Gouging Guinness
I was disappointed when I attended the St. Patty’s Day Parade and found the prices of some of my favorite libations had more than doubled overnight. Some of the Irish watering holes along the parade route raised drink prices from $5.50 to $12. I have no problem paying a cover, but c’mon, man, you can’t more than double the price of a drink during a parade. It’s one thing to do it on St. Patty’s Day itself, but not on parade day when my choices seem to include being inconvenienced with Bardstown Road closing or partaking in the festivities but being subject to insane prices. I vote the city include a provision in the next parade license that states something along the lines of any establishment along the route has to charge the same prices they did the month before the parade. We didn’t shut down the street just so those bar owners could make money hand over fist. Maybe Frankfort Avenue or East Main Street would like to host the parade in future years?
Lee Keyas, Louisville
Pesky Poor
Regarding the cover story on Henry Rollins (LEO Weekly, March 7): Nothin’ like an angry liberal to not let his judgment be clouded with those pesky facts! Lol! Every picture and incidence of poverty in other countries ol’ Henry took shows how systems other than capitalism have failed the masses.
We are the richest nation on earth because of cheap oil, cheap electricity and economic freedom. The poorest people in America are richer than 90 percent of the rest of the world. Facts, Mr. Rollins! They do matter, you know?
Shawn D. Sumner, Jeffersonville
Free Market
Thank you for Joe Sonka’s story about the nepotism, favoritism and inflated salaries at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center (LEO Weekly, March 7). As a union member, I found this story particularly interesting. Just think about it. Politicians in Indiana and other states are working hard to restrict the rights of workers to bargain for competitive pay and benefits. Meanwhile, non-union employers are spending heaps of money on non-competitive pay for their relatives and friends.
This is free enterprise, the politicians say. I’d like to see some free enterprise for working people, too. Wouldn’t you? But, let’s have the real thing and not some phony euphemism. A labor market where the workers can bargain collectively is a free market. That’s plain common sense.
Tom Louderback, Highlands
Bus Ride
This is in response to Tom Louderback’s March 7 Inbox letter. You say the JCPS assignment plan shows how much we as a community “really care about our neighbors next door and across town.” Well, what about the children who have to board a bus that takes them to a depot where they have to disembark there and board yet another bus that takes them to school? Does this show how much we really care about those children who get put through this exodus on a daily basis? Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for diversity. But when we put more emphasis on ethnic diversity in the classroom rather than time in the classroom itself, something is very wrong here!
Brian Bailey, Crestwood
History Repeats
“... and as one-time presidential candidate George Romney passed by in his new role as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the mob on the sidewalk began chanting, ‘Romney eats shit! Romney eats shit!’
“George tried to ignore it. He knew the TV cameras were on him so he curled his mouth up in a hideous smile and kept waving at the crowd — even as they continued to chant, ‘Romney eats shit!’”
Excerpt from page 86 of “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.” Not sure what it means by today’s terms. But, surely, it must mean something.
Dan Rose, Highlands
