Letters to the editor - 6.9

Seniors ‘handled like animals’ at graduation

To the editor:

This is to thank the educators employed with the Anderson County school system.

I am proud of the education my children are receiving. I also understand the importance of good leadership, but feel taking the time to recognize the retiring members of this system at the graduation event is inexcusable.

I felt certain that when they attended their own high school graduation, it was an event much like the graduation I experienced. Each student had his or her moment to shine for parents, grandparents and loved ones. We, as students, approached the podium one at a time, shook hands with the principal and had an opportunity for a photo.

The class of 2010 was handled more like animals sent to slaughter. By the time my son’s name was announced he was halfway back to his seat — no chance for a picture, no honor for what could be the most important day in their young lives.

In the times we face now and in the future, the children of today deserve as much if not more respect than what we received. During the short amount of time the seniors had the attention of the audience they showed themselves as young people of high value.

My youngest graduated from kindergarten the day before and was treated with the utmost respect by the administrators, teachers and parents in attendance.

My daughter will be a high school freshman next year — what happened to eighth-grade graduation? Again we have fallen short, and I am not asking for a big event, just recognition of an accomplishment.

It it were a time or money issue for the board of education and Frankfort Civic Center, why not solicit another venue or take some of the funds raised from local businesses to support Project Graduation and apply toward the graduation event?

We are sending our children into the world with the wrong message. Life is too short and precious to rush through and miss out on all of the wonderful sights, sounds and events that happen every day. My father always said if a day goes by and I did not learn it was my fault.

Do you ask why the children of today act the way they do? Maybe we should take a look at our actions and take credit for the good behavior and the responsibility for the not-so-good behavior.

Christopher Dillon

Lawrenceburg

Warning signs out of D.C. harken back to days of Noah

To the editor:

I would like to respond to a letter in last week’s paper written by Shafter Bailey.

He is dead on to what we are facing and is correct in saying all of the Washington, D.C., politicians need to go.

It is time to clean the people’s house and that is what it is: the people’s house.

They all took a sworn oath and they have dishonored that oath and proved they cannot be trusted. It is time they get out of our way because they are the problem.

I loved the way Mr. Bailey ended his letter: “If we the people do not communicate that message by deed, not by words or second chances, we the people and only we the people will be totally responsible for the downfall of the America envisioned by our founding fathers.”

I thank him for being a true patriot. It is not easy to speak out, which I have found out first-hand.  Millions are awake in this country, from seniors, middle-aged and now our young people who see the change they were expecting is not pretty.

There are so many that have their head stuck in the sand and the call has been made — freedom-loving Americans have been warning our fellow Americans.

Now I know how Noah must have felt preaching the flood, trying to sound the warning before it was too late.

We as caring Americans must let our neighbors, friends and family know. Why? Because we are all a part of the American family: united we stand, divided we fall.

Thank you, Mr. Bailey, for an eye-opening letter.

Karen Richardson

Lawrenceburg

Plenty of praise owed for new skate park

To the editor:

I would just like to say thank you to the editor and staff of The Anderson News for your excellent coverage of the work of the Lawrenceburg Skate Park Committee.

Last week’s story, like all of the previous stories covering our project, was touching, honest, and fair. Both Ben Carlson and Shannon Mason Brock should be praised for being such fine journalists and covering this community with sincerity.  

Helen Shryock, the treasurer of our skate park committee, deserves a key to the city, or at least a citizenship award for her dedication to the youth of this community. It was Helen who answered a knock on the door of her home and responded to three young skaters asking her to help them get a skate park for Lawrenceburg.

It was she who began this committee (two years before I even knew about it) while a member of the Lawrenceburg City Council, and she who deserves much of the credit for this project’s completion. Helen has counted every single penny of donations, kept our records, and been totally dedicated to our cause since the very first day.

It was also Helen, a devoted member of First Christian Church, who got her church community and youth pastor involved in this project. And I would like to say thank you, Helen. Thank you for everything.

I would also like to thank all of the members of the Lawrenceburg Skate Park Committee: Mitzi, Scott, Evan and Spencer Brown; the Rev. Lee Yates; Teresa, Dave and Christine Steedly, Rhonda Schierer (my wonderful mother); Audrey and Steve Morey; and Helen Shryock for all of their hard work over the last several years.

