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Whatever UK’s alcohol policy at Kroger Field is, apply it fairly

Alcohol policy

I have always enjoyed watching football, but never went to the University of Kentucky games. However, recently my girlfriend’s parents have been kindly offering tickets to events at Kroger Field.

When I went with my girlfriend to the UK vs. Georgia game, she informed me that alcohol is not served at football games. This did not offend my sense of fairness, as a local, a fan, and a UK graduate. I believe the decision to not serve alcohol at Commonwealth Stadium is well-intentioned.

My taking offense began after the UK vs. Louisville game when my girlfriend’s father informed me that alcohol is served where the affluent fans and their families sit, but not where we other fans sit. This is clearly wrong.

I am not going to deprive myself of enjoying UK sports because your sense of fairness doesn’t agree with many influential thinkers in American/world history. I understand why you would or wouldn’t choose to serve alcohol at a football game, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t apply that standard fairly.

Please decide what the right thing to do is, for the fans and the university, and do it in a fair way.

Zach Kemper, Versailles

(Editor’s Note: Per a University of Kentucky spokesperson, alcohol is not available for purchase to the general public at Kroger Field during UK games, but is available at cash bars in three Club areas for which attendees pay a premium, and in suites, where suite holders who have purchased three year suite leases, can buy alcohol and have it delivered to their suites.)

Lifelong fan

It was great news, for this long-time fan now spanning 72 seasons, to see that University of Kentucky Football Coach Mark Stoops will continue as head football coach of the Wildcats, even after this potentially “special season” fell short of overly optimistic expectations.

The first college football game I ever attended was on Nov. 24, 1951 at UK’s Stoll Field, an inauspicious 0-28 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. It was a game in which current Wildcat quarterback, Will Levis could relate to. The great UK quarterback, Vito “Babe” Parilli, ran for his “football life!” I was just beginning my 4-year career as a Carlisle High School Musketeer and the UK Wildcats became “my college team.”

After Coaches Paul “Bear” Bryant and Blanton Collier’s 16-year combined winning record (101-59 or about 62.5 percent), we endured 50 years of 9 coaches with losing career records as “long-suffering” but die-hard Cat fans - including Coach Stoops’ first three “building” years with a 4-20 record!

However, beginning in 2016, Coach Stoops and his staff have steadily and systematically built a solid winning program (53-29 or about 65 percent ), earning respectability in a very tough SEC environment, including seven consecutive Bowl Games!

Optimistically, Coach Stoops can consistently keep the Cats climbing!

Don Dampier, Georgetown

Sports funding

The University of Kentucky’s major sports teams and coaches, plus Mitch Barnhart, have left a bad taste in my mouth! Stoops and his coaches were out coached by the University of Vanderbilt and other teams. For this, UK rewarded him with millions in salary. Calipari earns millions in salary for what?

I hear nothing but excuses and promises! Let’s pay millions to the faculty of departments that have proven year after year to be winners and champions, such as the College of Fine Arts.

Ben C. Kaufmann, Lexington

Russian aggression

So long as Russia is allowed to shell and rocket Ukraine incessantly day and night but remain immune from any retaliation themselves, this war will never end. And while supplying Ukraine with American and European weapons to shoot down Russian cruise missiles, drones, and rockets is the necessary and right thing to do, it alone will not stop the Russian aggression. For every dollar the Russians spend on shelling and rocketing Ukraine we will spend $10 to try and intercept them. Although we will intercept 80 to 90 percent of them, 10 to 20 percent will still get through to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and homes.

A medic passes a car on fire in Kyiv in October. (Foto AP/Roman Hrytsyna)
A medic passes a car on fire in Kyiv in October. (Foto AP/Roman Hrytsyna)

What is going on in Ukraine is horrific and monstrous. I just do not see how it is allowed to continue. After the Holocaust, the world said “never again” in unison. Now it is happening again! Russia must feel some portion the pain they are meting out. Otherwise they will continue their murderous assault on the people of Ukraine.

Jim Porter, Danville

Ukraine funding

How much money are we going to give the government of Ukraine? Is it unlimited? America is providing funding for the war against Russia as the European nations watch and do little in their backyard. President Joe Biden’s next big foreign policy failure, as if there haven’t been enough, will be the loss of billions of dollars of equipment when Ukraine loses the war and Russia claims the spoils. It will be another major fiasco just like his mishandling of Afghanistan. America’s political hack hasn’t done enough damage to his own country so now he’s going to export his foolishness to other countries - reparations for global warming to third world countries and buying dirty oil from dictatorships while ignoring human rights violations in Iran and China as protestors demand freedom.

In one of the best Three Stooges episodes, Moe says to Larry, “Every time you speak, you destroy America.” Well every time Biden speaks he’s destroying something. Has America ever had a bigger embarrassment? Where are the proponents of the 25th Amendment that were so vocal and numerous only 2 years ago? They’re in Congress voting for more money for Ukraine.

