Sound Off: Beauty and the Beast, and the daily mail
The following is what our readers sounded off about this week:
No more fairy tales
I was one of the seniors who voted in the referendum for the auditorium addition to the Batavia High School, but I am quite upset and annoyed that the opening performance has to do with "Beauty and the Beast," which is a fairy tale. Are there any correct individuals suggesting appropriate materials for a play that the general public can see, instead of fairy tales? What's the next one gonna be, "Pinocchio?" And then "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?" That's supposed to be part of the Fine Arts Centre in Batavia? My children are out of school and grown. What other selections are they going to be making, instead of fairy tales? This was not made clear in terms of the referendums, in terms of what this auditorium and the money that was to be added to the high school. What was the superintendent's input? Or the board of education? And with a $2.3 million deficit, they can figure out how to deduct more things off the school budget. In terms of what was put on for the opening selection at the auditorium. They can eliminate waste, because that play is a waste for the opening selection for the Batavia Fine Arts Centre Auditorium. And I'm sure there's a great many other people who feel the exact same way that I do. My children are grown. And I voted for it because I felt that it was necessary to have an auditorium. But not to put on fairy tales.
A very tough world
I'm looking at Thursday's Chronicle, letters to the editor, "Batavia, we have a winner," regarding the "Beauty and the Beast" production at Batavia High School at the Performing Arts Centre. And it sounds like it was really well done, a lot of good people put a lot of time on it. However, in the same paper, it talks about how kids do not understand finances and money. And earlier in the week, all the scores came out for the Illinois schools, and Batavia did not fare very well in the achievement scores except for one or two areas. I think it's great they had a great play, but for $70 million, there's something called a cost-benefit analysis. We might have wanted to have done a better job of teaching our kids more about finances and making them more prepared for the very tough world out there after they get out of high school.
Wonderful performance
Wow, what a great time we had at the Batavia High School presentation of "Beauty and the Beast." It was great. The new auditorium is wonderful. The students who performed were terrific. And the behind-the-scenes support was flawless. Our hats go off to all of them. Every community should get out and support their high school theater group. I am from Batavia, but I have attended shows at other Tri-Cities schools, and all the students perform with their hearts. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Need mail, every day
I am responding to "Need mail, not every day." Well, this person only wants it on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. Well, I need mail every day. Bills sometimes come a little bit later, and you can't wait another day. As for businesses, I really don't care. I don't have a business. I only care about my mail, or our mail, I should say. And if the post office is losing money, why don't they check on how they do things? All the employees there get high salaries, and I'm sure their health insurance paid for. Either cut down their salaries, like the rest of us have had salaries down in half, or have lost jobs or pay our own health insurance. Times have changed. What the post office did 35 years ago does not apply to now. I realize times are tough, but a lot of us have been in it for years now.
Don't give up, Rick Perry
Many years ago, in my early 20s, at one of my family Thanksgivings, my dad and his three brothers were reminiscing about their youth. This brought on the discussion of how quickly the years go by. One of many things you will notice is the slow loss of memory you will experience. There are three signs of old age. The first is the loss of memory. The other two are, for the life of me, I can't remember what they are. It's like when I was talking to my pastor in church. Do you believe in the hereafter, he asked? I said, I did. Why, just the other day, when I looked in my refrigerator I thought to myself, what am I here after? So, Gov. Rick Perry, don't feel like you are all alone. There are millions of us around in the world who experience what you did the other day. But at least you remembered two out of three. Not bad for a middle-aged governor. Don't give up. Someday, you will get it all together.
Goatees worse than mustaches
I was just reading the person who commented that mustaches look awful. And I do agree that's just an excuse for a man not to trim his nose hairs. And the other thing people don't think about either is the goatee is probably the ugliest thing on a man's face he could possibly have. Because a man has a goatee because he cannot grow a beard. So there's something else you can think about.
Still some good human beings
I would like to thank the person who found my son's iPod on Manchester and turned it into the police station. That was very nice, and we really, really appreciate it. It's nice to know there's good human beings out there. Thank you so much.
Coach Sly wrong
Thank you to Coach Sly for his wonderful predictions of high school football games. I and many many others have noticed he is 0-3 now in picking against a certain team in black, and we highly encourage him to pick against us the rest of the season. Your unwavering support of all area football teams has not gone unnoticed. Go Bulldogs, Eagles, and Knights.
No free handouts
Considering at what age some people start paying into Social Security, I would say they have more than paid for their benefits. I worked from age 15 to 68. For 10 years, I was a single parent. I worked full-time, raising two children at a respectable job. I didn't have Social Security to fall back on. I wasn't dependent on welfare. Many people of today feel that the world owes them a living. They don't know what it means to sacrifice, cut corners and do without. Furthermore, I wasn't talking about the elderly widowed women, collecting their late husbands' Social Security benefits. I was talking about able-bodied young mothers who are able to support their own children. No excuses. I didn't have a car. I walked to buy groceries, to the laundromat, to shop. And I rode to work with a co-worker, or I rode the bus. It wasn't easy, but you do what you have to do without whining about it and expecting free handouts along the way.
Don't blame corporations
It is currently the in thing to blame corporations for not paying more taxes. When you have someone prepare your personal income taxes, you expect that person to take every legal deduction. Corporations do the same thing. And their tax accountants are expected to take every legal deductions. If the politicians enact laws that allow deductions, do you complain to your tax preparer, that too many deductions were taken? Do you say it's not fair or not right to take these deductions just because the politicians have passed laws to allow them? If not, why do you complain about corporations taking legal deductions? Don't complain about the corporations taking these deductions. Complain to the politicians about passing laws that allow the deductions. Don't blame the corporations for following the law.
Move the clocks back a half-hour
Every spring, we turn our clocks ahead to go on Daylight Saving Time, and every fall, we turn them back to go off of Daylight Saving Time. What would the problem be if everyone just got together and just turn their clocks back a half-hour, and we wouldn't have to go on Daylight Saving Time and get the best of both worlds in a nice little compromise?
Why not, Batavia?
Over the years, I have collected a large quantity of very old prescriptions. I did not want to simply throw these drugs into the garbage and had been told I could take them to the police station for proper disposal. When I went to my police station in Batavia, I was told that they do not take old prescriptions. I was told to take them to the police departments in Geneva or St. Charles. Why doesn't Batavia provide this service?
• You can sound off, as well, by calling our Sound Off line at 630-845-5240 or by sending an e-mail to soundoff@kcchronicle.com.
