Opinion
Letter: Let’s put idle acreage to profitable use
To the editor:
We hear about the need for jobs in Hamilton County on a weekly basis.
We have an industry sitting idle that could put more than 30 young families to work in direct jobs. Spin-off jobs are many when you consider the labor required to supply goods and service to these families.
The positive cash flow would be welcome to the state and federal coffers.
I am talking about 32,200 acres of Conservation Reserve Program land, laying idle, creating no jobs, yielding no production. Removing the land from the CRP would stop the drain on public monies and create taxes on profits earned from free enterprise.
The CRP has had a trickle-down effect in our county of less need for housing, merchants, teachers and many more people needed in a thriving community.
The school bus goes by our house about one-third capacity. Thirty-plus families could put 100 children in our schools, a positive thing.
We are an agrarian county. We should be proud of it and develop it.
Not all the land is suitable for row crops; this I understand. Livestock is still a respectable enterprise and suited for our climate.
These acres could create a positive cash flow for our county and state.
The state of Illinois is in bad financial shape, as you all know. When the private citizen needs money, they look at what they could sell.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has 3,000 acres that could be sold for a sizable sum. The result would be a much-needed influx of cash and a reduction of expenses of operating a hobby.
This is just our county; there are many more in the state.
Ecclesiastes 5:9: “Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: The king himself is served by the field.”
Ralph Wilton
Dahlgren
- Opinion
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Cuts in new state budget significant
As the end of the fiscal year came to a close last week, the governor signed the new Illinois state budget into law.
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Letter: Policy issues are hurting kids
To the editor:
Mr. Mitchell, in reference to your answer in the Times-Leader (“Ham. Co. Schools to change policy,” Page 1A, June 10), you still just don’t get it. I thought you, as an administrator, would at least have a clue as to the facts at hand. -
Letter: McLeansboro 1958 frozen in time for former resident
To the editor:
Growing up in McLeansboro during the 1940s and ’50s imprinted upon me the value of friends and keeping alive the memories of times and places now a part of McLeansboro’s history. -
Letter: Board’s jurisdiction stretches only so far
To the editor:
It has come to my attention through the Times-Leader (“Policy question,” April 29, Page 1A) that the Hamilton County School Board is grappling with making a decision about shooting at an out-of- town gun club. -
Letter: Woman recalls her teenage years in McLeansboro
To the editor:
I was born in McLeansboro, but moved away when I was in the third grade. For the first three of my school years, I attended Anderson School. -
Letter: The more things change, the more they change
To the editor:
I was talking to my sister-in-law in Carmi recently. She told me my niece had suffered a disappointment.
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Letter: Band directors, coaches are educators, too
To the editor:
As a graduate of McLeansboro High School Class of 1999 and a current band director in Southern Illinois, I am appalled at the letter written last week (March 18, Page 4A) by Linda Shaw. -
Letter: County ‘fortunate’ to have two state recreation sites
To the editor:
I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Wilton's letter (March 11, Page 4A) regarding possibly selling Illinois Department of Natural Resources property in Hamilton County. Personally, I think that would be a very dumb thing to do. - More Opinion Headlines
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Supporting our nation’s veterans
