If you want your children to attend private schools in KY, pay for it yourself | Opinion
Amendment 2
Ky. State Rep. Kim King (R-Harrodsburg) wants us to believe that if we vote “YES” for Amendment 2 this November, an amendment dealing with payments to private schools using public taxpayer dollars, that the legislature would simply want to “discuss and make decisions on this issue.” Which begs the question, why would you want to “DISCUSS” this issue it if you weren’t thinking about changing it?
Don’t open this Pandora’s Box. Vote “NO” on Amendment 2 this November. Keep our taxpayers money in public schools that the vast number of our children attend. If you want your children to attend private schools, pay for it yourself.
Bob Sutton, Springfield
Comer self-reflection
Will someone please give U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) a mirror? He recently said of Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Waltz that “He’s worked for the government his whole life. From looking at his financial background, it doesn’t look like he owns any stocks, his retirement’s in a government pension plan.” This said about a man who was a dedicated teacher and coach for 20 years and spent 24 years serving his country in the National Guard before going into politics.
Comer has held public office since he was 27-years-old and will collect both state and federal pensions. Never a teacher, never a coach, never in the military — always a politician living off the taxpayers.
Howard Stovall, Lexington
Uncovered “coup”
Fairy tales are coming true. A woman who just six months ago was the laughing stock of America and the world has been transformed into a powerful leader destined to defeat a dangerous “threat to democracy” and lead America into a fairyland of “joy” and peace. Hooray. But how did this happen?
Well first of all, a shell of a President (President Joe Biden) was standing in her way. He was determined to run again. Not so fast Joe. U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Cal.), U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) and a host of puppeteers, led of course by former President Barack Obama and crew, led a bloodless coup and ousted Biden. The lapdog liberal media chose not to use the word “coup” and meekly praised old Joe for “passing the torch” to the formerly inept language torturing Vice President Kamala Harris.
No interviews, no press conferences are fine with her media pals. The basement worked for Biden and Democrats feel that a repeat performance is in order.
Shame on a free press who have encouraged intense hatred for one man in order to promote a socialist future for all of us — including them.
Wayne Burns
Education costs
College students and parents beware — former President Donald Trump plans to make your future cost of higher education substantially more expensive.
Trump’s plan: Close the U.S. Department of Education and redirect its functions to the states. If Trump’s plan succeeds, anyone seeking financial aid will find many traditional educational support sources gone. There won’t be any federal Pell Grants; Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants; TEACH Grants; Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants; Federal Work Study support; Direct Subsidized Loans; Federal Student Loan guarantees; PLUS Loans; or federal scholarships to various student populations available. States will be required to develop their own financial aid programs.
Kentucky’s Republican delegation in Washington almost universally supports Trump’s agendas. To provide the same level of current financial support to Kentucky students from Kentucky sources would require a considerable increase in Kentucky taxes. Frankfort Republican’s don’t like any taxes regardless of the merit. Kentucky’s congressional and legislative solutions are better local administration and cost savings: a pipe dream.
The millions of Kentucky education dollars needed to support our kids simply won’t be obtainable from Frankfort. Kentucky, open your wallets and purses because agonizing educational times are approaching. Register and vote. Only you can prevent Trump’s devastating educational forest fires.
Gene Lockhart, Lexington
Say no to balloons
Every time I see a balloon release, I cringe and cry out, “No!”
I understand that this tribute is in honor of someone and that it’s an act of love and hope and respect, but it is still littering, and is one of the most environmentally detrimental forms of littering. Balloons can take hundreds of years to decompose, and even then, they just break up into tiny, microscopic pieces that end up in the food chain, including in our own food. All of us now have plastic in our bodies.
Additionally, balloons are frequently ingested by turtles, fish and birds, and cause digestive blockages that are lethal to the animal. Strings and ribbons on balloons get tangled up on animal’s feet and necks and limits their foraging and grooming abilities. Even if they are so-called biodegradable, it still takes years for that process and they are still ingested by animals.
Please don’t include a balloon release as a way to celebrate or honor someone. It’s deadly.
Joyce Fry, Frankfort
City priorities
Who is really running this city and what are its priorities?
Major portions of Lexington are under construction for new sewer lines, but the potholes and streets are untouched. We spend money wildly on one new park or trail after the other while the city tears out beautiful mature trees on Limestone on the edge of Phoenix Park, destroying the entire park to build a new one. These funds could be used more productively. For example, the city could hire more police to patrol the east and north ends where the majority of shootings and homicides occur. Or it could do something with the homeless issue – many are on drugs, openly doing transactions on street corners or in alley ways, but none can be stopped and searched or arrested unless directly seen in the act. These problems get worse every week but nothing is done by this city administration.
As a citizen, I am gravely concerned and disappointed. This is the weakest, headless administration this city has ever seen.
Richard A. Getty, Lexington
Trump’s Arlington visit
Trump dishonors American veterans.
Former President Donald Trump, at Arlington Cemetery, used the deaths of service members that died because of circumstances he put in place – releasing 5,000 Taliban, drawing down our forces to a mere 2,500, and providing no evacuation plan from Afghanistan. Before those deaths, another 45 had lost their lives in Afghanistan on his watch.
This is a man who has called those who sacrificed all for our freedoms “suckers” and “losers,” and called those with PTSD “weak.” This is a man who took a Purple Heart from an aging Veteran as his own.
To pose at Arlington for a photo op, as though he has any respect for veterans at all, is the height of disrespect and dishonor.
As a veteran, I cannot regard Trump with anything but utter disgust.
This was just one more cowardly act in a long line of cowardly acts designed to aggrandize and ingratiate himself to those veterans who are not wise to the underlying self-interested motivations of these antics.
He did not honor anyone at Arlington, he dishonored himself as his sole goal was to honor himself by feigning honor to others that he does not.
Robert Moreland, Lexington
President Harris
If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the November election, and turns out to be one of the best presidents our country has ever seen, watch and see what the gender of our next president will be. FEMALE! Women care more about everyday kitchen table issues than men! At least it seems that way. Women don’t have the interference of testosterone fueled egos getting in the way all of the time.
Men from opposing parties greet each other like alpha males in the wild. Like two alpha K-9’s staring each other down, displaying their canine teeth in a menacing manner to each other. They don’t know diddly-squat about each other - all they know is “THERE’S A MALE WHO’S NOT A MEMBER OF MY PAC! MUST INTIMIDATE!” instead of sitting down and discussing important matters in a civil manner.
Vice President Harris won’t see every male or female who comes before her as somebody she needs to flash those pearly white canines at! I can see it now. Greeting and speaker to other female leaders like two women chatting with each at a beauty salon.
Yolanda Averette, Lexington
Compiled by Liz Carey