Neighborhood sports flout social distancing
Apparently our county and state elected officials are unconcerned about the spread of COVID-19 in Morgantown and Monongalia County.
Why else would they allow large, unsafe gatherings for softball and baseball to take place in White Park?
I heard about the tournaments that were held the weekend before, but, Sunday, July 19, at White Park, I witnessed the largest display of disdain for social distancing and mask wearing that I have seen — except for the student bar scene. People in large numbers were packed close together on lawn chairs, watching the ball games, and no masks were worn.
At a time when Mon County is fighting a large increase in COVID-19 cases, is it helpful to allow a large group of people, some from out of state, to engage in unsafe practices in White Park, where my neighbors and I go to walk and get some exercise? Will encouraging unsafe practices in our community allow us to defeat COVID-19 anytime in the near future?
Richard Cohen
Morgantown
Workers show respect to funeral procession
Last week, I was stopped in traffic and witnessed something that deserves to be shared. I was at the intersection of Pleasant Street and University Avenue and a funeral procession was turning right to cross the Westover bridge. Two young workmen, who I believe were doing electrical work in the employ of the Davis H. Elliot Electric company, stopped what they were doing, took off their hard hats and put them over their hearts. They stood respectfully until the procession was completely past.
Company policy? Good manners learned at home? Personal morals? I don’t care. It made my day, and I wish I knew their names so I could further recognize them publicly. A little more of that and a little less of everything else would make our world a better place.
Laura L. VanHorn
Morgantown
Chico’s comments send mixed COVID messages
I was greatly disappointed to read the comments of Sam Chico, president of the Mon County Board of Health, regarding the spread of COVID-19 in last Sunday’s paper (DP-07-19-20): “ ‘But our census in our medical facilities is completely manageable,’ Chico said, suggesting it may be better in the long term for low-risk populations to ‘get it and get it over with as soon as possible.’ ”
Fortunately, Dr. Clay Marsh, the West Virginia COVID-19 Czar, explained the fallacies in Mr. Chico’s premise, including the terrible consequences in Sweden of using this approach. Florida, Texas and Arizona, among other states, are also currently experiencing the devastation facing communities that fail to curb the virus’ spread.
Comments such as those attributed to Mr. Chico are not helpful and give mixed messages to our community at large. I expect better leadership from the president of the Mon County Board of Health, especially given that we are now over six months into this pandemic.
Patricia Schaeffer
Morgantown
John Kass commentary off base about Biden
John Kass (DP-07-19-20) is right when he said the president is a “… loud-mouthed barbarian,” but the president is worse than that. He thinks he is above the law, disregarding it regularly, calling people names that would embarrass a 12-year-old to say and making common ground with our country’s enemies, like the leaders of Russia and North Korea he so admires.
As to Biden, Kass tried to make him look soft and incompetent, an “… elderly uncle on a TV sitcom … an old guy who loves ice cream.” He is “not strong enough. He’s fading quickly.” Kass said Democrats think “… the mindless mobs will relent and won’t tear down American history” and “the hysterical screaming over the last three years will end ….”
“… (T)he violence in our cities will subside. They might even not blow up Mount Rushmore.” True, because there is no plan to blow up Mount Rushmore. Lately, the violence in our cities has been from the police in a major northern city murdering a Black man on the street, knowing they were being filmed and sure there would be no consequences, and from the president’s secret police invading Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. Moving out non-violent protestors to take a picture in front of a church is vandalizing religion.
Kass set up Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the leftist villain. He mentioned her twice. Why a freshman Congressperson? Because she is a smart, articulate, assertive minority woman, even more threatening because she doesn’t bow down to white male authority.
John Kass’ article last Sunday shows him to be the weak one, not Biden. And yes, the election will be about the coronavirus, as Kass said, because Trump’s hatred of science and his incompetence have cost — so far — over 140,000 American lives.
A Democratic president will work on the problems of income inequality, health care tied to jobs that may evaporate at any time and climate change, which is a threat to all of us. I look forward to the day.
Barry Wendell
Morgantown
Will Chico offer up his kids to “get it over with”?
In a recent article regarding COVID-19 (DP-07-19-20), the president of the Monongalia County Board of Health, Sam Chico, suggested young people should, “get it and get it over with as soon as possible.”
What kind of medical logic is this? Why disregard the potential long-term effects of the virus? Will he volunteer his children first? How best to do this? Should we round up young people in our public school gyms and spray them with an aerosol containing the virus? Is he suggesting this as a K-12 program as part of a back-to-school initiative? What of our college students — should we fill the Coliseum and let the virus fly? Presuming the “young people” survive, how do we keep them from infecting older people residing in their homes or in the Morgantown community?
Even more to the point, why would he add to the cacophony of mixed messages and confusion, when, as president of the Mon County Board of Health, he should be doing his level best to support Dr. Marsh’s, Dr. Amjad’s and Dr. Smith’s statements, which are based on science, not conjecture.
Why is he president of the Board of Health? What are his qualifications? Lay opinions aren’t what we need. Medical science is.
James D. Green
Morgantown
Different races used to be able to work together
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I am so disgusted by how we have allowed protesters to tear down our history. Things that happened over 200 years ago. The Africans sold their own people as slaves to the plantation owners. The Civil War, again, was not fought over slavery — it was fought to keep the south from becoming their own country, like the different countries in Europe, South America and Africa. We were called the United States of America.
Blacks and whites fought side by side in all the wars we have fought on our land as well as in other countries, and the Indians were used in the wars to code messages so the enemy couldn’t locate or understand what was going to happen next. The war strategies were top secret and you didn’t want the enemy to know what, when and where actions were going to happen. Today, we just get on television and tell the whole world what our next step will be.
There is no such race as a white race. If so, we would all be walking around with pink eyes, orangish-red hair and freckles. We would be the albino race without pigment.
Common sense and history allow those interested to learn the Native Americans did not have red skin. Their skin color depended on what regions they lived in. In the east, Indians were lighter skinned.
In the plains and desert, the Apaches, Comanches and other tribes had copper skin from their exposure to the environment. Team names were chosen not to make fun or discriminate against any peoples, but to recognize the strength and bravery the people exhibited.
I think those who care about our country need to stand up for what we believe is correct and not allow a group of ignorance to tear down a great country. If I wanted to be a socialist or communist, I would board a plane and head to a country that has my least respect, sit in a corner sucking my thumb and pretend that I am happy.
Linda Newcome
Masontown
If Biden is Oz, who is the man behind the curtain?
Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her friends meet the wizard? They are frightened and scared, but then Toto pulls back the curtain and there is a man using the control panel. When he sees Dorothy, he starts to yell, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Joe Biden will be the man in front of the curtain if he is elected. He will be the figurehead but behind the curtain, running the country, will be Pelosi, Schumer, Warren, Bernie, Ocasio-Cortez and the squad.
If he is elected, this country will no longer be my country — it will be theirs. Open borders, higher crime rates, higher taxes, higher energy bills, restrictive gun regulations just to start with.
What I am mostly concerned about is AOC and her new green deal — no fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). So I wonder how many solar panels and wind turbines it will take to power large cities like New York and Los Angeles? How many solar panels and wind turbines it will take to power states like North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, etc., in the winter. How many solar panels it will take to power military, farming, transportation, fire and emergency equipment and just how many solar batteries it will take for a jumbo jet to fly from NY to LA. How many solar panels and wind turbines will it take to power the plants that provide steel for the turbines?
Mary Monahan
Maidsville
