Letters to the Editor: Worries about mass infection if UK brings students back

Reopening UK unsafe

I am a resident of Lexington, Kentucky, a University of Kentucky alum, mother of two college age sons, an artist, and adjunct faculty at Bluegrass Community and Technical College. I live one block from the UK campus.

I have lived in my home for 25 years and have been a friend and neighbor to many students, faculty, and temporary tenants. I have had my complaints over the years about excessive partying, random game chaos, and you know the rest.

Wearing masks and social distancing are band-aid remedies that will slow the spread of the virus, but won’t be enough to stop a mass infection if we bring 40,000-plus people back to the UK campus to live, work, and play.

My neighborhood is a microcosm: It is a pop-up city where nine months out of the year more than 30,000 people live on and off campus. Under UK’s “playbook” for fall reopening I predict the results will follow UK’s “no drinking on campus policy”: off campus drinking, off campus unmasking and socializing.

Until we have a vaccine, we cannot safely bring back a population of people without inviting a mass COVID-19 infection to Lexington and the entire commonwealth.

EA Meuser, Lexington

Who’s in charge?

A well-written article by Herald-Leader reporter Rick Childress, “Limit University of Kentucky police patrols, make reforms, student group demands”, reports that a student group at UK is demanding that the university cut back on its police spending and campus police patrols. The group’s spokesman is quoted as saying “This is the time we have as young people in our community to really take control.”

Well, perhaps there is a crying need to reduce the university’s police presence. Perhaps we can use a WKYT-TV report titled “26 rapes reported on UK’s campus so far in 2019”, as evidence of the need for radical change. Or maybe a 2015 report on a campus survey titled “5 percent of University of Kentucky students sexually assaulted last year.”

Sadly, UK President Eli Capilouto and his spokesmen rush to explain all the woke things that are doing to placate such nonsense, such as removing a mural. Leadership at the university brings to mind a statement that columnist John Ed Pearce attributed to former Gov. Bert Combs. Combs said, “John Ed, it has been my experience that if nobody is running things, things don’t get run.”

Perhaps things will get run when the student group takes over.

Dave Rosenbaum, Lexington

Bungled claims

I truly believe the state unemployment rate is down — because they won’t give benefits to people who qualify. I was laid off March 17 and received my checks as requested until April, when the unemployment office didn’t issue one. I went on my profile, and it said that it had been more than three weeks since I had requested a check (I did it online). Called, emailed, etc. They made me refile, taking my benefit from $180 down to $110. So now I can’t even claim partial unemployment working only three days a week. This is unacceptable. The state has handled the entire situation abhorrently and our so-called “essential” workers got an even worse deal.

Rebekah Charles, Mount Sterling

New voters

A December 2019 executive order from Gov. Andy Beshear restored the right to vote to over 175,000 Kentuckians who have completed sentences for prior nonviolent felony convictions. Now is the time to help these citizens register to vote so that their voices can be heard in the November election.

The League of Women Voters of Kentucky (LWVKY), a nonpartisan organization, has launched a campaign to do just that, and we can provide materials to other groups that would like to join the effort.

Through September, we will enlist the help of local community groups. Interested groups will receive flyers and information cards to post and distribute. These materials explain how a person with a past felony conviction can determine if they are eligible to vote and register to vote.

Flyers can also be downloaded from our website: https://www.lwvky.org/civilrightsrestoration and requests for information cards can be sent to kentuckylwv@gmail.com.

As we honor the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote, let’s reach out to help those who are newly eligible exercise this right.

Jennifer Jackson, co-president, League of Women Voters of Lexington