutting-edge, even dangerous and destructive. My "beef" is not only with the young people involved, certainly they need to be reprimanded, but also with those in authority over these individuals.
My questions are really two-fold. Where are the parents or guardians of these young people, and what is going to be done about the crime perpetrated? First, there's no doubt that parents are responsible for the acts of their children until the age of majority. This can be viewed from both a legal and moral vantage point. Legally, parents have the responsibility of preventing their young person from doing harm to others. Morally, parents need to implement preventive instruction which should lead to a sense of self-governing and responsibility later in life. This instruction should begin at the earliest of ages.
Second, who is going to own up to this crime of vandalism? Are the parents or guardians going to make their young person make restitution? Or will the county justice system prevail? For generations, parents were typically the enforcers of justice when it came to the misbehavior of their children. Thus, I feel that the young people involved here should make good on their escapades. However, in our pass-the-buck society, this matter will probably end up in the courts, in which case, justice will most likely NOT prevail. The youth will get a "slap on the wrist," and the victims, the residents, not the youths, will not see restitution. Frankly, it matters not to me. What IS important is that somebody takes responsibility.
