LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Mindset entirely safe

It was wholly a delight to read Paul Greenberg’s column on crushing mindsets, inspired by an encounter with an Oberlin College graduate in the 1970s. It’s flattering that he still almost remembers the Oberlin Mafia.

I treasure those days at the Pine Bluff Commercial, working with Greenberg and some other fine editors. At least eight of us trekked from Oberlin, a liberal arts school in Ohio, to Pine Bluff. It was culture shock, then an adventure.

Oh, the stories from those days. (Bless then-publisher Edmund Freeman for drawing us to the paper with his wonderful ideals. Bless him again for putting up with our antics.) Greenberg was generous with his time, advice and friendship. It was amazing to spend so much time with an accomplished journalist who thrived on intellectual banter.

“A mindset that must be crushed”? An arch comment meant to mock leftist radical rhetoric. The line would draw a laugh on campus or from Obies in the Bluff. When tried on Greenberg, it obviously fell flat at his feet-until he picked it up, dusted it off more than 30 years later and somehow took it seriously as material for his recent column. Go figure.

No need to fret, gentle reader. Greenberg’s mindset wasn’t in danger from us. A master debater, he fended off our facts and arguments, at least to his satisfaction. Did we ever nudge him a little leftward? He’d have to say. But it sure was fun trying.

C.S. HEINBOCKEL Little Rock

Hatred’s a necessity

As though it were one of the basic food groups, hatred seems to be necessary for Homo sapiens to flourish.

Think of the Ku Klux Klan, the internment of Japanese in World War II or Dachau. Visualize screaming, facially flushed, excited hordes flourishing in the adrenaline rush of the humiliation and destruction of Jews, Christians, American Indians. Pick your favorite.

TV and other media know that hate sells. How can one but truly wonder what we are as scenes of an emotionally, physically ill young girl, barely in her 20s, are posted and nauseatingly repeated for our delight and enjoyment?

We thrill at the demise and disintegration of an actor in apparent meltdown. Some shows purporting to want justice should read “righteous indignation,” a phrase for socially acceptable hatred. When fascinated by these scenes, I feel disgust with myself.

How can I really enjoy seeing a child incarcerated in a steel hell?

Our salacious nature was ordained in a cartoon strip that said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Bottom feeding news and images sell when reinforcing our prejudices and innate fears. A mirror can become unnerving.

EDWIN BARRON JR. Little Rock

Look closer at office

For years I thought arrogance was spelled a-r-r-o-g-a-n-c-e, but I was wrong. It’s actually spelled M-a-r-th-a S-h-o-f-f-n-e-r.

Why should this pitiful excuse for a not so public servant be given the use of an expensive gas-hog vehicle? Many state employees use a state issued Chevy Malibu, Ford Fusion or Dodge Avenger for state business. Are those vehicles not good enough for the queen of the state Capitol? If she went into any big-box store in Arkansas, I doubt anyone would recognize her or actually would not care who she is. She should stop overrating herself.

I hope the Democrat-Gazette will examine the use of her state-issued credit cards. Who pays for the fuel she uses on personal trips in the taxpayers’ vehicle? In fact, examine her staff’s use of state-issued credit cards and her office’s expense spending. Does Shoffner or the taxpayers pay for her Little Rock apartment? It’s an honest question.

It’s been an IRS regulation for years that any personal use of a vehicle issued for business use is taxable. Shoffner should have run for Congress. She would fit in good between Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank. The three divas.

If wrongdoing is found in Shoffner’s office, she should be prosecuted and resign from office, and if she doesn’t resign she should be impeached. If she has done nothing wrong, she should scale back on the arrogance.

DAVE GARRISON Camden

Network regrouping

The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Little Rock, or IHN, recently closed temporarily. Since 2005, the 21 IHN congregations have helped homeless families with children regain independence by providing nutritious meals and safe shelter in their houses of worship.

The primary goal of IHN is to help homeless families with children find safe, affordable and sustainable housing, but much more is involved. Parents may need a GED to land a job. Day care and transportation may be needed. Assistance in locating employment, child care, health care, vocational training, housing and other services is provided by IHN staff while the congregations look after the physical needs of the families.

Many nonprofits nationwide, including IHN, have recently experienced funding difficulties, perhaps because of the downturn in the economy. Instead of allowing the remaining IHN funds to dwindle away, the IHN board opted to suspend operation while regrouping to form a feasible funding plan.

In 2009, IHN helped 18 families, all with children, to find homes and gain independence. Those families comprised 51 individuals (including 26 children) whose quality of living has improved dramatically.

Homeless families are often invisible in our community as they struggle to stay intact. IHN is committed to ensuring that every child has a home. We are now regrouping.

SHARI COOTE Little Rock

Mexico is out of line

Mexico sure has its nerve to send lawyers over to Arizona to join in the lawsuit over the immigration law Arizona passed. They said it violates their citizens’ civil rights. If their citizens are in this country illegally, they have none.

The citizens of the United States cannot have an American lawyer if they are arrested in Mexico; they are given a Mexican lawyer and thrown in jail, [probably] being accused of some trumped-up charge, and [can be] sent to prison to rot. If the family has a lot of money, it can [try to] bribe the lawyers and judges to get them out, which takes a long time.

If the government in Mexico is so worried about its citizens over here, then it needs to move them back to Mexico and take care of them.

CLARA ERICKSON Benton

Funding paramount

The Democrat-Gazette ran a story of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s lambasting of Congressman John Boozman for turning his back on the state’s unemployed. Surely Lincoln was aware that Boozman only wanted to have the benefit funded, as did Democrat Marion Berry.

It is hard to believe that Lincoln is unaware of the fiscal hole that huge deficits have created for our country. Or could it be that she really does think that her re-election is somehow much more important than the welfare of all our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren?

OWEN TROMBURG Eureka Springs