Published: November 20, 2007 04:12 pm      

In Your View — 11/21/07

Reach compromise on smoking issue

If a solution is to be found with smoking in the park, King’s Daughters Medical Center should have to compromise as well. After all, KDMC is the one who benefits most.

Distorting the truth has been part of the problem from the beginning.

Anyone in the park after a large gathering knows the worst litterers aren’t the smokers. Most don’t eat, drink and smoke at the same time. Nor would over a third of the smokers in the park be against it. Common sense tells you that if they were, they wouldn’t smoke there.

The city placed the ashcan almost 100 feet away from the concrete embankment where smokers sit to keep from offending non-smokers.

As much land as KDMC has purchased, it could donate small parcels in its parking lots to the city that are at least 20 feet away. But of course that would hinder its feast on more property.

It also could offer nicotine replacement aids to smokers on extended stays in the hospital. With the whole city except private clubs non-smoking, your car and the open air are all that’s left.

There could even be a contest for the best solution with a small trophy.

There needs to be a compromise between the parties involved, not one or two mandating to the rest. Otherwise, it will continue to be a medical stand off, dividing the community to benefit one. That has never worked in America.

Sylvia McClelland-Morrison, Ashland



2 coaches did profession proud

What a classy guy.

Hats off to Boyd County football coach Lee Evans for his statement supporting the officials in the clock situation that occurred in last Friday’s game. Our officials are highly dedicated and under-appreciated.

Clock operator Larry Menshouse worked for me and his honesty is beyond reproach.

Both Greenup County and Boyd County continued to improve throughout the season which is a mark of good coaching. Greenup County coach Mike Sammons also worked for me and I wish him the best throughout the playoffs.

Both coaches have done the profession proud.

Bill Tom Ross, Catlettsburg



Boyd showed class after district game

I was very proud to be a Boyd County fan at the end of the district championship game.

I don’t like that a penalty was called on a fan, but once the call was made, I will never understand why the Greenup County coaches were allowed to delay the game over 10 minutes by refusing to leave the field, even as play was about to commence.

After the game was over and Boyd County stormed the field with their first district championship in 20 years, they were ushered off the field for another long delay, with someone finally determining — without instant replay — that the ball had been spiked with a half of a second still on the clock.

The time was reset. Boyd County’s defense had to run back on the field and defend the goal line once again. This time Greenup County was successful.

This is where the good coaching and tremendous class became apparent. After the embarrassing display of inner team fighting and midfield antics of Greenup County, the Lions — still in shock — made their way through the fans to congratulate the Musketeers, then found a place to sit quietly and reflect. No fighting, no ugliness, just class. They should be proud of themselves. I am.

Robin Kirtland, Catlettsburg



Candidates silent on 2nd amendment

I perceive a prime question rising from the debates of our current slate of presidential candidates that has not been addressed properly. We haven’t heard much said about our right to own and bear arms for the defense of one’s own life and personal property.

Are the candidates, and many other domestic leaders — along with many foreign leaders — afraid that most Americans believe that the right to own and bear arms is already a perceived right under the Constitution of the United States?

If words have hallowed meanings, then these words as found in the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence should carry significant legal weight — the difference between life and death — and should not be altered or tampered with for political gains: “...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (God), with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. ...”

These presidential candidates should be asked if defending our life, or a life, have the same meaning as the life mentioned in the Declaration of Independence?

Ted A. Smith, Ashland



Winter music is not just for the holidays

Well, it’s almost Thanksgiving and that means a non-stop barrage of Christmas music on our radios until midnight Christmas day. But this is not the subject of my letter. I want to talk about the seldom discussed subject of “winter music.”

You know winter music, don’t you? Songs like “Frosty The Snow Man” and “Jingle Bells.” Songs that have little or nothing to do with Christmas, but that have been stereotyped as “holiday music” by the recording and radio industries. Having been thus classified, they are consigned to air play from Thanksgiving until Christmas, after which time they are put back on the shelf for another 11 months.

The themes sung about in winter music are the sights, sounds, and activities that are available only during the winter months. Wouldn't it be great to hear “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let it Snow!” on a cold Saturday in late January? But this is almost never the case.

If you believe, as I do, that winter music deserves as much respect as summer music and should be played from late December until the beginning of March, let your voice be heard! Let your favorite radio station know you believe winter music should be given the opportunity to emerge from Christmas music's shadow. All winter music is asking for is a chance to earn your affection. Let's make January 2008 the first winter music appreciation month.

Donald Fleu, Ashland



87 letters get no responses

It is reported that the mega Southland Christian Church of Lexington is sending out personal notes to Britney Spears. The church’s pastor, Jon Weece, instructed his flock of nearly 8,000 to “take a few minutes to write Spears with no preaching, no criticizing — just love.”

I hope this church has more success with its mission than I. In 2003, I wrote 87 Kentucky churches to offer at no charge to bring my “I Will Never Use Tobacco” message to their vacation Bible schools. Very regretfully, I received no invitations.

I must wonder how many Kentucky deaths are “influenced” by Britney Spears vs. the sacred Kentucky burley tobacco.

Mike Sawyer, Executive director, I Will Never Use Tobacco, Birmingham, Ala.