Letters

jay(at)salsburg(dot)com

Words from the Nadaring Naysayer of Negativity.

Subject: Gunfire

To: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>
CC: "Chief of Police Shreveport, LA" <police@ci.shreveport.la.us>

Happy New Year, Century, and Millennium!

December 31, 2000 I set my VCR to record, starting at 11:00 PM, the stereo sounds and Video of my neighborhood for the hour before and after the change in the year. I listened and faithfully recorded, in a spreadsheet, the number of shots fired caught by the microphones starting 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the change in the year. This chart is the output of the data.

Subject: Prevent the waste of Billions of Dollars
To: Jim McCrery <jim.mccrery@mail.house.gov>

Why does the Federal Government continue to financially support antiquated technology to the tune of Billions of Dollars?

Every year there are disasters both Natural and man made. The man made disaster is the continued support by the Federal Government for the rebuilding of houses and other buildings that are proned for destruction by Natural disasters.

What do I mean by proned for destruction? The technology now exists to create dwellings that do no succumb to the destructive forces of Nature like current antiquated designs. The basic design of current Dwellings have not evolved much in 3000 years. They still consist of a box made of Wood and tacked and pasted together with Dirt and pasteboard. Perhaps the only improvement in Dwelling technology in the past 3000 years is the joist hanger of the strut strap.

The technology in a $15.00 digital wrist watch is more highly evolved and well developed than an entire city of modern houses.

It is now possible to build a house without the high cost of labor and make it virtually indestructible to most of the common disastrous forces of Nature, all at a lower cost than a "Conventional House." This means that, for the same price as a "Conventional House," a home owner can have a larger dwelling space and higher quality dwelling.

The Federal Government needs a program to develop and standardize this technology. This technology will not only prevent the expenditure of Billions of Dollars, it will save hundreds, and possibly, thousands of live's every year.

The costliest and deadliest natural disasters are hurricanes. This new dwelling technology can prevent and virtually eliminate the widespread distruction and death caused by these killer storms.

Spend a few dollars now to develop and establish this technology and it will prevent the expenditure of a million dollars later for disaster aid, never mind preventing all that pain and suffering of the victims of Natural disasters.

Only the Federal Government has the wherewithal to accomplish this development.

Subject: How to break the law and not get caught

To: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>
CC: "Chief of Police Shreveport, LA" <police@ci.shreveport.la.us>, ksla news <news12@ksla.com>, KTBS <news@ktbs.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>, Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

This is how to break the law, breach the peace and be civilly disobedient and not get caught.

How? Come to my neighborhood. ----------------

Speed down Kent Ave. every few minutes at 60 mph. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 90-198. Maximum limits on specific streets.)

Be a convicted Felon and blare the stereo in your car while speeding down the street at 3:00 AM at sound levels that would rival a freight train. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 50-151. Disturbing the peace., Sec. 58-26. Loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise generally.)

Be a convicted Felon and fire handguns and yell threatening and obscene language a few times a week at 3:00 AM to notify the neighbors not to mess (F***) with you. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 50-134. Discharge of firearms, airguns, etc., Sec. 50-155. Threatening, profane, obscene or derisive language.)

Stop in front of a neighbors house and spit in the street in an obvious attemt to offend. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 50-157. Spitting in public places.)

Possibly deal drugs from your house with numerous unfamiliar vehicles going in and out of the driveway every twenty minutes, day and night.

Tag the businesses, abandoned houses, and street with gang graffiti. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 50-84. Defacing property.)

Run the Stop Sign at Kent and Morningside at 60 MPH without slowing to see if you can make it without killing someone or being killed. (surfing the intersection) (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 90-154. Duty of driver approaching stop sign., Sec. 90-198. Maximum limits on specific streets., Sec. 90-119. Reckless driving.)

Be a 14 year old boy wearing dark clothing, riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street at 3:00 AM with younger brother on the handlebars, no lights on bicycle, while not wearing any required safety equipment. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, ARTICLE IV. CURFEW FOR JUVENILES, Sec. 90-423. Use of permanent seat required; carrying excess persons., Sec. 90-424. Lights., Sec. 90-427. To be ridden on right side of roadway., Sec. 90-172. Use of safety helmet.)

Never report observed crimes.

Never pick up the trash or mow the yard. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 38-111. Sanitation requirements, (2) Cleanliness.)

Have several abandoned cars in the yard. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 38-111. Sanitation requirements, ii.3. Exterior storage of nonoperating vehicles prohibited.)

Let children play in the street, putting them in mortal danger. (CODE OF ORDINANCES, Sec. 50-140. Obstructing public passage.)

Leave Trash receptacle next to the street forever.

-----------------
These are things that happen in my neighborhood with impunity.

"Nothing bad ever happens, why should I care?" Danny Elfman

Subject: Weekly Hall of Shame
To: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>, Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

This is the first in a weekly series of photographs and essays to bring awareness to our community leaders of the shabby appearance of some of our neighborhoods.

Picture #1 A house on Hollywood Ave., one block east of Linwood. Until recently the vacant lot next door was full of abandoned vehicle. There is still an abandoned vehicle on the lot. The yard is littered with broken furniture and garbage. This house is on one of our major thoroughfares. It needs some corrective attention.

Picture #2 A few short blocks East of this house is a liquor/grocery store. Its seems that our city ordinances do not apply to this business.

Picture #3 A few short blocks from this liquor store is another liquor store directly across the street from a Caddo Library, School, and Church. I pass this corner frequently (Hollywood and Union) and there is often the smell of Marijuana in the air.

Go to http://www.salsburg.com/shame/default.htm

Subject: Why the Millennium does not begin at the beginning of 2000
To: 'letters@thetimes.com'
Cc: 'news12@ksla.com'; 'news@ktbs.com'; 'news6@ktal-tv.com'; 'atc@npr.org'

End of Days, Wrong!

Why the Millennium begins at the beginning of 2001 and not at the beginning of 2000.

Much talk is on "The End of the Millennium." It is a popular item in Commercials and Ads on Radio and Television, including in your 'ATC' spots. Below is a copy of an email I sent to Universal Studios about their new Movie "End of Days."

----------------------------------
In the recent film release from Universal Studios of "End of Days," the script used several references of the Millennium-event (End of Days), December 31, 1999. I wonder if this was just a 'theatrical device' or was it a real error committed by the writers. The reality of our current temporal accounting system (Pope Gregory VIII's calendar), sets the Millennium to roll-over, December 31, 2000 not in a few days as seems to be the case on so many people's minds, but in hundreds of days as is the real case.

Perhaps the Press should describe the reality of the Millennium roll-over in a friendly manner, perhaps with the back-up of some lofty academic.

Below is a simple graphic of the temporal mechanics of Pope Gregory VIII's calendar, the one currently in use, which started the beginning of the first year with 1 not 0, so we begin the new century and millennium at the beginning of 2001 and not at the beginning of 2000.

 
<--               1000 years                    -->
---------------------------------------------------
<-- beginning of first year || end of last year -->
 
<-- Starts count at Zero || Ends count at 999   -->
     -----Begins next millennium at 1000----
 
<-- Starts count at One || Ends count at 1000   -->
                our current method
     -----Begins next millennium at 1001----

Subject: Attn. Editor of Guest Column
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

I live in a neighborhood with many children on bicycles. Often in the recent past, I have encountered teenaged boys in the wee hours of the morning riding side by side on the wrong side of the street straight at me. Also, in the night, young males ride dangerously across my path without obeying the traffic laws. I ride a motorcycle with a combined weight of 700 pounds. If I were to strike a bicyclist we would both the killed. Often I am forced to the wrong side of the street to avoid hitting the oncoming bicyclists. Recently on my way to work at 11 a.m., the same thing happened. This was in broad daylight. Two young boys were on bicycles coming right at me. Because we were approaching each other under an overpass, I could not avoid them. The boy in front of the pack was talking to the boy behind of him, not looking where he was going. If my attention were distracted for even in instant, we would have collided head-on.

The obvious problem with these boys is that they have never received the proper training yet alone have the discipline they need to be responsible for their wellbeing. Their parents and educators are responsible for imparting the correct idea of traffic safety to them. Since this danger occurs so frequently I am convinced that it is a cultural problem. Since so many teenaged boys have bicycles in my neighborhood, and do not obey the traffic laws, I fear the worst. This means it is a police enforcement problem.

I lived in California for 20 years. The cities there impound bicycles for improper safety equipment, improper operation and lack of registration. Yes, all bicycles must be registered to prove ownership. Otherwise the bicycle may be stolen. Proper safety equipment there also means an approved helmet for all operators under 18 year old.

We need city ordinance to give Police the authority to impound bicycles for improper safety equipment, improper operation that endangers both the operator and the public, plus lack of registration.

Why would two teenage boys be riding down my street on a bicycle, Sunday mourning at 2:30 am, one on the handlebars, with no lights? This is not an isolated example. The present situation of many dark figures moving through my neighborhood at night on unlit vehicles is unnerving and makes the neighborhood appear unsafe. My sister lives in University Terrace where I visit quite often and this situation does not occur there, nor would the locals there tolerate it.

Since it is not the responsibility of the police to train children about obeying traffic laws, their only obligation is to issue situations. The police have better things to do. Bicyclists breaking traffic laws are low priority. If juvenile court prosecutors were to support the law, as it is their sworn duty, this dangerous situation would have meaning. However, the juvenile justice system is under great duress because of the flood of criminals streaming through the court. Traffic violators, I assume, are of little concern.

This places unresolvable stress on my driving habits in my neighborhood. At any moment, a child will pop in front of me in traffic. My only choice is to press charges against the child for reckless endangerment. This will be very difficult. It requires that I interrupt what I am doing and call the police while tracking down the offender. However, I do not have confidence in the court to support my effort. If the community was to learn of the fact that the police were enforcing the traffic laws on bicyclers, this may change the behavior of these errant children. It is not my job to enforce the law. However, I do have a responsibility toward my safety. If the justice system will not support me, I must use whatever means is available to me to project my safety. Whatever this may be, is still a mystery. I will, however, discover what this is. The justice system may not like my discovery, and I am sure it will be expensive for all concerned.

Subject: Gang activity downtown
To: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>
CC: "Chief of Police Shreveport, LA" <police@ci.shreveport.la.us>, Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>,

The web page below shows brief details of suspected gang activity. Sgt. _____ did not receive a letter but is receiving this message. The link below has photographic evidence of an undesirable element.

http://www.salsburg.com/texas_spring/Texas_Spring.html

Subject: Re: Convention Center
From: Letters [mailto:letters@shreveporttimes.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2000 10:22 AM
To: Jay Salsburg

Dear sir,

Thanks for your recent letter to the editor regarding the convention center.

Sharon Thomas
Times assistant editorial page editor

After attending and giving shows at many conventions and expositions at The Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, The Los Angeles Convention Center, The Anaheim Convention Center, The Disneyland Hotel and The San Diego Convention Center, I have an opinion about our proposed convention center. The question comes to mind in that when you give a show or expo at one of these places there must be a parking lot nearby for the large trucks. There does not seem to be a place for them to park near the proposed convention site (like right next door). Also, what seems peculiar is that this new proposal is only twice the floor space of the existing expo hall. If we are to attract business do not we need something at least four times the size of the existing hall and not just twice its size? I know the marketing studies say 300,000 sq ft but is not this the main hall space and not the entire space? Do not we need a room the size of which are found in other cities and not some thing with a hall only twice the size of what we have now?

Subject: Re: WAP server may save lives.
From: Glenn Schach [mailto:Glenn.Schach@ci.shreveport.la.us]
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 10:17 AM
To: jay@salsburg.com

Dear Jay:

I am responding back to you to provide you with some information on this topic. Yes, we are installing lap-top computers in our patrol vehicles right now. However, the backbone equipment that we will be using for both voice and data transmissions is being provided by the 9-1-1 communications district. We do not have control over using cellular technology as described in your message.

If you would like to inquire further on this issue, I would recommend you contact Mrs. Martha Carter of 9-1-1. She would be the person who would be able to bring this information to the board.

If you need anything further, please let me know. I can be reached at 673-6930 telephonically.

Sincerely,

Lieutenant Glenn Schach
Planning & Research

>>> Jay Salsburg > 4/20/00 5:21:12 PM >>>
I know that the City is installing a Radio-Based Data System for selected police cars, which will probably consist (I am guessing) of a lap-top-type computer mounted within reach of the driver, linked to a radio MODEM this is somehow networked to the Data systems that provide database services from License Plate Registration to Reverse Phone Book to Wants-&-Warrants to National Crime Systems.

This systems is probably very expensive, but will save lives and make things safer, both for the citizen and for the Police, by eliminating many menial distracting dispatcher calls. The advantage is that the more information an Officer (or Fireman) has, and the more timely and reliable this information, the more dependable the Officer by arming him or her with the power of knowledge. The weak part of the equation is the Officer on the Beat. The Beat COP like the 18 Alpha units do not need this information as often, but it carries more weight-per-unit than the Officer in the Car.

A system, available to the City and already in place can provide this for the Beat COP and Fireman using Cell Phones. This is the WAP server. WAP stands for 'Wireless Access Protocol.' I do not enjoy giving hints to clients of my competition, but if you are getting services from Shreve.Net, they should be providing WAP services to you also. IF not I can do this. WAP Servers can link the Emergency and Dispatcher Services to a Cell Phone, with the speed and accuracy that the wireless system now being installed.

By going the next step in technology Bluetooth can provide voice and data on a singe device. Bluetooth introduces a new era of wireless connectivity. No more cables and connectors (or cars). Bluetooth provides instant, automatic dialogue between mobile phones, computers, portables data devices like digital cameras and Personal Digital Assistants.

What is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is an innovative technology for wireless connectivity. It enables seamless voice and data transmission via wireless, short-range radio. Bluetooth allows users to connect a wide range of devices including mobile phones, laptops and other portable devices easily and quickly, without the need for cables. Being a radio-based link, Bluetooth doesn't require a line-of-sight connection in order to establish the communication. With Bluetooth, new innovative applications are changing the mobile phone
into a Personal Trusted Device. On the street, and you can set up your phone to synchronize your diary, phonebook, addressbook, reports, and databases linked wirelessly to a networked server. Take a picture with digital camera and send it to the server for further analysis. Use the same phone as an intercom to a remote system like a dispatch channel for Fire and Police. Exchange electronic identification or file reports on-the-fly. Unlock your car, transfer funds at the point of sale or load money to an electronic wallet at ATM - all with your mobile phone!

I know the limitations a Municipality has when trying to obtain services - Contracts, Vendors, Service agreements, downtime, glitches, slow upgrades.

These two suggestions WAP and Bluetooth are in place and Commercial-Off-the Shelf and evolving, but have not yet reached the lips of the Shreveport Public. A combination of WAP services and Bluetooth in Cell phone can make every person a walking information system. This is what is needed to help curtail crime Downtown 'instant acquisition of reliable personal identification and retrieval of records by the Officer'.

Subject: I am continuously surprised.
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

Is the hardest lie to overcome the one you tell yourself?

About what? That there are still people in the modern world and the Ark-La-Tex who believe in the superstition that there is a deity (supernatural being) who somehow commands our lives. Why then do I have free will of Thought, Speech, and Action? This superstition was debunked a million years ago when mankind discovered self awareness (you know the quality that separates us from the animals). You recently published an editorial by an individual who is obviously diluted by the blinding light of presumptuous assumption. They errantly asked the question, "How far have we come from the biblical principle by which our government was founded?"

This person has been fed a fallacious line of dogma. Our forefathers were Deists, the definition of which is: "The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation." Remember those famous words: "Manifest Destiny." This statement is the guiding principle of our government, not the bible. It means, as individuals, we have the Constitutional right to guide our own lives (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness). Our forefathers fought and died to make us free from religious zealousy. Thousands of years of oppression, slavery and war reinforced by Religious Dogma have held back civilization. This Dogma sanctioned governments, leaders and priests to waste quadrillions of dollars on war in the name of God. The aforementioned editorial writer does not understand this.

This person's editorial also stated that "God commands people to obey the laws of the land as long as they don't contradict the law of God," does not know that all laws are written by men (and women) so let us put this notion to bed that there is some ancient book containing a moral compass showing us the correct path. Pontification is the work of the presumptuous and those led by it are Cattle for the slaughterhouse.

