Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 4

DIMM 4A The Southern Illinoisan Wednesday, November 26, 2003 OSOiSIM' MP Wij iniiiJ lulling fl MfflDSEflSM Woutheni 1 i i a A Lee Enterprises Newspaper EDITORIAL BOARD Publisher Dennis DeRossett Editor Meta Minton Opinion Editor Jeff Smyth Voice Of The Southern clarity despite repeated requests from -this newspaper and the public. Instead of simply fulfilling its obligation to taxpayers, the RLCD responded by filing its own FOIA against the Franklin County board. Like its reasons for settling with Davis, the RLCD hasn't explained to anyone's satisfaction why it needs this information. After having to give up 1,500 pages of its own documents, one could ascertain that the district is only asking for it to harass the county. RLCD trustees should stop this game now.

Rather than responding in kind to the county, it should willingly offer full disclosure of its dealings of the past years and why it settled with former employees it seemed to have just cause to dismiss. It shouldn't have to take an FOIA to find the answer to the many questions surrounding the actions of the RLCD a public, tax-supported body. The board of directors of the Rend Lake Conservancy District appears to be engaged in a troublesome game of "back at ya" with the Franklin County Board to the point that it has reached the point of absurdity. Using the powers of the Freedom of Information Act, RLCD is asking the county for sundry documents such as board minutes for the past three years, a list of employees and their salaries and board policies. It is uncertain of how the RLCD board plans to use this information.

While it certainly has a right to this public information, we hope the district isn't abusing of a system meant to provide the public with access to information about the workings of tax-supported government entities and agencies. FOIA was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. It created procedures whereby a member of the general public could obtain records, with some intent of the act was not to put a strain on government. Rather, it was to keep government accountable to taxpayers for its actions.

In Franklin County, a barrage of FOIA requests between the county board and RLCD began in mid-August. Franklin County board commissioners were not satisfied with reasons the RLCD gave for agreeing to pay former general manager Kevin Davis $250,000 in settlement after he was fired for allegedly misusing district funds. The RLCD board also approved a $35,000 settlement for Davis' assistant. Franklin County commissioners asked for many documents, but the crux of what they were trying to discover was why the water district would dole out taxpayer money to persons they fired for alleged misconduct. It is a question many have asked since the district reached the settlement, but also one the RLCD board has failed to answer with restrictions, of federal government agencies.

Legislatures in all 50 states adopted like-rules, often referred to as "sunshine laws." The intent of the law is to ensure the public's right to know how the agencies they support through tax dollars are operating. Disclosure of such information is paramount to maintaining an open and free society. Some information, like salaries and board minutes, is clearly public record and a FOIA request should be unnecessary. Other information, like an account of spending and internal documents may require the power that FOIA provides to see them produced. FOIA requests are routinely reserved for times when it seems a given government body is not being forthright about its actions, or is hesitant to fully explain them.

The More convenience for time-challenged choosy mothers COMIN6 UP NEXT- PNCRCEAPUITERX AND SPOUSAL ABUSE: IT DEMEWS THE smqiTY IK AMERICA. ow long do you figure it would take you to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Not trying to set a land speed record, dr. nv j.4 mil mind you. Just working at a normal pace, slapping jelly on one slice of bread, peanut butter on the other. How long do you figure it would take, start to finish? Thirty seconds? Forty-five? Do you really have that kind of time to waste? PJ Squares is betting that you don't.

So the company, born it swears! in Sandwich, 111., is offering a solution for time-pressed Americans. A PJ Square, you see, is a two-sided slice of "peanut butter flavor layer" and a Heartbeat of America Leonard Pitts Voice of the Reader The Southern lllinoisan P.O. Box 2108 Carbondale, IL 62902 Fax letters to (618) 457-2935; E-mail letters to jeff.smyth thesouthern.com PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH: Publisher: Dennis DeRossett, e-mail dennis.derossett thesouthem.com NEWS TIPS AND COMMENTS: Editor: Meta Minton, e-mail meta.minton thesouthern.com Weekdays 9 a.m.-10 p.m. To report news, please call 351-5033 from the Carbondale, Murphysboro and De Soto areas. Call 997-3356, ext.

