Letters to the Editor: ‘In no way a team.’ Fan frustrated by UK basketball’s approach.
We sold out
Has University of Kentucky basketball Coach John Calipari sold out to the one and done athletes? I have been watching UK basketball for 50 years. This year’s “team” is in no way a team. I see the same individuals taking shots to get “theirs” in moments that are crucial in games. Yet Cal keeps playing them. I don’t understand how a coach can keep a player on the bench that averaged over 40 points a game in high school. Especially when this team struggles to score. The tradition of Kentucky basketball is no longer a tradition but a passing fad. And we are to blame. We sold out UK tradition for one more NCAA championship in 2012. Eight years later, we have a 1-6 record and it’s looking like a season that won’t yield a 10 win season. It’s not about the losing, it’s how they look losing: a team of individuals rather than individuals forming a team. I’d rather root for a team that grows together year after year, versus the new team every year looking for a way to the NBA.
John Turner, Alexandria
Helping hands
We’re grateful to serve in a place where neighbors care for neighbors! In a year where COVID-19 changed everything, no parent’s request to The Salvation Army for Christmas gifts went unfulfilled; this despite an increase of almost 45% (1,500 children). This is the result of the businesses, service clubs, media stations, civic leaders, churches, school groups, individuals, families, and neighbors joining together to help us fulfill our mission of meeting human need in Christ’s name.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the division and differences of the day, take a moment to process that donors and volunteers of all political affiliations, creeds, races, and incomes shared in a common cause so that 5,000 children in Fayette, Jessamine, and Scott counties are enjoying Christmas gifts and thousands of parents didn’t need to choose between paying their bills and providing new toys and clothes to their daughters and sons.
We’re blessed to be in this together.
Major William Garrett, The Salvation Army Central Kentucky Area Services area coordinator, Lexington
Surgery on Sunday
In a Herald-Leader article published earlier this month on license restrictions for Lexington surgeon Dr. Paul Kearney, a statement was included that framed Surgery on Sunday (SOS) as an organization that provides services to indigent and undocumented people. A basic search on the website would have conveyed the mission of SOS as a charity that provides free outpatient surgical procedures to those who are uninsured, underinsured, and income eligible regardless of residence status. Most of SOS’s patients are low-income working American citizens with high out of pocket medical expenses. As a prominent charity since 2005, we respectfully ask that our mission be conveyed correctly to your esteemed readers.
Dr. Kearney, a board member and the medical director of SOS, is not only a phenomenal surgeon, but an exemplary model of a provider who cares deeply for his patients. I am in no position to comment on the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure decision, but I can say, like every provider I’ve met who knows him, that I am honored to know and work alongside Paul Kearney.
Majd Jabbour, SOS Board of Directors member, Lexington