Good Times at Freedom Hall
After reading c d kaplan’s article “Leaving the nest: Louisville Cardinals bid farewell to Freedom Hall” (LEO Weekly, March 3), I have a greater appreciation of what U of L fans and supporters are leaving behind. Born in 1978, Freedom Hall is all I’ve ever known as a home for the U of L Cardinals Basketball teams. As an undergraduate at U of L, I remember dreaming of graduating in Freedom Hall, and at my graduation, I remember taking in all the “behind-the-scenes” sights. Freedom Hall has served as a nationally known arena making Louisvillians proud to reflect on its history. This article is a remarkable reflection of what Freedom Hall meant to the community. I had the honor of attending the last U of L Lady Cardinals game vs. South Florida … they lost in the last seconds, but played hard throughout. Thanks, Freedom Hall, for all the great memories!
Jennifer Adams-Tucker, Newburg, Ky.
Warm, Fuzzy Sentiments
I believe that the memories of the Cards’ lengthy assignment at Freedom Hall, based both on warm sentiments and cold facts, could not have been nailed any better, in any publication, than in c d kaplan’s definitive piece, “Leaving the nest.” Well done.
Lance Crady, Crescent Hill
Loaded and Unchecked
Police shot and killed 48-year-old Donnie Miles on Feb. 6 at the Iroquois Homes Complex for coming toward them while brandishing a hammer. Your statement that Louisville was “murder-free” during the month of February (on the LEO Fat Lip blog) is a farce, and the fact that major publications such as The Courier-Journal and LEO are publishing this lie yet ignoring the community response (or lack thereof) means this violence is going unchecked.
Police violence is still violence. Yes, those four officers were given paid leave for what I see as a blatant misuse of force, but what does that mean for the rest of them? I know of personal stories recounted from friends in which the LMPD allegedly misused force in a situation that did not require it. Although I am almost 100 percent sure the LMPD will never shoot me, mainly because I’m white, I still feel intimidated and unsafe by their presence in this community.
In the end, I am left feeling powerless to change this situation. In other places where police shoot and kill people, there is more of a community response. Google: Oscar Grant. Please, LEO and citizens of Louisville, what can we do about this?
Brent Tinnell, Old Louisville
Crocodile Tears
Congratulations, Alex Bradshaw. Your Feb. 10 letter is the most preposterous piece LEO has published in 2010! But hey, the year’s young, and both of us have plenty of time to write to the editor again. Seriously, though, I’d be shocked if Bradshaw can name even one person who was forced out of the “deliberately leveled communities” for which he sheds crocodile tears. If he did, he’d know the “Clay Street Housing Projects” were actually known as Clarksdale. And if you want suburbanites to move out of their East End cocoons and back downtown, then where do you want them to go? Sure, Louisville’s got a lot of unnecessary sprawl, but you can’t fit half a million people in the Highlands.
Robin Schmidt, Old Louisville
Local Chicken
I just read the PETA article (LEO Weekly, Feb. 24). I hope Louisville lets them put the statue up soon. My friends and I will take pictures with it while we’re eating a bucket of chicken. Yes, KFC kills chickens, but I’d be mad if they served me live ones.
And I’m all for supporting local business, but they have to support us supporting them. I went in and tried to order a record from ear X-tacy. The clerk told me they couldn’t order it and that I should check online. I asked if they could do it for me, and I’d pay whatever handling fee they wanted. They said no. I found what I wanted on eBay for $30, but if the clerk would have looked it up and said $70, I would have paid it.
Richard Cundiff, Okolona
Love Letter to Congress
Dear Congress,
I have a master’s,
and massive student debt,
a job (I like) that pays poverty,
and doesn’t give health insurance.
I have a human body
that has needs I can’t afford.
What the fuck am I supposed to do?
Love,
Kate Welsh, Highlands
Derby Stain
When a horse wins the Kentucky Derby, the jockey, trainer and owner get all the credit. The horse gets a place in the Kentucky Derby Museum.
Everybody thinks that when the horses’ racing days are over, they are retired to a picturesque pasture to live out the rest of its days. However, that was not the case of Ferdinand, winner of the 1986 Derby. He was sold to a Japanese breeder, and when that owner was done with him, he was slaughtered in 2002.
Since then, Charismatic, winner of the 1999 Derby, and War Emblem, winner of the 2002 Derby, have been sold to Japan, where it’s likely both could suffer the same fate.
Kentucky prides itself on the Derby, but that “pride” had no meaning to the owners of these horses. It’s a stain on the industry that a Derby winner could end up as pet food. And this won’t change as long as these champions are considered as mere “property.”
The owners of these champions should be banned from the Derby, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association should use their legislative influence to ensure future champions are not sold out of the country. Another option would be for owners to donate their Derby winners to the museum, where people can come see the real live horses.
Harold Wilson, Corydon, Ind.
Obedient Lapdog
Jim Bunning is angry at Mitch and the Republican Party. For years, he was the obedient lapdog for the senior senator, and when he no longer followed “orders,” he was dumped.
The decision-making headline is his way of getting back at those who “betrayed” him. Alas, in politics innocents often suffer.
Bob Moore, East End
Saving the Street
Most people understand why the nation is in a financial dilemma. Financial institutions sold home mortgages to everyone with a pulse, leveraged the proceeds $30 for each $1, gambled that on off-balance sheet speculation, lost the bet, then asked politicians and taxpayers for a bailout. And so President Obama, the idealistic Don Quixote with a mop over his shoulder, has ridden into power atop a tsunami of federal spending and the resolve to clean up the mess.
Who would have thought the man who came to save Main Street from Wall Street and K Street, and to safeguard American industry, jobs and communities, would be jeered by … Main Streeters? The bitterness with which many of them tear into Obama is trickle-down cynicism, absorbed from the ranting rajahs of right-wing radio and tinged with racial animosity.
For their own good, Main Streeters should now support two pieces of legislation backed by Obama. One would prevent Wall Street banks from again bringing America to the brink of financial meltdown. The second would restrain corporations’ “free speech” in political campaigns, which the Supreme Court recently expanded.
As the guy with the mop is cleaning up the rot at the top, Main Street’s conservatives have been howling away at nativist confabs in Nashville and Washington, D.C. Too bad. Opportunities to defend the little guy from predatory capitalism are rare. Are conservative Main Streeters so blind they cannot support President Obama even when he tries to stop the destruction of our democracy?
Eric George, Highlands