West Newsmagazine 11-26-2014

1. 4 I OPINION I
NOVEMBER 26, 2014
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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NEWSMAGAZINENETWORK.COM
1.
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Free fish
To the Editor:
Each week I look forward to the delivery
of West Newsmagazine in my mailbox free
of charge.
West gives me the opportunity to learn
what is going on in 2. the communities and
schools and what is being discussed in
terms of changes, developments and legislative
issues. I also Give enjoy Thanks most of the
letters to the editor, and Thomas Sowell
always makes me think about things in a
way I may not have done otherwise.
(Address)
I assume that the reason the paper
(Phone
is free
No.)
is because the people who advertise realize
that the publication 2. is widely read by
an overwhelmingly conservative-leaning
populace. Many have discontinued their
subscriptions to the Give Post-Dispatch Thanks and
cannot otherwise be reached through the
print media in St. Louis. Thus, they continue
to spend their advertising revenue
10-2014 Holiday 8.5c
(Agent Name)
with West Newsmagazine. (Address)
(Phone No.)
It is said that if you give a man a fish, he
can eat for a day, but if you teach him to
fish, he can eat for a lifetime.
Paul Summers’ complaint in the Oct. 29
issue of West Newsmagazine (“Time for a
more even perspective”) reminds me of this
saying, except that not only does Mr. Summers
want to continue to receive the fish for
10-2014 Holiday 8.5c
free, he now wants to tell West Newsmagazine
what kind of fish is suitable to his taste
buds. If Mr. Summers wants a liberal bias,
he should spend $30 a month and subscribe
to the Post-Dispatch. If he can’t afford this,
he can go to the library and read progressive
liberal opinions to his heart’s content.
I, for one, don’t want progressive liberalism,
socialism and more big government.
Liberal proponents of giving away more of
our liberties in the interest of political correctness
or desires to foist their penchant
for liberalism on the rest of West’s readers
should let those who are funding the paper
(catching the fish), decide what is suitable
for the taste buds of the reader.
When the advertisers start pulling their
advertising revenue because of a conservative
columnist, then, and only then, should
the editors re-think the advisability of continuing
Thomas Sowell. They will do so at
the risk of losing readership.
David Kearney
Wildwood
Protests
To the Editor:
Yesterday (Nov. 16), once again, protestors
shut down traffic in Clayton.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
(Agent Name)
It is ridiculous that the lawbreakers can
disrupt regular citizens with no parade
permit and suffer no consequences in the
name of “political correctness.”
When are the law-abiding citizens going
to wake up and stand up for law and order
regardless of race or ethnicity.
John Schroeder
Wildwood
Voices from ®
newsmagazinenetwork.com
Rockwood facilities to be
discussed at upcoming board
of education meeting
First question: How often has it actually
been necessary to change football game
venues during the past three years? Enough
times to warrant what is projected to cost
We’re your Shield. We’re your Shelter.
more than $800,000 for artificial turf per
high school?
Second question: Why was it not possible
to relocate the Oct. 10 game to either
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®
Lafayette or Rockwood Summit, bypassing
the expense of renting a field out-ofdistrict?
Both of those schools had ‘away’
games on Oct 10.
Third question: Do you know how bad
synthetic turf is for kids, not to mention the
environment? And there’s no big-deal savings!
It costs more to maintain synthetic
turf each year, and it must be replaced
every 6-8 years.
Finally, less than 25 percent of students
take part in interscholastic sports, and the
football fields are used infrequently during
only four or five months each year. Extracurricular
sports and cheerleading generally
take place on other non-game day
fields. They don’t use the football fields.
Bottom line: The vast majority of students
do not benefit in any way, shape, or
form from this kind of expenditure. Further,
most of the taxpayers in this community
don’t benefit from this kind of expenditure.
What are your priorities, fellow taxpayers?
Parents and education leaders say
they want to focus resources on the core
subjects of math, reading, history and science.
Unfortunately, per-pupil spending in
this school district tends to be much higher
for electives, extracurricular activities and
sports endeavors.
Mary
• • •
Mary, lighten up a bit.
I agree that all of the things you mentioned
are important. But it doesn’t cost
any money to teach your kids to be respectful
to others or expect that they do their
homework.
The infrastructure improvements and
the things you mentioned are not mutually
exclusive. Both have a place in the Rockwood
District.
I would hope that you would wait for the
analysis from the superintendent and CFO
before you decide that this is a bad idea.
[Editor’s note: Further coverage regarding
the superintendent and CFO’s report
can be found in this issue of West Newsmagaine
on page 18.]
Your kids may not benefit from a turf
field at the Rockwood schools, but many
of the extracurricular groups will – band,
soccer, football, lacrosse, cheerleading,
field hockey, etc. Not only will you see a
significant cost saving over a given period,
the elimination of nearly all cancellations
due to weather would be a bonus.
If moving a school’s facility over to a turf
field was a bad idea, I don’t think nearly every
other school in our area would have them.
Dan
• • •
Do you have any idea how much it costs
to rent a field from another school district?
Not to mention the cost of changing the
dates of events because of our grass fields.
The booster clubs of these teams lose a
lot of money because of changing venues.
When my daughter was at Marquette, the
school needed to change a playoff football
game to Oakville High School – a turf field.
The game had to be played on a Saturday,
which meant the cost of buses and timeand-a-half
for the teachers who work the
game. It was crazy.
Think of the cost (of) watering alone
during the summer and fall for four high
school fields – and then think of how much
you spend on your own lawn. Think about it!
Lisa Sidney
• • •
“Regarding Historic Manchester hotel
could make way for modern restaurant:”
Why can’t Culvers, utilize or tear down
the old Chili’s restaurant right across the
street? You also have light access to Manchester
Road.
Simpson
• • •
Why can’t the city of Manchester find
someone to dismantle the hotel and reassemble
it on another site, like they did with
the Bacon Log Cabin and Ballwin did with
its historical cabin in the city park (Vlasis
Park)? It is such s beautiful building and its
long history is irreplaceable.
Julia Krull