Evansville Courier and Press from Evansville, Indiana • 13

iMMfBw i M3 EVANSVILLE COURIER PRESS SUNDAY APRIL 26 2009 COURIERPRESSCOM VIEWPOINT COMMUNITY COMMENT Palin visit I all about support not politics NINA FULLER SPECIAL TO THE COMER 4 PRESS SUNDAY SOAPBOX NOTE: Recently on this page local freelance wiiler David Coker reported on a P-47 built in Evansville during World War II that is now for sale An earlier effort in Evansville to purchase and restore a P-47 for public display faltered (See the report by Jim Whetsel on this page) The Sunday Soapbox letters here address the issue of whether the city should re-open the effort to bring a P-47 to Evansville Exhibit dedicated to the P-47 is a wonderful idea To the editor I personally would like to see a P-47 built in Evansville displayed somewhere in the city I was in school when they were being built and it would be great to have one comeback DM Johnson Evansville Prior P-47 effort went up in smoke JIM WHETSEL SPECIAL TO THE COMER PRESS Jets and newer model aircraft It is in Florida but not at the bottom of the ocean Bob Kleiman Evansville let this chance to mark history slip away To the editor The P-47 is without a doubt a part of our heritage in Evansville To let it dip away would be a travesty Future generations need to see what took place in Evansville during World War IL The LST and the P-47 are two parts of our history that reminds us today and will teach future generations what this town did for the war effort Jerry Fruth Evansville P-47 memorial would be tribute to builders To the editor I was very happy to read David article about the P-47 Hopefully the idea of establishing a permanent memorial for the P-47 is still alive It would be a great tribute to Evansville and especially to those who built the aircraft It played a huge role in World War II If there is anything I can do to help bring this to reality please ask Bob Will Haubstadt Museum-quality example can be found in Florida To the editor If the Evansville people would like a P-47 in Evansville that is nonflying there happens to be one in a museum down south that could be purchased for a lot less (maybe) than $1 million plus the expenses to keep and maintain a P-47 in flying condition I think that the money we are talking about here would be of interest to the museum that now has one We are probably talking about a purchase price in the range of $500000 to $750000 plus shipping The good thing is there would be no annual maintenance and upkeep that there would be for one in airworthy condition Another thing to consider about a static example is that any parts necessary to restore a P-47 to flying condition would need to be bought as well and they are not cheap The P-47 I am talking about looks out of place next'to all the NEXT WEEK Andy Easley was formed and agreed to buy the plane from my dad They stored it in a worthless old warehouse on Franklin Street That old wooden rattrap was struck by lightning and the whole place burned up along with our P-47 the Fantasy of Lights display and everything else that was being stored there Thus the good idea of Evansville having a P-47 came to an abrupt end My dad died in 1902 Easley died in 2007 without paying me nearly $20000 still owed on our P-47 The city wouldn't support this idea then for a measly $50000 1 suspect nearly $2 million wont get much support either Hey I've got an idea Add the nearly $2 million it would cost for an airworthy example to the $127 million the mayor claims he can get and mount this plane on the roof of the new arena for all to see Call the new arena the Dome" and make everybody happy already out $20000 so dont expect any money from me Good luck Yes I agree that getting a P-47 for Evansville is a good idea regardless of the cost It was also a good idea some 23 years ago My father Frank Whetsel led a group of local businessmen in an organization called P-47 Commission" formed to raise $50000 needed then to purchase a P-47 recovered from a lake in Florida Needless to say after 40-some years of being in the water it wasn't in the best of shape However it could be restored to static display condition We found many new and like-new parts such as an engine and propeller and landing gear The P-47 Commission held fund-raising bingo games to pay back the loan obtained from then-Citizens Bank All went well until our illustrious county prosecutor determined bingo was illegal gambling and shut down the games The fundraising went out the window Dad ended up paying the note off by himself and spent the last four years of his life trying to restore this old bird (also by himself) The P-47 Commission went belly up and a new group called the P-47 Foundation headed by Indiana State Rep Dennis Avery D-Evansville has re-: quested $300000 in state money I to study the feasibility of a pas- senger rail link between Evans- i iyille and Chicago: IbU us what you think about the future of rail travel in Indi- After all the speculation from opiners amateur analysts and gossip mongers I want to set the record straight It was my privilege as the 1 founder of SMILE on Down's syndrome to host the breakfast our local parent network held to welcome Todd and Sarah Palin to our support system As I worked by phone with two of the assistants to take care of the details it was very clear that Todd and Sarah did not want our breakfast to be about them She did not give a speech she was not there to impart wisdom and expertise to us In fact the Palin family actually wanted to hear from us They like any other parents who are given the responsibility to love a child with special needs such as syn- i drome want to leam whatever they can in order to maximize their potential This event was completely about meeting some of the emotional spiritual and social needs of a family learning to walk in the world of special needs The mission of SMILE on Down's syndrome is to offer 1 support management informa- tion love and encouragement to families and their loved ones with Down's syndrome That is what our breakfast with the Putins was about "behind closed doors" Let me explain to our community why it I was a private event We had two goals: to protect the privacy of our families and to protect the very limited personal time the Palins had to spend with us before literally rushing back to work Their entire trip to Evansville was approximately 36 hours and that included air travel time They were eager to get back home to their family including baby frig who had sniffles and to the state of affairs for Gov Palin If the public knew where we were holding our private event it would not be passible to keep the event intimate However 1 if media asked in advance we were more than willing to accommodate them and did sa Anyone of any political or religious persuasion who has dared to throw spears and gears at the Palins for taking time to meet other parents of with Down's syndrome and to see the future potential of their own son should be ashamed at their judgmental haughtiness Until you truly have walked even a half mile in someone shoes or heels (as someone blogged) do not pass judgment It is unloving unacceptable and un-American to not give the benefit of