Perhaps self awareness has not yet arrived in the minds of many in the Ark-La-Tex.

"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." Albert Einstein

Subject: Web site does not support prosperity of Municipality
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>
CC: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>, Jim McCrery <jim.mccrery@mail.house.gov>, ksla news <news12@ksla.com>, KTBS <news@ktbs.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>, Representative Ernest Baylor <webreps@legis.state.la.us>

City of Shreveport Web site does not support prosperity of Municipality -

We also need to entertain outside business development -

When examining the City's web site, there is not much content there to promote our city for investing from afar. When investors examine cities or regions for investment and development they first use the Web. We need "up front" in the web site, details of development opportunities:

Tax incentives for business
Maps of Industrial Parks
Utility costs
Development quotients
Employment Pool Stats
Cost of Living Stats
Education
Real estate costs
etc.

The city's web site might be viewed as a tool to assist the local citizens in their efforts when dealing with city business but its main purpose is what others who may visit and hopefully invest here may find in the local business environment. It is the web portal to our local economic prosperity. Without the above mentioned items, investors must use other methods much more difficult to attain the information that is casually available to city staff. This difficulty may cause them to look elsewhere. The information that will put hooks into the investors capital must be easily available in the city's web site.

Recent events have indicated a shift in the national business climate. An example. Years ago a small semiconductor fabricator built a "Fab House" in Austin. Now, a few years later, it is a multi-billion dollar industrial giant; Advanced Micro Devices.

Many super-rich companies are looking to invest billions of dollars in new factories and facilities. The development climate in California has topped out. However, these companies are run by real people who need contact with local officials to consider developing here. We need a team of people to personally contact such people and entertain them with the idea of investing here. INTEL needs a new Fab facility for instance. They are looking for a new location for their new facility. Has anyone contacted them and communicated a portfolio for local investment. These Super Companies have hundreds of billions of dollars of liquid assets. If we are to attract some of this money, we need a coalition to entertain these investors.

Below is a search on MSN for keyword "City of Shreveport." There is nothing here about business or investment opportunities in Shreveport.
---------------------------------
Web Directory Sites
1. Shreveport - EmploymentCity of Shreveport Personnel Department furnishes its job opportunities. Application form can be downloaded.http://www.ci.shreveport.la.us/employ/employ.htm
2. Louisiana - University of Texas LibraryFind a variety of Louisiana-related maps. Compare present-day New Orleans with the city in 1869, 1891 and 1908, or find a 1920 map of Shreveport.http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/louisiana.html
3. SUSBOFind out about Southern University at Shreveport-Bossier City, offering a list of academic divisions, institutional info and related links.http://www.susbo.edu/
4. Bossier City - Realty Executives, Jack J. TarranceServing the Shreveport region, this agent lists his credentials and services to support his claim of being the lifetime realtor for homebuyers.http://www.find-a-house.com/la/agent/JackTarrance.html
5. Shreveport.netTake a tour of the city, or look up local businesses, entertainment activities and community resources.http://www.shreveport.net/
6. Downtown ShreveportDowntown Development Authority aims to promote further growth of the city's business sector. Includes a map of the downtow= n area.http://www.downtownshreveport.com/
7. Shreveport-Bossier CityResident provides her own guide to the community, which includes her recommendations for restaurants, activities and shopping areas.http://www.lizswwworld.com/travel/sbc.html
8. La. - Shreveport-Bossier Apartment Shopper's GuideServing the Shreveport and Bossier City area, this guide points people to available apartments, featured communities and moving resources.http://www.aptshopper.com/
9. Shreveport - RE/MAX Executive, Kelly Hoffee-EstesAgent represents buyers and sellers in the Shreveport and Bossier City locale. Survey her listings, and send her email to make inquiries.http://www.softdisk.com/sites/remax/kelly.html
10. Calif. - Shreveport SporTranTransit system in Shreveport and Bossier City provides timetables, fares, maps and a phone number to call for more information.http://www.sportran.com/

Subject: Shreveport City Council. Need for reform!
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>
CC: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>, ksla news <news12@ksla.com>, KTBS <news@ktbs.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>

Shreveport City Council. Need for reform!

Institutions usually serve those to which they employ not those to which they are instituted to serve.

This is true of the institution of the Shreveport City Council. I am not writing this to criticize the members or staff of the City Council but there needs to be some fundamental changes.

1. Council Agenda should be posted on the City's Web site before the meeting and emailed to those who subscribe to a list server. When using the search engine on the city's web site the Agendas would not stream.

2. The Monday meeting should include a "Working Person" schedule. Council Staff should be available for this time span. Working citizens cannot attend council meetings before 5:30 PM. A meeting should be held for the public every two weeks after this time to allow "Working citizens" to attend.

3. Monday's Public Meeting should receive Public first not City Business. When a meeting is held which has the Public scheduled to speak, all other business should take second seat. When Citizens show to a meeting to talk to their representatives, they should not be inconvenienced and made to wait for hours.

Subject: What are we going to do about all this traffic?
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>
CC: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>, ksla news <news12@ksla.com>, KTBS <news@ktbs.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>, KSHV <kshv@kshv.com>, <proctorr@bossiercity.org>

What are we going to do about all this traffic?

This is a question we all should ask ourselves, because if we asked our government what they are going to do, their answer will be, "we'll study the problem." When I lived in California throughout the 1980s, I participated in a ballot initiative whose purpose was to require Developers to make improvements in local infrastructure before any development could take place. Among the requirements were a bondable financial status for paying for the improvements before application could be made for permits to insure the improvements would be properly financed, including independent Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and any mitigation required to meet environmental statutes.

Our problem in the Ark-La-Tex is that there are little if any codes, ordinances and statutes in place to protect us, the Citizens of the Ark-La-Tex, from aggressive and environmentally destructive practices by Developers. By environmentally destructive practices, I do not mean those silly things that those hippie pansies invoked in the 1960s about saving the Whales and Dolphins and the darter fish, I mean things that impact our cityscape environment. For example, overburdened utilities systems like out-of-date sewage treatment plants, super-crowded intersections, streets, and highways caused by uncontrolled growth, and poor or inadequate Law Enforcement and Fire-Safety services; and the list goes on and on.

So, what do we do to ensure our quality of life?

First; make sure these Developers do not overpower us with predatory political lobbying to get their way with our government at the expense of our cityscape environment. The Developer should be made responsible for infrastructure improvements, not the taxpayers. These improvements must be in place before a single shovel of sod is turned on the proposed development. This should be made into law. My experience in California showed me that money talks. The Irvine Company spent Millions on fighting the Environmental initiatives. I personally witnessed the "Good Old Boy" system at work with the Democratic process. Many of the people in the seats of power were also Developers. These people surrounded themselves with those more interested with lining their pockets than seek the desires of the people or attempt to relieve the burdens of the common man who must carry the financial responsibility for infrastructure improvements.

Second; learn what other more prosperous communities (and well developed) have done to keep their way of life and protect their environment from the ravages of over development.

If we wait for our government to solve the problems caused by uncontrolled development, all we will get for our pain is delayed, expensive, and haphazard patchwork solutions, if that could be called a solution. The Developers must be made by law to pay up front for infrastructureimprovements because the financial expense of fixing the problem after the damage is done is much less than desirable and 20 times more expensive. Make them spend 1 dollar now or we will have to spend 20 dollars later.

After all, the government is just a group of staffers whose manifest is codes, ordinances and statutes. Even with these rules in place they are not always successful in carrying out these instructions. They are human and to err is human. Not to mention that the Ark-La-Tex has little if any codes, ordinances and statutes in place to protect us, the Citizens of the Ark-La-Tex, from aggressive and environmentally destructive practices by Developers.

Trust the People, not the Government. (George W. Bush)

Subject: Is Shreveport High-Tech?
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>
CC: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>, Jim McCrery <jim.mccrery@mail.house.gov>, ksla news <news12@ksla.com>, KTBS <news@ktbs.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>, Representative Ernest Baylor <webreps@legis.state.la.us>

Is Shreveport High-Tech?

Well let us look at the facts. Whenever a Business wants to hire someone who has experience in, let us say for instance, Printed Circuit Board Design, where may this business look to hire such a person? But wait, is any business in the Ark-La-Tex designing PC Boards? Perhaps, but very few. If a Business wants an Electrical Engineer to do something "High-Tech" there is no one available from the local job pool. You might say to yourself "what about the company formally known as Lucent?" They only manufacture from finished designs and do not design the circuits or boards. They only have a handfull of Engineers. They only stuff boards and test the finished assemblies, they do not design the product, that is done in another State. It is not possible to find someone in this area that can do such a thing. On the reverse, if someone who lives here has a talent in High Technology, there are no opportunities for them, so the natural thing to do is look for work outside the Ark-La-Tex. This causes a brain drain. This is the reason for the lack of engaging social interaction on a par that one may experience in other communities our size.

To get to a "Critical Mass" of intellectual beings in the Ark-La-Tex which will lead to the prosperity that other communities our size have already experienced, we need the following:

1. Bend-over-backward Tax incentives from both local and State of Louisiana governments.

2. Four-Year and Graduate-Level Education opportunities in Science, Industry and Technology Curricula with financial incentives targeted at Resident Students and better pay for Professors so that we can attract Out-of-State educators.

3. Community organized Technology Parks, with the appropriate infrastructure, made up of low-cost land and building prices, surrounded by low-cost housing with strong planning and community development involvement from that communities' city government.

4. Caps on Tax and Fees for a guaranteed time span (say 5 to 10 years) that attract outside Capital Investment. The idea is to create a locally profitable cash stream for investors which points the cash stream into the Ark-La-Tex.

5. A coalition of Lobbyists in Washington from the Ark-La-Tex that promote Federal Government contracts for local businesses.

Subject: Caddo Health Clinic; Not very friendly
To: Representative Ernest Baylor <webreps@legis.state.la.us>
CC: <ophwebmaster@dhh.state.la.us>

Not very friendly, bordering on incompetence.

Thursday, Dec 28, 2000, I took off work to get a Flu Shot at the Caddo Health Clinic on Creswell in Shreveport as I do traditionally every year. I entered the clinic at 3:00 PM. I asked the security guard at the Information desk if I was too late to get a Flu Shot. I was told that the cutoff time was 4:00 PM. I then stood in line for 45 minutes. While I stood there, the attendants were surrounded by no less than five computers at the service window marked "Immunizations;" they were not turned on and the attendants did not touch them once. Other than a few other patrons, I was in line behind an entire family of 7 who spoke not a word of English and sounded like they were fresh from an East European Country. The attendants filled out, by hand, paperwork for each of the people in front of me while pulling cards from a large expensive-looking conveyer-operated card stack in back of them which took up a large space, rolling card stacks from the floor above. When I finally got to the attendant I spoke my name and ask to get a Flu Shot. She asked if I was over 65 or had a Chronic Disease. I said no to both questions. She said that the Shots were only for those over 65 or with a Chronic Disease. I asked why I was not informed of this when I asked about the Flu Shots when I entered the building or why there was not some kind of Sign on the wall announcing the fact. She said it was not her responsibility to inform anyone of the facts until they appeared in front of her in this line. I told her in a loud voice "that is not very friendly." Just then everyone else, about 25, in line behind me started frantically asking me questions as I walked out.

What is wrong?

Poor communication from the Management of the Clinic (The State of Louisiana). They should have informed me at the Information desk of the stipulations for receiving a Flu Shot or at least post a Sign.

Needlessly expensive and time consuming paper work where the use of computers would drastically reduce these annoyances. Tying up Staff to fill out paper work wastes the State' (Taxpayers) revenues especially when they have invested in computers and do not use them.

I still need a Flu Shot but do not know where to get one, the Clinic could not help and needlessly wasted my time which I could have spent earning a living.

Subject: Broken Word
To: "Mayor Shreveport, LA" <mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us>
CC: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

Broken Word

Earlier this year, around February, I was informed by the City Engineers Office that the Railroad Crossing at Morningside and Mansfield Road would be closed by the end of this year. With one week left of this year, I have my doubt that the word of the City Staff will be kept. This leads me to the conversation we had earlier this year that you were not in favor of this closing.

I know that you are probably interested in the Political ramifications of such a thing, and I know that this closing requires certain approvals from the City Council, but the closing of this crossing will make my neighborhood safer and quieter. The residents of my neighborhood are in favor of this closing, and are prepared to backup their desire with a petition.

This situation, I hope, will not come to such a negative thing, meanwhile my neighborhood is negatively impacted with needless train horn blowing and 60 mile an hour automobiles trying to "beat the train" through the crossing.

If I do not hear from you within two weeks of this message I will assume that you are not in favor of the crossing closure, whereby which I will meet my obligations to my neighbors and proceed with further civil action.

Points of Fact:

1. The Railroad wants the crossing closed.

2. The Residents want the crossing closed.

3. The City Staff wants the crossing closed.

4. The Criminals want the crossing open.

Subject: Unmeritorious Performance
To: <letters@thetimes.com>
CC: KSHV <kshv@kshv.com>, KSLA Enginerring <engineering@ksla.com>, KTAL <ktal@ktal-tv.com>

Yes, Unmeritorious Performance, meaning in this case, the operation of the equipment, which comprises the radio or television station, in a less than optimum method or way. This can be characterized by comparing the operation of your very expensive automobile and never giving it a tune up or wash.

I give this situation a cliche,

"Give someone the opportunity to do something great (with their equipment) and they choose to do something less than mediocre."

the partial list of problem public interest providers follows:

1. KTAL FM - 98.1 MHz - Over modulated subcarrier

2. KTAL TV - Channel 6 - Muted and restricted audio bandwidth

3. KSLA TV Channel 12 - Inside Edition syndication - Warbling audio and speckles in Video

4. KSHV TV Channel 45 - Misaligned Stereo audio image and highly compressed audio

In item number 1, KTAL, the stereo subcarrier is most likely being over driven. This causes non linear sidebands in the stereo audio image. It sounds like a diffused white sound in both channels which is always out of unit phase with the center channel or mono center channel. This distortion is not heard on a mono receiver or if the stereo subcarrier in turned off in a stereo receiver. After many phone calls to the station and long chats with the engineer nothing has changed after several years.

In item number 2, KTAL TV obviously has a problem with its Video Recorders. The tape delayed programs are muted in frequency response, sounding like they are coming from the next room instead of from the TV itself.

In item number 3, KSLA's syndicated program "Inside Edition" has a warble in the audio. It sounds as if the audio is either being frequency shifted when it is being received or the recorder they are using maybe has a dirty capstan causing a burping sound in the program, also their satellite receiver is not aligned because Frequency Modulation noise or "Speckles" can be seen in the Video. I have phoned and mentioned this twice to them.

Last but not least, in item number 4, KSHV has the worst performance. The Stereo exciter is probably the problem but it could be the up link to the transmitter from the station. The audio level is also too low. I have phoned them at least 30 times, gone by the station twice, where once I showed the engineer what was wrong while standing in front of the directors console at the station. Nothing has changed.

Subject: So we are trying to cleanup the Cityscape, but wait!
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

So we are trying to cleanup the Cityscape, but wait!

It is the annual campaign to cleanup the city, but wait, are not we missing something? Yes, we are missing the most visible portion of the cityscape, the things that stick out of the ground. The things covered with all that modern graffiti. What are they? They are advertising signs. Our city has more than its share of broken-down, illegal and pesky grandfathered-in signs that are oh-so ugly. Though the city grants money to community organizations to "Clean up the City" those same grant-giving politicians do not seem to see past the trash on the ground or is it that they do not have the insight or the cohones to do what it takes to cleanup the cityscape, or is it a political thing? Whatever the problem with the city may be, it seems that we (the citizens of Shreveport and the visitors to Shreveport) will continue to suffer the pain of the embarrassing scene of sheer visual pollution that obscures the natural beauty of our sky, trees, fauna and foliage (never mind the buildings).

Subject: Infuriating inconsideration
To: Letters Listserver

Recently I received a speeding ticket. It was 1:00 am, on an abandoned highway. Laying in wait, the Shreveport policeman waists valuable taxpayers money (about $500 per hour). The common retard knows that speeding tickets do not make driving any safer, they only give Municipal Courts operating funds for their hired bullies. Even though I was speeding the new well-marked divided highway was empty for miles.

