Letters: ‘Disbelief.’ ‘Shame.’ ‘Anger.’ Readers have harsh words for state legislators.
Not a fan
The action — or inaction — of the recent session of the Kentucky General Assembly reminded me of an old saw a University of Kentucky political science professor uttered once in class: “The Kentucky General Assembly meets for 40 days every two years. We’d be so much better off if it met for two days every 40 years.” That gets my vote (if the legislature didn’t pass a law prohibiting me from voting).
Ralph Derickson, Lexington
Law unneeded
When I read about action by the Kentucky Senate to criminalize speech that was insulting to a police officer, I first experienced disbelief, then shame, and now anger. My anger is that an elected body would stoop to the level of passing legislation that is aimed directly at the heart of our collective liberties, the most precious being free speech. If I don’t like what a police officer or any other public official is doing I have every right to express my displeasure using what may constitute insulting language.
Kentucky has more than sufficient laws required to fully respond when personal conduct crosses the line and becomes a crime. No new legislation is needed. I cannot imagine the origin of this perverted proposed legislation supported by 22 Kentucky state senators. From my perspective this legislation has the ugly stench of political grandstanding. It has cast the majority of the Kentucky Senate as a collection of dunces.
I committed 35 years of my life serving as a police officer. I hope that I served in a manner that demonstrated my belief in the constitutions that I swore to protect.
Ron McBride, Nicholasville
The full ‘Monty’
I’m disturbed with the passing of the recent Senate bill penalizing insulting speech and taunting of police officers, so I’ve decided it’s important to have a plan.
So, with much respect to “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, the first draft of my offensive speech goes something like this: “You silly occifer, you sniper of free speech and wiper of other people’s bottoms. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of dingleberries and bovine manure. I fart in your general direction, you silly wilters at nasty words. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.”
It’s a first draft, of course and suggestions are welcome. Thankfully, we won’t have to be so creative with our name-calling for the jackass senators who passed the bill.
Scott Goebel, Fort Thomas
Actions ‘an insult’
Most years the actions of our elected representatives in Frankfort are unremarkable. This year’s Republican dominated legislature seems determined that we take notice and remember them. Their latest bid for attention is to refuse to utilize the federal COVID-19 relief funds available to relieve the difficulties Kentuckians currently face. Their concern that Gov. Andy Beshear might get political credit for this is greater than any concern for the welfare of their fellow Kentuckians. Of the many items they eliminated from Governor Beshear’s proposed budget, internet access improvements for Eastern Kentucky and unemployment system improvements stood out. The fact that Republican representatives from Eastern Kentucky voted for this boggles the mind. This is truly an insult to the intelligence of the people who elected them.
Mark S. Freeman, Lexington
At what price?
Stagnating in the bowels of the Kentucky Senate is Senate Bill 106, the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would exclude “biological males” from girls’ sports programs. The noted Georgia stateswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has expressed her view that no biological male has any place in her daughter’s locker room or sports teams. Does anyone think that the participation of transgender girls will destroy girls’ sports? That all those glorious memories made in high school will be tainted by a trans teammate? That college scholarships will be denied to a cisgender girl because a transgender girl was faster than her? There is a reason that reliving the glory days of high school is a cliché. Perhaps having a transgender teammate would make for better, richer memories. Transgender teens are three times as likely to consider suicide than their cisgender peers and are five to six times more likely to need hospitalization after a suicide attempt. Telling a teenager that they don’t belong is the most devastating thing they can hear. Are the glory days of a cisgender child worth the life of a transgender child?
Laura A. Kennedy, Lawrenceburg
New role model
In the National Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol stand statues of esteemed Americans, two from each state. Do you know who represents Kentucky? Statesman Henry Clay and surgeon Ephraim McDowell. Both men made valuable contributions to society, Clay in politics and McDowell in women’s medicine. Still, both owned enslaved people.
Kentucky Senate Joint Resolution 6 (Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington) makes it clear that Kentucky is ready for new representation. It offers a role model for a new era of Kentuckians: pioneer journalist, activist, and teacher Alice Allison Dunnigan. Born in Logan County in 1906, she was the daughter of a sharecropper and granddaughter of enslaved people. Her bravery and intellect led her to an amazing career in politics and journalism; in 1947, Dunnigan became the first Black woman credentialed to cover the White House. Dunnigan won the respect of presidents and fellow journalists, including being the first woman honored as the Capital Press Club’s “Best All-Around Newsman” in 1951 and serving on the Committee of Equal Employment Opportunity. She chronicled our nation’s struggle for civil rights and won a multitude of awards.
