Comments by vh1983
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Posted on May 15 at 8:21 a.m.
I also agree with Mr. Helbert.
You've got to be kidding me! Sure, let's spend even more of the taxpayers' money to enable (often illegal) immigrants who refuse to learn the common language. My ancestors who emigrated here from other countries had to learn English, why are these new immigrants an exception? This is getting absolutely ridiculous. I would never move to a non-English speaking country and them demand that I be offered everything in English instead of making an effort to learn the language.
If someone doesn't speak English well enough to pass the GED test, they aren't going to be able to get a job working in a bilingual environment. Allowing them to slide by without learning the language isn't going to help anybody and it would be wasting the taxpayers' dollars.
Posted on March 11 at 11:24 a.m.
Please, don't blame the unions. They still serve a very important role. Our country's corporations are making a killing by reducing pay and benefits (through hiring illegals and others willing to work for less) and by outsourcing many different industries. The lower and middle classes are suffering and were it not for the unions the situation would be even worse. The government is doing nothing to ensure that the jobs stay in our country and pay enough to live on, so someone has to stick up for the workers. What irritates me is how the CEOs and executives of the companies are still getting huge bonuses and tons of perks. It's a very unfair system. Emporia is very effected by this kind of thing. It's always been an industrial town and now that all of the factories are closing down and/or moving the main group of people who have called Emporia home will have to leave if they want to find work that actually pays enough to live on.
Posted on January 26 at 12:40 a.m.
AreYouHappyNow has a point. But it's not just that people aren't moving to Emporia, it's also that the younger generations move away for better opportunities as they graduate. I'm only 24, but since my freshman year of high school myself and most of my friends planned to live somewhere other than Emporia. If we planned to attend ESU, we knew that we'd have to leave once we graduated. Aside from the failing job market, there isn't enough of a draw in Emporia to keep the younger generations there.
I think the recent flood of Hispanic immigrants is the only reason that the population has stayed the same, considering that most of the younger people move to larger cities as they graduate.
Posted on January 26 at 12:04 a.m.
See? That's what I'm talking about. You've got 1,500 people who are out of work. Where are they going to go? Most of them will HAVE to move. The only places that are usually hiring in Emporia are gas stations, fast food places, and retail stores. Those jobs pay less than the Tyson employees are used to and those wages will be even worse for those who are trying to support families. There will also be competition for those jobs from the high school and college students. There just aren't enough jobs, let alone decent paying jobs, in Emporia. The only options most of these people will have is to take a crappy job in Emporia, move to another city, or work in Topeka and commute, but with the price of gas that's expensive, too.
If Dolly goes under or cuts wages, which is starting to look very likely, Emporia will be finished. There just won't be anything left to sustain it.
Posted on January 25 at 11:30 p.m.
Eddison2, what exactly is wrong with my ethics? I am not an immoral person. I may seem indifferent to the people laid off, but that's hardly a crime. I work very hard and am an honest person, and I want to make a decent wage for the work that I do. I need to be able to support myself and I don't want to be exhausted trying to juggle full-time schedules at both work and school, all the while stressing about making ends meet at the end of the month. I don't owe Emporia my presence in the hopes that things might turn around, and quite honestly, with all of the rednecks and Bible belt types, plus the lack of intellectual offerings in the city, I wasn't planning to stay on anyway.
I may be blunt, but there's no sense in beating around the bush with this issue. I do feel for the people who have been laid off, but this is the kind of crap that goes on in Emporia. I have not been unaffected by layoffs at Didde and Modine, we all have relatives and family members who were affected. This has been the trend for a long time. Most of the people who are being realistic about their prospects in Emporia have either left already or are considering moving on.
You state that Emporia is better off without me, but I say I am better off without Emporia. If you want to stay and attempt to make it work, go for it. I hope you succeed. But I won't be holding my breath.
Posted on January 25 at 10:46 p.m.
Screw ethics. I have to make a living. Emporia doesn't provide that for the majority of its residents.
Posted on January 25 at 10:37 p.m.
Continued..