the doubt In this particular case it is also shameful to cast such harsh criticism on a family who needs support during one of life's biggest challenges (In i fact Mrs Palin shared that they are not aware of a support system near them such as SMILE) Ironically despite nay- sayers loving someone with Down's syndrome is one of life's biggest blessings Come join us at our Buddy Walk this year and find out why Despite self-righteous gos-sipers I want to make something else very clear We had an overwhelming amount of community support to help our nonprofit group host such an event that requires many many volunteers and resources Biaggi's Restaurant in Evansville car never be thanked enough for their help in being the host site for breakfast with the Palins Master Jewelers' Curt Welte did a marvelous job working with us to design and create three bcautiftil pieces of jewelry for the Palins to treasure for a lifetime There were man volunteers to help us bring a day of incredible joy and delightful memories to so mat families including Todd at Sarah Palin of Alaska who came to- gether and celebrated the gift of life No one can be faulted for that ana -t Keep your letter short no more than 200 words Include -i a daytime telephone number i for verification Have it to us by i-Thursday Send your letter by e-mail to leachccourierpresscom You can mail them to Letters PO Box 208 Evansville IN 47702 or send them by fax to (812) 422- Jim Whetsel is a resident of LETTERS TO THE COURIER PRESS ident Hugo Chavez of Venezuela for moving in the right direction I also have to say that I have always admired and respected both presidents Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega They are great humanitarians and greatly respect human rights and individual freedoms Venezuela and Nicaragua are not a threat to the United States Venezuela and Nicaragua are not human rights violators and neither Venezuela nor Nicaragua are state sponsors of international terrorism I do want the US to have better relations with all countries with which it may disagree with Just because we may disagree with that nation's form of government does not mean that we cannot be friends I believe that the US should respect other governments because that is what democracy is all about Venezuela and Nicaragua both have a right to their independence and self-determination They also have a right to freedom from US imperialism interference and hegemony The US must behave itself and stop meddling in the internal affairs of other nations This is something that I hope President Obama realizes Brandon Harris Boonville Ind A sliding scale for cable TV charges would be fair Totheeditor I would like to respond to Michael Willner CEO of Insight Communications on billing customers for the amount of Internet bandwidth they use as opposed to charging a flat fee per month Heavy Internet users pay more than the occasional e-mail user Sounds OK But how do those same companies justify forcing consumers to purchase cable TV packages with 50 to 200 channels when most of us never watch half of them? Why not let consumers choose which channels they want to subscribe to and charge them for only those channels? Better yet charge consumers for the time they actually watch the stations instead of $50 to $100 per month Charge someone who watches TV all day and night more charge those who watch one or two shows a day less Now that's fair billing I recently canceled my subscription to satellite TV in favor of the new free over-the-air digital signal I dont miss the enormous charges the satellite company charged me for the service I'm not a heavy television viewer anyway I remember when cable first made it to the home and it was advertised as "commercial free TV" and it was Now the service is about 50 percent commercials There are too many other ways to spend my time than channel surfing Joe Meihiser Winslow Ind Then we had the soil samples taken that show us we are a mercury hot spot Mercury has been linked to autism attention deficit hyperactivity disorder multiple sclerosis and heart disease to name a few Now we have a study that specifically shows our children breathing some of Ihe most toxic air in the country and in response we are looking to build a new chemical plant? If you dont care about health problems and our children getting cancer do you think making us the pollution capital of the world will raise your property values? Do you think attracting more polluters to our area might raise the cost of health care even more? How can we attract non-polluting companies that dont want their employees to live here due to the health risk? Wouldnt they want to live in the 90 percent of the country that has better air? How can we be an attractive growing and healthy community when we do not address this problem? I have gone to the Warrick County School Board written every legislator and the EPA and as Jed Beadles said in his article "Unfortunately no one seems to be paying attention to the problem and its potential results" Kim Sherman Newburgh President is keeping our friends close and our enemies closer lb the editor Many consider President Barack Obama's handshake with Hugo Chavez a sign of weakness I will give Obama a break this one time and take into consideration that this is an act of strategy on Oluuna's part I think he is taking a page from Sun Tzu's 4th Century BC quote in "The Art of War" "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" This is also considered a good strategy in the art of business It is said that your friends often only tell you what you want to hear but your enemies often tell you tire truth hi the movie the "Godfather" the character Michael Coricone used this quote iri talking about his enemies Richard JTenbarge Evansville Ambient air quality even worse at one Warrick County school Totheeditor I was pleased to see another person cares about our kids getting cancer and other diseases due to our poor air quality (Jed Beadles Community Comment Thursday) however there was one mistake Warrick County's worst school isn't ranked in the lowest 7 percent of schools in terms of ambient air quality The lowest ranked school is Yankee town Elementary at 2 percent meaning 98 percent of schools in the country have better air than they da I wonder how many studies we need before people see there might be a problem We had the study that ranked some zip codes in Evansville as having 30 times more pollutants in the air than the zip codes in New York City Overall our area ranked in tl top 10 percent of the country for having tlr rrstair President Obama is moving the country in the right direction Totheeditor I would like to comment about the news article in the April 19 edition of the Evansville Courier Press "President Obama extends hands to presidents Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega at the Summit of the I think that this is a good step in repairing damaged relations between the United States Nicaragua and Venezuela I greatly admire and sympathize with President Barack Obama President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Pres- Nina Fuller is founder and executive director of SMILE on Down's syndrome.