Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
Take a look? The Taj Mahal (Capital City High School) has a football field, a soccer field, baseball and softball areas for the future, and even tennis courts. Could they be gearing up to become a professional athletic training center? How about the area up close and tight to the hospital that they want to develop for more sports probably close to that sign we see on our disabled list test. (Quiet! Hospital one)
Isn't it sad about the Jefferson City High School? They are in such a "behind the times" situation at their campus. We should immediately match the sports arena of the Taj. This terrible situation brings back memories of my youth when we had the outdated multi-needs sports area. Gosh, young folks ran around the track on the fringe while the football team practiced on the field. Occasionally the band would even practice in the area at the same time. It was just humiliating! The school system should have just bought up the old houses behind the railroad track that ran by the school. That area would have made a great sports arena for our 55,000 population town, and surely made the children at the other high school jealous, too!
We find money to spend on fields for sports, but we don't have money to spend on the homeless displaced by the tornado earlier this year. The city has found $2 million to buy $994,500 worth of damaged property that housed a bunch of poor folks. If that much would be spent on putting those homes back in livable condition, how wonderful it would have been. By now, those folks would be eating dinner in their own place.
Let's start setting budget priorities. Could that not have helped folks without housing this year? Or handled needed repair to our infrastructure? Or just fed the starving?
What makes a town great are the citizens in it. If our town has good and clean streets, decently kept houses, good transportation, good sanitation, a responsible employment environment and a hearty "hello" to those visiting, it is a great place to live. What makes our children become great adults is us setting the right kind of example.
Only a few will become athletic icons, but many will become parents, teachers and future leaders.