Robert Adams, Lexington

Social Security

As the federal agency serving society’s most vulnerable, the Social Security Administration should be on the forefront of making its services more accessible.

Instead, the agency is in crisis. Right now, Social Security operates with 4,000 fewer field office and teleservice center employees than it did 12 years ago. The current workforce of less than 60,000 is at a 25-year low, even as the number of beneficiaries has increased by more than 10 million.

This prolonged staffing shortage is only going to get worse. Overworked, overloaded, and underpaid, thousands more of those workers are expected to depart in the current fiscal year.

A recent Social Security employee survey for AFGE Council 220, for whom I serve as Kentucky state president, found that nearly half plan to leave the agency within the next year.

One key sticking point: the agency’s refusal to adopt a sensible telework policy that benefits both civil service workers and taxpayers.

With longer wait times, plummeting applicant pools, and dissatisfied employees clamoring for the door, it’s past time to utilize every tool at our disposal to ensure that these customers aren’t wasting time - and being needlessly put at risk when so many tools of modernization are available.

Jimmy Botts, Glasgow

Popular vote

I’m writing to discuss the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It’s a workaround that could allow us to render the Electoral College irrelevant without going through the whole process to amend the Constitution and abolish it.

The Constitution allows each state to decide how to allocate its electoral votes, so individual states have started passing laws that say their states’ electoral votes will go to the winner of the national popular vote.

Since no state wants to be the first to give up their electoral votes, each state’s law also stipulates that it doesn’t go into effect until enough states pass it to add up to 270 electoral votes, guaranteeing the national popular vote winner to win the electoral college as well.

Once enough states pass it and it goes into effect, it will allow the American people to choose the president for real. This will boost voter turnout, as people will see that their votes make a difference. It will also create incentives for states to implement further measures to increase turnout, because it will be possible to increase the state’s influence on the national election by increasing turnout, unlike the current flat number of electoral votes.

Cassandra Lyons, Lexington

Late-term abortions

When Gov. Andy Beshear said publicly a few months ago that he has concerns personally about late-term abortions, I think most of us recognized that as practical matter. Beshear does not intend to concede all of the rural and ex-urban vote to the Republicans. Neither does he intend to pledge loyalty to the national Democratic Party’s platform on abortion; which advocates unlimited rights throughout pregnancy.

Why my party thinks an absolute position is so important, I may never understand. Under the Roe v. Wade framework, late-term abortions were already accepted where there is medical risk to the pregnant person or where the fetus is not viable. The difference between the Roe framework and absolute rights at this stage is miniscule. Yet, my party would sacrifice its chances to win statewide elections in Kentucky on that miniscule difference even though the consequences in terms of the kitchen table issues are awful.

Tom Louderback, Louisville

Alzheimer’s Awareness

The personal toll of Alzheimer’s is felt not only by those with the disease, but also the loved ones serving as caregivers. During National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month, I want to recognize the value of caregivers in the fight against this devastating disease. This is especially important to me, as my father and I are currently the caregivers to my mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Her disease has rapidly declined recently, and we have seen that even between me and my dad as full-time caregivers to her, it is still not enough. Not only do we continually grieve as she is dissipating in front of our eyes, but we also must manage the laborious and time-consuming physical tasks that need to be accomplished while navigating a disease that encompasses more than we expected.

I am grateful to have U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, whom I met last spring during the Alzheimer’s Association Forum in D.C., as a champion of this cause and continue to ask for his support in research funding. Through the Alzheimer’s Association you can access resources for caregivers and learn more about the strides made in this fight. Please visit alz.org for more information.

Sophia Sawaya, Lexington

Counting blessings

I started reading Paul Prather’s column on gratitude with great expectations. It resonated because I find myself reflecting on my blessings regularly. So many amazing things have happened to me in my life that are unexplained and unearned. It’s truly humbling.

But then I turned the page to keep reading. Why would someone give thanks that “none of [his] tenants burned the place down?” What perceptions of his tenants did the pastor have during those 12 years? Then, after that exact tragedy happened, the pastor’s first reaction when seeing the apartments is a feeling of gratitude that he doesn’t have to deal with it anymore? A “one-man Pentecostal camp meeting?” Rapturous glee to wash one’s hands of other’s problems?

It’s likely Prather meant nothing of the sort, but the tonal shift in his editorial this week paints him far more like Ebenezer Scrooge than Bob Cratchit. What happened to the folks who lost their homes? Readers would love to know this information as an epilogue.

Christmas is not just about introspection. It’s also about empathy and selflessness. It’s great to look inward and count one’s blessings, but it’s something entirely different when the counting discounts the experiences of others.

Aaron Kruse-Diehr, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey