We have bigger infrastructure needs than Trump’s border wall

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I personally oppose any funding for President Trump’s proposed border wall. It has been well established that more undocumented people are currently leaving the United States than are entering illegally.

Furthermore, congressional representatives of southern border states have said that many of their constituents are not in favor of such a wall. On the other hand, there are numerous pressing infrastructure needs throughout our nation. These include leaking dams, crumbling bridges, mass transit repairs and expansion, unsafe public drinking water, leaky and inadequate wastewater systems, as well as road resurfacing and construction to name only a few. Federal funds are desperately required now to address and remedy these and other kinds of long-neglected infrastructure problems. To me, these should be the first obligations with regard to any federal funds budgeted for construction priorities — not an expensive and unnecessary border wall.

Judith Muench, Homer Park

Personal responsibility

You should be lauded for your stance on the law about parolees associating with known felons and gang members to remain the same. It’s one of the first times you actually made the point that people have to become personally responsible for their actions, like the personal responsibility of agreeing to parole restrictions.

Now if you could just expand on that common sense and push the idea of personal responsibility to everyone, like obeying the law, then maybe the crime and violence in this city will begin to abate. It’s not society that causes crime, it is individuals.

Robert Stasch, Norwood Park

Climate change

Today climate change is happening all over the world, even here in Chicago. Some people think that climate change is caused by humans and some people think that it’s caused by nature. But scientists say that when we use electricity that comes from gas and coal, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere and it traps the heat.

We need to stop using our cars and limit the amount of electricity we use. I’m in sixth grade and I go to Hawthorne Scholastic Academy. We’ve learned in science class that we should ride our bikes instead of using our cars. We could also take the bus, which uses only a limited amount of gas.

If we all do this, the rate of climate change will decrease, and we won’t have as many big storms. The polar ice won’t melt and our cities won’t flood. We would have a better environment when we grow up.

Ava Kaplan, Lake View

Greatest obstacle

Our president’s first 100 days have been marked by numerous failures. He would have us believe it’s the fault of the Democrats, fake news media, or “so-called” judges.

However this president’s greatest obstacle has been our nation’s Constitution. I have never been more grateful to our forefathers for their wisdom and foresight.

Michelle Ehrhart, Villa Park

Roskam is right

As a constituent of U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., I take exception to your disingenuous and deliberate mischaracterization of his telephone town hall. After watching radicals, using purported Tea Party tactics, disrupt and shut down U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s, R-Calif., town hall on C-SPAN, Roskam’s reluctance to subject himself to such anarchistic tactics is certainly understandable.

After signing up for Rep. Roskam’s email newsletter, I received an unsolicited invitation to join his telephone town hall, in which I commended him for support of the Taylor Force Act (HR 1164), named for an American war veteran murdered by a terrorist while visiting Israel. This act would withhold all financial aid to the Palestinian Authority while it continues to subsidize the families of deceased and incarcerated terrorists. I concur with Rep. Roskam that American taxpayers should never be compelled to subsidize terrorism.

A reputable newspaper would never facilitate the efforts of radical Marxists and campus brownshirts, such as those who shut down Rep. Chaffetz’s town hall to suppress the expression of opinions with which they disagree.

Michael Woloshin, Tower Lakes

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