Letters to the Editor: Kentucky is not Southern; Beshear has made mistakes
Southern? No way.
I have lived in Shelbyville, Kentucky, for four years and visited many times before for family, races, etc. After growing up and living in Arkansas for 65 years, I have never felt like Kentucky was in the South and have always wondered why Kentuckians feel like they are Southern. They do not come close. Whether that is good or bad, make your own decision. Hey, I enjoy living near Louisville. Bye, ya’ll.
Dan McElhannon, Shelbyville
Beshear’s mistakes
Shelley Roberts Bendall’s recent opinion piece on Gov. Andy Beshear’s leadership misses the mark. Bendall argues that Beshear owns Kentucky’s COVID-19 response and that he’s been proactive. On both points she is correct. His daily press briefings ensure Kentuckians are up to date with information and recommendations.
But Beshear has not remained up to the leadership task over the past days as his mistakes have compounded.
We need Kentuckians to buy into distancing recommendations for the long haul. We’ll reopen in stages, and we need our citizens to consent to that with patience.
Beshear should have recognized his out-of-state travel ban was excessive. Instead he responded to faint public criticism with belligerence: recording and reporting Easter churchgoers’ license plates.
The damage done to Kentuckians’ patience by Beshear’s intransigence is not minimal.
Last week, protesters in Frankfort responded to Beshear’s overreaction, and Beshear responded by barricading the Capitol with police and caution tape, further antagonizing Kentuckians.
Most of us are social distancing and would like to see churchgoers and protesters social distancing. But we won’t stay home forever. And Beshear’s disproportionate response to every act of defiance does damage to the restraint of home-bound citizens obeying orders and waiting for Kentucky to reopen.
Jason Chambers, Lexington
People first
If a business puts itself over human lives here in Lexington, there is no market for it. All businesses and money exist only for the facilitation of lives, and not to be a hindrance or any unnecessary danger to it. No business has any innate right to exist; all individual human beings do.
The virus is already on its own account stressful enough without idiots compromising the rest of us because they are greedy and selfish. Business owners should adapt to the needs of the people. It is not our job to adapt to or to accommodate them. There is plenty to do; essential things that need to be done nearly everywhere. Adapt.
Demanding that people die so that you can have your “lifestyle” isn’t American, never has been, and never will be. Americans are not that shallow and empty or heartless or cruel that they demand others sacrifice themselves on an altar of their greed. It is life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all of us equally, not death, slavery, and the pursuit of “I get mine even if I have to take it from you.”
Our Constitution is about freedom, equality, and justice, not about forcing others to die for an illusion of it.
Robert Moreland, Lexington
Looking for signs
I wonder if anyone has noticed that none of the signs that are being raised at the Capitol protests nor any of the chants say: “I will cheerfully die of COVID-19 so my neighbor can work”, or “Let my grandparents die so I can work”.
When I see those signs, I might take these people seriously.
Glenna Brouse, Lexington
Strip Rupp’s name
In this progressive age as we are removing Confederate statues, I wonder why we allow University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Adolph Rupp to remain a living legend. Adolph Rupp was a man of his times, it is often said in his defense; his racism was cast aside as it was considered a societal norm. We have changed as a society. Removing his name from the arena would show that Kentucky is not a state left behind as Mark Twain suggested; rather we are moving forward as it is our responsibility to do. Let’s put aside sports rivalries, politics, and excuses and instead move forward as a state. There are many honorable Kentuckians we can give this legacy. Nate Northington, the UK football player who was the first black to play in a Southeastern Conference football game, comes to mind.
Patrick E. Schultz, Lexington