Letters to the Editor: Kentucky Legislature needs to do better. And historic photo identification.
Woolworth photo
I was pleasantly surprised to see the photo of the group at Woolworth’s counter in a recent Herald-Leader. The unidentified woman is Mary Brandon and she was an integral part of my family for five generations. Because of her, my mother was able to go to college. She toted me and my siblings everywhere — church (Greater Liberty), funerals, school, etc. She was always there when any of us needed her. She went on vacations with us — not to take care of us, but because she was family. She kept photos of us on her walls — we were HER family. We knew her family and they never begrudged the time she devoted to us. I gave her chemo when she was ill and the entire family attended her funeral. We were mentioned in the funeral program, because we were also her family. Mary was devoted to her church, her family, her friends, and our family. I have never known a more unselfish person. Until I saw this photo I did not know she was a rebel, but I’m not surprised —she treated everyone equally and did not see color and this family is better because of her. Please reprint the photo with her name!
Sara Wellnitz, Lexington
Do right by us
In regards to House Bill 447 that removes the property tax on privately owned aircraft in the commonwealth: I would ask that the legislators for once do what is fair. If I can afford to own and maintain a private aircraft I do not need a tax break. Kentucky legislators have too long voted for the interests of those contributing to their campaign funds and have ignored the needs of common folk. Be fair and vote this bill down.
Garland VanZant, Harrodsburg
Utility doing fine
Rep Jim Gooch’s proposed House Bill 341 to “streamline” the utility rate process just puts the control of the process solely in the hands of the utility companies and minimizes any opposition to an increase. Representative Gooch seems to think that utility companies have a hard time getting a fair shake when wanting a rate increase.
The current system appears to be fairly generous to them and they don’t need any more help. According to a recent Herald-Leader article about a proposed strike by Kentucky American Water union employees, “Kentucky American Water has seen profits and dividends to its investors skyrocket over the past five years, union officials said. Profits have increased by more than 50 percent and dividends to investors have jumped 61 percent in that time frame, the union said.” Kentucky American Water did not dispute this in the article.
To repeat… that’s a 50% increase in profits and a 61% increase in dividends to investors. Kentucky American Water can utilize those profits to pay off all of their upgrades to their infrastructure in place of rate increases.
They don’t need HB 341 to help them. They are getting along pretty well with the current process.
Dan Smith, Lexington
Parents’ choice?
Mitch Daniels’ recent op-ed in the Herald-Leader leaves out the parental effect on students. Students won’t bother learning when their parents think all they need to do is send them to school or do the kids’ homework for them. Schools cannot be held accountable for that factor.
Parents don’t always do what’s best for their children. Letting parents choose curriculum will only produce more ignorant students.
I wonder how can we say parents know best when some let their kids smoke and do alcohol and drugs, don’t buckle them up in cars, feed them junk food, leave loaded guns within reach, teach them hate, don’t teach them anything, teach them that they are entitled, let them skip school, won’t discipline them, etc.
Masks don’t keep students from learning. Masks do work when properly worn. Children don’t live in a vacuum. They interact with adults at school and at home (hopefully) and those people interact with other people. Masking is not just about the kids.
Parents should have input, but they should not have the final say. They should instill in their children that education is a privilege that should be taken advantage of, not brushed off.
Glenna Brouse, Lexington
Shameless
There’s nothing like a closed shop, patriarchal, dictatorial state legislature to advantage themselves and their special interest donors.
Take from the down-and-out poor, privatize anything public, let the police police themselves while protecting them, dumb down students and parents so they don’t know about their legislation, keep women pregnant and barefoot to better serve them, run teachers out of the profession, pass income tax reform to further enrich them and their wealthy donors . . .
There’s no shame left in them as the beautiful state of Kentucky continues to rank at the bottom of anything livable.
How do they personally and collectively define “happy”?
Ramona Rush, Lexington
What a legislature
We have a bunch of reactionary, right wing, conservative Donald Trump-worshipers in our Kentucky legislature. And they are hard at work passing legislation that will make it harder to vote, making it impossible for women to get an abortion, shortening the length of time one can draw unemployment, making life harder for LBGTQ people, telling teachers what they can and cannot teach in public schools, banning books, and making it easy — oh so easy — for the big utility companies to raise our rates.
James Porter, Danville
Sheriff payments
“The function of principal conservator of the peace is hereby transferred and assigned to the Chief of Police as provided in Section 6.07 of this Charter.”
