Re: “another 14 percent pay cut recommended for the Delta pilots by their own union.” We are NOT taking an additional 14 percent pay cut. The 14 percent we gave them several months ago is staying in place. It is not on top of that. And on top of that the pilots will be getting raises every year and a half after that for a period of time. I am happy with how our union has worked for us in the end. You said the pilots don’t really have what it takes to strike. You are very wrong. They do and they are ready. We as a family have been preparing for this for the past year and we will do what we have to do, even if it is a strike. I truly hope Delta pulls out of all this with flying colors, and if they do I hope I never come across you on one of their planes. Believe this when I say you are not welcomed.

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Hey, protest marchers: If you really want public opinion on your side, protest gas prices, while you’re protesting enforcement of immigration laws.

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We have a problem right here in River City when both Republican and Democratic politicians are willing to give up our sovereignty to illegal aliens. The Republicans want the cheap labor and the Democrats want the cheap votes. We need to tell President Bush and the rest of our elected representatives that no one can cut in line. Our first priority must be to build a tall fence and stop the hemorrhaging of illegal aliens from pouring across our borders. Then set up a lenient guest labor program that really controls the in-and-out of these workers with a cash reward paid by the federal government to local law enforcement agencies that apprehend illegal aliens.

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One can’t help but be amused by these delusional neophytes who actually believe that the city can somehow just walk away from over a million dollars in loans which were made by local banks to improve the PTC Tennis Center which the city owns. If these bank loans were in fact” illegal,” then why have no criminal charges been filed against anyone involved in the case? Getting the smoke and mirrors picture now? If the city did not approve the loans, then why did it allow the project to go forward to completion? It could have stopped the expansion project at any time after it had begun. Why did PNB purchase the outstanding $200,000 note held by Regions Bank? Could it be that they like their case that much? This is not rocket science, people. It is in fact the equivalent of saying, “Someone took out a loan at the bank without my approval to add an extension onto my house; I did allow the project to go forward through to completion and I really appreciate it, but I never thought I would actually have to pay that money back, even though I do in fact own the property which is now worth considerably more now that all these improvements have been made.” Hopefully our new mayor will clean up this mess which he has inherited in an honorable fashion and set a new example of how business should be conducted in this town.

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Like so many others, I am a little confused and hopefully someone will respond and set me straight. First off didn’t the U.S. and allies run Iraq out of Kuwait a few years ago? Didn’t the U.S. help rebuild that country? Secondly, didn’t the U.S. make the Middle East region more secure by knocking over the bully Saddam Hussein and pretty much destroy that country’s ability to wage war on its neighbors? Hasn’t the U.S. lost a lot of her sons and daughters lives and spent billions and billions of taxpayer dollars in order to make this happen? And in return aren’t the U.S. citizens paying nearly DOUBLE for gas? Lastly, am I the only one who thinks this sucks? Wouldn’t it make more sense if an American flag were flying over Kuwait and Iraq and brought back 25-cent gas? Tell me what you think.
Paul in Fayetteville

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When one gets caught with one’s hand literally in the cookie jar without permission, the only honest thing to do is admit to wanting a cookie, but preferring not to have to ask for it. Spending money collected from the federal government for purposes of improving law enforcement could be, and sounds like, a wonderful thing, but if our short experience with democracy in this country has taught us anything it is that without checks and balances we always eventually fall into corruption, even if we are very religious, due to temptation. Each person evaluates what he calls religion as he runs into temptation. After all, everything is forgivable if you tell a preacher in a fancy white, or green, or yellow, or blue, etc., robe. There are people hired by the voters to make sure that money collected is going to the correct thing no matter from where it comes. After a while we try to keep increasing the income from such ventures as dope money, even at the expense of thievery. Separate little empires is not allowable in America.

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I have cleared away all of the old tires in my yard that might have stagnant water in them that would attract mosquitoes, as was recommended by the PTC government. I sure hope people clear up all of those hundreds of other old tires that I see lying around. On a golf cart ride recently I saw scores of stagnant ponds that I don’t think are sprayed for bugs. Maybe they are? The sale of repellents rises exponentially in the warm weather around here; must be for birds with bird flu. Anyway, I am glad to know we don’t have excess mosquitoes here. This is something like the attitude that sex doesn’t exist.

