Letters to the Editor: Don’t be a fair weather fan to UK Wildcats

Back Cats, Cal

Kick ‘em while they’re down. It’s easy to cheer when the University of Kentucky basketball Cats are winning. It’s when they struggle they need our support the most. Some of you have short memories and are quick to condemn Coach John Calipari. I say shame on you. Coach Cal has been and is a fantastic ambassador and a great example to all of us. He and his family’s contribution to our commonwealth has been amazing. Let’s show him how much he means to us and have his back now more than ever. Thank you, coach, for your tireless compassion and care. Good luck as you lead your team through the tough times.

Bill Moloney, Lexington

COVID treatments

Absolutely all of the media attention appears to have been focused on COVID-19 vaccine injections, which can be defined as follows:

A vaccine is a substance that helps protect against certain diseases. It helps your immune system recognize and destroy a disease-causing germ during a future infection.

Great! With a vaccine, you are protected against COVID-19 if you don’t have it. What if you do have it? I cannot remember seeing much media attention that indicates any progress on medication if you have the virus. I wonder if we are working on it. Is there no medication in the works?

Keep working on the vaccine to prevent those who never have had the virus from getting it, but please work on the treatment or tell us about the progress in treatment for those who already have COVID-19.

John C. Wolff Jr., Lexington

Georgia leads the way

Kudos for the hard work of Georgia’s Stacey Abrams and the state of Georgia for going for Joe Biden/Kamala Harris in the presidential election. Georgia can put the icing on the cake by electing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock as their new U.S. senators on Jan. 5.

If it happens, it will be good for Georgia and the rest of the country. What a wonderful way to begin 2021. Perhaps there is hope our seriously divided nation can begin to become the United States of America again.

Great Georgian icons from the past and present — Martin Luther King Jr., Clarence Jordan, John Lewis, and Jimmy Carter — would be pleased.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville

Rich Mitch

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s appalling and inhumane quote that $2,000 stimulus checks would be “socialism for the rich” is the latest and most clear demonstration of his indifference towards the citizens of Kentucky, including the many that voted him into office. Mitch’s own net worth is estimated to be in the millions but Kentucky, by many measures, ranks in the top 10 of most impoverished states in the country. I wonder how the senator can sleep at night.

Mark Prendergast, Lexington

Stop carriage rides

Don’t let Hamburg Pavilion take you for a ride. While visiting the shopping center over the holidays I was shocked to see that archaic horse-drawn carriage rides were being offered to shoppers. Accidents are no stranger to the carriage industry; there have been countless incidents in which horse-drawn carriages have been hit by impatient or careless drivers. Offering these rides during a pandemic only makes this more reckless.

In a state which takes pride in horses, we shouldn’t be allowing carriage rides to happen at all. Horses shouldn’t be dodging traffic, or pounding the pavement for hours at a time. Forcing horses to be near traffic can cause respiratory issues because they breathe in exhaust fumes and they can suffer debilitating leg problems from walking on hard surfaces.

Carriage rides are so outdated that they’ve been banned in many cities including Chicago, Palm Beach, and Salt Lake City. Lexington has the chance to show it is progressive and compassionate by refusing to allow Hamburg Pavilion to offer horse-drawn carriage rides.

Emily Rohr, Lexington

Consider wind energy

While driving north on U.S. Route 127, we passed through Paulding County, Ohio. We were amazed to see mile after mile of huge windmills, obviously being used for a power source. It’s a mostly agricultural area and the windmills were set in the midst of pastures and tilled land with very little disturbance to the farmers. I would hope that Kentucky would consider this as it occupies very little of the reclaimed land, leaving room for agricultural development.

Sharon Reed, Lexington