Published: July 03, 2008 11:23 pm            

Letters to the editor - Friday, July 4, 2008

‘Thanks, Gene, for just being you’

Recently a very decent, charitable and kind man, Gene McCarty, left us to be with God. Gene ran a wonderful barbershop over the years (Templin Barber Shop).

Gene gave this writer his first haircut in 1947. He later became this writer’s Boy Scout master and much later than that he was our landlord when our first child was born.

Over the years he would call me at work and remind me that it was time to buy tickets for the Lions Club tenderloin fry. He also would call me to buy fruit each year, all of this for charity.

He sold brooms and other items for the Lions Club out of his barbershop. When he was dedicated to something, he gave it his all and I felt he loved doing it. I might add he shared his barber business with another fine man and barber, Ron Bargerhuff. It was refreshing to frequent the barbershop because it retained that charm and simplicity of yesterday.

Gene raised a fine family. Coming from a broken home, this writer admired and greatly respected this fine man. For years I thought of him and what a fine father he was, and I yearned to have a father just like him. I finally told him that in a Father’s Day card one year ago (I’m glad I did).

Our local community will from now on have a void left by Gene McCarty. One more of the “greatest generation” has left us. I pray his friends and family will always remember how wonderful this man was and rejoice in being blessed to have known him.

No greater respect does this writer have for anyone than for Gene McCarty. Thanks, Gene, for just being you.

Garrett W. Floyd

Kokomo

It should’ve been done long ago

I would like to applaud Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight and the Kokomo Common Council for finally undertaking a long overdue expansion of the city.

Is this a big annexation? You bet it is. And why is that? Because these areas should have been annexed into the city years and even decades ago. But for too many years, Kokomo had care-taker mayors who focused on keeping things as they were.

Don’t get me wrong: these mayors were good men and dedicated public servants. But they didn’t have the progressive vision that a city needs to move forward.

This annexation has been a long time coming, and I, for one, am glad it finally arrived.

Roy Spinner

Kokomo

Kokomo in need of cable providers

We are currently at the mercy of a monopoly. About 12 to 18 months ago, and fed up with increasing cable fees charged by Insight cable, I tried to phone Comcast cable, only to be connected back to Insight.

The operator at Insight explained that the cable service provider for Kokomo was Insight. That is right, the singular service provider. Currently, Insight is now out of the picture, leaving Comcast as the singular – again – service provider for the Kokomo area. And that is a monopoly.

So how is a monopoly bad for the consumer? Since Comcast took over from Insight, there have been complaints ranging from a decrease in quality of service and signal, while at the same time increasing fees. And that is how a monopoly is bad for the consumer. It is high time that we had more than one cable service provider here in the Kokomo area.

Kenneth Crockett

Kokomo

        

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