Kentucky Senate race has gotten too dirty, too soon
Last week, I visited my son and daughter-in-law in Berea and had the opportunity to catch up on the news in Kentucky.
On July 1, Alison Lundergan Grimes announced her candidacy for the United States Senate. I wanted to see where she stood on the issues so I searched her name online to find her website.
The first thing I saw was a large button to click for donations, which I assumed would go toward her primary campaign.
But as I scrolled down, I realized this was a website set up by her opponents to slander her and solicit me into giving money to be used against her.
What is troublesome is the fear and mudslinging already being employed in this campaign. Before the poor woman had had time to establish her own website and explain her position on issues, her opponent has hijacked her name online.
I am old enough to remember when fair play was the American way — when candidates stood by their character and their record.
If you have to resort to dirty tricks and fear to get elected, then maybe it is time to step aside and get a job as a pundit on some news network.
Certainly no one who resorts to such tactics deserves to be a United States senator.
George MacArthur
Fort Pierce, Fla.
Planting discord
On July 6, the Herald-Leader ran an article promoting the planting of trees on surface mine sites. Unemployment would be reduced and the scars of mining would be concealed.
This is a good idea, but some caution should be taken.
The owner of the land may have plans other than forestation for the property after it has been mined. As the person who must pay taxes on the land, he should have some discretion over the area.
Would this practice be allowed by the governmental department that has oversight of this matter?
Never, never ask to conduct an experimental practice. There is a special place in a bureaucratic purgatory for applicants who innocently make requests.
Other questions that should be addressed are:
Would the tree planters be state or federal employees? Will they receive a fair wage? Will they be eligible for union representation? Who pays for the trees? They aren't free, after all.
The reclamation of mined areas could be accomplished easier if the various agencies involved with the area cooperated rather than defended their turf.
Before a new crusade is launched, the above questions, and others, should be considered.
Our grandchildren will have to pay for it.
Fred Salisbury
Richmond
Pothole logic
A ticket to an event at Rupp Arena would be a blessing. Not breaking an axle or throwing my car out of alignment getting there would be absolute heaven.
Perhaps some of the millions spent studying the need for renovations to Rupp would have been better spent repairing roads in the city.
Then all the people of the commonwealth, Lexington Convention Center and UK really would benefit.
Can one say, "cart before the horse?"
Marta Lenahan
Versailles
Actual activism
Do you consider yourself an environmentalist? If you do, and have not read the book Cumberland Island Saved by author Joe Graves, take a trip to the bookstore and pick up a copy.
This book is not just an environmental pep talk. It is the story of true environmental action by example.
Poet Wendell Berry states in the preface: "This inspiring and encouraging story tells how good things are saved in our thoughtless time: by a narrow squeak and by the dedicated work of thoughtful people."
Citizens with monetary resources, government officials, civic leaders and any other concerned citizens should keep this mind-set in perpetual motion.
Duke Martin
Lexington
McConnell mania
I recently received a campaign letter from Sen. Mitch McConnell begging for money.
Keeping in mind that he has already raised enough money to partially pay down the national debt and is 16 months from the election, I was reminded of the recent commercial: "We want more, we want more, we really like it!"
He has had more than enough and I will support his opponent.
Don Vaughn
Middlesboro
War on Earth
Let's get real. Coal is the fuel of the past. No amount of rhetoric or bluster is going to save the coal industry from economic reality.
When natural gas, which is cleaner, more efficient and easier to burn, is also cheaper than coal, that's a no-brainer for power companies.
There is no war on coal, it's just the hand of the market embracing better technology.
There are other reasons to move away from coal:
■ Coal is responsible for over 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Science deniers notwithstanding, those emissions are having a profound effect on the planet. Evidence that has been published in peer reviewed journals should carry more weight than the opinion of some crackpot congressman on the Internet.
■ Mountaintop-removal mining is war on the Earth. Blow the top off a mountain, get a big dozer and push it in the holler. Bury the creek and let the rain leach out the heavy metals, such as arsenic and mercury, into the Kentucky or Ohio River watershed.
If you live near the creek, you will be flooded. If you live near the mountain, your foundation might crack, or a boulder might fall out of the sky and kill your dog. Reclamation is a joke.
We have no choice but to learn to live in a closed system without choking on our own waste. Each generation will suffer greater consequences if we do not.
Rhodes Johnston
Winchester
Praying time
We as a nation need to turn back to God — we have let our standards down. It's time we as Christians take a stand for what is right and against what is wrong.
We have stood quiet for too long and let the world dictate wrong things to us and call them right.
Sin is sin — they may call it what they want to. It's wrong to kill precious little babies, which they term abortion. I call it a wrong thing to do because there are too many childless couples who would love to be parents to any of those precious little ones I am speaking of.
It is also wrong for a man to be married to another man same as a woman being married to another woman. God made man and then he created woman and they were meant to be together.
It is time for we as God's church to take a stand — we can make a stand because we can pray. Together we can change this nation, because it begins with you and me praying and seeking God's face.
Rick Skaggs
Staffordsville
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