Forum on importance of water
An Associated Press news story (Feb. 6 World-Herald) reported that Valmont CEO Mogens Bay and Senior Vice President E. Robert Meaney will present a free forum on avoiding a global water crisis on Feb. 16 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln.
What one can glean from this article is that fresh water supplies are limited and need protecting.
Perhaps U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., and his Republican allies in Washington, D.C., should attend this forum before they attempt to get any more oil pipelines approved across the Ogallala Aquifer.
Bill Pfeffer, Omaha
Still tries to control Legislature
A Feb. 7 letter ("Pledge bill is troubling") by Ernie Chambers, regarding the Pledge of Allegiance being recited in schools, is troubling at best. He continues to try to manipulate the legislative process even from his political grave.
Nebraska is better off due to the fact that the Legislature pushed for term limits that ultimately pushed Sen. Chambers out of office.
Mr. Chambers appears to be suffering from some sort of confusion, so it's a good thing he can no longer really affect anything that happens in our state government or our communities.
Randy Gray, Gretna
TIF only for marginal projects
We believe a Jan. 27 editorial on tax-increment financing (TIF) misses an important point when it states that "developers must attest that the project wouldn't have taken place without the incentive."
A study by the Progressive Research Institute of Nebraska of 37 TIF plans approved by the Omaha City Council in 2008 and 2009 found that "30 lacked any statement or justification that the project could not proceed without TIF designation."
Of those seven that did have this statement, five were mere formalities. Two stated that the project would be profitable without a TIF authorization but would be more profitable with one.
This financing is often referred to as a "tax expenditure" because it is a way of diverting revenues from taxpayers to, in this case, developers.
Such "tax expenditures" should be used as an incentive for marginal projects or for projects with substantial public benefit, not an entitlement for projects that would go ahead anyway.
Our study found that the cost-benefit analyses were generally either lacking or mere boilerplate language, reflecting nothing of the actual costs and benefits involved.
It is hard to understand how an economic development project can be approved without knowing whether the costs to the public will outweigh the benefits.
Jack Dunn, Omaha
Executive director
Progressive Research
Institute of Nebraska
John Bartle, Omaha
Acting dean, College of Public
Administration and Community Service
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Inmates could maintain parks
A Jan. 30 news story reported that the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is strapped for cash.
Nebraska has a load of manpower. It could use inmates in county jails to mow the grass and to pick up rubbish in parks. Other states do this, so it should be a snap for Nebraska.
For every day an inmate works, he could get a day off his sentence. If inmates decide to escape, put a bounty on them and add five or 10 years to their sentences.
I believe that a lot of them would jump at the chance to do something productive instead of sitting in jail all of the time.
James E. Bradbury, Weeping Water, Neb.
Ways to cope with stillbirths
World-Herald staff writer Erin Grace's Jan. 27 news story on stillbirths provided insight and information on a very real and tender subject.
Naturally, I always felt great sadness when I heard of any child being born still. But when my daughter and son-in-law experienced the stillborn birth of their first child (my granddaughter), it of course hit a very personal part of my heart.
I learned from my daughter that the stillborn should never be forgotten. Their births should be acknowledged, their birthdays remembered.
Simple gestures, such as a card or call on the child's birthday, mean so much to a parent who has lost a child. Visiting the burial site also is comforting to parents who have lost children.
Yes, it is hard to do. But remember you are doing it to bring assurance to grieving parents that their child is in your thoughts.
Leaving flowers or informing the parents that you visited the site is nice. I fully realize that we all grieve differently. These are just my suggestions that I know bring comfort to our family.
Vicki Freeman, Omaha
Choose the strongest to lead us
Having read David E. Carlson's Feb. 4 letter, "Confession wipes our sins away," in defense of Newt Gingrich's multiple moral and ethical failings, I must respond.
May I remind Mr. Carlson that on this planet, man rules above all and only man, who has created law, has the power to be the one true judge of man.
There are no gods at the polling place. Man alone casts the vote. Man alone is the judge. We, as humans, must not excuse weakness. We must exploit it. It is our nature, and we cannot turn our back to it.
We must not celebrate or forgive the defenseless, but instead we must tear them down and grant those who still stand strong among us the privilege to lead.
We don't need followers of myth and servants to the gods but true leaders of man who have the courage to answer to man alone.
Noah T. Anderson, Elk City, Neb.
Capturing beauty of a snowfall
Those snow photos by World-Herald photographer Mark Davis in the Feb. 6 Midlands section were just beautiful.
The farm scene in Mills County near Glenwood, Iowa, was particularly nostalgic. A lovely snowfall like that surely does have a "silver lining!"
Diane Snyder, Omaha
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