Letters to the editor
Posted on Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A lottery means the right to deciede
Usually I agree with everything Lowell Grisham says in his columns, but I can't agree with his latest tirade on the lottery. Grisham, as does many religious leaders, seems to think that poor people not only don't have much money, but that they are idiots too. Every time I have read an article about some religious leader speaking out against the lottery it's always about how the poor people don't have sense enough to know that the lottery is a high risk game. They all say that the poor people will buy lottery tickets instead of paying their rent and other necessary bills.
This may be true of some of the dumber ones, but most are responsible enough to know that 1 in 14 million isn't a sure thing and that they will probably lose. Those people also know that if you don't play then you will never win, so they use their discretionary income to buy those tickets instead of buying another useless Chinese-made object that they would spend their money on otherwise. In other words, they make a choice between one thing or another, knowing that they only have limited resources and they can't have both. Many times it's at the expense of their savings, but it's a choice that they make.
It's very insulting to hear these religious leaders talk about those of us that are not wealthy, like we're dumber than a post and will blow our money on any shiny object that catches our eye. They imply that we are too dumb to have money. They go on to tell us that we don't understand risk, or any economics, and blow our paychecks on risky games of chance hoping to improve our "lot," like another columnist, John Terry, says. Just who are these poor people the religious leaders are trying to save ? I have a college degree, but I'm also not rich, so am I included in the dumb poor people category that needs saving ? I think not. How dumb do you have to be where saving is necessary for your own good ? The fact is that many people are already crossing the border to buy tickets in Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas is not benefiting in any way from that. It is just lost money unless one of our people wins. We need the money here in Arkansas; we need people from other states to come in and buy tickets here and our own people to stop buying tickets elsewhere. I'm sorry some people are too dumb for their own good, but most of us are smart enough to know how hard it is to win and will play responsibly. Vote for the lottery and allow us poor people to choose our own destiny. Don't let the religious zealots decide for us.
Robert Kennedy / Fayetteville
More funding for HIV / AIDS a must
Recently there has been a lot of dialog between Washington County and Benton County officials regarding more funding for the Washington County HIV Clinic. I have to say after the last article in this paper (dated on Aug. 13 ) that while another person assigned to the clinic would be wonderful, it is still not enough to ease the caseload of the one doctor in this clinic. I am the director of a peer-to-peer HIV support group in our area, of which the majority of our more than 50 members use this clinic. The one greatest concern we have is that it takes too long to get in to see the doctor, and she is only available once or twice a week. Some of our members have moved to larger cities just to get better care. Dr. Linda McGhee provides excellent care to her patients, but she can only do so much for the more than 600 patients she has and still hold down her regular job with the Arkansas Health Education Center. Much more medical staffing is needed at this clinic, as well as funding for it, and a great many more services which need to be provided to more than 800 HIV patients and almost 500 AIDS patients in our four-county area. HIV / AIDS in our area is not going away and we need to do much more to insure that our citizens (both affected and infected ) have the quality care they deserve and should expect.
Chris Hannon / Springdale
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