Candidate offers

positive influence

I would like to give recognition when it’s due. I’ve had a young family member who has had some encounters with the Cass County Sheriff’s Department, which has ended very positively due to Gary Armstrong.

Gary has encouraged this young man in several different ways, none of which his job requires him to do. On duty or off duty, if he has seen this young man, he’s stopped just to say, “Hi, how are you doing? You staying out of trouble?” Sometimes employing him on jobs or just mentoring him in some small way. This has meant a lot and has not gone unnoticed!

For law enforcement officers to stop and take time out of their day to encourage our youth is very commendable. Gary has given him a kind of tough love and made him accountable for his actions and lifestyle. Gary is a true example of what all of our young people need to see from law enforcement.

He took the time to see both sides of a situation and was the outside, positive voice and direction that this young man needed to experience. Our youth are our future, and we need more people like Gary to take the time to care.

So I want to say thank you, Gary, for helping to make a difference in a young man’s life that I love very deeply! Best of luck in being our next sheriff!



Chelly Landis

Logansport



Warming theory

taking some hits

“Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings” (The Guardian, UK, Feb. 21). “Scientists referred in the messages to a ‘trick’ used to smooth out data showing an anomaly in the trend toward higher global temperatures, and wrote about blocking articles by climate-change critics from a report by a UN panel” (Bloomberg, Feb. 22).

Figures charted by the International Climate and Environmental Change Association Project show carbon dioxide, measured in ppm, rising 5 percent since 1998 while the temperature shift has plotted along a horizontal range-bound line and is 68 percent less now than in 1998. This makes it difficult to make a correlation between temperature change and carbon dioxide levels.

Getting the picture?

Global warming is at best a flawed model that needs to be revised in light of the actual data, or at worst it is a hoax through which its main proponents mean to bilk the gullible out of billions of dollars. Yet, through it all, propaganda from global warming advocates (warmers) would have us believe that skeptics are anti-science and anti-environment. I addressed the science issue in my last letter.

I do not know, or know of, any global warming skeptic who advocates wantonly destroying our environment. Indeed, those who I do know, including myself, can easily serve as low carbon footprint models for warmers.

Whether skeptic or warmer, conduct a Web search for Mr. Al Gore’s home and see if he lives a low carbon footprint lifestyle anywhere close to the rest of us. As a partner at the venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mr. Gore stands to benefit significantly from cap-and-trade legislation. While warmers propose to devastate national and personal economies through legislation, skeptics favor positive environmentalism through marketplace initiatives.

We welcome the action of businesses such as Walmart that are dedicated to reducing their carbon footprint nationally and are giving priority to suppliers who use green practices. We welcome alternative energy sources developed by new technology that are economically sustainable. Skeptics see no need to force Americans into Third World village status through draconian legislation imposed by warmers, especially since the connection between temperature shifts and “man-made” carbon dioxide output are appearing much less connected than the flawed models of warmers would have us believe.



Charles A. Layne

Bunker Hill



Workshops face

funding crisis

In recent months, we’ve been discussing the state’s proposed Medicaid waiver funding changes for service for people with developmental disabilities. We stand firm in advocating to eliminate the state’s proposed 12-month time limit on pre-vocational and the 18-month time limit on supported employment services. 

The timeline for the state to respond to an alternative proposal has expired, and we are now faced with perhaps the greatest challenge our agency has ever known. 

Here are the changes that will occur if the state moves forward:

1. Any person whose workshop service is paid for by Medicaid waiver will lose that funding over the course of the next 12 to 24 months.

2. Any person who is receiving supported employment services will lose funding over the course of the next 18 to 24 months.

It is critical that parents, guardians, staff members and advocates contact legislators and state officials to begin the campaign to eliminate these time limits. A show of strength and unity is crucial. 

The Arc of Indiana and the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities developed the alternative proposal I mentioned above. This proposal meets federal requirements, is similar to successful programs operated in other states, and saves the state of Indiana a modest amount of money.

Through the efforts of these two organizations, rehabilitation programs across Indiana have sought to make a positive contribution to working through the reduction in state revenues while continuing to offer services and supports to those with intellectual disabilities. We have sought a positive partnership with the state, and they have failed to respond in kind.

I cannot stress enough how important it is for us to maintain both programs, each of which has the broad support of families and clients. 

Thank you for taking the time to advocate for programs for people with developmental disabilities. Their futures depend on the outcome of this legislation. You can play a part in making sure that future is one of progress and purpose.

Don Weikle, executive director

Peak Community Services

Logansport



Stations even

charge for air

I’m writing to respond to Mr. Hayden’s letter (Pharos-Tribune, March 2).

I agree with you. The gas companies have us right where it hurts, but it’s very sad that we have to “pay” for the air we breathe. Yes, you read this right. If you need air for your tires, you must pay for it. So now we are paying for the air we breathe. That is an all time low.

They can give you a line about they have no control over the price and that is just what it is. A line. What happened to gas wars? We need to do something.



Linda Ransford

Logansport