Letters to the Editor: No to redistricting, CRT bills, RV park; yes to vaccinations.
Nix RV park
I hope all readers, especially Midway residents, will read attorney Hank Graddy’s recent defense in the Herald-Leader of the proposed RV park with a skeptical eye. First of all, he accuses Joe Childers, a fellow lawyer, of advocating for his clients’ position as though this destroys Childers’ credibility, while Graddy’s doing the same for his client does not. Anyone who has ever worked in the environmental arena is quite aware that package treatment plants have been phased out in Kentucky for good reason, yet Graddy wants us to think that there will never be adverse weather events, loss of operating power, unanticipated overload, etc., so the Elkhorn Creek cannot possibly be damaged. And quite hilariously, all these RV drivers docilely take the “suggested” route, avoiding Main Street in Midway — meantime having read up on how enchanting downtown Midway is. If Graddy has ever visited any tourist attraction in this country he is well aware that tourists litter, are noisy, disregard the rules and have little respect for what they are visiting. I notice that the groups in favor of it do not include environmental ones. There is a reason. The Elkhorn will be impacted and it will be impacted negatively if this development goes through.
Sally Wasielewski, Lexington
Times change
In response to a recent letter on federal student loan debt: I’m not sure when the writer was in college, but I attended in the early 1970s. Most students are paid minimum wage. In 1974 the minimum wage for a non-farm worker was $2/hour. The current minimum wage is $7.25/hour. A student worker in 1974 working 30 hours per week would have worked 9.3 weeks (summer break) to pay just their University of Kentucky tuition, whereas a student in 2018 would have to work 55.5 weeks to pay just their UK tuition. Room and board plus transportation were extras for both. In the 1970s the state of Kentucky provided roughly 75% of their funding. Today it’s roughly 10%. I fear we’re eating the seed corn of the next generation by the debt they’re accumulating for higher ed; something our parents paid for by their taxes.
Joe Crouch, Lexington
Redistricting map
Last month, I left messages with both Kentucky Sen. Paul Hornback and Kentucky Rep. Jennifer Decker asking them to call me about the proposed redistricting map for the commonwealth. This map, once finalized, will control Kentucky’s elections for years to come. I have yet to receive a return call.
Recently, I called the Legislative Research Commission and spoke with a very polite young woman. I was told that the LRC was not going to release the map online until it was in its final version and had been voted upon, but that I could make an appointment in advance at the LRC library to view the map in person.
Folks, the redistricting map is a vitally important document which must meet statutory guidelines. To require me to personally come to the library in Frankfort in the middle of a pandemic is, to the say the least, unreasonable. Republicans control the legislature. Gerrymandering is much easier to address BEFORE a redistricting map is voted into law.
Demand that the legislature give the public easy access to the map NOW so that we can personally compare it to the present map before it is rushed through for a vote.
(I realize that the map has been published through the efforts of various newspapers, and for that I am grateful.)
Leslie McBride, Waddy
Vaccination status
No dispute that East Jessamine High School Baseball Coach Erinn Thompson’s death is a tragedy of our time. I hope all our sympathy and support goes to those to whom he was important. That said, this article could have been in one of three places in the paper: obituaries, human interest, or news. The choice of placement as a news article left out what, for me, was one MAJOR piece of information. What was his COVID vax status? That is something that is of great importance to how I make decisions for myself and those close to me — and I believe to others. I understand that vax status is a personal medical datum. If it is an obituary or human interest piece, I can respect that information not being included. For news, I think it should have been included, or, if the family chooses not to supply it, should have said they were asked and chose not to disclose.
Rory Remer, Lexington
Vaxes = fewer deaths
I have been watching the New York Times’ statistics of COVID cases around the country for the last year and a half. I’m not sure Kentuckians are aware that we have as much death as is occurring in New Jersey due to COVID. This is true even though in New Jersey today they have an average of almost 20,000 cases and we have about 3,000 but they have the same amount of death; about 25 people each day.
It’s watching the statistics about death that really upsets me. New Jersey has a 70% vaccination rate and we have a 54% vaccination rate. The more we get vaccinated the fewer of our neighbors die.
Suzanne Zivari, Lexington
Stop CRT bills
The outrage over critical race theory that “conservatives” are spewing across the country has landed in Frankfort. Bill Request 60 and BR 69 have been pre-filed for the current legislative session. They must be stopped. Teachers have been through enough. Many are leaving the profession. This will intimidate them further by imposing a “penalty of $5,000 for each day violation persists” in any school district.
People must educate themselves before they engage in the debate limiting the curriculum in schools to what they deem safe and sterile. Whitewashing history and omitting truth is a tendency of autocracies and dictatorships.
This writer, Meg Medina, says it better than I can:
“To pull books from a school library because of the discomfort they create in adults is a recipe for disaster. It erodes the trust young people have in the adults in their lives and pushes them to secrecy. It undermines the studied opinion of professional librarians and educators. It supports a false idea that there is one version of life that is acceptable. And, it denigrates the work of authors who are brave enough to name experiences that are difficult and real.”
Please reach out to state legislators to voice opposition to this legislation.
Diane Cahill, Lexington
Abortion case
The “conservatives” on the U.S. Supreme Court are poised to overrule Roe v. Wade this year. They telegraphed this clearly when they refused to strike down the abominable, incredibly stupid Texas law that allows any vigilante to insert himself into the decision that rightfully should only be made by a woman and her doctor. All polls show that two-thirds of Americans support Roe; so once again we have a court poised to reach a decision that is repugnant to a large majority of Americans. This is fast becoming the modus operandi of today’s Republican Party. Their positions are so unpopular that they cannot win through the democratic process so they are organizing themselves to change the rules of our democratic process so that a rump minority of the former Republican Party can establish and maintain rule against the wishes of the majority of citizens. The question is whether Americans will accept the tyranny of the minority over the will of the majority. My hope is that they will not acquiesce in the demise of their democratic system of government.
James R. Porter, Danville
Confront racism
I believe racism is one of America’s most serious problems today and has been for centuries. Systemic racism exists in many areas of American life and is a major cause of the bitter divisions among our country’s people.
Racism will never end if the overwhelmingly white Republican Party won’t honestly acknowledge racism is a problem. Right now, I don’t know a single Republican in government on local, state and federal levels who speaks out publicly against the racism cancer that’s killing our country.
White men with their guns came here and stole the land from Native Americans and at the same time enslaved Black people from Africa.
History tells us our white ancestors sowed the seeds of racism; today’s descendants are still reaping racism‘s consequences.
We haven’t repented of our racist wrongdoing. White people must take the initiative to resolve the problems we created and make long overdue amends. Republicans’ efforts to suppress future votes of people of color are anti-democracy and pro-racist.
Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville