Letters to editor: Pox on UK football; stumble on city hall; bias for McGrath

City hall stumbling block

A recent opinion piece by Lexington native and architect Matthew Clarke answered in very practical terms the objections from those who oppose the proposal to renovate and expand the Herald-Leader building to serve as a new city government center.

Clarke’s informed, analytical summary and benchmark examples are right on. The objections that have been expressed publicly have little merit when compared to the well-planned CRM Companies proposal brought forth after evaluation by a well-appointed committee.

The reasoning from those opposed to entering these negotiations is trite and shortsighted — arguments used repeatedly in the political arena as elections approach.

Get with it, Urban County Council members. No setbacks for Lexington progress are acceptable.

McGrath story off point

A recent Herald-Leader headline asked: “Can McGrath win without returning Barr’s attacks?” You went on to detail Amy McGrath’s ads as sweet and relatable and her deep regard for her mom. We’ve all been able to ooh and ah over pictures of her with her children on TV.

I wonder if Rep. Andy Barr respects and loves his mom? Does he have fuzzy little pictures and videos showing him on Christmas morning with his children?

Let me spell it out: I don’t care. McGrath said the words “single-payer healthcare.” Thank goodness we’ve got the Herald Leader to tell us in another article what she really meant to say. How kind of the paper to report to readers that what came out of her mouth was not accurate.

McGrath does not have to run any attack ads on Barr. The Herald-Leader is doing a fine job of doing that for her.

Fix ‘Jumble’ print

We have noticed the change in the font of the letters in the Jumble word puzzle this week. It is not a good change.

For some reason, the larger bold-print letters make it harder to figure out the word. Several friends agree with us. What needed to be changed is the size of the letters in the cartoon and clue as they are really hard to see.

We are hoping you can go back to the size you were using for the letters of the words, and increase the size of the clue.

Grammar alert

You never know what bizarre behavior an off-duty cop will engage in. According to a recent article in the Herald-Leader, a police sergeant was observed “laying on a roof.” I would have thought a rooster not capable of laying eggs, let alone on a roof.

Because the reporter did not put quotes around this egregious grammatical error, we have to assume that one of our very own police was doing something well out of the biological mainstream. And I thought the police had to undergo psychological screening before they are given a badge. Maybe Chicken Little was right when she declared that the sky is falling.

Pox on UK football

Last month, sports writer John Clay moaned about the lack of full-capacity attendance at University of Kentucky’s football games. It’s elementary: UK football is boring. Look at the non-conference teams we play — Murray State University, Eastern Kentucky University and that category of sports teams.

If the game is shown on television, it becomes a four-hour proposition with the advertisements. The cost of attendance has gotten too high and the conflicts with Keeneland dates are a hindrance. The entertainment is so loud it’s difficult to have a conversation and the band performance is lacking in quality and content.

College sports have become nothing more than a money-producing machine. Our family has had football tickets since 1949. This year, I did not renew my tickets and will give the thousands of dollars that I would have spent on tickets to the university’s opera and orchestra.