Letters to the editor, June 26
June 25, 2012 12:40PM
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Updated: July 27, 2012 6:02AM
Letting illegals get jobs will take away from minorities
Our depressed economy is causing Americans to face a future of high unemployment, job uncertainly and massive national debt. Despite billions spent to create jobs, millions of Americans continue to face job loss, foreclosures of homes and loss of savings.
The groups most negatively affected by this massive recession are minorities such as African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and other workers such as women and young Americans. These groups continue to have some unemployment rates nearly double those of other groups.
President Obama’s pledge not to deport young illegal immigrants, up to age 30, but to issue about 800,000 work permits will increase scarcity of jobs among American minorities, youth and women.
An estimated 7 million nonagricultural American jobs are filled by illegal foreign workers. With 800,000 granted work permits and with government’s continued failure to enforce our laws covering illegal immigration, American workers will continue to suffer.
What Obama has done is inexcusable. He put his political aspirations above the welfare of the people he supposedly represents. Americans deserve better.
Alice Massengill
Hobart
Parks should spend money on drowning prevention
I have lived on the shores of Lake Michigan most of my life. It is a great place to live and a lake that requires a great deal of respect. It is a lake that has taken many lives, usually visitors to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
What I find most interesting is, our federal park always acquires funds for land acquisition, new vehicles and equipment, funds to build the most unsightly bridges across U.S. 12 and U.S. 20 to provide beach access. However, officials never seem to budget funds to protect the beaches and employ young adults as lifeguards.
Summer is here, and it appears to be an instant replay of previous summers. The drownings begin; lives are lost. Taxpayers are burdened with excessive of search-and-rescue costs — divers, rescue personnel, helicopters, watercraft, hundreds of hours of payroll expense.
We then get great media coverage from local press and television coverage from Chicago to South Bend. Unfortunately, it is after the accident occurs and the visitor normally ends up deceased.
Perhaps the National Park Service could re-evaluate its priorities, place lifeguards at all beaches and hand out information about Lake Michigan to visitors. The media could run segments about the dangers of Lake Michigan and educate visitors.
We all could be made more aware of Lake Michigan before visiting this wonderful beach and, most importantly, live to enjoy it and share with future generations.
This clearly would save taxpayers thousands of dollars, employ young adults who desperately need summer jobs, as well as educate visitors and save lives!
Theodore S. Lelek
Beverly Shores