I must use I-20 everyday during the noon hour when hundreds of 18 wheelers and passenger cars speed 70 and 80 mph in a 50 mph speed zone without fail. I-20 is unsafe or at least needing repair. Because of the uneven surface, combined with congested speeding traffic, I-20 presents me (and everyone else) a true hazard. Without fail large trucks blow by at 75 to 80 mph. The selective enforcement of speed laws infuriates me. Inconsideration of these facts renders our police undeserving of respect. What could possibly be on their agenda. How may they regain face? Enforce the laws evenly. This means writing speeding tickets during daylight hours on I-20's urban corridor and on Friday and Saturday early evening when local teenagers use it for their 100 mph raceway.

Subject: Information Society; a new group
To: Letters to the Times <letters@thetimes.com>

Attention: Todays Calendar

February 4th, at 7:00 to 9:00 PM, the first Thursday of the month and every first Thursday of each month thereafter, the 'Information Society' will hold regular meetings at Barnes and Noble in the Bayou Walk Shopping Center, Shreveport, attracting those individuals and families interested in furthering the understanding, the nature, the method, the aquisition, and the creation of reliable information.

The meetings shall establish and record 'Information Modules' (IM), a concept to organize information. These IMs will build a consortium of references concerning the subjects in the previous paragraph to which the participants will contribute his or her knowledge. The purpose is to produce a network of reliable references aiding the participants and therefore the community.

Mostly experimental, the 'Information Society' will strive to raise the level of interaction and networking between and within the participants and the community whether local, regional, national, internation or universal.

Subject: Why nightclubs live or die (especially in the ArkLaTex)
To: Letters To the Editor

Below is a rating chart for some of the more popular clube in the ArkLaTex. The higher the rating from 0 to 9, the worse the rating. Totals at the right are the sum of the ratings. Numbers closer to 99 are bad, any totals 49 or below are good.

factor 1. Poor room acoustics
factor 2. Poor Speaker placement
factor 3. Improper installation
factor 4. Poor electronic equalization
factor 5. Distortion from over driving
factor 6. Overbearing loudness
factor 7. Lack of Theme Variety
factor 8. Skimpy budgets
factor 9. Procedure for control
factor 10. Bad Air
factor 11. Physical Layout

factors-----    1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-total
RiverDome       9 9 6 5 4 2 6 1 8 2  5  57
Jazzy's         7 9 9 8 7 7 7 8 9 7  8  86
Malibu          8 8 9 8 7 9 8 7 8 7  6  85
Lacey's         7 7 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 7  8  79
Central Station 7 9 7 7 9 9 7 7 9 9  9  89
Freddie Macks   8 8 7 6 8 8 6 6 5 5  8  75
Coyoty's        7 9 9 9 9 9 7 8 8 6  9  90
Bricktown       9 9 9 9 9 6 9 6 9 6  8  89
Action Central  7 8 8 8 6 6 9 9 9 9  8  87
Mabel's         6 6 6 8 8 8 9 7 9 9  6  82
The Cub         9 9 9 9 2 2 9 9 9 7  9  83

· Poor Sound reproduction and operation. Good fidelity in sound reproduction and professional operation standards go very far toward wowing your clientele. Bad sound equals bad club.

The factors of poor sound:

-Poor room acoustics: Treating the room for acoustics and proper speaker placement is as important, if not more so, than the electronics and wiring . Acoustic equalization is usually the purview of acoustic engineers. This obscure and little known science is usually physically overlooked and disregarded by club owners. Acoustic equalization can add world-class quality to your club's sound. The use of Pylons and Hertzian Radiators, for instance, together with proper speaker placement can create previously unknown superior performance. Superior sound system performance is not obtainable without acoustic equalization. Disregarding acoustic equalization allows a room that is acoustically out-of-control. Control of the acoustics translates into superior sound quality.

-Poor Speaker placement: This may sound simple but it is not. Speaker placement is the least understood facet of Sound Systems. Proper speaker placement should be carefully and scientifically applied. Do not depend on the DJ to place the speakers. Very few people understand proper application of Sound reinforcement devices. Hire an expert with the experience and the instruments to analyze and determine proper placement.

-Improper installation, lack of maintenance and mis-calibration of electronics: It does not matter how much money you spend on the electronics if it is not properly installed. Electronic systems also need periodic maintenance and calibration just like an automobile. Schedule regular maintenance and calibration, at least once a month, performed by an experienced technician. Do not depend on the DJ to keep your Sound System running in tip-top condition. The DJ is like a Race Car driver. If you are sponsoring a Race Car, the Driver is the least-likely person to keep the Car in good working order.

-Poor electronic equalization (EQ): Electronic equalization comes in three flavors; Shelving, Graphic, and Parametric.

Shelving controls are your conventional tone controls like treble and bass. A variant to Shelving controls is the loudness control or switch you see on most home stereos. Unfortunately, most large sound systems are conspicuously missing this very useful control. Proper use of shelving equalization and loudness equalization by the operator (DJ) leads to better sound performance than not using them.

Most people know about Graphic Equalization but few know how to use it or have the instruments to calibrate them properly. Graphic EQ is designed to compensate for inadequacies in speaker performance and room acoustics. Once the Graphic EQ is calibrated using acoustic analyzers, they should be locked away from tampering hands.

Parametric equalizers are usually not used in clubs. They are used in recording studios and large public address systems at concerts.

-Distortion from over driving the sound system: Operator abuse such as a heavy hand on the volume control and yelling into the microphone are typical sources of distortion, and speaker/amplifier damage -- much less irritating the customers.

-Overbearing loudness: Hot spots of loudness and poor EQ listed above naturally repel clientele. Hot spots are caused by improper installation or poor choice of equipment. Sound reinforcement devices should be chosen specifically for the application. Too much reinforcement creates just as bad an impression as to little reinforcement.

Any one of these conditions will repel customers. Any combination of these factors causes unresolvable stress toward your clientele, driving them out of your club or keeping additional self-respecting clientele from visiting. Good sound means plenty of well-heeled clientele. Avoid Operator (DJ) Error. DJs tend to overdrive the Sound System. Be sure to hire experienced operators that understand the above factors that contribute to poor sound when operating the system. Do not hire the "Guy off the Street." Have regular DJ competition and contests. This keeps your present DJs "in line." Use discretion when choosing a DJ, because he is operating expensive equipment, in many clubs costing more than a new automobile. Think of your system the same way as a new car; would you lend your new car to your DJ? If not, that person may not be a wise choice. Keep the DJ secretly on probation. Establish performance requirements for him that you share with all employees. Encourage comment about the Sound and music from your clientele and staff. Consistent failure to perform established requirements results in permanent replacement of the DJ. Conservatively, profanity on the microphone should never be allowed. Profanity on the Sound System is a license for your clientele to disrespect you and your property and may lead to violence.

· Lack of Theme Variety. Gone are the days of "one concept-one crowd." Be prepared to change themes when the time comes, whether it is annually or every three years. Many clubs find that different themes work best on different nights. Typically, clubs need three to four strong nights a week to survive, rather than 1 to 1 1/2 nights. Targeting a different market segment each night can revive those dead periods. Themes show-off your entertainment creativity. If you have difficulty with this, there are many expert references from which to choose providing interesting and stimulating theme-night motifs to help you effectively attract more clientele. Remember there are few "Entertainment Experts" and even fewer "Expert Entertainers." Experimenting is the call here, however, do not experiment with expensive shows and decorations, especially in your first few months.

· Skimpy budgets. Experienced architects, designers and contractors do not come cheap, but quality never does. In the long run, it becomes more expensive to hire inexperienced personnel.

· Procedure for getting it all under control. There are many approaches to getting the room under control, as many as you can buy. This may sound cynical but there are many people out there, including Professionals who have been in the sound business for years and may make their living at one aspect of the trade or another who think they know what to do to make a sound system better. In the past 35 years, the electronics industry has made remarkable progress in the area of sound reinforcement. Unfortunately, many owner-operators think that purchasing a new electronic box or speaker system can make their sound better, and this is true to some extent. However, this errant concept comes true when the electronics over powers the acoustics. The room in which the equipment operates is the primary contributor to the quality of the sound. After all, musical performances can be presented without electronics. In an all-acoustic performance, the quality of the room acoustics is the entire determining factor in the quality of the performance experienced by the audience.

When electronic sound reinforcement is added to a performance, either recorded or live, the room acoustics are also reinforced. If there are poor acoustics the sound system amplifies them as well as the sound source. The concept here is to do things with the sound sources and the reflecting surfaces to enhance their sound reinforcement performance.

· Bad Air: Smoke, lack of outside air replenishment (supply of Oxygen), and odors amplify patrons stress levels and increase their combativeness. Tobacco fumes alienate many people and causes them not to frequent a room that is smokey.

· Physical Layout: Crowded conditions, lack of standing room, unclean, lack of, or inadequate restrooms all contribute to a stressful and disappointing experience for the patrons.

Subject: Re: The new Revel, a good start
To: Letters Listserver

>there are not enough people in the city to support the artists by purchasing
>art (most people here don't buy art) for a two-and-one-half month period for
>the Revel.
>
>A two week run would not be out of question ... I feel ...
>
>Personally, I think the Festival Plaza is an excellent project, but the colors
>and design style is tacky as heck! Those colors they painted the archs and
>tower are hideous! And someone will get run over by a train for sure!
>
>Oh well.

I agree that there are not enough people in the city to support a two month stint. However, beginning with two weeks and increasing the time duration of these events will allow the progenitors of the Festival sight to test the viability of this idea with little or no risk. Soon with the addition of commuter rail service to and from Dallas the idea that patrons from the west can also visit the Festivals here while they are dropping their wads in the Casinos.

I guess you have never lived in the costal cities of California or Europe where high speed rail service is in close proximity to crowded residential and commercial property. The highways offer much greater pedestrian hazard than rail anyway.

By offering a greater amount of time for the festival, will attract more artists and vendors. I lived in Laguna Beach, CA for Five Years. They have been having an art festival there since the 1930s with several million visitors a year. It is an art coloney. We can persevere and create an attractive and profiatble center of activity for our community. These artists cannot afford to rent storefronts in the Malls.

With a festival site, commuter rail, nearby artist lofts, tourist, and the riverfront entertainment district our community has the opportunity to grow in many more directions than is possible without these things. Also these things work together to enhance each other.

Subject: The new Revel, a good start
To: Letters Listserver

Well, it seems that the new Revel is off to a good start.

The problem is that it is far too brief. All this space and preparation for only one week. My 20 years in California, five of which were in Laguna Beach, which hosts one of the most successful festivals in the country, taught me that it is possible to create a remarkable opportunity for artists and vendors with a long lasting festival. If we arrange the Revel to start on Labor Day and last through the second week in November, artists and vendors will be able to participate without interference from their summer festival tours. By allowing a long time-period for setup and display a high level of business, benefiting the entire community, would be experienced.

Subject: History according to Pat Robertson
To: pcs@cc.org
cc: cnn.onair@cnn.com; eestep1@san.rr.com

On CNN's Evans, Novak, Hunt & Shields, Pat Robertson declared that "The Bible -- through history, if we look all the way back to Sodom and Gomorrah..."

Well, not even Pat Robertson can write history that does not exist. Does this mean that the tales and lore in the Bible are history? Does this mean that the Christian Coalition is acting on assumption?

'Presumptions Assumption' is a blinding light. Those who run into this light tumble headlong into the abyss of ideological discord. When Pat Robertson speaks, millions listen. If these millions presume to assume in the same mind-set as that of Pat Robertson then God help us, if God would help. The world is not a better place nor is it any safer with arrogant delusions such as that spuming from Pat Robertson's face. The Presumptions Assumptions of the Far Right have caused nationalist and fascist wars, just look at the history of this century in Europe where millions died in the name of Presumptions Assumption. The behavior of Pat Robertson is very dangerous, not for him but for posterity. He does not have to live with the consequences of his hatred. Yes I said hatred. No matter what goodness you wrap around hatred, it does not make it good. Nothing good comes from bad. Good cannot be based on Evil, this is the nature of Presumptions Assumption. The High Priest of the Far Right, Adolph Hitler, was the master of lies. He said that a little lie could not be believed by the masses, but a big lie could be believed. Unfortunately for the Christian Coalition, they are believing a big lie and this is their foppery. George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright said "The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else." Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition will believe the tales and lore of the Bible as history but recorded history cannot find Sodom anywhere on Earth (a self perpetuating myth). Perhaps it only exists in their minds.

"Charlatanism of some degree is indispensable to effective leadership." Eric Hoffer, US philosopher.
"To lead the people, walk behind them." Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher.

Subject: If a minor is caught smoking
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us, webmaster@bossiercity.org, <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>, president@whitehouse.gov
Pierre-Bossier Mall, Mall Saint Vincent, South Park Mall,

To whom it may concern:

This letter comes to you in concern for the health and safety of all, especially children.

Malls are very attractive to children, and young adults. They offer a clean and controlled environment for socializing. However, this also attracts anti-social behavior.

I know that it costs extra money to support the activities that may be generated by this proposal.

1. If a minor is caught smoking on the premises (whether inside or outside), they should be evicted and warned that a repeat will result in a permanent ban and possible arrest. Their identity should be recorded. This includes taking a Polaroid.

2. These Polaroids should be posted for all security people to see.

3. Letters should be sent to the parents of the miners, with a Xerox copy of the Polaroid included, informing the parents of the errant activity of the child.

4. If the minor is caught again in any errant activity they should be evicted and banned from returning.

5. Another follow-up letter should be sent to the parents informing them of this second eviction and the ban.

6. If this child returns they should be charged with trespassing.

Without laws to back up our police, at least owners of private property can enforce their own rules. Because Louisiana and Shreveport-Bossier usually plays catch-up with the rest of the country, we have no laws to protect us and our children from tobacco. Operating a modern Mall allows the owner to create and enforce whatever rules they feel appropriate.

Subject: deadly events in Africa
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>, president@whitehouse.gov

"Man is certainly mad. He could not create a mite, and makes gods by the dozens."

Michel Eyquem Montaigne, (1533-1592), French Writer

After the deadly events in Africa around our Embassies, it is alleged a wealthy Moslem Arab, outcast to Afghanistan, may be responsible. This person alleges to decree Fatwa. These Fatwa are religious edicts, composed by fanatical fundamentalists and blessed by priests, to give the writer permission from Mohammed (his god) to kill. Does this sound familiar? Many millions have died in the name of God. Ideological discord remains the number one excuse to kill. No doubt we Westerners (Christians (our god)) will seek revenge for this outrage. Moses, our Law-giver, who predates Christ and Mohammed, decreed that we shall not kill. Many classified acts of revenge have been performed by our Secret Government. The National Security Agency operates significant classified resources costing billions of dollars for this purpose. The NSA spends 7 times the budget of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Maybe this system of self-perpetuating secret government is what provoked that Arab in the first place, giving us yet another demon to chase. Let us find the perpetrators of this bombing and try them in the World Court, not in US Courts.

Subject: What is the problem?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

What is the problem?

The railroad crossings across Midway and Hollywood near Mansfield Rd. have become a hazard to traffic. Maintenance of railroad crossings are the responsibility of the railroad company. This railroad company, who shall remain nameless, wants to close some of the crossings parallel to Mansfield Rd. These crossing closures require City Council approval. Land owners in these neighborhoods disapprove. This has caused political pressure on the counsel members, especially bad in an election year, so they will not approve the closures. Little do the property owners know is that property values will increase because of the closures. It also has a beneficial effect in reducing crime.

If the railroad company had any sense of community, they would repair these crossings immediately. However, they vacillate because they are not getting what they want so the quality of our life is negatively impacted.

Subject: Southerners, more religious?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, marketing@cbs.com, CNN.Research@turner.com

Southerners, more religious or more superstitious?

