Readers question the motives of the New Life Evangelistic Center and TalentPlus

DAILY RFT, MARCH 25, 2009
BAD LIFE AT NEW LIFE
It'd love St. Louis to be one big homeless shelter: New Life Evangelistic Center (NLEC) needs more hospitals for all the bums who get thrown off their front porches, land on their heads and then require medical attention ["How Rich, a Clinic for Downtown Loft Dwellers," Ellis Conklin]. NLEC routinely pawns people off to other agencies because it doesn't know what it's doing. NLEC routinely uses the taxpayer-funded services to deal with problems it causes, such as frequent assaults, rapes and murder. NLEC would rather all of St. Louis be turned into a homeless shelter, so they can videotape it and get more elderly suckers to give them money for their crappy organization.
NLEC Sucks, via the Internet

Your bitterness is bizarre: Whoa, a response completely contaminated by hate. Sorry, NLEC's services are not "taxpayer-funded." We receive no funding from the city, state or federal government. NLEC causes "assaults, rapes and murder." Huh? As far as NLEC being a "crappy organization," I'm pretty sure the stranded travelers or the people we helped get medicine today would disagree. The personal bitterness you have about NLEC is bizarre. Feel free to help out at the shelter, and clear up your misconceptions.
Brian Ireland, NLEC caseworker, via the Internet

NEWS REAL, MARCH 19, 2009
FILM COMMUNITY NEEDS TO GROW UP
A little maturity goes a long way: Nepotism is wrong ["Central Casting," Nicholas Phillips]. Crying over spilled milk is understandable — for children. A little maturity would go a long way in this town's film industry — from J. Kim and Sharon Lee Tucci not "bogarting" casting calls, nor using legacy and elite connections to maintain business as usual in St. Louis' film community, to little guys who want to be big but refuse to work for it.

For any reader who doesn't know, our status quo for "film friendliness" in this town results to about one artistically insignificant big-budget P.O.S. movie every few years, with a lot of creative performers and technicians waiting tables or working at Blockbuster. Is this the Tuccis' fault? Surely not. You've got to trust their track record and longevity in our community, from the Mexican dishwashers at the Pasta House to the industry stranglehold TalentPlus has over the Screen Actors Guild. It's so easy to blame the wealthy when we are all so poor, but also quite immature.
Adam Winkerly, St. Louis, via the Internet

Break the stranglehold: Someone should investigate the sweetheart relationship between Jerry Jones (director of the Missouri Film Commission), the Tucci family and the union for film-crew workers. It's not just a "closed system" for actors, but for crew members as well. The film industry in St. Louis and the state will never flourish until the stranglehold that the Tuccis, the union and the film commission have on the local industry is broken. The woman from Menagerie Models hit the nail on the head: There's too much "small-town B.S." here. Thanks to RFT for having the guts to print a story that the Post-Dispatch and none of the TV stations would dare pursue, because of the advertising clout of the Pasta House.
Jason Clooney, Crestwood, via the Internet