I am writing this letter to say to the State Fair Board, "Quit fooling around and move the State Fair to Fonner Park in Grand Island." Take the millions of dollars that UNL would have to pay for the State Fair land and buildings and run west. Meet with the Fonner Park people and see what can be developed.

We belonged to the National Campers and Hikers Association with headquarters in Buffalo, N.Y., and each year we had a National Campvention that was moved around the United States and Canada.

We hosted the 1985 Campvention in Grand Island and we had over 2,800 RVs and had around 11,500 people. We had a wonderful time and worked hard to provide a week of fun for that many people. Fonner Park personnel were very cooperative.

Marian and I were commercial chairmen and had a wonderful group of people that worked with us. We heard comments and compliments for some years later that it was one of the best Campventions that many had attended.

Fonner Park and the City of Grand Island were certainly hospitable. This applied to the whole community. We had a parade on Saturday, the last day of the Campvention, and KOLN/KGIN put the parade on TV, so much of Nebraska got to see what went on.

Take the money from UNL and build a whole new State Fair in Hall County. It could be such a thing that you could work with Husker Harvest Days and really make it a week of great celebrations that you can be proud of and also Grand Island could be proud. Take the fair to the central part of Nebraska and possibly closer to those that bring their animals to the fair.

Gerald F. Larson

Tekamah

Smoking ban will protect freedom

In Theresa Moffett's letter to the editor on March 3, Ms. Moffett states that she has lived 87 years around secondhand smoke. In addition, she doesn't blame cigarettes for the sole cause of cancer.

What a blessing it is that Ms. Moffet is not one of the 8.6 million people in the United States that has a serious illness caused by secondhand smoke. At least 3,000 of these illnesses being annual lung cancer deaths and 35,000 being annual heart disease deaths, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ms. Moffet expresses her concern about the government taking away more of our freedoms by passing the smoking ban.

Freedom brings responsibility. From the standpoint of a government that cares, it is an ethical and moral responsibility to take the appropriate steps in reducing the secondhand smoke exposure among non-smokers. Implementing policies that establish smoke-free environments is the most effective approach to this reduction.

Ms. Moffet also comments that if the smoking ban is passed, why not pass a ban on factory fumes, car fumes and cornfield spraying toxicity. Fortunately there are already regulatory boards with laws established for the potentially toxic and harmful emissions that are possible. California, for example, has been the benchmark for auto emission standards for the past three decades.

The majority of states have already implemented state smoking restrictions for private-sector work sites, restaurants and bars. In these states secondhand smoke exposure among U.S. nonsmokers has decreased sharply in recent years.

For the regions where a substantial portion of nonsmokers continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke in the private sector, work sites, restaurants and bars, I pray that the push to enact a smoking ban is pursued with fruition.

With the passing of the smoking ban, our freedoms are not compromised, but protected. As a progressive, informed and conscientious community, let's choose to be a part of the solution.

Maureen Mendyk

1104 Kennedy Drive

Changing hearts, minds and laws

The Feb. 29th issue of the Independent ran a heart wrenching story of the death of another precious Grand Island child. Whether this was a case of deliberate abuse or accidental, it is still a tragedy.

I was very touched by the deep concern shown in the statements made by Diann Muhlbach, coordinator of the Coalition for Children. I quote: "Our biggest challenge is getting people to understand a child is a valuable human being. If you have something that's valuable to you, you take care of it. A child is a precious gift. We need to look at how we value children. How do we get people to look at our children as valuable."

My answer to Diann is: As long as these precious children are not protected and valued BEFORE they are born and this culture of death continues in the world with disregard for life at any stage we will continue to have these tragedies. The big challenge is not only changing hearts and minds but changing our laws to protect human life from conception to natural death. It's not an easy task by any means, but one that we must never stop striving for, for the children.

Barb Jones

208 Lakeside Drive