What is all this talk about Southerners being more religious? When KSLA reported that Southerners were more religious than others in America, what did they mean? Perhaps being more religious is not reality. Many confuse religion with superstition. Truly religious people are rare. Other than the obvious social benefits of worship with others, being more religious as a demographic is, in my opinion, a negative connotation. We live in a paranoid and unstable society, confusing religion with superstition is a sure sign of social ignorance. That our immediate society is claimed to be more religious than other societies is another indication, to me, that we, Southerners, are still waiting to meet Dr. Darwin in his great waiting room (yours truly excepted). It is presumptuous to assume that a demographic survey indicating proportions per capita of church attendance showing greater percentages in southern populations and claiming that these participants are more religious smacks of presumptuous assumption. Presumptuous assumption is a very dangerous behavior. Reporting it as religion and not superstition is also dangerous. The notion that we presume to be more religious, well let me say bunk. It confirms peoples' ignorant presumption that they are somehow superior or more deserving (or closer to God -- wrong).

Webster defines religion as 'the service and worship of God or the supernatural' and superstition as 'an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God.' Who decides which word to use to describe us? Certainly not a survey. Perhaps many centuries from now the beings surviving then may be more enlightened than us. I can guess that they will not be religious and closer to God at the same time, something Southerners have yet to understand. I fear the world is in the hands of fools.

Subject: "Two Digits for a Date" the millennium tune
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us, _____, _______, webmaster@softdisk.com, jfrost@ci.shreveport.la.us, "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>, _______, CNN.Research@turner.com, FCCINFO <FCCINFO@fcc.gov>, program@www.scifi.com, _______, marketing@cbs.com, president@whitehouse.gov

Two Digits for a Date

(to the tune of "Gilligan's Island," more or less)

Author Unknown

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale

Of the doom that is our fate.

That started when programmers used

Two digits for a date.

Two digits for a date.

Main memory was smaller then;

Hard disks were smaller, too.

"Four digits are extravagant,

So let's get by with two.

So let's get by with two."

"This works through 1999,"

The programmers did say.

"Unless we rewrite before that

It all will go away.

It all will go away."

But Management had not a clue:

"It works fine now, you bet!

A rewrite is a straight expense;

We won't do it just yet.

We won't do it just yet."

Now when 2000 rolls around

It all goes straight to @#%&,

For zero's less than ninety-nine,

As anyone can tell.

As anyone can tell.

The mail won't bring your pension check

It won't be sent to you

When you're no longer sixty-eight,

But minus thirty-two.

But minus thirty-two.

The problems we're about to face

Are frightening, for sure.

And reading every line of code's

The only certain cure.

The only certain cure.

[key change, big finish]

There's not much time,

There's too much code.

(And Cobol-coders, few)

When the century is finished with,

We may be finished, too.

We may be finished, too.

Eight thousand years from now I hope

That things weren't left too late,

And people aren't then lamenting

Four digits for a date.

Four digits for a date.

Cheers!

Subject: Shreveport Municipal Auditorium
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

Today the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium is having its New opening. This is good news for the city and the Ark-La-Tex. This great building stands as a landmark in our City's history and stands as a great place for future culture and community development. In the mid Seventies I had the opportunity to work for the Lighting Union for several great entertainers performing in this auditorium.

The Local Lighting Union was concerned when it would be finished. I was told that when the auditorium was first constructed, the money ran out so the stage transom was not added. This is the area in back of the building that gives access to the stage doors. If you now look at the auditorium in the back you notice that the stage doors are 30 feet off the ground with no way to access them. The stage doors are used to load and unload apparatus to the stage. Since this is still not possible I have my doubts about the true 'Usability' of the auditorium. In order to attract "Big Acts" this problem must be solved. Without direct access to the stage doors, equipment must be carried up the front steps, down the hallways, through narrow doors, across the backstage area and onto the stage. This creates an unusual and negative impression on the acts that appear there. Performers know about this inadequacy in the auditorium and it negatively affects their choice of venues here in Shreveport.

Subject: Free Internet TV for City Council Meetings
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

I offer to create free to the City of Shreveport of any labor cost, an Internet broadcast service of the City Council Meetings. This service will use the Internet and allow anyone on Earth, without charge, to hear and see the Shreveport City Council Meetings in real time.

Subject: The Truman Show, Shreveport, not!
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

The Truman Show, Shreveport, not!

Are Shreveport redevelopment plans fatally flawed?

At the recent meetings of the neighborhood organizations in North Shreveport, plans were presented and discussed about redeveloping North Shreveport.

The shabby appearance of our city is the result of poor management in the past. Signage has grown out of control. Community development has little or no guidelines or will to enforce guidelines. This lack of control over development has brought us into the present shabby, dilapidated state of our community. Without true reform in our Code and Ordinances, redevelopment is a farce. Plans and discussions are nice, but true redevelopment is based on sound Code and Ordinance reform.

My experience with our local government is a testament that our leaders do not have the political fortitude to make the changes required to allow true redevelopment.

The Truman Show was filmed in a small community in Florida. This town was filmed as-is, without much change from the Hollywood technicians. The reason the town looks so good is because the community is well planned. We could learn much from these well planned communities. Are we (our leaders) too proud to learn these skills that others do so well?

I fear that without Code and Ordinance reform, redevelopment may only be a shoddy facade.

Subject: Words from the Nadaring Naysayer of Negativity.
To: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

Words from the Nadaring Naysayer of Negativity.

Well here we go again. The first myth of management is that it exists. Our city council has stepped in a big pile of it, and flung it in the fan. The fiasco at the counsel meeting today smelled of something foul. To what do I refer? When an elected official such as a counsel member makes back-room deals, without public input, he or she commits a breech of the office to which he or she is elected . If these elected officials act in their own interests to the detriment of the public interest, he or she must be removed from office. This happened today in the counsel chambers. Responsibility of office also comes with assignment to office. If our elected officials give money and contracts to outside interests, contrary to public policy, something must be done. Whenever something goes wrong, as this has, the counsel is responsible. If the counsel has made agreements with outside interests, without public input, the law has been broken. Our community suffers abuse and neglect from those responsible for its leadership and management. This makes our community fragile and vulnerable. The lack of honesty and integrity in our leaders quells our personal power, snuffs the flame of Liberty and denies Justice. It seems that every other decade our local government is rocked by scandal and murder.

You might characterize me as curmudgeonly bitter, but this character, John Elkington (C. E. O., Performa Entertainment Real Estate, 203 Beale Street, Ste. 300, Memphis, TN, 38103, 901 526-0110, [home] 1569 Rabb Rd, Memphis, TN, 38119-6951, 901 761-1635) claims responsiblity for developing Beale Street in Memphis, I am skeptical. This man should be investigated and revealed to the public. He introduced a proposal to the counsel today. This proposal should be published as soon as possible in the cities Web Site. Copies of this proposal should be made available to the public in all city libraries operated by the Parish. If the diluted counsel is to accept this outlandish and foolhardy proposal, we the people of Shreveport must protest with great vigor.

The center of entertainment in our community is the river front not the Municipal Auditorium. Massive investment in that area of our city with city funds is reckless and doomed to failure. Those individuals who have recently invested in the property around the Municipal Auditorium with the tacit promise by the council that further city funds would be invested there are fools. This city is not big enough for further development in and around the Municipal Auditorium. This diffuses and dissipates the city funds. The river front is the only viable and fruitful investment our city should make in local entertainment industry.

Power, the pistol that fires in both directions, kills the intended victim and those pulling the trigger. Many in positions of power take up such posts in the fulfillment of a neurotic need to exercise power over others. Insecure, afraid, those who must maintain control are, indeed, lonely and frightened. It is a disease that must be frequently treated with massive doses of power that manifests itself in anger, greed, cruelty, and aggression. Plato said "Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it." One of the oldest sayings is old because of its truth: "This will be a better world when the power of love replaces the love of power."

We must replace these abusive and greedy counsel members who chase after avarice with those who at least have an IQ above that of a rock. Where might these people be found. Those in our community qualified for replacing these counsel members do not want to participate because of the tarnished reputation visited on our counsel.

Subject: Why redevelopment plans fail in City Governments
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, preston@PRYSM.NET, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us, webmaster@bossiercity.org

Politicians usually are ones to blame

(In light of recent developments with Performa Entertainment Real Estate)

Time and again City government leaders comment, "Citizen's good-news stories are an inspiration, but tell me, then, why do so many well-planned citizen introduced improvement programs fail so miserably in our city even though they succeed in other cities?" With rare exceptions, the problem is you, Mr. or Ms. City government politician! Here are the dozen primary reasons that citizen introduced improvement programs will likely fail in Shreveport:

1) No guts. Local city government is over-weight with Good-Old-Boy managers by 200 percent to 500 percent. You must face the brutal reality-and act fast, not ignore it or drag it out over several years, get ride of your glut of managers and get competent staff.

2) Schmoes or stars? Most managers actually do not believe, down deep, that the average person - in the city staff or the public - is a would be star just waiting to be heeded. Three-quarters of the "people participation" programs I come across fail because senior, middle and first-line managers do not truly believe in people's creative talents.

3) Not enough agony. Almost everyone gives lip service to better quality and superior service, few managers truly agonize over every defect.

4) Authority. Chieftains often spend most of their time on the intricacies of various types of so-called "dotted-line relationships" on the organization chart, ceaselessly pondering the nuances of "matrix" structures and other forms of overly centralized and complicated operations. Instead, they should be mimicking today's winning plans in every new redeveloped cityscape that are radically decentralizing into flat, responsive units. Granting true unit autonomy, within a framework of shared beliefs, is crucial to success.

5) Machines over men. Strip away all the Labor Day rhetoric and you will find that bosses in most yet-to-be successfully redeveloped cities, harbor a Pollyanna vision of highly stylized redevelopment plans that will rescue them from their current doldrums. Radical redevelopment plans clearly are an essential tool, but true quality improvement and the ability to slash redevelopment lead time by 95 percent (as many have) depends much more on people and organization than on redevelopment plans both real and imaginary.

6) Plans over emotions. Anyone who does not plan is plain nuts. Nonetheless, innovation has always come from charged-up, passionate champions, not from fancy proposals or from a bevy of strategic planners. Entrepreneurship is "unreasonable conviction based on inadequate evidence." Redevelopment plans of any size that wish to innovate consistently need to encourage numerous bands of maverick champions with just such "unreasonable conviction."

7) Ego. When you launch your grand "people participation plan" after years of top-down and directive style management, most people will think that this is just a subtle attempt to con them into working harder. You will be rebuffed, laughed-at and made the butt of jokes and graffiti. And you deserve it! Eventually, if you stick it out, a few skeptics will begin to listen. Remember, it took decades for your predecessors (and maybe you, too) to create thorough antagonism and skepticism; you cannot turn it around overnight.

8) No guts-II. First-line supervisors, who you ask to stop playing cop and start being coaches, are often the major stumbling block to radical change. Re-train them lavishly. Counsel them. Be patient-to a point. If they still don't get it, can them.

9) The wrong numbers. Most managers get far more reports on cost and financial numbers than on quality or community participation. These so-called soft traits can be measured precisely. Productivity follows from putting these traits at the very top of everyone's daily watch list.

10) Assistant manages and memos vs. clerks. Do you spend more hours looking at staff presentations than chatting with staff and citizens? If so, you haven't much chance of thriving, or even surviving. An army general speaking about effective combat command states, "You have to love soldiers." Loving soldiers, like loving your family, means being with them.

11) Little minds. Consistency, it is said, is the hobgoblin of little minds-to which I add, great leaders. "Call a citizen," we plead. We actually mean you call two citizens, each day, every day, forever. Three cheers for "little minds" who stoop to do so.

12) Start small, but aim very, very high. To become-and stay-community oriented, we must improve quality, service and innovation by an order of magnitude. I urge you to start, right now, with small, practical steps. But I beg you to do so in pursuit of very bold goals. Unless you are out to double, triple or quadruple your scores on some key measures, you are not serious.

Sorry if this thoroughly depresses you. But hey, it is your responsibility!

Subject: John A. Elkington, who is he?
To: info@bealestreet.com
cc: bluesmaster@bealestreet.com

John A. Elkington has come to our community spouting all kinds of claims, one of which is that he is responsible for the Beale Street project. Is this true? What can you tell me about him, good or bad?

Subject: Handling global time; the challenge of temporal mechanics
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: news@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us, webmaster@bossiercity.org

-- Handling global time; the challenge of temporal mechanics.
Time references in Personal Computer File Systems are all "local," and the operating system makes the assumption that you personally know the time zone of every file you encounter.

When a file is created at 2:00 a.m. on April 5, for example, you need to know its time zone and daylight-saving time status yourself. Your desktop computer has no way of tracking whether a file was modified at 2:00 a.m. in Tokyo time, 2:00 a.m. in London time or 2:00 a.m. in local time under daylight-saving time.

-- Many Temporal Traps
Transferring files from one location to another, or from one person to another, creates distinct problems. If you receive a file from England, update it, and then return it to England, it may appear, in England, to be older than the original file.

Thus, working with people in other locations, you face a miserable choice: Set all computers to the same time zone or perform extremely tedious tracking and calculation manually.

UNIX, is rich in international time-handling features, however, you must store time values for files in Universal Coordinated Time (UTC).

This should make comparisons between creation and modification dates valid on a global scale, but problems arise because you must also store the time zone of the file.

You must calculate times based on UTC plus an offset derived from your computer's date and time control panel settings.

So changing your control panel setting to daylight-saving time, for example, makes it appear that all your files have new creation and modification dates. A backup program then thinks it has to back up all your files. A file synchronization utility will then fail. A compiler is forced to recompile unchanged source.

Subject: Has the Ark-La-Tex debugged the 2K bug?
To: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us
cc:letters@thetimes.com, ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, webmaster@bossiercity.org

What is the 2K bug? It is the present and future dilemma faced by all institutions which use computers and computer services which are based on designs before 1984. The list is expensive. Although most federal agencies and departments have begun to correct this most serious problem, I have my doubts that local institutions, governments, and utilities have addressed or begun to correct this problem.

Failure to correct this problem already has caused problems. Given the poor track record of local institutions in the past, many people may temporarily or permanently lose their jobs, not to mention the threat to safety and disruption to business and services caused by this dilemma.

In simple terms, this was caused by programmers in the 1960s had 1970s who used two-digit (98) representation for the year instead of building in four-digit (1998) representation for the year. To be brief, this shortsightedness has permeated computer systems to such a deep level, that it has been embedded in the hardware. This hard-wired circuitry must be replaced. It is not a simple matter (even though not simple by any means) of rewriting the software. The most destructive and disruptive of the problems caused by the 2K bug is what is known as 'LIGHTS OUT' when everything turns off at once. This occurs when computers that control automated systems with embedded controllers think that it is 1900 instead of 2000. Their embedded controllers do not know it is 2000. By thinking it is 1900 they think all their tasks are yet to be done in one hundred years, so they do not do them. It is like your light switch not knowing you turned on the light, and not turning on the light because, to the light switch, you wanted the light turned on one hundred years from now. The simplest inconvenience is when your credit card reader transmits 00 for the date. How will the computer on the receiving end of the credit card transaction deal with this error. Will the drivers license computers know how to deal with millions of records showing dates from 98 to 02? This is a reverse sequence. Tens of billions of dollars must be spent in the U.S. alone to begin to solve this problem. However, it will cost much more than this to finish the job.

The local community has shown little or no concern toward this impending catastrophe. The local institutions cannot operate without their computers. If this problem is ignored, havoc will be visit upon us. Following is a partial list of the major employers in the Ark-La-Tex. As you can see from this list, that if these institutions are not fully prepared by now for the 2K bug, it is probably to late to solve the problem. The solution will take many years to correct.