The Steedly family worked on the project in the beginning on behalf of their son who was an avid skater. But they stayed dedicated to the project long after that son had graduated high school and gone off to college, no longer skating in Anderson County.

President Mitzi Brown and her entire family put in countless hours and prayers as well, and deserve a world of gratitude for all they have done to see this project through.

Their son, Evan, who also worked diligently on the skate park project, has now graduated from Anderson County High School, but will have at least one summer to skate on the park he and his family worked so hard to build.

The Morey family is responsible for many of the funds raised toward the park to honor the memory of their son, Zach, who was tragically killed in a car crash. Friends of their family and members of the Kentucky National Guard were instrumental in fundraising efforts.

The Rev. Yates worked diligently to get sponsorships, donations, contracts and plans, and served as an officer on our committee.

First Christian Church, where he leads the youth ministry, was extremely crucial to fundraising efforts, and even allowed skaters to use their parking lot as a temporary skate park until the real one was completed.

And of course Rhonda Schierer, like all others on the committee spent hours at meetings, talking with family and friends about this project and Kenny’s memory, preparing for presentations, asking for donations, sending up prayers, talking to skaters, and working at fundraisers. It was her passion and devotion that kept me going many times when I felt like giving up.

I cannot say how blessed I am to have her, or how proud I am to call her my mother.  I know Kenny would be so proud of her, too.

This group of people, though many of them were strangers to me just three years ago, is now my very special family. We have worked together, cried together, laughed together, shared meals and holidays, weddings, graduations and birthdays, and spent countless hours working through issues, presentations, ideas, plans, contracts, grants proposals, and fundraising efforts.

It has been an amazing journey, and it is indeed a dream come true for me and many other folks in this community.

I would like to send a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone in this community who helped us accomplish this wonderful goal. From those who sent checks for $10 to try to reach a $1,000 goal to get Kenny’s name on a sign, to those who helped me walk country roads and collect aluminum cans to recycle, to those local businesses and churches who made large financial contributions, to those who dropped change in a coffee can at the laundry mat or skate shop or other local business, to those who paid $1 to have their child’s face painted or bought a raffle ticket at the burgoo festival or came to a strong man competition, or organized a poker run, or attended the gospel singing,  provided food for our events, or simply said a prayer for us.

Thank you to all those who gave of their time, talent and treasure to see this thing through. I would especially like to thank all of the folks in this community who encouraged us along the way by saying “good job” or “keep going.”

It wasn’t always easy to do. But we kept going anyway — for Kenny and Zach and for all those kids in this town who enjoy skateboards.

I have learned from this experience that anything is possible when a community comes together to do something good for its citizens.  So thank you to everyone — every single person who helped along the way.

Thank you to the mayor and her staff and to the county judge and his staff, and to the city council and fiscal court, and to everyone down at The Anderson News, everyone at First Christian Church, Sand Spring Baptist Church, and Tyrone Baptist Church, to Kelly Saad, the park’s designer, and to Jonathan Upchurch who constructed the park, and to the citizens of Lawrenceburg.

We did it!  

Lastly, I would like to say thank you to all of those who came out to the grand opening of the skate park. It was a very happy way to kick off Memorial Day weekend.

The Skate Park grand opening was May 28, just 20 days after Kenny’s birthday, the same day my grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and the start of the weekend that we celebrate all of those brave men and women who give their lives so we can be free to play and to pray in such a place as a community skate park.

Thank you to all of those who made the opening ceremony and prayerful blessing of the park such a sweet day to remember for all of us. It is a day I will never forget.

The Lawrenceburg Skate Park is a standing tribute to Zach Morey and my brother Kenny Curtsinger, built by the community of Lawrenceburg and dedicated to its youth. But more than that, the Lawrenceburg Skate Park is concrete proof that all things are possible with Christ Jesus.

To God be all the glory.

Kaycie Len Sparrow

Skate park committee member

Advice for writer who wants law against flag burning

To the editor:

I’d like to respond to Nick Schreiber, who wrote a letter last week expressing his opinion that, because he feels a torn flag disgraces his country and its veterans, including his grandfather, there should be a law requiring such flags be replaced.

Nick, I am delighted to hear a young person speak his views so confidently, and I respect you and the belief you write about because I know it comes from your heart.

But I also want to remind you to always look with respect at views that differ from yours.

