[Peace] Re: [Discuss] No local mandate for Guard assignment - by Jan Kruse

[John W.]

On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 7:54 AM, Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>wrote:

Nice letter Jan.  BD
>

Very nice.  I especially like the final paragraph.  Sporting of the N-G to
publish the letter.



> [image: The News-Gazette.com] No local mandate for Guard assignment Saturday
> October 4, 2008
>
> A Sept. 29 editorial implied that Danielle Chynoweth, former Urbana City
> Council member, took too much money for travel at taxpayers' expense. All
> trips were approved, and she used the knowledge gained effectively to
> improve our city as she sought ways to encourage grass-roots initiatives.
>
> However, the real story was missed on the front page the same day. Here the
> story of the deployment of Urbana National Guard was not given the same
> depth of concern.
>
> These soldiers may be volunteers, and many may well want to go to
> Afghanistan. However, The News-Gazette should assess this local cost for the
> Urbana taxpayers as well as the local impact on the families asked to get
> along without loved ones.
>
> The New-Gazette missed the story that will impact Urbana the most in income
> losses, tax dollars wasted in war and the grass-roots effect on families and
> soldiers who will one day return seeking care for injuries – both physical
> and physiological – and learn how difficult and expensive it will be to
> obtain.
>
> Once again a cheap shot is taken at someone working for social justice and
> no depth of coverage as to why our local Guard is also traveling at taxpayer
> expense and without a viable global or local mandate. The News-Gazette
> wonders why its circulation has fallen. Here's a clue: investigate the real
> stories that affect our local families and expand the editors to include
> other perspectives so the obviously petty coverage subsides and more
> grass-roots coverage of our community is included.
>
> JAN KRUSE
>
> Urbana
>
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