Barksdale Air Force Base
Employment: 8,492

State of Louisiana
Employment: 7,141

Caddo Parish Commission
Employment: 350

Caddo Parish School Board
Employment: 6,236

LSU Medical Center
Employment: 5,752

Schumpert Medical Center
Employment: 3,088

Willis-Knighton Medical Center
Employment: 1,900

Bossier Medical Center
Employment: 686

Lagniappe Hospital
Employment: 164

City of Shreveport
Employment: 2,919

General Motors Corporation
Employment: 2,686

Bossier Parish School Board
Employment: 2,595

5 Casinos
Employment: 10,000

A T & T Shreveport Works
Employment: 1,745

Veterans Administration Medical Center
Employment: 1,031

Libbey Glass
Employment: 1,000

Louisiana Downs, Inc.
Employment: 1,000

Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company
Employment: 960

South Central Bell
Employment: 925

U.S. Postal Service
Employment: 867

Kansas City Southern Railway Company
Employment: 800

Southwestern Electric Power Company
Employment: 641

LSU-Shreveport
Employment: 616

City of Bossier
Employment: 590

Caddo Parish Sheriffs Office
Employment: 530

General Electric Company
Employment: 480

Atlas Processing
Employment: 300

Subject: Without argument our community becomes a wasteland.
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

I have a few questions:

1. Who created the policy in our city government, past or present, that requires all matters from the public be submitted by and only by one's counsel member?
2. When was this policy made law?
3. If this is law, what is this law in where may it be found?

Let me speak hypothetically. Say I create a document that I consider an important contribution to the laws of our community. In order for this document to be considered, it must be introduced to the counsel for consideration by my counsel representative. If this document represented something that may be considered politically 'hot,' this document would not make it to the counsel for consideration. Since much of what is needed in our local laws in ordinances is considered hot, our community lacks the provisions for adequate and sane growth.

I assume that this policy was introduced early in this century as a way to control the interests of what may have been construed as the public interest. However, the public interest is best served through the introduction of ideas and arguments directed at the system of governance. Our country was parented by those who rebelled against blind, authority without representation.

Our society has reached the magic age of information enlightenment. We now have the opportunity to interact with our leaders. This may only occur if the policy for this is in place and functioning. In our community, it is not functioning. Without an open door or open ear policy for the introduction of ideas and arguments concerning our government, local or otherwise, we the people are denied liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our interests are then only served by the elite, and only in their interest. Perhaps if the policy of representation was appropriate in the past when there was little-or-no electronic communication it presently is not appropriate.

You may think at this point that lowering the wall of obstruction to new ideas and arguments will open the floodgate of input and overwhelm the system. This may happen, but only for a measured period. When the system compensates for this new input everyone will benefit, including the lawmakers.

Without argument our community becomes a wasteland, where nothing grows, nothing blooms, nothing is created, nothing lives.

Thousands of rusting factories across the land, millions of unemployed, the wholesale abdication of our nation's industry to foreign lands, the mindless destruction of our natural resources, the decline of our education system, the slums, the crowded concrete cages we call penitentiaries, the disintegration of our justice system, the moral decay we so fervently protest -- all affirm the critical need of our leaders, our employers, our educators, and our people to make and to hear our arguments,and to receive from each other the gifts we have withheld. The art of argument is the art of living. If we are successful in our arguments we will bloom and grow.

Subject: Web publication policy
To: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

Robert W. "Bo" Wiliams, Mayor
Shreveport, Louisiana

In your letter to me, dated March 10, 1998 you wrote, "Your recommendation that the web site be used for publishing these documents (Arena meeting at LSUS) is certainly worthy of consideration." I wish I could get inside your mind and instill in you that the problem here is a lack of policy that will, forever, mandate a system of divulgence. The City does not have a comprehensive policy of divulging public information. Whereas, before the World Wide Web came online five years ago; the public had little or no access to public government information. The present policy for supplying this information was appropriate for the 20th Century, but not now. Now that fourteen percent of the population has access to be Web, citygovernments have an unprecedented opportunity to engage the public.

If you would, please review the following excerpt from the document I sent you that I created on providing Intranet/Internet services. This document has a wealth of information and provides guidlines and suggestions for these services.

Again, if the creation of documents was for the Web instead of paper, time and money would be saved. When documents are created they should be put on the Web server at that time, not as an afterthought; this should be made policy.

------------------------------------------

-- Tips for Your Intranet:

- Work closely with management and information systems managers, to ensure that your intranet's resources for defect reduction, developer/partner support, and other critical functions work well, comply with overall policies, and are easy and inviting to use.

- Open select areas containing special information for citizens contractors and suppliers that you used to distribute by paper.

- Content that used to go unpublished can go on your intranet and can be shared with your public Web site. Basic information such as general contractor profiles, catalogs, data sheets, price lists and lists of frequently asked questions (FAQs) can be provided. You can also offer search engines for part numbers and other resources like a calendar of trade shows, planned products, and news releases.

- Your internal intranet makes it easy to access centrally located obscure information, allowing you to save money on document creation, duplication, and distribution.

-- Resources and Benefits for Users:

- Easy access to contract information, from contract data sheets and catalogs to part numbers, price lists and SKUs, for internal use and for preparation of presentations, proposals and other externally published projects.

- Access to on-line discussion tools, allowing users to collaborate, communicate, and find answers to questions without help from support personnel.

-- Benefits:

- Create publishable materials, update items easier, and distribute them
faster and less expensively.

- Ensure that all employees share latest version of materials.

- Lower costs and workload involved in managing inventories.

- Build a network application that lets employees help customers better. The best feature is that the physical location of the database doesn't matter- it can be remotely located - HTML pages are generated on the fly so that the Web site is as current as the corporate database. By adding search functions, graphics and an automatic E-Mail response system, you can leverage the interactive nature of intranets to positively affect customer service.

-- Tips for Your Intranet:

- Since communication and publications materials are often graphical, it's important to maintain their excitement and vibrancy on-line. Several companies offer tools and suggestions to help with these decisions.

-- Internet Solutions Guide:

- Make sure your intranet content managers work closely with the developers of your data sheets, lists, and parts lists. On-line and hard copy content must be the same, and updates must be universal and simultaneous.

- Every intranet benefits from on-line discussions, both moderated and unmoderated. In moderated groups, one or more employees guide the discussion, while unmoderated groups have no overseer. A well-managed combination of both will give all users of your intranet the freedom to brainstorm and come up with new ideas, while keeping them focused on the company's overall goals.

- Whereas you may have been sending monthly courier packages full of newsletters, press clippings, videos, audio tapes and other promotional material to all our sattelite offices, each office got these copies. This is extremely costly. That information can be maintained at a central location where it can be constantly updated and instantly accessed. Pay back is quick and all the offices get the information at the same time - no more waiting - which can be costly, not to mention savings in shipping!

-- Feature Technique: Print To On-line

- Important documents, descriptions and information are essential for almost every company. Creating documents in Portable Document Format (PDF) captures the look and feel of top quality marketing literature that can be posted on your Web site for use by any client computer without alteration. Posting PDF documents on-line allows users instant access, keyword search functionality as well as hotlinks to supporting documents.

- Look and feel is very important you can maintain that across media.

Subject: Does the fun ever start?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

After much consideration, I have concluded that the night life in the Ark-La-Tex remains conspicuously unremarkable. A flaccid attempt to cater to the 'Fashion Victim' crowd recently opened downtown (Shreveport) on Milam Street. Being a West Coaster by nature, I have some serious concerns that our community may never display any of the class, diversity, or theme engendered in many of the nightspots I have visited (and managed).

Perhaps the missing element is 'concern.' Lack of concern renders the owner-managers of these 'Clubs' apathetic. Apathy translates into a disregard for detail and refinement. Attention to detail and continuous refinement in a Club create an ever improving entertainment environment. After all, is not the Environment about what we are talking here. The Environment in these Clubs can stand much refinement. Most all Clubs in the Ark-La-Tex suffer from truncated refinement and lack of detail.

One of the ways Clubs die is lack of refinement. People (with money to spend) want something special, not just a room full of aparatus and their staff operators. Adding more and more aparatus (Speakers, Amplifiers, Moving Lights, Additional wet bars) is not the answer, especially if the operators of this apparatus lack concern over its operation. Our community is attracting more and more 'Outsiders.' When these Outsiders return home, they carry with them any impressions of our community and then relate these impressions to their family and friends. If you, the Club owners, want to impress these visitors so that they may return to your establishment (or locals for that matter), you must pay more attention to detail and refinement. Then perhaps the fun can start!

Subject: God works in interesting ways.
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

Today, on the 5:30 TV news, a very interesting story was shown about a fire in a church. The piece spent conspicuous amounts of time on the church's members going on about praying for the fire to stop and having a good outcome from the fire. It brought to mind the ancient Chinese curse from Confucius; 'may you live in interesting times.'

If the cliché is correct that 'God works in mysterious ways,' God must also work in interesting ways. We (humans) are endowed with innate capabilities. These 'God-given' capabilities provide civilization alternatives that negate or warn of almost all adversity, especially dwelling fires. God's gift here is called preparedness. The idea here is to have built the church with fire resistant materials and fit the church with fire abatement technology. Because these God-given things were ignored in the construction and maintenance of the house of God, the church's members were reduced to superstitious drivel, hoping God would fix the problem or save the church after the fact. Maybe the reconstruction of the church will include these God-given things. If not, the church's members will no doubt experience this same test of faith again.

Subject: Emergency Response Telephones
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, dhuddleston@ci.shreveport.la.us, police@ci.shreveport.la.us, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

While venturing downtown Saturday night, I noticed a fire along the freeway. I went directly to the Fire station downtown to report it. However, I was unable to raise anyone or phone anyone. There was no obvious way to report the fire.

I lived in several beach cities in Southern California for almost two decades. These cities had convenient emergency telephones on most every public building and in many places where the public gathered. One had only to open the clearly marked box, (many had blue light beacons above them), and hoist the receiver to one's ear; the emergency dispatcher would immediately respond with the all-too familiar question, 'what is your emergency?'.

I request that our city install such life-saving equipment in a like manner mentioned above. This is conspicuously needed around the river front entertainment corridor.

PS In California, on both sides of the freeways are Cell Phone based emergency telephones posted every mile.

Subject: Arena neeting, LSU-S
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

What are the responsibilities the city municipality has for publishing the information presented at the Arena meeting held at LSU-S to stimulate interest in the vast non-participating public?

With the new Website for the City, these documents may be published quite easily. We need explicit documents relating the events presented at the meeting to the public and all this in a timely manner without enthusiasm-squelching delay. Responsibility entails willingness to be accountable for choices, decisions, and behavior. Delay the presentation and inadequate documentation may allow conflict, confusion and apathy; not to mention inadvertent errors, mistakes and misconceptions. To generate the causes of the effects needed or wanted, meaningful articles of this meeting must be provided with reasons meaningful in terms of interests and needs.

A relentless struggle may be needed to throw-down the barriers now obstructing the "regenerative process" regarding Municipal Improvements. Do not let posterity say that we were apathetic. Let us stop waiting for Darwin to arrive.

Please do not allow atavism creep into this most auspicious idea, that of developing our Municipality.

We need long range planning and sound development for our Municipality.

We need a site that touts an Expo Hall eight times the size of our present hall not twice the size as is planned. Our community, for its size, should have many more Convention amenities than it does. Our River front complex does not qualify as a Convention Center. It is underdeveloped, offers few hotels and has no convenient transportation from the Airport or commuter transportation to outlying metropolises. Not to mention that the area is too small to support such a complex. Downtown streets were laid-down in the 1850s. The River front area cannot support the traffic generated by the present facilities much less any more development. Any further development in the River front will result in intolerable traffic problems.

Why is this? If we did have the mettle to develop such a complex, where would it go? Certainly the present complex location could not accommodate a building of 300,000 square feet floor space with associated parking like is found in cities like Lubbock and Dallas. This raises the idea of using the train yard downstream from the Interstate 20 bridge, but this should be used for future Festival development. Then how about further developing the State Fairgrounds and installing commuter transportation to service the new development.

We need sound community development. Investing in development that attracts visitors to our community based on furthering more development.

Subject: What does it look like from here?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, webmaster@softdisk.com

The new on-line service for the City of Shreveport hosted by SoftDisk is a good thing, but how did it happen?

Was there a legal contract offered to the public with a response of sealed bids? Was there a bidding process following the requirements set forth by law? Was there a fair and equitable process for public contracts followed? Well, from my vantage point I did not see any of this.

Or!

Did the City Staff allegedly get wined and dined? Was there an alleged back room deal without public input? Was the bureaucratic hand allegedly greased? Were there alleged threats that SoftDisk would move away or else?

Correct me if I am wrong!

Subject: SOMETHING EXTRA NEEDED, BUT NOTHING UNUSUAL
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

The club owners along Commerce St. show an unremarkable sense of community.

These are grave words. The choices they have made... Choices between honor and dishonor... between excellence and mediocrity... between duty and cowardice, reflect their sense of community.

The personal dedication of the ownwers and staffs of these clubs to the community guarantees that all members will continue in peace and harmony. However, consensus is hard to find when doing business with them.

The word "quit" just is not in my vocabulary. I no longer believe much of anything or anyone who operates or works in those establishments along the Riverfront.

TEAM, is a very important word. You'll notice that there's no "I" in TEAM. Instead, TEAM (T-E-A-M) stands for Together Everyone Accomplishes More. That's what teamwork is all about: Together, Everyone Accomplishes More.

Individually, you may all be strong, smart, and capable, but working together--toward a common goal--you will always accomplish more.

I expect you--together--to work as a team to meet the challenges facing you in the years to come.

Anyone among us, who fails to understand, will thereby betray those who have come before... whoever lifts his hand in hate against another, or thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in a minority, sacrifices our community, and makes everything that has come before hollow.

Too much toil has gone by.

You (the Club owners) should be proud of the contributions--of the love, the support, and the commitment (and the money) that your patrons provide. You are part of our community's strength... a strength, ladies and gentlemen, on which this community will depend for decades to come. Each of you (the Club owners) has successfully completed a non-rigorous place in this community. The lack of tradition you observe--attest to your unproved fitness to serve this community. You have not done well, and I am not proud of you. Please get connected to the community and stop being so, well, like Shreveport.

Subject: Where are you?
To: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

Letter to the Mayor of Shreveport.

After numerous email messages to you and personal letters, in hard copy, delivered to your office, I have received little or no response from you or your office. Please excuse me, but I can only surmise that you do not exist or at least do not consider that I do. I will operate as a citizen without a local government, like in a town of the old 'Wild West' until I hear favorably from you. If you can somehow convince me, in a positive way, that you exist, I will not presume that I live in a town without a government. You may consider this message absurd but nothing is more absurd than a headless government; no head, no ears or no voice. In other countries, citizens are oppressed. It seems that here, citizens are ignored.

Let me hear from you personally as a gentleman and an elected official.

Subject: What is all this talk about keeping our kids safe (in highway traffic)?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

Well then, what is the epistemology of keeping safe? Safety is not an attainment but only a direction. Keeping safe is not a real state of existence. Only relative safety may actually occur. It is not in the realm of reality to be safe.

So, what can we do to increase relative safety? We must, as drivers, recognize and avoid danger. One of the best ways to increase safety on our highways is to improve highway markings. Louisiana highways suffer from poor markings. Safety markings on our intersections are one thing our streets and highways most conspicuously lack.

The other thing would be to reduce dangerous and hazardous behavior in drivers. Louisiana drivers pass at a very low level when it comes to driver competence. Louisiana driver incompetence contributes and causes Louisiana streets and highways to be more dangerous. This is not an opinion but documented fact. Louisiana and local governments need better education and enforcement to improve relative driving safety.

If you drive, adopt safer behavior. The best thing is to reduce speed.

Those of you who broadcast news to the public, please do not say the cliché 'how can we keep our kids safe?' say 'how can we keep our kids safer?'. Keeping safe is a false sense, being safer is a true sense.

Subject: not "got"
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

I have had enough of this feltercarb. It seems fashionable to use bad grammar in broadcasting. Of what do I speak? I speak of the misuse of the word "got"

For instance Radio Shack uses the phrase "you've got questions, we've got answers." As you know it should say "you have questions, we have answers."

There are many examples. A local car salesman misspeaks this same phrase in a locally produced advertisement. It is even recorded in the car dealer's jingle. I know that I would not want to pay for such a blunder if I owned the Dealership. I also will not spend money at a place that uses such blunders.

Janet Reno frequently misspeaks this same thing in her interviews and news conferences.

The local TV news broadcasts have a long way to go on the road to literacy.

Broadcasters give tacit approval to illiteracy when they allow bad grammar in their locally produced programming. I know you cannot control what comes through your transmitter from your network provider.

