|
Published: May 14, 2008 08:03 pm
Readers' Forum: May 15, 2008
Terre Haute lost true friend in Pat O’Leary
The Roman Philosopher Seneca once said in the First Century: “When we lose a friend, we all die a little.” We all died a little on May 9 with the passing of Patrick O’Leary. Indeed the entire Wabash Valley community lost a friend.
He was a retired business owner, the smiling robust face of Terre Haute, a peacemaker in the community, and a shining symbol of community service and volunteerism.
With a shared Irish heritage we both embraced, we would remember people and tell stories of our Irish ancestors who as laborers helped build Terre Haute and the Midwest railroads. His Grandfather was a “gandy dancer” on the railroad. Gandy Dancers positioned rails so they could be nailed to the railroad ties. He went on to become the president of Terre Haute Concrete until its sale in 1984 and was the executive director of the Terre Haute Alliance of Growth and Progress for six years. He truly personified the American Dream.
If we shed a tear for Pat, and surely we will, they will not be tears of sadness at Pat’s death, but instead the tears we shed will be tears of sadness for a loss of his presence in our lives.
Throughout his thousands of hours of community service to St. Benedict’s Church, the Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club Fishing Program, The Wabash Valley Community Foundation, the Terre Haute Area Chamber Of Commerce, and countless boards and charities, he was the consummate voice of both optimism and reason. He saw good in everybody and was always respectful of everyone, especially the less fortunate and those people “down on their luck.” He was the living definition of peacemaker and of sincerity.
We as a community will miss him a great deal, but we take solace in the knowledge that he and his beloved wife Randy have instilled in their children the desire to leave the community a better place than they found it. The future is safe in their hands.
To everyone who knew Pat, I say to you: You can shed tears because he is gone or you can smile because he has lived — and continues to live — in our hearts and minds. Carry on his great work in involvement and caring.
Pat’s parting words when leaving a meeting of his friends, on hundreds of occasions was “Be Careful Gents.” Our parting words to him:
Godspeed, Pat O’Leary.
— Terry and Judy Hogan
Terre Haute
Why should anyone support cowards?
An open letter to Dr. Joe Selliken:
A recent Tribune-Star editorial quoted you as saying, “Asked why his contributors remain anonymous, Selliken told Loughlin that ’some of it is, people feel intimidated to state what they know for fear of retaliation of some kind or another. The sole example of such retaliation offered by Selliken was “a concerted effort on the part of the not-so good old boys to boycott Pino’s restaurant in order to at least shut me up.'"
Well, I thought I’d let you know I boycotted Pino’s, not that you’d notice. I don’t go to places like that very often, I’m just an old country boy who is more comfortable at the Coffee Cup than a place like Pino’s. But recently I was taking my wife out for dinner and thought about Pino’s. But based on the way you have conducted yourself these past few elections I chose to go someplace else rather than support you.
And unlike your supporters (well, I guess they are your supporters, could just be you with an over-developed ego claiming others are writing your drivel, we don’t know because nobody else is proud enough of what they write to sign their name), I’m willing to sign my name and take responsibility for what I write.
I must agree with the editorial. You “have raised the cowardly, anonymous political screed to a pernicious art form.” You “pollute the public arena of genuine political discourse.” Or to answer the question asked further down the column, “What kind of courage does it take to hide from the light and throw verbal bricks at people?”; it doesn’t take any courage.
Joe, you, and especially those ghost writers you have, are all cowards. What you are doing is not guerrilla tactics, it is slime.
And since I don’t want to support slime, don’t expect me to be inside Pino’s if you are involved in it.
— Mike Bumpus
West Union, Ill.
Provisional votes require follow-up
Just about everyone in Indiana is probably relieved that the May 6 primary election is over. For a while, at least, we won’t be bombarded with campaign speeches or standing in lines to vote, or receiving calls from enthusiastic campaign workers soliciting our vote for their candidate.
The election officials and poll workers did a great job handling a record number of voters with a minimum number of problems. Despite the restrictive photo identification law, more voters came out and cast a ballot.
What kind of ballot did you cast?
Some voters were given a Provisional Ballot, rather than a Traditional Ballot or an Emergency Ballot. A Provisional Ballot provides a way for you to record your vote on Election Day even when there is a question as to your eligibility to vote. A Provisional Ballot is not as good as a Traditional Ballot because it may require you to take follow-up actions after Election Day to ensure your vote will be counted.
If you cast a Provisional Ballot because you were not on the poll list or you did not have photo ID, your ballot will be counted ONLY IF you appear before the circuit court clerk or county election board no later than 10 days after the election to present ID or otherwise verify your ability to vote. For this reason, voting by provisional ballot should always be considered a last resort.
Reminder to anyone who cast a Provisional Ballot in the May 6 primary election: it is your responsibility to follow-up with your county’s circuit court clerk or county election board to make your vote count. You must follow-up. You must fix the problem. You must check to make sure that your vote is counted.
On Election Day, NAACP volunteers throughout the state of Indiana worked in partnership with a non-partisan voting rights coalition, Election Protection, to help voters at the polls and collect information about voting experiences. We were available to respond to problems identified to the hotline. There are 800 hotlines calls to 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Vigo County did not have any reported problems that required intervention.
If anyone still needs to report problems experienced while voting, you are encouraged to call the hotline to describe it. Call 1-800-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683.)
— A. Theressa Bynum, president
Greater Terre Haute Branch NAACP and Volunteer, Election Protection
New trash system seems effective
This letter is in regard to “Keep Terre Haute Beautiful” on Saturday, May 3, 2008.
The area where I live was remarkably clean compared to previous years. My partner and I both commented about the small amount of trash we found this year and concluded that the new trash pick-up system must have played a part in this improvement.
If all of us, renters as well as homeowners, do our part by periodically cleaning up our living space and depositing our trash where it belongs instead of throwing it on someone else’s property, it would “keep Terre Haute beautiful” and more people would notice the beauty of the city and county instead of noticing the trash.
The present administration, as well as former Mayor Kevin Burke’s administration, are to be commended for their efforts to clean up Terre Haute. Kenny Depasse and his staff at Republic Services are to be commended for their cooperation in working with the city and county in this effort.
All of us together can make Terre Haute “A Level Above.”
— Dorothy Rasche, S.P.
Terre Haute
• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
|
|
Print this story
E-mail this story
Discuss this story
