To the editor:

I am shocked and awed by two things: First is that no one has been expressing outrage over South Junior High School being obsolete and needing to be raised and replaced. It is only 35 years old, our second newest junior high building! I know we live in a throw-away, consumer society, but throw away a relatively new building? Also, it was the USD 497 school board that approved that building, which calls into question the past body’s judgment. Is the current board more similar or different from that group?

Secondly, I am amazed by our U.S. president’s choice of calling the current war a “Shock and Awe.” That is not only callous but arrogant. We now know that the resolve of the Iraqi people supersedes any “shock and awe” and is only matched by their hatred for the United States, the self-proclaimed liberators. This administration is shocking and awful and should be ashamed.

Timothy Bonner,

Lawrence