Subject: XCVS
To: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

What is the problem with the audio presentation of the counsel meetings on XCVS? After phoning the counsel office several times, the party on the other end does not understand what to do. Could we get someone who does? To I know that it probably will not do any good to beat-up the city government over this, but this seems to be the same-ole-same-ole. If what it takes is a competent engineer, I volunteer.

Subject: Food irradiation
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

What is all this hoopla about irradiating meat? Did you know that almost any spice or food supplement or prepackaged food or drug or medical implant has been irradiated. The word is irradiated not radiation. Let us use the correct terms in the correct way. Radiation is the technical term for light. Light is all radiation. Radiation, annotated as (c), is not matter. Radioactive elements give off nuclear radiation that may be dangerous or harmful. Irradiating food with nuclear radiation (gamma rays) is designed to kill all bacteria and virus agents. However, irradiating food with radioactive isotopes leaves radiolytes behind. Radiolytes are the unavoidable result of nuclear radiation interacting with matter, annotated as (m). Just as electricity will cause electrolytes, nuclear radiation or irradiation, in this case, causes radiolytes.

So the proper concept here is irradiation not radiation. Food does not radiate or have radiation in it unless it is contaminated with nuclear isotope material. Cobalt 80 is a light metal isotope used in food processing plants to irradiate food supposedly to eliminate harmful contamination.

Subject: atrocious conditions of our local streets
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

My main form of transportation is a motorcycle. The atrocious conditions of our local streets and highways must be addressed. I would not complain about this ordinarily, but riding a motorcycle rather than an automobile on our streets and highways makes driving even more hazardous than it should be if the streets and highways were in good condition. We have serious bumps in the roads. These bumps cause undue distraction while negotiating traffic. Momentary loss of control is the cause. One must compensate for loss of control that may contribute to an accident. Going east-bound over the red river bridge, the gaps and changes in the level of the pavement, especially on the steep right-hand turn after the bridge, causes a motorcyclist to jump to the left several feet in mid-air. On Hearne Ave., I am propelled five feet through the air after striking unavoidable bumps that go all the way across the road. While in the air, I cannot defend myself because I am flying not driving. Automobiles do not experience this loss of control on bumps of this size until they reach a much higher speed because they travel on four wheels instead of two wheels. Our streets and highways are not a motocross track, but those skills certainly come in handy here. I must use combat driving techniques to prevent an accident. I suppose that if I ever do have an accident, let us hope that a bump in the road does not contribute to it.

Subject: How about this?
To: "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>
cc: letters@thetimes.com, ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

If protecting the public interest is so expensive and difficult regarding the inroads tobacco business has made into retail business, let us impose an enforcement tax. This tax money could be earmarked for enforcing the new laws concerning sale and advertising of tobacco products by retailers.

Subject: Where responsibility begins; City-to-Citizen.
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

Government has laws, codes, ordinances, and licenses that form a body of work guiding personal responsibility. At the local government level, there exists many mind-numbing documents that somehow have implicitly lead to the present level of civilization. However, there does not exist documents stating explicit responsibilities.

For instance:

A home-owner might want to erect a fence. What are the owners' responsibilities to the city and procedures for doing this? What are all the responsibilities to the City a home-owner faces for that matter.

An existing corporation in another State wants to locate a new manufacturing facility here. What procedures and responsibilities (maybe in a check-list form) must this company pass to make this new facility viable?

A citizen has witnessed a crime. What responsibilities does the citizen have to the community in reporting the crime?

With the new Website for the City, these documents may be published quite easily. We need explicit documents of responsibility, independent of codes and ordinances. Responsibility entails willingness to be accountable for choices, decisions, and behavior, but if stated responsibilities are obscured in a morass of code, this may allow conflict, confusion, ignorance and apathy. To generate the causes of the effects needed or wanted, meaningful articles of responsibilities must be provided with reasons meaningful in terms of interests and needs.

Subject: Children and Tobacco
To: "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>
cc: letters@thetimes.com, ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

This letter addresses the concerns and interest I have in the new legislation concerning children and tobacco. On August 28, 1997, a new law went into effect. This new law requires that no tobacco or tobacco products be sold to children under the age of 18. Also this law requires that access to tobacco and tobacco products be restricted in all places selling tobacco. This includes all retail stores, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, convenience stores, gasoline stations, etc.. The new law also includes that owners remove all advertising and displays of tobacco and tobacco products including signs and display stands on countertops. Also all vending machines be removed and tobacco products be removed from access by children. Tobacco and tobacco products must be put behind counters where only the store personnel can access them and all vending machines be removed from the premises.

The Food and Drug Administration has a pilot program engaged at present to contract with several states using Federal funds for sting-operations to reduce the incidences of children purchasing tobacco and tobacco products. I have discussed this program with our local Department of Health to see what actions, if any, are being taken by them to enforce this new Federal legislation in Shreveport. I was told that the local office has conducted some operations to enforce this new law. However, the state does not have the money or personnel to bring down the incidences of non-compliance. There is no plan in place to control non-compliance of access to tobacco products by children. The new law requires that the above remove all advertising both inside and outside, counter-top displays, and in the case of vending machines that they be removed, and that access to tobacco and tobacco products be behind counters and denied to children. These details are not part of the sting operations, only trying to catch stores selling to children. There is no program of enforcement to remove signs and advertising or displayed stands in stores. This concerns me greatly. It seems to me, and of course this is my opinion, that signs, advertising, and counter top displays, give tacit approval to tobacco. I have adopted a phrase "Any community that approves of tobacco advertising approves of tobacco use." This may silly but it makes a good one.

I know that things cannot happen or change over-night, but this law promises to elevate the quality of life and fact the welfare of our children. The problem we have here is not only enforcement, but informing the public as to their responsibilities to comply with the law, after all voluntary compliance is much cheaper than enforcement. I have conducted interviews with a sample of the above mentioned owners and some of them knew about the part of the law that requires that they not sell to children but none of them knew about restricting access to tobacco and tobacco products or removing all signs and advertising. This is obviously a sore point with retailers. Many of these stores like convenience stores are franchises. They must operate under the franchise rules-of-operation. Some of these franchises and corporate companies have issued letters to their franchisees. I have seen two examples of these letters. They do not include details about complete compliance to the new law, only warnings about selling tobacco and tobacco products to children. In this light, some form of information needs to be given to these businesses at the administrative level either by the Food and Drug Administration or by some other appropriate Federal agency. The Food and Drug Administration has contact with these companies. Some kind of official letter with the appropriate information as that found in the Whitehouse Website would go a long way to curb tobacco abuse of our children.

Even though the new law was announced on the news last July, there is no knowledge of the law in the minds of the public. People who are in the position of power concerning these retailers are ignorant of their responsibilities. When in court the Judge may bark "ignorance of the law is no excuse." Total ignorance by the public of the details of this new law needs attention.

Because there is such a gap between the law and enforcement, community activism may bring voluntary compliance with this new law by the public. I was told that the Louisiana State Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, has a Federal grant to provide funding for also conducting sting operations. Even though this may lower the incidences of purchases by children of tobacco and tobacco products, it does nothing to remove the signs and advertising, much less restrict the access by children to tobacco and tobacco products required by the new law.

What I propose is some form of community volunteer program to inform the public as to their responsibility to children and tobacco particularly in the areas of complete compliance to the new law. This program I propose does not include enforcement just providing information and advice on compliance, but it should have the endorsement of the Federal government and including the appropriate State Agencies. If Federal grant moneys were made available for such a program, the money spent on this would go much further toward securing tobacco from our children than money spent on enforcement operations. In my opinion, there are millions of citizens who would support such an effort, either by volunteering or approving Federal funds spent on such a community program. Programs of this type have very good track records for obtaining positive results in their respective communities.

How can we aggrandize the process of compliance with this new law?

Subject: RE: Roofing and Codes
To: "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>

>Dear Friend:
>
> Thank you for recently contacting me via email. In order to respond to
>you via US mail, I respectfully request that you submit your full name
>and address by replying to this email or calling my Washington office at
>(202) 225-2777. In this way, I can be assured that you will receive my
>response in a verifiable, written form.
>
> Once again, thank you for contacting me. I will be in touch with you
>via US mail once I receive your contact information.
>
> With kindest regards, I am
>
> Sincerely yours,
> JIM McCRERY
> Member of Congress
>>
>>Since geodesic technology is not in the minds and on the lips of the common
>>lay person, perhaps the idea of geodesic technology will not work its way
>>into the vernacular of Civil Engineers, Architects, Code Inspectors and
>>eventually Money Lenders, Real Estate Brokers and Construction Contractors.
>>Is it any wonder that there is no money available for research. In the
>>vernacular of the Civics Teacher, this is called "Cultural Ignorance."
>>
>>There are entire country-nation-states who drive on the left side of the
>>road. Our culture still uses 3000 year old designs to build our houses. Is
>>this a cultural bias that will only change if new technology is introduced.
>>The Geodesic Dome was invented 50 years ago. What is the latency period of
>>new housing technology, I hope it is not longer than my Life!
>>
>>Jay
>>
>>>I agree with Jay. Unfortunately, since the politics of building codes *is,*
>>>as
>>>he says, the issue, and the codes insist on specifying requirements for
>>>"roofs,"
>>>we are put in the position of translating this terminology back and forth...
>>>at
>>>least until we can get the building codes a little "smarter."
>>>
>>>How about that? Are there any lawyers or legislators reading this list who
>>>can
>>>comment about this?
>>>
>>>Are there any terminological loopholes in common building codes that allow
>>>for
>>>structures that satisfy the requirements for human habitation, that do not
>>>have
>>>"roofs"?
>>>
>>>jmr

Subject: What does National Security mean?
To: "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>

Dear JIM McCRERY, Member of Congress

I just watched a very interesting TV program on the Discovery Channel. The part that disturbed me greatly was the part about the cost of maintaing national security with military approprations. While I do not object to this, I do wish that something be done to further national security by investing in the homefront. The cost of one new VF-22 Fighter Jet would pay for the perfection of new technology in dwellings or houses. This cost would be insignificant compared to the added security of the fact that all coming generations would be able to afford a place to live.

Housing or 'Shelter' is a basic need that is unavoidable, just like food and clothing. Our forefathers guranteed our posterity by securing the general welfare. I contend that special interests have endentured us to the servitude of servicing the Military-Industrial Political machine. This is in direct conflict with present freedoms and ideals.

Our way of life is only as secure as our ability to support our needs, one of which is Shelter. Housing costs 10 times too much. The new technology available for housing has been denied the masses through technological stagnation in this specific industry. If you and all those who read this would work to bring about a significant influence by bringing this technology to commercial viability, I think there may be achieved a national security like has never before been obtained in the history of civilization.

Of what technology do I refer? The Fly's Eye Geodesic Dome. This technology can and will change the entire concept of living and secure our posterity. Never before in the existance of modern mankind has such a technology existed. This technology promises to put housing into the reach of every citizen. The present average cost of a house is over $100,000. Half of this cost is the manual labor of construction. If a VF-22 Fighter Jet were constructed in this manner it would take 10,000 years and 100 billion dollars to construct just one of them. The hideous waste of human resources in building a house must be put to a graceful and final end.

How? By using the same tools that the the Military-Industrial complex uses to make weapons of mass destruction. If only 1% of this industrial might were converted to the design and fabrication of appropriate housing, our national security would better be maintained than all the other 99% spent on weapons systems. These industrial giants have so many resources available to them that are wasted on destructive activities that even a modicum of effort used to secure housing for the masses would turn out to be more benificial than anything else they could do.

Subject: RE: SBACE, Shreveport-Bossier Association for Consensus & Exchange
To: "McCrery, Jim" <Jim.McCrery@mail.house.gov>

>Dear Friend:
>
> Thank you for recently contacting me via email. In order to respond to
>you via US mail, I respectfully request that you submit your full name
>and address by replying to this email or calling my Washington office at
>(202) 225-2777. In this way, I can be assured that you will receive my
>response in a verifiable, written form.
>
> Once again, thank you for contacting me. I will be in touch with you
>via US mail once I receive your contact information.
>
> With kindest regards, I am
>
> Sincerely yours,
> JIM McCRERY
> Member of Congress
>
>>----------

>>Subject: SBACE, Shreveport-Bossier Association for Consensus & Exchange
>>
>>Shreveport-Bossier Association for Consensus & Exchange
>>
>>Mission Statement: SBACE shall strive to enhance the economic stature of
>>Shreveport-Bossier.
>>
>>Mettings soon to be announced--
>>
>>We are asking for your support in Shreveport-Bossier's only independent
>>business association. If you have an agenda, please prepare your ideas for
>>presentation to the group as a document of submittal or up-load them here
>>to my email or post them to the SBACE's Web Page online Feedback Forum.
>>
>>SBACE's primary goal is to elevate the economy of Shreveport-Bossier into a
>>thriving profit center. We urge you to attend the important meetings. SBACE
>>is a directing force in the economic future of Shreveport-Bossier's trade,
>>commerce, services, hospitality, and tourism. Your participation is greatly
>>appreciated.
>>
>>================
>>
>>What happened to America's Downtowns
>>
>>Before World War II, downtown was the community's primary commercial hub.
>>Downtown buildings usually had several tenants-typically a ground-floor
>>retailer and, frequently, several upper-floor offices or apartments;
>>together, these tenants provided enough rent for property owners to keep
>>their buildings in good condition. The presence of the post office, library,
>>banks and local government offices added to the steady flow of people
>>downtown. Not only was Downtown the center of the community's commercial
>>life, it was also an important part of its social life; people thronged the
>>streets on Saturday nights to meet friends, see a movie and window-shop.
>>
>>In the past 40 years, America's downtowns have changed drastically. The
>>creation of the interstate highway system and subsequent growth of suburban
>>communities transformed the ways in which Americans live, work and spend
>>leisure time.With improved transportation routes, people found it easier to
>>travel longer distances to work or shop. Roads that once connected
>>neighborhoods to downtown now carried residents to outlying shopping strips
>>and regional malls. Throughout the nation, in town after town, the story
>>repeated itself. Downtown businesses closed or moved to the mall, shoppers
>>dwindled, property values and sales tax revenues dropped. Some downtowns
>>sank under the weight of their own apathy. Neglected buildings, boarded-up
>>storefronts and empty, trash-strewn streets gradually reinforced the
>>public's perception that nothing was happening downtown, that nothing was
>>worth saving there. People forgot how important their downtown and its
>>historic commercial buildings were in reflecting their community's unique
>>heritage.
>>
>>In many communities downtown merchants and property owners, tried to halt
>>this spiral of decline by imitating their competition-the shopping mall.
>>Their attempts to modernize downtown take the forms of pedestrian malls,
>>covering traditional building fronts with aluminum slipcovers, and attaching
>>huge, oversized signs on their buildings to attract attention. These
>>well-meaning but usually ineffective methods did not stabilize downtown's
>>decline, mostly because they did not address the fundamental problem-that
>>businesses did not change when the market did, and that people did not see
>>the downtown as a destination for shopping any more. With the the economic
>>boom of the 1980s, Main Street also saw increased development occuring
>>outside traditional areas, and the issue of "sprawl" with its uncontrolled
>>growth and cookie cutter architecture that reflected neither a sense of
>>place nor a sense of pride, has become an issue that most communities
>>contend with today.
>>
>>Facing these issues, over 1,200 communities have adopted the Main Street
>>approach in the past 16 years to look again at Main Street, their heart of
>>the community, to save its historic buildings, to revive its commercial
>>core, to strengthen business, to control community-eroding sprawl, and keep
>>a sense of place and community life in America.

Subject: Children and Tobacco
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com, mayor@ci.shreveport.la.us

It seems that the local Retailers are not doing their part to comply with the Federal Legislation that goes into effect tomorrow. The law was established a year ago and Retailers have had this whole year to comply. What will happen when the Retailers do not comply? Does anyone care? I do. Do you? I checked many Retailers in my neighborhood. They were unaware of their responsibilities in this matter.

Following is a reprint of the rules of compliance from the Whitehouse.

Starting February 28, 1997

Do not sell cigarettes or smokeless tobacco to anyone under 18.*

Check photo ID for anyone under 27.

Starting August 28, 1997

Sell products only in a direct, face-to-face exchange. (No vending machines or self-service displays permitted except in places that never have anyone under 18 present.)