Now with that out of the way, I am responding to a recent Herald-Leader article by reporter Beth Musgrave. As a tax paying citizen of Fayette County I am questioning the payments being made to the Fayette County sheriff’s office for patrolling downtown Lexington. Is this just a simple case of duplication of services? The city merger charter clearly states that the chief of police will be the conservator of the peace. It seems to me that the county sheriff should be more concerned with protecting the two courthouses than patrolling the streets of downtown. Also I have concerns about tax dollars being paid to the sheriff for these services. It would seem to me that being the tax collector for Lexington-Fayette County for which they collect a fee the office is already being paid for law enforcement duties. I don’t know but I thought the merger was made to eliminate a duplication of services. Just my opinion as a taxpayer here in Lexington-Fayette County.
James Coleman, Lexington
Media biased
In response to all the “insurrection” rambling: First of all, it was a riot, if anything, not an insurrection. Has any one of those people been charged with insurrection? No, because they don’t have anything they can prove that it was.
If the media is going to report the news, why aren’t they fair about it? Because they aren’t really journalists. We don’t have any fair and balanced news reports from the left. Shame on them all.
And while we’re at it, I wonder why the left is so afraid of making sure we have fair elections. Everyone voting should prove they are U.S. citizens and have a proper legal ID. That never was a problem until the left knew they couldn’t win elections fairly.
There has always been voter ID and there is legal ID required to go to the hospital, doctors office, flying on planes, picking up meds, etc. The media wants to try to convince people that the Black population is too ignorant to have some kind of legal ID. The only thing they are ignorant about is still believing they mean anything to the Democratic Party other than votes.
These are the reasons we need to vote for Republicans and Make America Great Again.
Phyllis Surgener, Lexington
Not a fan…
There was a 1961 musical called “Stop the World — I Want to Get Off”. We just experienced the profound displeasure of grimacing our way through the Super Bowl halftime show. If that charade is today’s description of musical excellence, then please, stop the wo…
Wayne Burns, Lexington
Calculating heart
I was given a lovely wooden valentine heart, with the equation X^2 + (y – ∛x^2)^2 = 1 written on it, by two young students in the University of Kentucky Student Center, on Valentine’s Day — a random occurrence, no previous connection. If one enters the equation on an X/Y graph, the result is the drawing of a heart. Don’t believe me, believe any graphic calculator. Priceless.
Andrea Branchini, Lexington
Board diversity
The Get On Board program currently housed at The Plantory in Lexington is accepting applications for the eight week program that will kick off March 1. The course focuses on recruiting individuals who are underrepresented on nonprofit boards and covers how to be an effective nonprofit board member. The Get on Board Program was founded by the United Way of the Bluegrass in 2004 as a result of a community racism summit that was held that year in Lexington. It was based upon the necessity to have diverse voices “at the table” so that there was input and representation in making decisions that impact all the community. Since its inception Get on Board has trained hundreds of individuals so that they would have the knowledge and understanding of a board’s function and its related responsibilities.
Topics covered throughout the course include board governance, financial responsibilities, strategic planning, fundraising, and diversity, equity, and inclusivity training. At the end of the course, graduates are matched with local nonprofit boards. If you are interested in learning more about participating in Get on Board or are in need of diverse board members for your organization, please visit www.plantory.org.
Alex Morgan, Lexington
Protests different
It’s been my impression for quite some time that rural and ex-urban Kentuckians were unnerved by the public protests they saw on TV a couple years ago. These perceptions are probably not about race. What I believe many Kentuckians outside our cities saw in those protests was something different than what they remember, heard, or learned about the famous civil rights movement protests of the 1960s.
Consider the lifelong commitment of John Lewis, for example. Lewis passionately believed that his participation in public protests was a practice of his devotion to religion and ethics. He even regarded this practice as redemption. That’s known by scholars as principled nonviolent action.
More recently, the protests we’ve seen on TV were somewhat different. Scholars classify these protests as strategic nonviolent action. Here nonviolent action is applied pragmatically. It’s deemed an effective tool and a means to an end.
Personally, I do not know if one is better than the other. But, I believe that rural and ex-urban Kentuckians recognize the difference and have mixed feelings about it. Such feelings matter because the objective of public protests is to change public opinion.
Tom Louderback, Louisville