Letters to the editor: Dec. 8, 2011

Drivers showed much class during funeral procession

To the editor,

Recently, my family and I laid to rest a dear member of our family. His burial was at Camp Nelson. The last few days have been particularly emotional and difficult on our family, as Ed’s tragic death was sudden on Thanksgiving night.

As we made our way between Kerr Brothers Funeral Home and Camp Nelson, most of our drive was in Jessamine County. When the cars in the oncoming two lanes of traffic saw the funeral procession approaching, they respectfully pulled off to the side of the road until we passed. On part of our journey, we only had one sherriff’s deputy, and he was in the front of the procession, so another driver behind us drove slow enough to prevent cars in the left lane from speeding by.

In all my 47 years, I have never seen such a community effort of respect given to a total stranger and his family. Ed did deserve respect on his way to his final resting place. He was a good man, a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend, and he proudly served our country as a Marine. It was so touching to see citizens of Jessamine County go out of their way to pay their respects to someone they never met.

To all the drivers that day in Jessamine County, thank you for teaching a lifelong citizen of Lexington what true class looks like. Everyone should be treated with such dignity and respect. Thank you for your kindness. I will never forget it.

Stacey Kress-Branch,
Lexington

Marching band does much for the community

To the editor,

I appreciate the veteran who wrote in to say he missed seeing a high-school band march in the Veterans Day parade. Me too. However, I know on Friday, Nov. 11, the West Jessamine High School band performed at the Veterans Day program at Camp Nelson. They did a great job and were sincerely appreciated by the veterans and their families in attendance. The WJHS band marched in the Veterans Day parade in Wilmore last year. The WJHS band director, Mr. White, does all he can to support events that have national significance by having the band perform at Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and other civic activities.

Here is why it is difficult for our high-school marching bands to appear at all of them.

The band directors must pick and choose how many events their bands perform in each school year for a variety of reasons. This includes limited funding, competitions, academics, student participation and availability, parent support, and logistics. The school board pays for each high school to have a band director, some music funds, for most travel on school buses, and provides each band with a pickup and trailer for equipment. In the fall, the marching bands typically travel most Saturdays to competitions across the state or in Indiana or Ohio. Band members are excused from their regular classes when the band travels on a school day. This means they spend their free time making up school work. Students in band for academic purposes are required to perform in concerts and some civic events, but sometimes they do so voluntarily. Each band has band boosters. Boosters are parents who get involved to support the band through volunteering their time to travel with them and help with resources, fundraising efforts, and often personal funds. Band boosters raise supplemental funds to pay for additional rental trucks/trailers and fuel; musical instrument replacement, repair and upkeep; sheet music; instructor’s fees; various support equipment; and a ton of incidentals. Logistically, to have a marching or stage band perform at a local ceremony or parade takes at least one half of a day, and often takes up about the entire day. The band needs time to warm up prior to performing. Equipment trucks and trailers need to be loaded, driven to the event, unloaded, reloaded, driven back to the school, and unloaded again. When the band travels, the school board requires additional adult chaperones on the buses. Who does all this? The band director, band members, and the band boosters. When the bands go to these events, meal funds are not requested from the school board nor are they required from the organizer of a civic event for the band to perform in that event. These are some, certainly not all of the details involved in seeing our high-school bands when we want to.

I say all of this for one reason. I applaud the WJHS band director, Mr. White; his student band members; and their band parents. With limited funds but huge hearts they have done what they can in recent years to honor our veterans and support civic activities.

Christian Ulrich,
Wilmore

There’s no Scrooge like Sim’s Scrooge

To the editor,

Rhonda Dragomir’s opinion that “George C. Scott is the best Scrooge ever,” isn’t shared by me. Evidently she has not seen the one starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge produced in 1951. “A Christmas Carol” with Sim is the best of all time. I like watching old movies beginning in the ’20s up to the middle ’50s. These movies were made during primitive times, nothing artificial about them like movies made these days and time. There is “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn and Olivia deHavilland; and “Mr. Smith goes to Washington,” starring Gean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart. Then there is “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryears. The Lone Ranger rides again.

Victor Privett,
Nicholasville