Do not sell single cigarettes ("loosies") or packs with fewer than 20 cigarettes ("kiddie packs").

Only accept coupons for redemption from adults at the store, not through the mail.

Do not give out any free samples of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco.

Inside your store: Have all tobacco ads and promotional material that have any pictures or colors removed. Use only ads or material with black text on a white background. (Exception: Inside places that never have anyone under 18 present, pictures or colors are permitted if the ads are not visible from the outside and cannot be removed.)

Outside your store: Have all outdoor tobacco ads and promotional material (including on store windows) that are within 1,000 feet of a school or public playground removed. Beyond 1,000 feet, use only ads or material with black text on a white background.

Do not give hats, t-shirts, or any other gift or item to anyone in exchange for a tobacco proof-of-purchase or as part of a sale of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco.

* The age may be higher in your state.

RETAILERS AND EMPLOYEES, THESE RULES AFFECT YOU

Retailers who sell to minors risk penalties of - $250 - or even more.

To make sure retailers follow the rules, State and local officials will work with FDA to monitor retailers across the country.

Also, customers witnessing the sale of tobacco products to a youngster or another violation, can report it to FDA by calling toll-free: 1-888-FDA-4KIDS BREAK THE RULES, PAY THE PRICE!

Q: Who is responsible if one of my clerks sells to someone under 18?
A: If one of your employees sells to a minor, you are responsible. That is why it is important for you to make sure your employees know the rules.

Q: How will anyone know if I'm selling tobacco to youngsters?
A: Adolescents, accompanied by State or local officials, will visit stores across the country to try to buy cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Also, people who observe an illegal sale can report the violation using FDA's toll-free hotline.

Q: Aren't the FDA rules just the first step toward stopping me from selling tobacco to anyone?
A: No. FDA's only purpose is to reduce young people's use of tobacco. Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco are and will remain legal products for sale to adults.
The FDA rules do not change that in any way.

RETAILERS,
YOU MAY BE WONDERING. . .

Subject: Parlez-vous Cyberspeak?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com,, mhsm@prysm.net, mitchell@prysm.net, preston@PRYSM.NET, webmaster@softdisk.com

Has the recent brouhaha over the new City Hall Campus complex in Shreveport, obscured the possible invisible improvements in city services, never-before-realized in the ArkLaTex?

Of what am I speaking; the City of Shreveport entering Cyberspace? Yes! The City may be On-line soon. Or will it? Will the services proposed for Internet access to the new City Campus provide services only to the people that work there, or will it serve the people who pay for it? Is the City going to allow the "People" to send and receive E-mail? Will the City create Mailing lists for Cybercasting important news? Will we be able to apply for permits with our Web browsers? Will we be able to pay our bills with our credit cards and transfer money from our bank accounts to pay for services? Will we be able to read the Council and Committee agendas and proceedings On-line? Will we be able to search the city codes and ordinances for guidance? Will we be able to find a business in the "Permit and License " database?" Will we have access to Recreation Department schedules. The city is in negotiations with a local Internet Service Provider to bring Internet Connectivity to the City Campus.

If the track record of the City of Shreveport government holds on its present course, these above mentioned things and many others will not happen for many years if at all. If you, the people of Shreveport, phoned your council representative and voiced your desire for these things to happen as soon as possible, they may be available in a possible time frame instead of a less-than acceptable time frame. Then perhaps our town can join the Twentieth Century before the Twenty-first Century arrives.

The additional problem with the City government Internet expansion proposal is that the proposed ISP has no track record showing experience with Database Management Systems. Database Management Systems is the primary reason to extend the city to the Internet. Any other service is just fancy conveniences no more complex than adding a CD player to your Stereo. Database Management Systems requires extensive background in this technology which the proposed ISP does not posses.

Subject: The technology has been in place for years in other communities, why not ours?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

Shreveport is number 14 on the list of U.S. cities most likely to be visited by tornadoes. We also have, on record, the most extreme weather on Earth. In California, the Cable TV systems are required to have emergency notification on every channel. The Fire Marshal's Office in each city controls the notification.

Our recent spate of extreme weather brings the need for Cable-Notification to consideration by the City Council. The ability of the Cable System to notify the Public of specific Emergency situations can save lives, prevent injury and preserve property.

Subject: Politically Correct Tobacco Ordinances
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

What was Politically Incorrect in the past is now Politically Correct!

The ordinances I submitted to the City Council in 1995 may not have been acceptable at that time. It seems with the Supreme Court rullings and activity in the State Legislature on tobacco use, my Ordinances may now be acceptable.

Subject: Would you move back to Shreveport?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

I took a small survey of numerous friends and family members who used to live in Shreveport, but have moved away. I asked just one question -- 'Would you move back to Shreveport?'

These are some of the responses --

"No, it is too backward."

"I have a high-tech job and there aren't any back there."

"I moved away to go to school and didn't see any reason to return when I got out."

"The local government holds things back, I want to live where I can have a good chance to get ahead in the world."

"There's nothing there."

"It's a good place to live if you've got something going, but it is a bad place to start something because of all the ignorance and corruption."

"You're kidding!"

"It's way too conservative for its own good."

"When I moved away, it was like a going on vacation, I'm still on vacation."

"I wanted a good education, I couldn't get it there. I stayed away because my degree in electronics could not help me make a living there and still wouldn't."

--------------------------------------------

Please apply a generous coating of Anti-Kook.

Subject: Crisis of Confidence
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

March 28, 1997

Police will always say whatever it takes to win a case in court, so why should I tell the truth in court?

Going to court for a ticket is like falling into a pit of poisonous snakes. The Justice system should protect you, but you will always be bitten. The snake is the hired bully of the court, the Police, and sidekick, the prosecuting attorney.

You might think at this point that I do not like the Police or that I want to bring down the system. You are wrong. I depend on the Justice System to protect me and keep the peace -- the Police are thin blue line. However, when the Police consistently abuse authority, and consistently perjure themselves on the witness stand, they destroy the integrity of their position. The Justice system has destroyed itself by consistently allowing the Police to lie, consummating the prosecution, making the Justice System unreliable. This Crisis of Confidence causes individuals to lie on the Witness Stand to protect themselves from malevolent prosecution. The Judge becomes the hapless partner in this ruse, undermining the respect of the position.

You might be thinking that I must be daft or malcontent, but I would not be writing this if I had not experienced this repeatedly.

There are two positions the Police take in this deceit; the conscious lie, the deceit is criminal perjury; the unconscious lie, it is recklessness. Either way the results are the same. If the Police actually think that something is wrong and writes a ticket when nothing wrong has been done the Police are acting as corporate bullies. The word used to describe this is racketeering. The courts will, by default, support the lies of Police. By cornering the victim into paying fines, the Justice system creates discord. This kind of discord foments revolution, insurrection and insurgency. Fascistic regimes in this century murdered millions, abused the courts to subjugate their factotum and turn countries into Totalitarian States. This abuse of authority undermines the very fabric of our society making the institutions whose responsibility it is to protect us from crime, themselves criminal institutions.

When Jefferson wrote, "We find these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal," Orwell amplified the truth when he wrote that "some more equal than others." When the Police consistently lie to win a case there is no Justice. Maybe there never has been Justice, we are just deceiving ourselves, or maybe there is a solution to this insidious problem that rots the very core of our society. I do not know what the solution is, do you? All I know is that I can not depend on the Justice System to protect me from the Police.

The ethics of this situation has comes to the point of no return. Our society has not progressed in the realm of civility, it has only limited the extent to which a bully can batter an individual. I call this "Soft Anarchy." The Police are masters at the game of anarchy and they always win. The Police alone revel in the glee of victimizing the public with impunity. Part of Civilization is knowing how to behave without having rules to follow. You can always count on the courts to do the right thing only after all other options have been exhausted.

Subject: What is to become of Shreveport?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

February 7, 1997

A Society that permits uncontrolled sign proliferation is a Society that permits Crime and Debauchery!

Apathy and lack of policy put forth by our local government concerns me greatly. Continuous destruction of our environment has caused what used to be a lovely city to become "Los Angelesized." Any truly concerned citizen will put political pressure on our Local Leaders to put a stop to this most appalling urban blight. I hope one day to see a better Cityscape, but I fear tomorrow we'll be sorely abscessed.

Subject: TV Ad
To: letters@thetimes.com

Letters to the Editor

February 7, 1997

I was watching ABC News last night and saw your Ad. I was appalled that you would not pass the spoken dialog through a grammer checker or pass it by a Philologist.

Specifically, the dialog opened with a sentence with two "ward" words. Forward and Backward do not end with the letter 's'. This is a common mistake in our country. Please take note.

Subject: Convention Center Site?
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com

Letters to the Editor

January 24, 1997

What is all this talk about a Convention Center Site?

The talk around town is about the River Cities status as a Convention Center. Lubbock, Texas touts an Expo Hall more than ten times the size of ours. New Orleans has the Super Dome with Dozens of World Class Hotels. Our community, for its size, should have many more Convention ammenities than it does. Our River front complex does not qualify as a Convention Center. It is underdeveloped, offers few hotels and has no convenient transportation from the Airport.

Why is this. If we did have the mettle to develop such a complex, where would it go? Certainly the present complex location could not accommodate a building of 300,000 square feet floor space with associated parking. This raises the idea of using the train yard downstream from the Interstate 20 bridge.

We (City of Shreveport) need to acquire this property as soon as possible. This will give us a site for such a complex.

Subject: Cable providers
To: letters@thetimes.com
Letters to the Editor

January 13, 1997

Title: What is uncommon wealth today may be commonplace tommorow!

When the British playwright Edward Moore (1712-1757) wrote in his play "The Gamester," 1753, "I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice." he had the wit to make fun of the rich but had no idea what technological marvels today makes everyone rich. Each of us are rich, certainly, beyond the dreams of playwright Edward Moore. Frank Lumbardino wrote an editorial, Jan. 9, 1997, "Why did we lose that (WGN)" he may be missing the Big Picture. Perhaps he does not know what he is missing. Dozens of Geostationary Communication Satellites beam TV and Radio signals to Earth for any of us in the US to view. The local Cable TV provider, can supply whatever programming they choose, provided it makes them a profit. Wondering why the local Cable company supplies a feed to your home or not is just a matter of convenience. Hundreds of Channels are available to anyone who can afford the receiver and subscription fees. For instance, KTLA, available by satellite, (formerly RKO Pictures, MetroMedia TV, owned by Gene Autry, in beautiful downtown Hollywood, on Fernwood Street & Hollywood Blvd.) has one of the largest film libraries on Earth. Their Superstation status certainly deserves as much viewing time on the cable as WGN. Los Angeles is the largest Viewing market on Earth were 90 percent of all Movies and Music Records are published and home of many Cable providers. Soon Cable companies will supply hundreds of channels to our homes and the argument about programming availability will be pushed to insignificance.

Subject: God?
To: letters@thetimes.com
Letters to the Editor

January 7, 1996

What is all this inflammatory talk about God? With all the attention on God-issues and religion in this editorial section, I thought I might ask questions of the readers.

Does God intercede in human's lives?
Who is the authority on God?
Who represents the authority on your religion?
How many religions are there and have there been?
What is Ideological Discord?
Is God in everything and everyone or does God exist outside everything and everyone?
Do humans have a function in this world, if so what is it?
Is modern religion excess baggage of tribal superstitions from our pre-agrarian past?

Many other significant questions may be asked. How can anyone say what is significant about their beliefs, without authority? In truth, there is no authority, therefore any talk about God and God's place in our lives is speculative. Power plus ignorance equals destruction. The only thing that gives our lives' significance is our ability to benefit each other, and how we go about doing it. If you need the excuse of religion to benefit others, then that is your way, however, please do not try to compel others to benefit (or detriment) others in the name of religion. Please do not continue in this forum, this embarrassing speculation about something of which no one can ever be sure.

Subject: righteous scolding
To: letters@thetimes.com
cc: ktbsnews@ktbs.com, news6@ktal.com, ksla@ksla.com
Letters to the Editor

January 6, 1997

Frank May's editorial Sunday, Jan. 5, 1997, righteously scolded the community about the clean-up campaign associated with the Miss USA Pageant. Any campaign to clean-up the city is worthwhile. City Government Sponsored Sweeping of the streets does not address the problem. I have been trying to get the attention of My Council person and Mayor for more than two years. In 1995 I submitted to my Council person, a comprehensive amendment to the City Sign Code. This code addresses the blight on our Community caused by the uncontrolled proliferation of Advertising Signs.

I have a problem with this. I have dropped my attempt to introduce legislation to the City. My Community Leaders will not touch something that may affect their campaign contributions. What good is it to have a clean-up campaign if there is no code policy to enforce/regulate the clean-up. I would like to see a mechanism to submit code and ordinance to the City Council. In a Democracy, a citizen has the right to submit legislative ideas to their Representatives. Just because an issue may be Politically sensitive, does not mean that it should be avoided by our elected representatives. There is no mechanism in the City of Shreveport for a citizen to submit a proposal to the City Council without their permission.

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December 23, 1996

Subject: What is News in Shreveport is commonplace elsewhere!

Recently several local news organizations reported that a "clean-up" program would begin in certain high traffic areas. I have to say that this is not news to me. I was born and raised in Shreveport but moved to California for 20 years. The Coastal cities there are very different in the way the local government treats its streets. There, EVERY street in the city is swept twice a month. They have City codes and ordinances empowering the City to maintain street sweeping. This means that the streets must be clear of cars for this purpose. This makes for a higher standard of living. Street sweeping is not news. If what is usual elsewhere, news for us, what are we missing in our local lifestyle? I dare say we are missing much! Ask your City Council person to help you with introducing new codes and ordinances such as this to elevate our standard of living.

Subject: Ebonics
To: letters@thetimes.com
Letters to the Editor

December 23, 1996

Title: What is all this talk about Ebonics!

I have serious doubts that Ebonics constitutes reliable information. Language does evolve but very slowly. Accepted new words must propagate through the entire speaking population and become commonly known to become part of the culture. Ebonics is not a language. Remember in the 1950s when teenagers spoke Pig Latin to hide their speech from others. Ebonics is just such a fad, not a language. Our accepted spoken language, English, has an origin and destination, Ebonics does not. If after several generations and the establishment of formal grammar for Ebonics is established, then maybe it can be accepted as a second language, but certainly not a primary language. Children growing up knowing only this streetspeak language will be handicapped in our society. Please do not do this to your children.

Subject: Malibu Beach Club; Omen of Shreve Square
To: letters@thetimes.com
Letters to the Editor

December 4, 1996

Ask yourself this question; Is the recent announcement from the Owners of The Malibu Beach Club an Omen, predicting the treatment of Shreve Square?

I have serious trepidation about the recent development announcement. I believe we need quality not quantity. Elevate the caliber of existing entertainment in the Riverfront Development District, not "more of the same." If the development of more entertainment facilities means that the present facilities will remain the way they are or will decline in quality, I personally will be disappointed. I am not satisfied with the quality of the present conditions in the Commerce Street row of entertainment spots.

How can the owners of the Malibu Beach Club expand their holdings when their present development appears so temporary? What can the people of this community expect from the owners of the Malibu Beach Club, when they open new floorspace, will it become just another Malibu Beach Club? I would like to see some kind of guarantee that Shreve Square will not be developed and then fall again into disrepair after a short time, as it has so many times before. We need long range planning and sound development for Shreve Square and not what I am expecting, "Here today, Gone tomorrow."

Subject: Creationists vs. Evolutionists
To: letters@thetimes.com
November 21, 1996

The presumptuous assumptions Creationists use to validate their superstitions are based on belief of the 3500 year old First Book of Moses. Moses interpreted 1500 year old Stories he heard from Nomadic Tribesmen. King James furthered the Myth by transcribing the "Fear of God" aspect into original Biblical Texts. The Original Texts are lost. Similar Myths still propagate through most currently existing ancient Cultures on Earth.

Superstition defined:

An irrational belief that an object, an action, or a circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome or a belief, practice, or rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith in magic or chance. A fearful or abject state of mind resulting from such ignorance or irrationality. Idolatry.