15031, from Williamson County; or (800) 228-0429, ext. 15090. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Call the Circulation Department at 351-5000 from the Carbondale, Murphysboro and De Soto areas; 997-3356, option 2, from Williamson County; or (800) 228-0429, option 2, from anywhere else between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, 7 a.m.

-noon Saturday and Sunday. Subscribe for a year and save off the home delivery price: 52 weeks for $178. TO PLACE AN AD IN CLASSIFIEDS: Call 351-5002 from the Carbondale, Murphysboro and De Soto areas; 997-3356, option 7, from Williamson County; or (800) 228-0429, option 7, from anywhere else, Monday-Thursday 8-6, Friday 8-5, Saturday TO PLACE A DISPLAY AD: Advertising Sales: Abby Hatfield, Ext. 5032 e-mail: abby.hatfield thesouthern.com. Call 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

weekdays. Toll free: (800) 228-0429, option 6 The Southern lllinoisan (USPS 258-980) is published daily at 710 N. Illinois Carbondale, IL 62901. Periodicals postage paid at Carbondale and at additional mailing offices. The Southern lllinoisan is owned by Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa.

Postmaster: Send address changes to The Southern lllinoisan, P.O. Box 2108 Carbondale, IL 62902. LETTERS POLICY We welcome letters to "Voice of the Reader" that do not exceed 250 words and are typewritten or submitted via e-mail. Letters must address issues of current interest. Letters must be signed, and include your telephone number for verification purposes.

We do not publish the telephone numbers; however, we do publish the author's name and ve reserve the right to edit all letters. We do not print poetry, copies of or letters that are submitted en, masse to variety of news, outlets, letters that are or attack individuals or entities personally, are not published. Voice Of The Reader second, jellylike layer made of fruit juice. It comes individually packaged like that shiny II fake orange cheese in the dairy case. You slap one down between bread or crackers and presto! Not a but an incredible simulation.

PJ Squares are said to be available in "select" supermarkets and Target stores nationwide, but I didn't have to go that far to find one. A co-worker let's call him "Bob," since that's his name brought some in the other day, whereupon some of us spent a few minutes not putting out the newspaper. Instead, we had an impromptu taste test. The consensus? They are not disgusting. If you were trapped on a desert island and had to choose between one of these or shoe leather, you would pick the Square in a heartbeat.

And yet by their very existence, PJ Squares raise a question of pressing concern: "How lazy do you have to be to need a shortcut to a peanut butter and jelly I'm sorry. Did I say lazy? I meant, "time-pressed." Granted, I some of us are too effort-challenged to fan away the flies, and I'm'. sure PJ Squares will find a nice market among those folks, assuming they can make it to the store. But for most of us, the issue is simply time and the lack thereof. We stagger through sleep-deprived days trying to figure out how to do the same things in fewer minutes.

As the Squares Web-site puts it, "If you only have a few minutes to give the kids a snack, find the missing soccer shorts and get to a game, you can grab a box of PJ Squares and get on 1 the road." In other words, they're convenient. Heaven help us. I mean, when "convenience" became a Madison Avenue mantra 50 years ago, the idea was that it would give us more leisure time. Instant coffee, instant oatmeal, hands-free mops and wrinkle-free slacks, self-propelled lawn mowers, frozen I foods and microwave ovens the promise, sometimes implicit, sometimes stated, wras that they would make life's mundane chores a breeze, that they would free us to read and chat, to paint or play the piano or just pause and sniff those darned roses. Life would be better.

So here we are, a half century later. What are you doing with all your extra time? Yeah, that's a good one, isn't it? We get the same 24 hours previous generations did and yet ours seem to have been shortchanged. You want to demand a recount. While their days seemed merely busy, ours feel "crammed." Stuffed to the breaking point with deadlines, demands, presentations, 'Net surfing, business trips, soccer practices, things that all have to be done right now. And there is never enough now to go around.

