Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you there’s something you’d like to comment on in Elgin or beyond, send an email to [email protected]. Please include “speak out” in the subject line.
Elgin more than downtown: Just finished the Downtown Neighborhood Association’s survey to — once again — say what I think best or like/dislike about Elgin downtown. Well, how about we get off the subject of dumping more money down there. People have suggested retail, wider variety of resturants and to sincerely address the homeless problem and there have been few, if any results. There is so much more to Elgin than just the downtown. How about cleaning up the main entry ways into Elgin? How about actively bringing in more entertainment businesses? How about bookstores?
Ridiculous comparison: A reader compares Republicans to the Taliban. Seriously? Which party is fine with murdering the unborn, many are OK with porn in school libraries, and now this reader mistakenly thinks we have “separation of church and state,” which has never appeared in our U.S. Constitution anywhere. I bet you didn’t know it’s even OK to bring and read a Bible in school now. That fact should make some heads to revolve in a circle!
Justices need ethics: Who knew that the Supreme Court justices weren’t bound by a code of ethics? I couldn’t be more surprised if I suddenly learned that Pope Francis wasn’t obliged to follow all of the Ten Commandments. It’s about time the Supremes were made subject to an ethics code as well as shorter terms as the country’s chief arbiters of the law.
Enjoy our two-week spring: This coming week will feature some of the nicest weather we’ve experienced since last fall with temps in the 70s and little chance for tornados, flooding, mudslides or frogs hurling through the air. It is, after all, the beginning of that two-week interval commonly referred to as spring; before heat and humidity encroaches on our euphoria and a frigid winter is no longer remembered as quite so bleak.
Why even try? Let’s throw in the towel and turn schools into armed fortresses. Forget about guns, let’s arm every one, even the first-graders. We can’t even think about doing something about guns. Yes, mental health is part of the problem, but not all shooters would necessarily be classified as mentally troubled. How about neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and racists? There are solutions out there if we are willing to try them.