Diversity

Dear Editor, I would like to express my gratitude to The Advocate-Messenger for publishing Kathleen Parker’s “Letter to the Muslim World” in Sunday’s paper. Judging by some of the letters which appear on this page, I suspect some of my fellow citizens will not agree with me or with Ms. Parker. But I am heartened by Ms. Parker’s belief and by my own hope that the majority of American citizens recognize that, despite the pain, fear and confusion we all experience as a result of the terrorist attack of Sept.

Dear Editor, In reply to my letter in The Kentucky Advocate concerning Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's invitation to speak at Columbia University, Ross Johnson's closing sentence highlights the very essence of the point I was making. His statement, "We at Columbia had the emotional and intellectual temerity to pursue the truth. I only hope that next time, Mr. Waskom, you too will find that truth," speaks volumes about the avenue of pursuit employed by the university. If they didn't already know the "truth" about this dictator and what he stands for, then I doubt that they know the difference between truth and indoctrination.

Dear Editor, Let's talk presidential politics. Who might be the possible running mates? How about McCain-Lieberman, two white male senior senators representing the "Good Old Party Republicans," versus Clinton-Edwards, a white female senior senator and a white male ex-senator; or Obama-Richardson, a black male junior senator and a Hispanic male senior governor on the liberal Democratic side? And what if an experienced black female and young Asian male come out for the Independents?

Dear Editor, Today, Thursday, May 3, I attended the 56th Annual National Day of Prayer service. I did not realize that it was the 56th Annual National Day of "Christian" Prayer service. In a world of tragic division and mistrust, I was saddened to have missed an opportunity for us to reach out and embrace friends of all faiths. I will personally continue to pray for unity, compassion, hope and peace for all of God's children. Roz Heise Danville

Voices of Diversity will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday in Newlin Hall at Centre College. The concert is free. The assemblage includes the Kentucky State University Concert Choir, Centre Singers, and groups from Danville High School, Boyle County High School, Harrodsburg High School and Kentucky School for the Deaf. It is under the directorship of KSU's Carl Smith. The program includes songs such as John Leavitt's "Festival Sanctus," Stacey Gibbs' "See Dat Babe," Joseph Hayden's "Kyrie," Robert Morris' "Fix Me, Jesus," Antonnio Estevez's "Mata Del Anima Sola," and Mozart's "Dies Irae.

Voices of Diversity will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday in Newlin Hall at Centre College. The concert is free. The assemblage includes the Kentucky State University Concert Choir, Centre Singers, and groups from Danville High School, Boyle County High School, Harrodburg High School, and Kentucky School for the Deaf. It is under the directorship of Carl Smith of Kentucky State University. The concert is sponsored by Citizens Concerned for Human Relations, DHS, the Kentucky Arts Council, West T. Hill Community Theatre and Centre College.

Through a grant from R.R. Donnelley and Sons Inc., of Danville, 15 additional multicultural dolls are being purchased to support the diversity awareness education provided to 3 and 4-year-old students enrolled in the Boyle County schools preschool program. Cherie Hall, Donnelley human resource training specialist, and Kim Black, manufacturing supervisor, recently visited the Junction City Elementary preschool classroom of Susan Petitt to observe students with the dolls. "Multi-cultural dolls, which reflect various races, ages, abilities and careers, are used in dramatic play," said preschool Director Kristi Waters, who requested the funding from R.R. Donnelley.

The future of democracy depends on the quality of our collective decisions. Some people believe experts make better decisions than groups, and they conclude we should defer to the expert's judgment. If you ask most people, they would say groups of experts are likely to make better decisions than random groups of people. The intuition is clear; people with more expertise should make better decisions. This notion is probably reinforced by the occasional unseemly behavior of mobs.

Dear Editor: I was pleased to see in the Sunday Advocate a strong endorsement of Tom McKune for city commissioner. I have known Tom since his arrival in Danville over 20 years ago. As your newspaper noted, Tom has been a dedicated community servant in various capacities. As Tom's colleague in the Centre College Admissions Office, I learned early on that he had a strong commitment to diversity for the college student body. He felt Centre would be a better place with students of varied economic social and ethnic backgrounds, and he worked hard throughout his tenure at Centre to make this happen.

Likes the newspaper’s diversity of opinions Dear Editor: Thank you for having a diversity of columns in the Sun, since you have a diversity of readers in this community. If I disagree with someone’s viewpoint, I simply don’t read them. It keeps my blood pressure down, and I enjoy the rest of the paper. We are blessed to still have a local community paper. In reply to your letters to the editor note on Jan. 19, I vote “yes” to adding Leland Conway’s column to balance some of the others.

