Letters                                                

Legalized gambling's losers

Editor: People with high moral and religious standards rightly insist that gambling (July article) is a pernicious evil that offers the false hope of millions of dollars; the problem is that while there may be a few winners, there are millions of losers. While millions of people across this nation are dying mentally, physically and spiritually from drugs, crime, poverty, hunger, lack of education and quality medical care, millions of other people are playing irresponsible games for money and pleasure and becoming addicted to the deadly vice of gambling. Gambling erodes the work ethic, and gambling's subtle message is that of hedonism and selfishness: It takes from others without giving something of value in return.

Flood of nonsense on flood

Editor: Your magazine cover (August/September 1993) featuring a flooded Meyer, Ill., brought back many memories. I was raised across the river in Canton, Mo.

Much nonsense has been written about the flood of 93. Flooding on the upper Mississippi in recent years is basically caused by a river which is choked with silt. This should not be surprising when you consider that the Mississippi drains two-thirds of the continental United States. Smaller rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, etc., have similarly filled with what once was top soil. Probably no more actual water flowed down the Mississippi than in previous floods.

In the short term, levees could be raised on the upper Mississippi to match those on the lower river. The 1927 flood on the lower Mississippi covered an area the size of Rhode Island. This was twice the territory covered by the flood of 1993 and more than 300 lives were lost. In some places the river was 60 miles wide. The federal government then built much higher levees. As a result, since 1927, flooding of major proportions on the lower Mississippi has been virtually eliminated.

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October 1993/Illinois Issues/9