My apartment costs only 40$ a month more than the one I had in Emporia, but I am making 5$ more an hour now, and the complex I live in has an indoor pool and hot tub, a fitness center, tennis courts, better laundry facilities, and much nicer neighbors. There's no comparison. When even the college students in a town can't make it, you know there's a problem.
As for jobs at Tyson - many of my friends and I had applied at Tyson multiple times in the hopes of getting a job that paid better than minimum wage. Only one of us ever got hired there, even though all of us were capable of doing the job. You're delusional if you think they didn't go out of their way to hire illegals and other immigrants. They used to advertise heavily in El Paso and would pay to bring up immigrants and pay for their initial housing costs. One of my friends and his brother originally came to Kansas from El Paso to work at Tyson. What about all the people applying who already lived in Emporia and could never even get an interview?
Emporia has been sinking for a long time now. The city officials have been wasting money on crap like that silly clock tower, the new courthouse, and the rock display at the fairgrounds, when they should have been more concerned about making sure there would be citizens left to enjoy those monuments. There is nothing to do in Emporia but go out drinking and every attempt to introduce a little culture has failed. I never thought of Wichita as being a grand place but at least it has museums, decent shops and eateries, lots of student hangouts (not just bars), and places to go to meet people who aren't completely close-minded. I don't plan to live here forever but it's a great place to stay while attending school and starting out. After graduation, I'll probably be able to find a job here and would like to stay for a few years.
As far as I'm concerned, Emporia can go to the dogs.
Posted on January 25 at 10:36 p.m.
Well, Emporia has been going downhill for a long time. I'm glad I got out when I did.
It's almost impossible to make a decent living in Emporia - none of the jobs pay well enough. I'm still going to school and the only places that were ever hiring in Emporia were retail and fast food jobs, most of which paid barely over minimum wage. There was also Hopkins, which used to pay well but now pays crap and hires through a temp agency so they don't have to pay benefits. (At least, that's what they were doing before I left). My friends and I could never even get interviews at Tyson or Fanestil. (And believe me, I was willing to work there for more money than I was making at my retail job). I couldn't work at Dolly (though now they seem to be going under too) because you have to be "on call" during your probationary period, and one can't be on call while going to school.
The majority of the students at ESU will have to move after graduation, anyway. There are no jobs in Emporia to accomodate graduates. Most of my former classmates and friends now live in Topeka, the Kansas City area, or Wichita.
Apartment costs are really high in Emporia compared to other places when you consider what people are making. I worked at the same retail job for two and half years and still only made 7.47 after multiple raises. I took a course at
FHTC, which advertised job placement, in the hopes of being able to get better paying job upon finishing. The course and the instructor were a joke. The instructor spent more time gossiping with the other teachers and students than teaching and acted completely apathetic. The job placement didn't exist. Their only advice was to "apply at Newman". I did, and didn't even get an interview because they weren't highing for that department. It was a complete waste of money. I've had friends who attended FHTC and anyone who took a course other than CNA certification had a difficult time finding a job.
I was sick of having to work 40 or more hours while going to school full-time just to barely make ends meet, so I moved to Wichita with a friend last year. WSU costs almost twice as much per semester, but Butler CCC has a campus in Andover and costs about the same as ESU. There are tons of retail, customer service, call center, office and factory jobs here. Most start out at at least 8 dollars an hour and some of the call centers start out at 10-13 dollars an hour. I was ecstatic when I realized how much more I would be making with almost the same cost of living, and how many other options I had should my current job not work out. Many of the jobs here offer good benefits too, which a lot of jobs in Emporia fail to provide.
To be continued..
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Posted on May 16 at 2:51 a.m.
What happened to all of the posts against offering the GED in Spanish that were on this site earlier? How typical of Emporia. Show your disapproval and someone gets ticked off and removes them.
I said it before and I'll say it again, though I'm sure it will be removed again. I think Helbert made some very valid points. It's not right to allow immigrants (many of whom are here illegally) to just coast by. It's not going to help them and it's not going to help those of us who are citizens and don't speak Spanish. If they want to live and work in an English-speaking country, they need to learn English.
On Spanish-language GED plan sparks debate