I blame convenience. Because with more time has come an implicit expectation of more accomplishment. What excuse is there for lingering over the morning meal when breakfast is a bar you can munch in the car? How can you justify relaxing with' a book in the airport lounge when the big report can be downloaded to your PDA? Woe unto the unstructured moment, the moment not spent planning, racing, rushing, doing. The moment you spend just being. The paradoxical thing is, we had more of them when life was less convenient.

Yeah, maybe I exaggerate, but this much I know: If you're too busy to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you're too busy. LEONARD PITTS JR. is a columnist for the Miami HeraU. 1 customers have closed down or moved from Southern Illinois in the last year). I and the rest of the trucking industry need the state as an ally to keep this industry viable.

We should not be seen as a cash cow for the state to milk when they feel the need to do so. Thomas Kirchner Nashville Judicial filibuster is immoral To the Editor: The filibuster being used by the Democrats is on the verge of being illegal and is downright immoral. It is being used to drive this great God- given nation into eternal unrest and immorality. Please, for the sake of all the children to come, let's get this nation back onto the moral track. Help the president place his appointees in their judicial positions.

Tom Ridings Murphysboro StreisanJ has every right to speak up To the Editor: I read with interest Jeff Smyth's comments about Barbra Streisand Nov. 13. Well sir, if you are tired of hearing Streisand's criticisms of conservatives, you can always call her unpatriotic. I believe this word is used to describe people who disagree with Bush policies. Why not call in that pillar of morality John Ashcroft? She would then be whisked away to some secluded place, tried by a military tribunal (no jury) and possibly be sent to prison.

I for one am an admirer of Streisand and I hope she continues to speak out. Isn't that what the Constitution means by freedom of speech? Carlene Barnwell Marion Public school not the place for evangelist To the Editor: When a parent sends a child to a public school, the parent should not have to be concerned about a religious group offering a "pizza blast" as an enticement to the son or daughter to attend a church meeting right around the corner from the public school. Captive audiences of impressionable young people attending public schools should not bo delivered into the hands of religious groups whose motives are to seek converts and increase the size of their flocks. George Kuhn Mount Vernon Democrats have lost much To the Editor: Where is Jesse? Where is the "mainstream" news? Where is "NOW?" Where is the outrage that Ted Kennedy called Judge Brown a Neanderthal? This lady and the others deserve more respect than they got and are getting. The Democratic Party demonstrates once again as long as they are doing the name calling and personal destruction with no sound basis, then news media must give 'em a pass.

Let Tom Delay try to say something like that. I was a proud member of the Democratic Party back in 1992, but like so many others in the past five years I came to realize that I would rather give people a good hand up instead of a constant hand out. I switched parties. When Nixon did wrong, the Republican Party members went to him and said he had to go. When the Democrats saw a president lie on the stand (which had nothing to do with sex) they said they would still stand behind him.

In the past 10 years, the Democratic Party has lost so much. David Restivo HtRRIN Truckers shouldn't have to carry deficit To the Editor: I am one of those "local truckers displeased with new state fees" described in a recent The Southern Illinoisan article. I own a local trucking business, and like any small business owner, I have to make wise financial decisions to keep my company operating. But thanks to mismanagement at the state level, I now am being slapped with an additional $1,004 per truck registration fee. Then to add insult to injury, people are working to give one trucking company millions in tax incentives to stay in Illinois.

The reason that trucking company wants to leave Illinois is to avoid paying these tax increases. Senator Dave Luechtefeld is right. It is not fair to give one trucking company a bunch of money in tax incentives and give other businesses nothing. Every trucking business is having a hard time paying these fees, but obviously the state cannot hand out sweetheart deals to every trucking company in Illinois. So why even offer these incentives in the first place? It is absurd.

The governor should not be making his financial problem my financial problem. I have enough financial problems as it is with insurance costs doubling since 911, the continual high fuel prices and the downturn in the economy (e.g. 12 of our.