I am writing to express my opposition to the confirmation of Judge Alito to the United States Supreme Court. This is not because he is a conservative (as Justice O'Connor in fact was) but because he is not in the mainstream of American jurisprudence.

It never ceases to amaze and inspire me that Davenport, for all its troubles, has real civic heroes living among us. This time it is Bill Ashton of Ashton Engineering with his well-established experience in riverfront development to caution the City of Davenport against the Isle of Capri's proposed 11-story casino hotel on downtown Davenport's riverfront, between Brady and Perry Streets, south of River Drive.

Last June, the Davenport City Council approved a $48-million development agreement with the Isle of Capri to build an 11-story casino hotel with a five-story adjacent parking ramp on downtown Davenport's riverfront, after less than a month of formal review that included the public.

Reported cases of sexual trafficking in the United States are horrifying and, unfortunately, not uncommon. In recent years, our federal courts have heard cases involving a group of Thai women - promised good-paying restaurant jobs - forced into prostitution upon their arrival in New York; a group of Mexican teenagers - told they would be working as waitresses and child- and elder-care workers - held in sexual slavery in Florida and the Carolinas; a syndicate of smugglers and pimps who brought hundreds of Asian women (some as young as 13) into the United States, forcing them to work as prostitutes - and making them live in bondage - until their "contracts" were paid off.