Letters to the Editor
The village office informed me that this fee will be on every meter bill until 2018 to repay an EPA loan for water system improvements. At the village board meeting on Oct. 19, I discovered the situation is much worse than I thought. The loan was taken out in 1997 and rolled over since then, but now the village has decided to get serious about paying it off.
Residents and businesses are now expected to contribute extra money for the next nine years to pay off this loan, which amounts to almost $1,000 per family or business.
This means the village of East Dundee has been purposely running a deficit water budget for over a decade. Furthermore, it has recently taken out an additional $4 million loan to dig new wells. By the time the old loan is paid off in 2018, we can expect to keep paying extra out of our pockets to start paying off the new loan, or perhaps they will expect us to open our wallets wider even sooner.
I refuse to bail out our village for poor money management and you should do the same. There are creative ways to start getting our budget back in line, but they will only be implemented if you let the village board know that we are not made of money and balancing the budget should be a top priority.
Heather Skillicorn
East Dundee
The dictionary defines it as a feeling of deep sympathy or sorrow for someone's misfortune.
This can be said of the many elderly persons left to fend for themselves, some abandoned by their children, others who want to be on their own and not be a burden to the families, is what we are facing in an aging world.
People are living longer due to better health services and medical technology.
It used to be grandparents, parents and their children would be born and died in the same house. At the turn of the century, the average life span was about 55, give or take a few years.
Society today is presented with a real problem. The average life span today for seniors in the 70s or 80s. As we live longer, more problems are created for society.
Do you have any idea how many nursing homes of different classifications there are in this country tending to the needs of seniors? There are hundreds upon hundreds in every state.
Medical costs are soaring. If you are an elderly person and have your health, you are indeed fortunate, but how about the millions who are in poor health or have a debilitating illness?
They need care and compassion, not just on the part of society, but of their families.
When we were in our 20s, 30s, and 40s, we thought we would never arrive at being a senior, but aging will happen to all of us faster than we think. Do all you can to show care and compassion to your elderly parents and relatives, for your day is coming when your care will be in the hands of your children.
Arthur L. Andre
St. Charles
Researchers from the University of Utah studied driving and texting versus drinking and driving. Their results showed there is an eightfold greater risk of crashing when texting and driving rather than drinking and driving.
How can it be possible that it's illegal to drive drunk but not to drive while texting, when texting has been shown to be more dangerous? I strongly urge texting while driving to be banned in all states.
Due to the many tests researchers have performed on this, I am strongly for banning texting while driving. It has taken countless number of teens' and adults' lives these past years and we need to put it to an end.
Only 14 states have outlawed texting and driving, while the remaining 36 still permit it. I have thought through the dangers of allowing it and I've come to the conclusion that, as a country, we need to find a solution immediately.
Every state, including Illinois, needs to ban texting while driving and create a penalty that will stop people from doing so. If we can do this, we will prevent numerous crashes and deaths from occurring.
Mary F. Szatkowski
Elburn
