IndyStar.com: Letters to the editor
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
Our soldiers in Afghanistan died due to inept leadership
While President Barack Obama fiddled at the United Nations placating our enemies and repeatedly apologizing for American excellence and worldwide success, Afghanistan burned despite pleas for more troops from Army Gen. David Petraeus and Chairman of...
Put trust in Citizens to manage utilities
Citizens Energy Group is pleased to propose a partnership with the city of Indianapolis to place its water and wastewater utilities within Citizens’ public charitable trust. We are making this proposal to be helpful to the city as it looks for...
A better comparison of Lilly's pipeline
On Sept. 20, The Star published a story, “In Lilly’s Pipeline: Profit or Peril?”, that examined recently announced organizational changes at the company. As a part of this article, The Star cited a report and graphic by Morningstar,...
Include time at home in school time debate
In the Sept. 30 article, “State panel will revive time debate for school days,” Stephen Stephanoff says that deciding on a longer school day is “really a matter of where you want a society to go.” He is right. However,...
Real people, real problems, now we need real solution
Thank you for the excellent front-page coverage of “America’s Uninsured: 5 Stories,” Sept. 23. Your choice to print the story helps put a human face on this very complex issue. The misinformation and deliberate lies that have been...
Cap-and-trade disadvantages outweigh any potential good
As an elected official, I know the power of contact by constituents. Therefore, I encourage you to join me in writing, calling or e-mailing U.S. Sens. Richard Lugar and Evan Bayh and urging them to vote against the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade...
Withholding information is bad for our health
None of the current warfare over health care speaks louder than Democrats objecting and opposing the publishing and allowance of time for the bill or bills to be read and debated by all legislators and the American people. DT Smith Indianapolis
Depriving 24 percent of freedom to smoke
The Star and Matthew Tully are at it again trying to deprive 24 percent of the citizens their freedoms of choice with an extended smoking ban in Marion County (“Passing a no-exemptions smoking ban is the right thing to do,” Oct. 2). Why...
Too many exceptions to the no-call law
It seems lobbyists are alive and well at the Statehouse. The telephone no-call law has been passed, and along with it the provision that allows for selected groups to still call you. Now I can understand allowing companies and organizations you have...
To improve, make schools accountable to parents
Over the last few months, I’ve read opinions on why public schools are not adequately educating our children. Solutions range from more funding to more teacher accountability. But people need to realize that in order for our public schools to...
Bird flies to rescue, keeps his hero status
Larry Bird is still the hero of the hardwood, this time for his support of the Fever. Harlan Hinkle Brownsburg
Animal control director caught in power struggle
There has been a bevy of controversy surrounding the topic of Animal Care and Control in our community. Last year a group of residents filed a grievance against the former Animal Control leadership revealing the horrific conditions at the facility on...
Far-out fear-mongering aims to bring down president
When will the media finally stop letting radical conspiracy theories control the national discussion? Now, fresh from the disturbed mind of Glenn Beck and into the mouths of U.S. Reps. Mike Pence and Dan Burton comes the latest: President Barack...
Don't sacrifice care for only animal control
I am saddened and dismayed about the recent developments at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control (“Rethink director’s stint in doghouse,” Sept. 25). It will likely be turned back into all control and very little care if Doug Rae is...
Lottery's take excessive compared with for-profits?
Let me get this straight: The Hoosier Lottery returns 61 percent of its revenue to lottery players and keeps 26 percent as profit while WellPoint returns nearly 80 percent of revenue to its customers in the form of benefits while retaining 4 percent...
Accepting Darwin's theory without compromising faith
As an educator, I find Russ Pulliam’s Sept. 25 column, “Taking Darwin on faith,” disturbing. Pulliam had a chance to educate people about evolution. Instead, he appears to have already made up his mind. First, I would point out that...
My View: Returning black vets face mental health obstacles
Today, approximately one in four American adults suffers from a mental disorder. As we work to help all those affected by mental illness, I want to call attention to one group in particular that is perhaps suffering most greatly. Over the past...
Taking advantage of poor, minorities for personal gain
Dan Carpenter continues his rather nebulous connection with reality in his column about ACORN (“ACORN and dual standards,” Sept. 30). If only it were a great organization, helping the poor but with just a few bad apples. ACORN has a list...
What Carpenter left out of column about ACORN
Dan Carpenter’s Sept. 23 column in defense of ACORN for all the good it does ignores key facts about this grossly hypocritical organization (“Mighty oaks of umbrage,” Sept. 23). The following is a handful of those facts: The...
No answers for question of nucleic acids, early Earth
I am confused by T. Andrew Huddleston’s Sept. 23 letter in which he seems to assert that atheists have no beliefs. Do they not by definition believe there is no God? How do reason and rational thought conclude that life can exist without some...
My View: Let director do his job
Since my recent attempts to meet with Mayor Greg Ballard have gone unanswered, I am writing this letter. I want to thank the mayor for the privilege of my appointment to the Indianapolis Animal Care and Control Advisory Board. I want to thank him too...
Public's safety must be top concern in animal control
Animal Control’s foremost responsibility is public safety. Director Doug Rae is not an animal control expert, as The Star editorial stated (“Rethink director’s stint in doghouse,” Sept. 25"). His previous positions dealt...
Reward for good job? Looks like he'll be kicked out
Politics at its worst. That is how I describe the shakeup at Indianapolis Animal Care and Control (“Rethink director’s stint in doghouse,” Sept. 25). The acting director of public safety, Mark Renner, should spend his time solving...
Public criticism of judges has no place in judicial process
Judicial independence is the cornerstone of our democracy. The ability to have an unbiased, impartial judiciary determine the rights and remedies of aggrieved parties is one of our most basic liberties. The Indianapolis Bar Association and its...
Chain of life story renews faith in people
On Sept. 26 we read the reporting in The Star concerning an alleged terror suspect, 19-year-old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a young man apparently so possessed with hatred and evil that he was prepared to kill thousands of innocents in Dallas. On the...
Ratepayers get soaked by utility's bad decision
The Sept. 24 article “Water utility to seek another rate increase” says this is needed to “pay tens of millions in fees to extract itself from variable rate bonds that back fired last year.” The management apparently made an...
Mass transit efforts aren't slowing down
The announcement that IndyGo is discontinuing the Greenwood commuter express bus service seems to have created confusion about transit in Central Indiana. So let’s address the key issue right up front: Efforts to improve residents’...
Give Sunday sales a try, you can always go back
Let’s move into the 21st century: Denying adult beverage sales on Sunday is left over from the temperance days (“Put Sunday liquor issue on ice,” Sept. 21). Indiana is more sophisticated than the current law. This is not tough: If...
Our View: Wishard's future vital for healthy city
Wishard’s leadership — through Matt Gutwein and Dr. Lisa Harris — claims its role in Indiana is singular, vast and indispensable. At Indiana Blood Center, we agree. From the regional health systems in Indianapolis to the critical...
Don't believe retailers: People want liquor regulations
The Sept. 23 letter from the Indiana Retail Council is yet another thinly disguised attack on Indiana’s alcohol regulations and the package store industry. Grant Monahan likes to pretend its campaign is about consumers when it is really about...
