Published: February 18, 2008 05:24 pm            

Letters to the editor - Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2008

Consider donating time as volunteer

My name is Dorena Taylor, and I’m a volunteer for CASA. That stands for Court Appointed Special Advocate and what we do is very important to the children who are in the court system. We are the voice of the child in the courtroom.

I’m writing this because, as of last Monday, any new children that go into the system will now be on a waiting list. Since Tuesday, we have gotten 10 new children. That breaks my heart, knowing that we don’t have someone to put with these kids. It isn’t that we don’t care or that we aren’t active with cases. It is because we only have 17 volunteers, and we have 94 cases.

I’m pleading with citizens of Howard County to please step up and take an active part in investing in the future of Kokomo and, in part, the world. We don’t know what these children can accomplish in their lifetimes if they are put back on the right path. But we do know what will happen if they aren’t. We will be supporting them in some way, whether it be in the form of prison or welfare.

Now, you are probably wondering why are there so many children who are in the court system? If parents are addicted to drugs, the child is removed from the home. People, crack cocaine is in Kokomo. If a parent molests or abuses a child, the child is removed from the home. That is only a few of the reasons. The important thing is that we have children in Howard County that need you, as a CASA. It only requires a few hours a month, but the rewards will last a lifetime, yours and the child.

Please, help us help the children.

Dorena Taylor

CASA volunteer

Hoosiers should’ve voted on time zone

There is no “daylight-saving time,” as every inch of earth receives the same amount of daylight in a year. We still have only 24 hours in a day.

The original Central Time Zone was a little east of Cleveland, Ohio, then it changed to the west at the Ohio/Indiana state line. Now the Indiana/Illinois state line, with a few exceptions, is the new line for Eastern time. This is over 400 miles west of the original line.

My husband and I happened to be in Greenfield, Mass., on Nov. 4 when the change was made from daylight time to standard time. As we gathered with family and friends in the breakfast area of the motel at 6:30 a.m., the sun was shining and the comment was made that how nice it was to wake up to daylight. Here in Kokomo, it would be 8:30 a.m. before the sun would be up that much.

We are told to stay out of the sun between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. With Eastern Daylight Time, we need to stay out of the sun from noon to 4 p.m.

If someone wants to commit a crime, he will do as he wishes as there is still 24 hours in a day.

As taxpayers, are we getting a fair deal on taxes when there are one- and two-hour school delays due to weather – delays that could be avoided with the Central Time Zone? The children would be going to school when it was light and be more prepared to meet the challenges of the day. The students would not be out in the dark, waiting for the bus and being afraid of a possible child molester.

To quote Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, “The most sure way to pump life into our economy from March to November would be to dump DST. That would add an extra hour of potential productivity for all.” Ben Franklin explained it way back in 1735 when he wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanac, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

One vote in the legislature was the difference in the switch to daylight-savings time. The people of Indiana should have had a vote of the people, by the people, and for the people as to Eastern or Central time.

Esther Givens

Kokomo

        

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