For instance, at your age you won’t have developed the sort of long-term view of things that you’ll have in another 20 or 30 years. You see things as they are now. You see a fresh, new, attractive flag and it suggests all kinds of positive things to you, especially respect.

And you are right; those qualities do mean that. But suppose that the bedraggled flag in front of my house or my business downtown is one that my grandfather risked his life to rescue from above his foxhole in World War I.

Is it disrespectful to the country when I display it? No, I would fly that flag proudly until I die, and then pass it on to my son so he could do the same. You might not know why I am displaying it, but I would know.

Well, my grandfather didn’t fight in a foxhole or bring a flag home from the war. That was just an example. But someone’s grandfather did. I can’t look at their flag and know the story it has to tell. I can’t know the proud traditions that might make them want to show a flag that appears ugly to me. And because I don’t know the whole story, I can’t judge them. The fact is, you can never, ever know the whole story behind what someone else does, so you should never judge someone’s actions. (Unless they actually hurt you. Whatever someone believes, they don’t have the right to hurt you.)

You have a choice when you look at that flag: Do you say, “That’s ugly. There ought to be a law against that, because it offends me.” Or do you say, “Wow, that’s a really old flag. I wonder how far before my time it goes back. How many people might have run it up the flagpole, or saluted it, through all those years?”

Remember all the ways that flag, which has become worn and torn from proudly symbolizing what is great about your country, is like your grandfather, who became badly injured while fighting for that same country.

His injuries didn’t make you stop respecting him; why not respect a flag that has been injured in its service.

If you respect the beliefs and feelings of others, you shouldn’t want to make laws that force your beliefs onto them. That is exactly what your ancestors died to put an end to.

David Thomson

Lawrenceburg

Family grateful for river rescue

To the editor:

On Thursday, May 27 my family and I were in desperate need of God’s love and emergency help.

Both were given.

My wife and I and our two small children were stuck on top of dam lock No. 5 in our boat, facing what seemed to be certain death.

We were blessed in many ways and I want to give thanks today. There was one fishing boat on the river that day that heard our screams, and horn blowing, for help; this boat went as fast as it could to the boat ramp in Tyrone to get someone to call 911. There was a four-wheeler, who must have also heard our cries at the lock, that also raced away to call 911. Praise God that my cell phone was able to get a signal, my wife’s phone did not, and I called 911 while my wife and kids lay in the floor of our boat praying to Jesus for intervention.

Without a doubt he heard our prayers. Dispatch responded promptly to emergency services from Anderson, Franklin, and Woodford counties; to the lady who stayed on the phone with me for 2 1/2 hours before my cell phone died, thank you. Thank you for going beyond your duty for our request of getting a hold of our preacher Terry Cooper of Ninevah Christian Church.

This act created prayer groups from functions held that day at Ninevah Christian Church, Christian Academy, Southland Christian Church and an untold number of homes as we were atop of the dam. Anderson County and the Farleys are very blessed to have the emergency services that we have here when we were in need. They came in masses — men and women from the ambulance, fire and rescue, fish and wildlife and police departments came from land and water.

As they devised a plan to save us, which meant putting their lives in danger, we had our young children look at all the heroes that were there to save us.

We did this because we knew that our children would have to leave our grasps into the arms of our rescuers and wanted them to listen to every word and do what they were told. There are so many heroes in this town that showed up that this paper is not big enough to list them all but we, the Farleys, will never forget you all.

You took care of our children and us during, before and after the accident.

My daughter saw one of you on the street in town the other day and said, “Daddy, look there’s one of the superheroes.”

I have to agree. Thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. We love you.

Travis Farley

Lawrenceburg

Little League articles have been great

To the editor:

I want to express how grateful I am to you for the wonderful article Metz Camfield wrote about my grandson, Jordan Adams.

You did not just write an article, you gave us a play by play description that put us at the game.  My Jordan is your typical, growing teenager and baseball is a refuge for him to put his heart and soul into something positive.

God bless you, and I thank you again for a great uplifting and self-esteem building write-up about Jordan.

Your addition to The Anderson News staff is a great asset to the readers in our community and to the sports programs of our county. 

I enjoyed reading about Jordan’s buddy Dusty Puckett last week.

Keep up the great work.

Jacqueline Zeller

Lawrenceburg