Now is the right time to commission a new statue to represent our commonwealth. Dunnigan is a perfect symbol of the grit, intelligence, and hard work of the people of Kentucky.
Katie Hughbanks, Louisville
SROs problematic
School resource officers (SROs) supposedly provide support and keep students safe. However, law enforcement in schools significantly increases children’s chance of being suspended, expelled, or arrested. Children who attend schools with SROs are more likely to be criminally charged for the same behaviors effectively handled by other personnel in schools without SROs. This disproportionally affects children of color, increasing their involvement with the justice system and fueling the school-to-prison pipeline. A little over half of Fayette County Public Schools students are children of color, yet they account for more than 75% of referrals to SROs. This isn’t just an issue in big cities or other parts of the country; this is a FCPS problem.
SROs don’t provide unique support or make children safer at school. However, research does show when kids’ emotional needs are met through the support of guidance counselors, social workers, and mental health providers, all children are safer. And yet, the FCPS SRO budget far supersedes that of effective student support services. SRO funding should be diverted to the evidence-based services that work to keep our kids safe. By addressing children’s mental health needs and the real reasons for their behavior, all children are better supported and safer at school.
Rebecca Hill, Lexington
Anti-Kentuckian
When Congress passed the American Rescue Act, Kentucky’s 6th District Rep. Andy Barr predictably voted no. He’d earlier tweeted that the bill is a “totally reckless and hyper-partisan payoff to Democrat run states and liberal special interests,” ignoring over $5 billion directly to struggling Kentuckians and another $2.4 billion to municipalities for vaccine distribution and other services we desperately need, like getting schools ready to open fully. “No” also to $1,400 to individuals still reeling from the economic fall-out of the pandemic and recent catastrophic flooding.
Barr is always quick to highlight his work on behalf of the wealthy financial services industry, thoroughbred horse breeders and owners and fossil fuel operators, whose donations keep him in office term after term. But help for folks needing both a shot in the arm and their wallets to protect them against serious illness or to make ends meet? Not so much.
Recent polling shows the COVID relief bill is widely popular among voters, including Independents, and nearly 60% of Republicans support the package. Ordinary Kentuckians have had a long, hard year coping with a vicious viral pandemic. If only their congressman cared as much about them as he does the wealthy who fund his campaigns.
Lynn Schrader, Lexington
Immigration
As a nation, I think our leaders have lost their reasoning ability. Words have consequences, and the promises made by the current administration are certainly being showcased by the enormous number of illegal immigrants at our southern border. Yes, illegal immigrants, not “undocumented immigrants”. While one may never know it by the coverage the media gives the administration, it is illegal to cross the border. Unlawful. What many of us find appalling is the great numbers of children crossing over without parents. Let’s be sensible: how many of us, or any decent parent, would allow their children to be separated from them for any reason, especially when you are encouraging your child to break a law? Are these the type of folks we want to be allowed in and later become American citizens? I think not. Further, do any of us want our tax dollars to go to these causes, when we know the illegal folks are willingly breaking the law?
Wake up America!
Darrell Cook, Richmond
Clarify benchmark case
We’ve read many times in the media that Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion in all 50 states. This is true, of course, but not completely accurate. This decision also ruled that government has an interest in guaranteeing our historic rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness at “viability”. So, the justices overturned the beginning point specified by some state laws, “conception”, reasoning that it did not reflect the science of the time nor the philosophy and tradition of our civilization. When we leave out the second part, we are affording an opening to those cynical politicians who mischaracterize Roe vs. Wade as a one-sided decision and then proceed to enact draconian anti-abortion legislation. Clearly, it’s high time for the media to begin using a more accurate description. This would take a few more words but it would better serve the public’s right to know.
Tom Louderback, Louisville
Resign, Mitch
I wanted to express how unacceptable Sen. Mitch McConnell’s speech was on the Senate floor following former President Donald Trump’s acquittal. He stabbed Trump and his supporters in the back. He wouldn’t be a leader without Trump, and he is living in an elitist fantasy land. He is a poison to the Republican Party, and is destroying the America First agenda. It would be best for the Republican party and the American people if he resigned. Trumpism is the lifeblood of the Republican Party and his movement is going nowhere. The stolen presidential election is a wound that will not heal, and Trump will never concede. I am sure I’m not alone in expressing this sentiment. Censure simply is not enough. He needs to resign. He certainly is not serving his constituents well at all. He might as well be a Democrat. What is the Republican National Committee doing about his unacceptable performance?
Chris Colvin, Crestview Hills