Bright sun and blue skies showed up for the Great American Brass Band parade Saturday and brought along just a tease of a breeze to add to the jazzy cool of horns filling the air. An already perfect day just kept getting better and better with each sight and sound leading up to the parade that played to a packed house along the sidewalks of downtown Danville. Constitution Square in the minutes before the parade began was transformed into a playful paradise of color and sound with decorated children's wagons and hula-hoops and hats designed and donned for no other real purpose apart from being delightful.

I recently attended a drug-related program sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administra-tion. Attending this program were approximately 100 law-enforcement personnel from various police departments as well as state and federal crime-fighters, investigators and regulators. This was a unique opportunity for me, as I was the only coroner present. The program was based on the “Drug Diversion” program, which strongly affects the state of Kentucky as well as most others in the country.

Editor’s note: The following story contains language some might find offensive. On Feb. 15, three African-American girls were left standing in the parking lot as a bus load of their fellow students drove off to an ice cream treat at McDonalds. The first thing one of the girls told her mother when she saw her was, “They kicked me off the bus because I was black.” An investigation into the incident, conducted by two faculty members disagrees. “The conclusion of the team is that race was not the reason that the students had to leave the bus,” said the findings of the investigation from Superintendent Karen Hatter.

Likes the newspaper’s diversity of opinions Dear Editor: Thank you for having a diversity of columns in the Sun, since you have a diversity of readers in this community. If I disagree with someone’s viewpoint, I simply don’t read them. It keeps my blood pressure down, and I enjoy the rest of the paper. We are blessed to still have a local community paper. In reply to your letters to the editor note on Jan. 19, I vote “yes” to adding Leland Conway’s column to balance some of the others.

Dear Editor, I would like to express my gratitude to The Advocate-Messenger for publishing Kathleen Parker’s “Letter to the Muslim World” in Sunday’s paper. Judging by some of the letters which appear on this page, I suspect some of my fellow citizens will not agree with me or with Ms. Parker. But I am heartened by Ms. Parker’s belief and by my own hope that the majority of American citizens recognize that, despite the pain, fear and confusion we all experience as a result of the terrorist attack of Sept.

FRANKFORT —The Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will sponsor its ninth DeaFestival–Kentucky Sept. 4 in downtown Horse Cave. The accessible one-day event celebrates the language, culture and diversity of the deaf and hard of hearing community. DeaFestival 2010 continues the tradition of offering free admission to the public thanks to the generous sponsors and community supporters. “DeaFestival is a great way to educate those attending about the diversity of the deaf and hard of hearing community,” said Governor Steve Beshear.

Crafted around a subject many perceive as a forever raw, sore spot, "Master Harold ... and the Boys" works with intense dialogue to explore the complications of human nature and race relations. The play is set in South Africa during the 1950s under Apartheid law, and written by Athol Fugard ? a white South African who grew up during it all. Jane Dewey, guest director at Centre College's Weisiger Theatre, says the piece is known as Fugard's most autobiographical work, showing how he struggled with his upbringing and close personal friendship with two black South Africans who worked for his parents.

By Rachel Parsons The Winchester Sun One of the most diverse groups ever to compete for the title of Clark County Junior Miss will take the stage at George Rogers Clark High School Saturday night, following on the heels of the success of Winchester native and America's Junior Miss, Michelle Rodgers. "By Michelle winning, it seems to have showed other girls that anything's possible," said Donna Fuller, chairwoman of the Clark County Junior Miss committee. This year's theme is Junior Miss Rocks, and will feature Clark County Attorney Brian Thomas as Elvis.

Taking advantage of Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl's traffic diversion program just got a little easier thanks to a change in the six-month-old program which allows drivers to pay the program costs in installments. The program, which began Feb. 1, gave drivers who had been ticketed for moving violations, an option to driving school; one that not only keeps them from losing points, but also removes the infraction from their record as well. For $175, drivers could enter the progam, which unlike the state-run traffic school, is completed at home, either online or on DVD, within a 90-day period.

As small Kentucky cities go, Danville has a pretty diverse population. Yes, it is predominantly white, but over the last few years it has been getting browner. The community has always had a relatively large African-American population. But added to the mix are hundreds of Hispanic people, many of whom are making Danville their temporary residence, but an increasing number are making it their permanent home. And there are a number of east Europeans and east and south Asian people who live and work here as well.