LETTERS: Slain teacher was doing what we all should be able to do

I didn’t know Cynthia Trevillion; Chicago’s Inspector General Joe Ferguson did. His full-page guest column Friday eloquently expressed what most people I know have been thinking and feeling ever since the beloved teacher died tragically, the innocent victim of gang crossfire.

She was doing what we all should be able to do — walking with her husband John to meet friends for dinner. Ferguson’s column takes to task the mayor, the police superintendent, the City Council and the lack of a comprehensive crime strategy. But Ferguson also challenges all of us: “Speak up. Stop accepting our city’s violence as normal. … Let’s get going. … Cynthia and John Trevillion deserve that. And so does every other victim of violence in our great, but troubled, city.”

Christine Craven, Evergreen Park

A fan of Cubs fans

As a lifelong fan, I will love the Dodgers to the exclusion of all other teams. But I am now and forever will be a fan of Cubs fans. Despite knowing in their hearts in the early innings their Cubs were defeated a few nights ago I didn’t see a single one leave the ballpark. They remained until the final out ended the game but not their disappointment, broken-hearted, as I would have been.

I didn’t see a single fan head for the exits or a single abandoned seat. They held fast to support their Cubs and in supporting their team honored themselves. I never considered the notion that anyone could be a fan of a fan, but now I am. Cubs fans have set a standard, and frankly I’m doubtful any others will measure up, winners in defeat.

Victor R. Stull, California

Good for whom?

How can anyone, even his base, believe our president and his Republican Party’s “very, very good” tax plan? Very good for whom? We haven’t seen his taxes yet. Here are a few facts about how this Republican tax plan is looking out for us middle class (income range $46,000-$149,000) members:

• One study estimates 1 in 5 between $86,000 and $149,000 will end up paying more taxes. (USA Today, Oct. 11, 2017)
• The top 1 percent would see an average $129,030 tax cut! (Tax Policy Center)
• From the lower middle class, those who do get a tax decrease will get an estimated tax savings of $4,000 (oh, that’s over eight years), a hefty sum of $500 (239 large Dunkin Donut coffees) per year savings! (USA Today, Oct. 11, 2017)
• States like Illinois with higher property and other taxes will likely lose these taxes as deductions.
• Plus, the extra revenue, from the middle class, will go to support this president’s proposed huge defense budget increase (over 20 percent — $100 billion in a few years) to prepare for — the future wars he initiates? I have been a well-documented, contributing member to our government’s cash flow for over 50 years. So, Mr. President, why not show us your taxes, so we can decide who this new tax plan really benefits?

Dennis Parker, Glen Ellyn

Turning his back on seniors

U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., has turned his back on seniors in the 6th Congressional District. His support of the Fiscal Year 2018 budget resolution will end Medicaid and Medicare as we know them. Mr. Roskam has voted to cut funding for Medicare by $487 billion and cut Medicaid and other health care programs by $1.5 TRILLION over 10 years.

To take funds from tens of thousands of seniors in his district and give that money away to provide huge tax cuts for his wealthy donors is not what the people of the 6th District sent him to Washington to do. Before Mr. Roskam acts further to ram these draconian cuts through Congress, I urge my fellow seniors in the 6th district to telephone his office at 1(202) 225-4561 and tell him to keep his hands off of the funding that so many in his district have worked for and depend on. We can’t allow Roskam to keep hiding from the people that he’s supposed to be representing.

Jerry Freda, Inverness

Unconscionable

It is unconscionable for Chief of Staff John Kelly and President Donald Trump to attack a congresswoman with the guts to stand up to both of them. It is ludicrous in the extreme for Kelly to be horrified that the congresswoman listened in on a call that her constituent wanted her to be a part of and to try to distract the nation from seeing the truth of Trump’s lies regarding the conversation he had with some one who lost a loved one in war.

This president is the same draft-dodging millionaire who denigrated and insulted a Gold Star family during his campaign. Trump and his super patriots love to pose with veterans and use them as props for their gain but have a total lack of respect for them and their loved ones.

Edward D. Juillard, Morgan Park