Published: April 23, 2009 06:29 pm      

LETTERS: April 24, 2009

Applause and a question for police



I was at Thunder on Saturday and feel that the police department did a wonderful job. However, that being said, I noticed officers on ATVs without helmets. I realize there is not a law against riding without a helmet.

However, I feel that, with all the young people that die every year on ATVs, the police could have given a better example to young people.

I am an avid rider, but in order to show a good example to my kids, I always wear my helmet. I did notice that the state troopers on motorcycles do wear helmets, and I applaud them for that.

— Favien Lashon, Jeffersonville





French city, Clarksville show sisterly love



The following letter was written by Robert Stehle, a member of the La Garenne-Colombes, France Jumelage Committee. La Garenne-Colombes is one of Clarksville’s two sister cities. The term used in Europe for this kind of sister city connection is “twinning,” which in French is “jumelage.” Stehle asked us to forward this letter to the newspaper, so that people in the community can see how people in the La Garenne-Colombes community feel about our connection.

— Trish Frasier, administrative assistant, town of Clarksville.



Paris, France, with the Eiffel Tower, The Champs Elysees, Le Louvre Museum and many other landmarks is known worldwide. Paris is five miles from La Garenne-Colombes. Maybe, you did not know this, but La Garenne-Colombes is a sister town of Clarksville.

Mr. John Minta and Dr. Juvin, mayors of Clarksville and La Garenne-Colombes initiated the “jumelage” in 2005 and Councilman Paul Kraft confirmed it with Mayor Juvin at the end of April 2008, in a signature ceremony in your nice city.

A town-to-town jumelage is an opportunity for the citizens of both countries to discover the culture and way of life of foreigners. So, the people of Clarksville, or near Clarksville, are welcome to visit La Garenne-Colombes. You can come and visit us, with reciprocity, as individuals or in groups — sports teams, clubs, associations, committees, as you like.

On our side, we are interested in student exchanges because speaking good English is very important for French boys and girls. Pupils from La Garenne-Colombes have visited at different times in Clarksville.

The next scheduled visit from La Garenne-Colombes to Clarksville will be during the first week of November. The last visitors from Clarksville to La Garenne-Colombes returned home on March 29.

Generally, the student exchange groups that visit our city are composed of approximately 10 people. We hope to double, and later on, triple this number. This letter is also a call for candidates for the exchange program. We appreciate when a pupil visits a partner and, in turn, can welcome this partner into his own family. The relationship between these two young pupils becomes a friendship, much more than reading letters.

For more information on visiting or the student exchange program, contact Trish Fraser at 812-293-1504 or e-mail trish@digicove.com.

The official Web site of La Garenne-Colombes is largareenecolombes.fr. I invite you for a virtual visit now, and later on, a true one.

— R. Stehle, member of the Jumelage Committee, La Garenne-Colombes, France



Alzheimer’s Association: Must enact plan to fight disease



Recently, hundreds of Alzheimer’s advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C., to call attention to the 5.3 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease — a number that will grow to as many as 16 million by mid-century unless we address the growing crisis.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s 2009 Alzheimer’s disease Facts and Figures was released at that meeting and noted that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia triples health care costs for Americans ages 65 and older.

The emotional and financial toll of the disease is not only devastating to the individual, but the entire family. The baby boomer generation is at high risk — one in eight will have Alzheimer’s — which means one in eight families will be grappling with the tremendous burden Alzheimer’s introduces. There is no clearer public health crisis or threat to Medicare and Medicaid than Alzheimer’s disease.

During the meeting, the Alzheimer’s Study Group, led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Bob Kerrey, presented the National Strategic Plan to the U.S. Senate to address the Alzheimer’s threat. Our political leaders must take these recommendations and make them reality.

We have the opportunity to affect the disease and to do so today. Leadership from the top is vital. We now have a blueprint and the president and Congress must implement this strategic plan.

As one of the nearly 10 million Alzheimer caregivers, I am more determined than ever to continue to raise awareness about the importance of ending this disease once and for all.

— Tom Bodkin, national director, The Alzheimer’s Association, Newburgh



Reader: Sipes and Stemler did nothing, as usual



The session is almost over and, as usual, your elected officials did nothing to stop wasting your tax money. Eighteen drunk drivers arrested at night and four minors for illegal consumption, and two Hispanics were arrested for no drivers license. Drunk drivers cost Hoosiers $200 million a year. Indiana spent $650 million on the prison system with more than 70 percent of the people there due to drugs and liquor.

Yet, these two were not in favor of raising liquor taxes. Neither was in favor of doing anything about the illegal immigrants either. Yet, they receive free school books which you pay for. Neither Connie Sipes or Steven Stemler was in favor of the state paying for school books. Voters remember this when it comes time for re-election.

— Jon Hallis, New Albany



Reader questions ‘Bennett-Gonzo logic’



I’m assuming that Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, who said he was “going to take swifter and bolder action against schools that repeatedly fail,” has been stricken dumb by amnesia.

I seem to recall that it was Bennett who was, in fact, our local superintendent back in September when the standardized GQE test — the one that he now finds so deplorable — was administered. Using Bennett-Gonzo logic, doesn’t that mean that Tony has to take some bold action against himself? Shouldn’t he at least have to go stand in the corner, or write on the chalkboard 100 times “I will not be a hypocrite”?

Of course, this is the same wise and all-powerful Oz who was at the school corporation’s helm last September when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through and knocked out our electricity. Declared a national disaster area, schools were closed and fast-acting Tony appealed to the state to have those days waived off. But this is where it gets sadly laughable: A few months later, State Superintendent Bennett turned down his own request.

Oh my.

Tony Bennett: Leadership we can believe in — until he changes his mind and tells us something different.

— Douglas Murphy, Floyds Knobs