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I guess I shouldn’t be but I was shocked by the lack of discipline and unruliness of the McIntosh baseball team. We played at their field the other night and were appalled at the helmet throwing and players beating senselessly on metal poles. Leadership and class needs to start at the top.

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Yikes! Never thought I’d say this, but I wish that Michael Jackson would do something to attract media attention, so they’ll drop all of the Bush-being-a-regular-guy photo-ops.

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I agree with the person complaining about the Fayette County Youth Baseball Association. This season the baseball association has decided to lock the restrooms and furnish port-a-potties. Who is paying for these? Is the league wasting money? Think about how terrible they are going to smell when the weather really heats up. The county opened up the fields to a tournament where nearly 175 teams played in four different areas. The restrooms were opened and were trashed. That is what happens when you open your league to outsiders. This has never happened in all the years that I have been in Fayette County. We have a nice park and when you start hosting tournaments, and you have that many people at the fields, you take a chance on vandalism and people stopping up the toilets. I was at the field on the weekend of the tournament and when I went to the restroom there was no toilet paper so I asked the concession workers and I was told by a worker to use paper towels. So if the toilets are stopped up then you can probably thank the workers for that. If the Fayette County Baseball Association did not profit any from the tournament, then you need to go back to the two high schools that helped with the tournament and have them pay to fix the restrooms. I do not think that it is the board’s responsibility to clean the restrooms but if you are budgeting properly then you should have enough money to pay someone to clean the bathrooms. I know that there are close to 70 teams playing in the league this year. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure how much the league is making. I know that you have to pay for lights, umpires and contribute towards uniforms, but there has to be enough money left over every year to pay a janitorial service or pay the county workers who are already cleaning the other restroom. The parents pay more than $100 for their kids to play. We shouldn’t have to worry about using nasty port-a-potties, and nowhere to wash your hands. So, Mr. President, step up and do what is right. You are not forced into that position, you are there willingly. I hear that you are not planning on returning next year, that could be the best thing for the league and the people paying to play in Fayette County. My children have played at numerous baseball fields and I do not see this problem happening at any other park, so what is the problem?

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I am the wife of one of the board members and I believe that the officials and the general public of Fayette County should be very aware of what goes on in our “non profit organization.” As for the bathroom situation, we do have bathrooms with running water to wash hands open at all times. You may have to take a short walk, but those are nicer than the ones behind the concession stand. The problem, however, is with the way our public allows their children to treat the bathrooms. After a day of Saturday games, the bathrooms are destroyed. Often, someone has done his or her business on the floor instead of the toilet. Wouldn’t everyone like to clean piles of feces from a bathroom floor after getting up and getting to the fields before everyone else to get the 13 fields ready for play? Of course the games don’t end until 4 or 6 p.m. What a fun “volunteer” job. Imagine how that smells when the weather is 90 degrees plus. Truthfully, key or no key, I’d take the walk and use the less visited lower bathroom. Not as many people means not as much filth. These are also at the T-ball fields, and the kids are usually monitored by a parent. Come on, are we teaching our children to respect property when they leave a facility in such a nasty, filthy and possibly disease-invested condition? These members put in a lot of time for your children, and do not get paid one cent. If they get new shirts, jackets and stickers for their cars, they probably deserve it. They need to be visible, in case a problem arises. And guess what? They always need new volunteers. We have a yearly election at the fields. This is posted with signs all over the park. Anyone willing to work as hard as any of our members are welcome to run. All parents are welcome and have the right to vote. Funny, though, not many do vote. I guess if you don’t exercise your right to vote for the people representing you and your children, you really don’t have the right to complain. Also, in the event of an audit, they have great records. They do their job right.

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From the looks of the quality of people running for county offices here in Fayette it is becoming very obvious that we don’t care who serves and certainly don’t want to serve (ourselves) with such incompetence. The two-party system is dead here. If one can get more votes calling himself a Democrat, then he is a Democrat, and vice-versa. These people run for office on statements that are given to garner the most votes, not what principles they have. For instance: one cannot be against abortion, but for raising the minimum wage; can not be against federal interference in local government, but for getting all of the pork available, and so forth. I think we are out of “servers” and into self-gratification.