LEO welcomes letters that are brief (250 words max) and thoughtful. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored, and we need your name and a daytime phone number. Send snail mail to EROSIA, 640 S. Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. 40202. Fax to 895-9779 or e-mail to [email protected]. We may edit for length, grammar and clarity.

Correction
Last week’s “Love Thy Neighbor” column misidentified two of its subjects. Earon Harper and her daughter, Erica Hughes, were shot last year, and Harper died.
Also, in the dining review photo caption, we misspelled the name of chef Mike Driskell. LEO regrets the errors.

You CAN Do It!
The Louisville Climate Action Network (CAN) commends LEO for its recent coverage of what has — and hasn’t — happened since Kyoto (Dec. 5 issue).  
Louisville CAN is the only local organization dedicated to offering locally oriented information on the many steps that Louisville CAN take to reduce its carbon footprint — steps that will also cut other air pollutants, save money and improve public health. Louisville CAN also offers presentations to community groups, houses of worship, businesses and schools. Learn more by visiting www.louisvillecan.org or writing to POB 4594, Louisville, Ky., 40204.
Sarah Lynn Cunningham, Louisville CAN Steering Committee

Stuff It
Much thanks to the 800 people who came to Good Folk Fest 2007 and experienced one of the region’s more entertaining, thought-provoking and unique art and music festivals. Don’t take my word for it; ask one of the 80 artists, 24 performers or festival-goers (if you can find one) and see what they say about the fest. The rest of you missed out. With attendance at only half of what it was last year, it leaves me scratching my head and asking WTF? Was it the weather, was it the date, was it because there was a basketball game? Perhaps people just didn’t know about it …
Volunteers hung many posters, artists sent postcards and did what they could to spread the word on the Internet. But the lack of support and minimum coverage by local media killed the fest this year. Being billed as a unique place to buy one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts (as stated in LEO last week) falls considerably short in describing the effects and efforts of the Good Folk Fest. Belittling the art work as some kind of stocking stuffer and calling the musical performances merely background music to shop by, makes the festival seem nothing more than a slightly off-kilter Christmas bazaar. I am telling you, Louisville, it is much more than that, but you’ll have to wait until next year to find out for yourselves. Sorry.
Scott Scarboro,
organizer of the Good Folk Fest

86-Seedy K
Enough with Seedy K, already. A bogus rumor, or maybe two, and a quote from Howard Schnellenberger is the best he can do? Bring back the Rugby Report.
Eric Raney, Louisville

West Louisville Taken
I read the City Strobe article “More Trees, Please” (LEO, Nov. 28). I noticed that in it, the author refers to the western part of Louisville as “West Louisville.” I have also noticed this in numerous articles in the past.
Are you aware that there is an actual municipality in the commonwealth that actually is named West Louisville? It is about 10-1/2 miles southwest of Owensboro. Perhaps the editorial board should rethink this policy. “East End” and “South End” seem to still be acceptable, why not “West End”?
Adam Heitkemper, Louisville

Ralph Beard Tribute
Ralph Beard was one of my athletic heroes when I was a youngster. Like so many young boys in the late 1940s, shooting two-hand set shots on an alley basketball goal, I often fantasized I was Beard. My dad and I listened to many UK basketball games on the radio in those pre-television days. In the sixth grade, I started a sports scrapbook that included articles, pictures and UK game results from The Courier-Journal and Louisville Times, which especially featured Beard.
In early March 1949, when I was 11 years old, my dad took me see the Fabulous Five play in the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament at the old Jefferson County Armory in Louisville. What a thrill that was! I remember my dad and I walked briskly all the way to the Armory at Sixth and Walnut from our home in the Portland area, a good 22 city blocks.
During the past few years, I wrote two letters to the editor saying Ralph Beard belonged in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Beard called me and expressed his appreciation. I was on cloud nine talking to one of my boyhood heroes of 60 years ago. And to think that he took the time to call me. That says a lot about the kind of person Ralph Beard was.
If anybody belongs in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, it is Ralph Beard, who should have been inducted while he was still alive. He was one of the greatest players of his two-hand set-shot era and would be great in any era. After 56 years, one would think Beard could be forgiven for making the mistake of taking a few hundred dollars for agreeing to shave points in two collegiate games.
Over the last 56 years, Beard displayed more than adequate, humble repentance. He acknowledged his transgression at the time it was revealed, was sincerely sorry for what he did, and lived as a model citizen the rest of his life. After a brief stint with the Indianapolis Olympians of the NBA, Beard paid dearly by being banned from playing professionally the game he loved so much and played so well.
I’m grateful to Ralph Beard for being an important part of my childhood and for giving me the opportunity to talk to him on the phone many years later. His life brought me and countless others much joy.
Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville

8664 Test
I believe there is a way to test the 8664 question prior to constructing the downtown bridge. First, build the East End bridge now, which will provide us with the alternate Interstate 64 option. Next, rather than a toll on that bridge, place a toll on the current I-64 somewhere inside the Gene Snyder Freeway. This would encourage those traveling through Louisville to bypass the toll by taking the alternate I-64 option through Southern Indiana. We would then be able to determine whether the 8664 Louisville bypass would relieve enough traffic to make the removal of the downtown overpasses a reasonable possibility.
Mark Abrams, Louisville