LETTERS: JOURNET GIVES BIASED VIEW OF BOND

To the editor:

As we enter another election cycle, we will again have the opportunity to hear periodically from the environmental specialist from the Hill -- not Washington, not Jefferson City, but our own Southeast Missouri State University -- Professor Alan R.P. Journet. It is interesting that Professor Journet chose U.S. Sen. Kit Bond to attack initially, because there is no one who works harder for Missourians using a common-sense approach to fight Big Government than Bond.

Professor Journet fails to not that it was Bond who went to battle for rural health-care clinics, preventing birth defects, mobile and outreach clinics for veterans, transportation for senior citizens to access health care and more. It is Bond who strives to get parents involved in the education of their children through programs like Parents as Teachers, which Bond started while serving as Missouri governor, and the American Reads program. Bond realizes no government program can ever replace the importance of parents in a child's development.

With respect to the environment, Bond has fought hard to protect our environment and, at the same time, protect personal property rights of hardworking Missourians. For example, Bond introduced legislation to enhance our natural resources along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. American Rivers, the Farm Bureau and the Navigation Association in Missouri endorsed this legislation, a monumental achievement considering it brought environmental and commercial interests to the same table. Bond also fought to expand conservation reserves and wetland reserves, but not at the expense of private property owners. Professor Journet fails to understand that people in our nation have property rights, something generations have worked to attain throughout our nation's history. Bond has been the lead advocate of reforestation research in which the University of Missouri plays and extremely important role, developing new inroads for future resources.

When Professor Journet mentioned the cost of building roads in our national forests, he failed to bring out the fact that the roads built in Mark Twain National Forest also allowed many needy counties payment in lieu of taxes from resource sales to offset federal and state land ownership. Often, if a national forest loses money, it is not because of roads being build. It is due to environmental organizations' judicial proceedings. Even though there is sound management and significant forest expansion, Professor Journet and other extremists fail to understand the dilemma they place on rural Missourians and the importance of these resources to the livelihood of hardworking people. Another example of Professor Journet's misinformation was insinuating the mining industry was operating virtually free in the national forest. Where? The only thing close is a request for exploratory mining.

Small business is the backbone of our United States, yet Professor Journet states that Bond supports corporate welfare, which is total rhetoric. As chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business, Bond has worked hard to get small business, including small farmers like myself, on an equal playing field with large corporations. His efforts are allowing small businesses to increase the amount they can deduct for health insurance costs for their employees, making it more feasible to offer benefits like large corporations. Bond also managed to get his HUB zone legislation passed, which will direct more government business to blighted areas. Unlike enterprise zones, which can be political designations, census figures with facts designate HUB zones to document need by low income and high unemployment. The IRS, because of Bond, recently admitted to being harsh with citizens, and the IRS commissioner endorsed a proposal from Bond making the IRS more customer oriented. We will see, but you can bet Bond will keep watch.

Fortunately, as Professor Journet stated, Bond's record is a matter of public record. With that in mind, rather than take Journet's slanted opinion, look at Bond's actual record, not the word of Professor Journet.

LETA BAHN

Cape Girardeau