Letters

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, May 1, 2000 by Capital-Journal

Increasing participation

Recently, RE/MAX Associates of Topeka has been airing a TV commercial showing a woman in a wheelchair shopping for a home.

Good for them. It's about time all Americans were shown fully able to participate in what our affluent society has to offer.

RE/MAX should be commended.

--- BOB MARRIN, Topeka.

Eye-opening walk

When a visiting friend inquired about Amtrak's Carbondale derailment, we decided to visit the site. Nothing much remained at the scene except a torn up field. We drove southwest to the next grade crossing and walked the track for a quarter of a mile to a small bridge.

What we saw there was eye-opening. Spikes were coming out of the ties, and at least half of them were not bearing on the rails where they rest on the tie plates. Several spikes could be pulled out with a bare hand. At numerous spots the only thing that appeared to be holding the rail down was the weight of the rail itself. Additionally, many ties in that quarter mile section were rotting and/ or broken.

Next we visited the Union Pacific's beautiful passenger depot, under restoration, and a long freight train appeared, consisting of three heavy, six-axle diesel locomotives and numerous, loaded automobile cars. As the train passed, we watched in amazement as the track sank into its roadbed and rose again when each set of wheels passed over several spots directly behind the depot. This deflection appeared to be as much as two inches in four or five locations.

I am pro railroad --- I worked for the Santa Fe in South Texas while attending college. I am a rail fan --- I have a nice, operating model railroad in my basement.

But this is scary. These are main lines. Is it any wonder that Amtrak, or any 60 mph train, might derail when track maintenance is this poor? Maybe tracks are supposed to "give" --- fall and rise --- as trains roll over them. Maybe rails don't require as many solidly planted spikes as I would like to see. Have the experts decided yet what caused the Amtrak derailment at Carbondale? I have.

--- DAVID HARLAN, Topeka.

Dream come true

What is the tower for on the new Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library? That's where they keep the princess.

Just kidding. The tower houses the atrium that will fill the entrance to the library with light filtered down from the top, and according to a virtual reality film we volunteers have seen, it's gorgeous, with blue and gold inside.

Many years ago, long before Michael Graves, the library architect, was even a glint in his parents' eyes --- librarians used red rubber stamps clipped onto their No. 2 Eberhard Faber yellow pencils (and changed these tiny red rubber numbers daily with a pair of tweezers), and they stamped your book in and out like Marion, the Librarian.

In our new library there will be an awesome underground conveyor belt that grabs your returning books, delivers them to a "smart cart," and a dozen other fabulous new inventions where books will be sorted into the proper groups for shelving.

The future seems to be on a conveyor belt, too --- and moving faster and faster. From the time of that small Kansas limestone library building on the Capitol grounds, where I remember standing in a line waiting for my copy of "Ferdinand the Bull," and through all the evolving incarnations of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library --- always beautiful among all the ever increasing machines are the books themselves. They are what libraries, however increasingly fabulous and mechanized (0) are all about --- books, and people, and magic.

The magic that has always been found in the joy of reading, whether it be John Grisham or the Brothers Grimm.

--- JOELLA BROWN, Topeka.

This isn't American

I am astounded that such demeaning commentary on the family life of middle class America as "American Beauty" should even be seen.

How dare they give this anti-American production an Oscar!

Regarding the actors and actresses, what a waste of talent in this portrayal.

Bill O'Reilly of "The O'Reilly Factor" has expressed his disgust at this degenerate movie. He also called it anti-American.

My daughter was given free tickets to "American Beauty." I went with her and I walked out on this social catastrophe.

Don't Americans know when our country is being insulted?

I realize that we have sunk to a new moral low in seven years, beginning with Hollywood and the White House. I am outraged.

--- MARGARET McGILLIVARY, Topeka.