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Some of the "Letters to the Editor" in the past few days show a number of writers somewhat confused about their own relevance. I find myself in a world replete with superstitious people who just do not "Get It." They live out their lives without actually realizing their significance and that is, we (Humankind) are here for a purpose. That purpose is "to benefit each other." Dangerous Ideological discord fomented by Creationists verses Evolutionists only makes existence on Earth more perilous. We (Humankind) must learn to work together. Superstition confuses people, dissipates their will, and forces them, collectively down a path leading to ruin. Power plus ignorance equals destruction. Reliable Information dispels superstition and averts destruction. Learn how not to lie to oneself.

Subject: On God's role in our lives.
To: letters@thetimes.com

If I could speak for God I would. The fact is that no one has, is, or will speak (or write) for God. In Comparative theology, speaking or writing for god is called "Presumptuous Assumption." Presumptuous Assumption is a blinding light that obscures the vizarded from perceiving reality. In the September 29, 1996, letters to the Editor, "The Reverend Thomas Allen" wrote about the "unalterable word." The universe works a certain way and humans are only recently learning how it works. "The word of god (Holy Bible)" has nothing to do with the immutable laws of Nature. If the Reverend would learn how not to lie to himself, he would then see that nothing we may say or write is divine. The Victorian views of The Reverend concerning the role of women "holding a special place in God's work" ordained by the "word of God" offends me greatly. This Catholic view even contradicts The Reverend's own Religious Platform. Catholicism is based on the Pope (Peter) as the Vicar of Christ. Martin Luther nailed his protest to the door of the Catholic Church starting the Protestants of whom The Reverend is a member. They believe that the Pope does not represent Christ and that Women should have equal standing, including Priesthood, in the Church. Perhaps The Reverend should be ordained as a Catholic Priest and give up his Pulpit. The Reverend's hubristic, naive, sexist views of "the Word" demonstrate his presumption that God has control over the role of women and our lives. God has nothing to do with our lives and that some Supreme Being, he calls God, might in some imaginary and superstitious manner, intercede in our lives is foolish. God is probably Female anyway.

The founders of this Country were not Christian, but Deist. They wrote the Constitution to protect posterity from people like Reverend Thomas Allen who pontificates over their congregation with superstitious dogma. This Country was founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution. The "Creator" denies interference with the laws of the Universe. Natural Religion founded this Country not Christianity. Please Mr. Editor, stop printing the religious bunk, of these superstitious atavists. Our global community needs insight and understanding not predestined ideological discord and superstition. The only thing one which one may rely are the facts of experience. There is nothing in experience that indicates that the differences in people are greater than their similarities or that one person should be more equal than another simply because of gender or preference, religious or otherwise. Humans exist in the world to help each other not to harm each other or pass judgment. Religious wars have killed more people than any other cause including disease. The Reverend's views exist in a Vacuum which nature abhors. When the shroud of religious persecution is removed from The Reverend's eyes, he will see that we live in a world of wonder and not a world predestined by "The Reverend's Word of God (Holy Bible)." Jesus Christ would not approve of The Reverend.

Subject: Macintosh skills are practical in the real world!
To: letters@thetimes.com

Mr. Joseph P. Olah wrote in the "Letters to the Times," 9/30/96, that Macintosh is not real world. Well, it is not real world Shreveport maybe. The fact is that the ARK-LA-TEX is Macintosh-hostile. The PC may be more popular here because the mainstream of technology does not flow near here. The East and West Coasts are very different from the ARK-LA-TEX. These distant regions are PC hostile. This is another example of slow evolution in the ARK-LA-TEX. The Macintosh is 100% MS-DOS and Windows compatible, not vice-versa. My Macintosh runs Microsoft MS-DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 (UNIX to) at the same time with my all my other applications as just another program. Never mind the technical stuff. I could go on and on about the technical differences in these platforms. These differences in Mr. Olah's experience seem to be political. If we look at the "REAL" cost of computing, it is labor, not Hardware costs, not Software costs, not Installation costs, but labor costs. Labor comprises the lion's share of the cost of computing. The PC suffers three times the labor costs than the Macintosh. This makes investment in PCs intrinsically and consistently more expensive. The learning curve for the Macintosh flattens much sooner than the PC and this reduces operating expenses. If we look at the preferred platform for science, engineering, medicine, graphics, and communication on the Internet, Apple products are used in these fields 2 to 3 times more than any other manufacturer's products.

If we look at computers in a comparative format, the Macintosh is an "Icon" based operating system designed to be upward compatible (future compatibility). The PC is "DOS" (disk operating system) based and is downward compatible (future obsolescence). DOS rears its ugly head when using Windows 95 and will never go away without the PC departing completely from MS-DOS like in OS-2 and Windows NT. These operating systems are not for the uninitiated. IBM has now cloned the Macintosh and so has many other mainstream manufactures.

If in 1910, Mr. Olah had written that we should continue teaching horse and buggy technology because this was the preferred mode of transportation, we would still be sweeping the manure out of the streets and space travel would only be in Jules Verne's novels. MS-DOS is the "Buggy Wipe" of operating systems. The Macintosh is used in schools because it is easier to use, not because it is used in homes and business, even though it is used in more family's homes than any other manufacturer's computers. He was wrong about his statistics anyway, "90% of all homes and businesses are using IBM compatibles," is not correct. Fifty (50) million people use the Macintosh every day and this many people will not "Go Away."

Mr. Olah, primary and secondary school's purpose is to teach students how to learn, not how to get a job. Getting a job is only possible if you are educated. Education is the process of learning, not vocation training. Vocation training can only be done in the workplace not in school. Computers are the primary tool for "learning how to learn" not, as you say, "how to use ... when they get that first job." 20% of all new jobs are in the home (telecommuting). Telecommuting has not come to the ARK-LA-TEX yet, but it will. By the time those students who are now in grammar school, graduate from college, 40% of all new jobs will be in the home. The Computer of choice in the home is the Macintosh were it has the majority of installations.

Subject: Gambling, not just another Vice!
To: letters@thetimes.com

What is the real issue? "Is Gambling actually a Boom or Bust?" Governments, throughout history, have found ways to profit from Vice and Debauchery. The use of the word "positive" to describe economic impact on our community is opinion and not fact. Vice industries, such as Gambling (Gameing Industry), malign the very intent of Government, to "protect and defend the general welfare" and "maintain order and keep the peace." Since Gambling has come to the Ark-La-Tex, Forced Evictions have skyrocketed by a factor of 10, according to Shreveport City Clerk. This indicator is the crest of a wave of human suffering and debauchery directly attributable to the arrival of Gambling to our community. You may argue that Organized Gambling in Louisiana contributes to Education and local Treasuries. The fact is that Gaming Industrialists keep 6 out of every 7 gaming net dollars earned, dissipating our economic strength and diverting it out of State. Imagine the big difference in our schools if all gaming dollars went to education instead of so much of it going into the pockets of the depraved "Fat Cats" in Nevada. This constitutes 'Fancy Slavery' encouraged and supported by our government, breaking the spirit of those weak willed individuals afflicted with gambling addiction. Our government lies in the gutter with the low life that promulgates this cancer on our community. The leaches in Nevada suck the economic life out of our community. Gamblers! Give your money to local Libraries, Schools and Universities. Maybe our community would not otherwise have one of the poorest educational systems in the country.

Dement (Bossier City Mayor) used a "Wall Street" marketing ploy saying that water utilities would have to be raised if the Boats leave. Nothing is said about the conspicuous growth in evictions and civil suits, just the visible tip of the iceberg. The "Shabby Underside" of the Vice industry contributes to the decline in our quality of life and may be documented with a little investigation. The Microcosm of Video Poker revenues helping a Service Station or Restaurant falsely denies the economic decimation Gambling has caused to our Community.

Subject: editorial
To: letters@thetimes.com

In response to John Moore's editorial Wednesday, September 4, 1996, published in your LETTERS section, this article addresses his insight.

A genius, John Moore of Minden he must be or he read R. Buckminster Fuller's book first published in 1962. In "Bucky's" book titled "Education Automation," Anchor Books, he wrote "I have talked to you about solving problems by design competence instead of by political reform." Your local School Boards, like almost all local School Boards, exist as a Political Institution, not an education institution. The general principle of an institution is to service the people in the institution, not service the people to which it exists to serve. We are the people that a School Board serves but we do not get service, only the School Board Bureaucrats get service. When this reverses then we may get "Education Automation."

Bucky talked about using Microwaves to 'Beam' lessons to individuals in their homes, with dish receivers, taught by the 'Greatest Authorities on the Subject' recorded on video tape, giving the lessons, all this in 1962. He actually wrote the book in the mid 50s, it was only published in 1962. He wrote about "two-way" TV with "constant referendum." He wrote about how education is a "regenerative experience" and that "we as educators ought to learn from that experience how to do it much better the next time." We still use traditional methods developed in the Eighteenth Century to operate our Schools. This anti-evolutionary Victorian method-of-opperation objectionably restrains our progress.

The basic flaw in the present system is that it is 'bureaucratically paralyzed.' This bureaucracy paralysis disenfranchises students, parents and teachers. This misapplication of the education process obstructs and diffuses the 'feed-back loop' necessary for the "regenerative experience" about which Bucky and John Moore wrote. We can not be 'the best' at anything when the opportunity to do so does not exist. With the INTERNET and CD-ROM technology now in the 'Mainstream' and soon-to-be interactive Cable TV, there is no excuse for the present dilemma in which we now find ourselves. The current state of affairs requires change and each of us as individuals, regarding our government, require participation, mostly toward self rule and away from bureaucracy. This new technology psychologically threatens the School Board Bureaucrats. They errantly believe they will lose their jobs. To the contrary, Education Automation accelerates education and makes teachers more powerful and less dependent of narrow ranges of Curricula. As we approach the ability for electronic referendum we now have the opportunity to restructure the present system of bureaucracy. By neglecting this needed reform we are creating a generation of dullards that perpetuates a social class of dullards. The present invisible impasse screams for reform. The bureaucrats have thrown-up barriers to change. These barriers must come down immediately.

Study your local Codes, Ordinances, Bylaws, Constitutions and Articles of Incorporation, concerning your School Boards. Find a chink in these rules; pry, inquire, reform. A relentless struggle may be needed to throw-down the barriers now obstructing the "regenerative experience" regarding "Education Automation." It is children who suffer. Schools belong to us, "The People," do not let posterity say that we were apathetic. Let us stop waiting for Darwin to arrive.

Subject: A matter of refinement
To: ksla@ksla.com

The World may be only transformed by a change in consciousness. Therefore as a matter of refinement, why have you not endeavored to rise above your consistant use of faulty expression in your newscast. Those individuals raised in the World outside our community look on us as dull throwbacks.

Since locals learn to speak by listening, your broadcasting errant speech teach people how to make mistakes without their knowledge. Upon awareness of these facts we must strive to rise above the mediocrety of ourselves.

I request that you please aspire to remove the backward affectations in your news broadcasts.

You have this chance to look good, please do not continue looking bad.

Subject: Tobbacco
To: letters@thetimes.com

In September, 1995, I met with Councilman Hightower in the City of
Shreveport City Council Chambers, where I submitted Documents
to him for Council approval. Councilman Hightower did not even acknowledge them. These codes will elevate our quality of life and give "Teeth" to the flacid Codes and Ordinances of the City of Shreveport which sorely lack provision for Order and Control of these Developmental and Environmental issues.

In the light of the new developments in the US government concerning Tobacco, my Codes and Ordinances specifically address these same concerns. By being passed over by my City Councilman, Hightower, I am disenfranchised and without representation. I would like to "One-up" the City Council and have you print my WebPage address in your Editorial Section with a short description of the nature of the Ordinances. These Ordinances protect children and are very parallel to the recent US Legislation as you may read for yourself in my WebPage.

Subject: Corruption
To: letters@thetimes.com

Corruption hits Shreveport's City Prosecuter's Office.

Friday, February 2, 1996, City of Shreveport Government Services shut-down as a result of an Ice Storm. Municipal Court did not meet that Day. All those who were to "have their Day in Court" did not. Many of these people just disregarded their responsibility to show in court and did not follow-up on their obligation. Other, more responsible individuals, reported to the City Prosecuter's Office the next week with the intent to reestablish court dates.

The Prosecuter's Receptionist assured those citizens who missed their court dates that they will not experience any problems with the Court and that the Prosecutor's Office will inform them of their new Court dates. This did not happen. The City Prosecutor's Office established new Court Dates for these citizens but failed to inform them of the Court dates. When these people failed to appear, the Prosecutor's Office, through the City Clerk's Office, automatically transmitted computerized Affidavits to Baton Rouge, suspending their driver's licenses.

These people were mailed automated suspension notices to report to the State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety, LSP/Safety Enforcement, Office with a paid receipt of the fine and an additional $100.00 Reinstatement Fee. Some of these people contacted the City Prosecutor's Office by phone with consternation profound. The City Prosecutor's receptionist, the same one that assured them that their Court Dates were fine, refused to discuss it over the phone. After numerous phone calls and broken promises to resolve the situation and many weeks later and many visits to City Hall later, some of these people resorted in contacting the City Attorney's Office. The City Attorney was asked to force Brian H. Barber, City Prosecutor, to return phone calls and resolve the errant situation. Prosecutor Barber adopted his Prosecutor chide attitude, rebuking all attempts to resolve the error. After numerous City Attorney meetings and numerous additional visits to City Hall, Prosecutor Barber agreed to establish new court dates for these hapless victims of his error. However, Prosecutor Barber, still did not rescind the Affidavit of license suspension.

The State of Louisiana subsequently sent these people mandatory "Revocation Officers Pickup Orders." These Orders require the people to report to the Safety office with the paid receipt and $100.00 fee at a specific date and time or Suspension notice of driver's license and an Arrest Warrant would be issued. If arrested additional fines and imprisonment would be levied. Since none of these people had gone to court, paid receipts could not be issued. The State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety Office can not withdraw the affidavit without notification from the City Prosecutor or the fines and fees paid.

After many additional visits to the City Prosecutor's office and coercion from the City Attorney, Prosecutor Barber continuously erred in producing the proper documents to rescind the Suspension Affidavits. These original letters had to be carried to the State of Louisiana, Department of Public Safety Office. The Safety office would not accept any other form of documentation but an original letter. It could not be mailed, it had be placed in the hands of the process officer at the Safety Office. However Prosecutor Barber could not bring himself to include the proper information for some evil purpose, known only to him. Some of these people lost as many as 9 days of work to resolve this situation without one day in court.

Prosecutor Barber is either Stupid, Corrupt or just plain mean. If this person had any self respect (how can he as a lawyer?) he would treat people of Shreveport as he himself would want to be treated. His abuse of power and obvious bully tactics embarrasses the Government of the City of Shreveport. No wonder our local government has such a bad reputation with people like Brian H. Barber manipulating our lives. The illegal and unethical practices of Brian H. Barber, puts the City Treasury at risk. Our City can not afford another lengthy Class Action Suit.

Voice your protest to this flagrant abuse of Power. Phone your City Council Member today or you may fall victim to this retched scoundrel.

Subject: Where responsibility begins; City-to-Citizen.
To: letters@thetimes.com

Government has laws, codes, ordinances, and licenses that form a body of work guiding personal responsibility. At the local government level, there exists many mind-numbing documents that somehow have implicitly lead to the present level of civilization. However, there does not exist documents stating explicit responsibilities.

For instance:

A home-owner might want to erect a fence. What are the owners' responsibilities to the city and procedures for doing this? What are all the responsibilities to the City a home-owner faces for that matter.

An existing corporation in another State wants to locate a new manufacturing facility here. What procedures and responsibilities (maybe in a check-list form) must this company pass to make this new facility viable?

A citizen has witnessed a crime. What responsibilities does the citizen have to the community in reporting the crime?

With the new Website for the City, these documents may be published quite easily. We need explicit documents of responsibility, independent of codes and ordinances. Responsibility entails willingness to be accountable for choices, decisions, and behavior, but if stated responsibilities are obscured in a morass of code, this may allow conflict, confusion, ignorance and apathy. To generate the causes of the effects needed or wanted, meaningful articles of responsibilities must be provided with reasons meaningful in terms of interests and needs.