Editorial’s sins of omission

Letters to the Editor

Editorial’s sins of omission

In typical, hackneyed fashion, the Herald-Leader has again misrepresented the Ark Encounter. In its July 27 editorial, the paper omitted key information when it declared that our themed attraction had “protested” contributing to the safety fund of the city of Williamstown. To the unwary reader, it suggested that the Ark was not prepared to pay anything at all. Wrong.

Conveniently omitted was a mention that the Ark Encounter was always prepared to pay into the fund, even up to a generous $500,000 a year for this city of 4,000 people. We merely sought a reasonable cap. That was the sticking point, not an unwillingness to pay into the fund. With the editorial’s words that the Ark is a “non-profit religious organization,” the reader was further led to believe that our “protest” included an excuse not to pay into the fund.

It’s what’s not reported in an editorial or article that can lead to a highly misleading thrust. It would be like this newspaper reporting that Fort Knox’s Patton Museum had no visitors last Monday. That is a true statement on the face of it. But not also mentioning that it is closed on Mondays would make the report misleading.

Mark Looy

Answers in Genesis CCO

Hebron

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Letters to the Editor

Schaeffer column on tribalism draws responses. Also, thoughts on respectful firefighters, McConnell, border wall

By Herald-Leader readers

February 22, 2019 11:51 AM

Expansive identity

Because of our experience as Peace Corps volunteers and staff living and working in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Fiji, and our experience since of knowing immigrants as good friends and family, we have a much broader idea of identity than what Cameron S. Schaeffer described in his recent Herald-Leader commentary (“Tribalism and media prejudice ruining America”, Feb. 16).

We know it’s possible for immigrant citizens to feel connected to and contribute to both the United States and their countries of origin. It is even possible for those who are American-born to be connected to and contribute to the United States and another country. We know an immigrant from Libya who has lived in Lexington for 35 years and says, “I value this country in a different way than people who were born here because I have seen both sides. There is nothing wrong with loving two countries.” Another says, “I am from South Sudan but I am also American. It’s both of me. I have to stand in the middle.”