Letters to the Editor 03-24-2006
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Coach Ogle - Responds To Valley - Bad Polls - Basketball History - Second Amendment - Trashy Roadways
Coach Ogle
Editor, Times-Union:I was very surprised and disappointed in the article that appeared on the Times-Union Web site blasting coach Ogle and Tiger Basketball. The Times-Union has always been a top-notch newspaper. The opinionated article that was printed by the paper was ridiculous and unprofessional on the newspaper's part. To let an employee of the Times-Union take the opinions of some bitter parents and use his own clueless points of view to write an article attaching a high school basketball coach was wrong. A person that has had such a positive influence on so many young people in your community deserves a lot better.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that Coach Ogle can coach the game of basketball, as I was a Tiger Basketball player (1993 graduate). Coach Ogle learned the game and how to run a program from one of the country's finest high school basketball coaches, Coach Rhodes. Coach Ogle did not assist Coach Rhodes for all those years without learning how to do things the right way. Coach Ogle is a very capable coach who is intelligent, hard working, and knows so much about the game of basketball.
As a high school basketball coach myself, I have found that your team does not always play the way you would like it to play on the court, even with many repetitions through constant drilling and continuous teaching. Coach Ogle will fix the problems in the program if given the time and support.
Players have been asked to play certain roles throughout the years of Tiger Basketball for the betterment of the team and program. The two players mentioned in the article aren't the first to be asked to do this. Wasn't there a player that went to North Carolina that played in the post as a Tiger Basketball player, but played on the perimeter as a Tarheel? In Tiger Basketball, the good of the team has always come before any individual player and that is why it has always been so successful. Coach Ogle obviously thinks very highly of the two players and especially the younger player as he was a freshman getting varsity minutes.
It is time for the players of Tiger Basketball to dedicate themselves to the program and to what is being asked of them by the coaching staff. It is time for the parents and community to support Coach Ogle, the coaching staff, and Tiger Basketball in a positive manner. It is also time for the local sportswriter to report on the local sports news and not try to make or be the sports news.
Eric Ewert
Assistant Varsity Boys Basketball Coach
Deltona High School
Deltona, Fla.
Responds To Valley
Editor, Times-Union:OK, yes, I go to Warsaw Community High School and I know there are not many schools out there that do not like our school. But I have to say that the student who wrote about the "Valley Injustice" that just because you go to a different school than us kids in Warsaw does not mean you get treated differently when it comes to the law.
First, I would like to point out that you said you have heard "tales" and "horror" stories of kids being treated differently, please tell me did you see the actual incident? I am pretty sure you didn't or you would have said something. Now, please correct me if I am wrong, but don't "tales" get changed every time it gets passed on (especially by high school students)?
Then, secondly, I think it's hard to believe that just because the student went to Valley they got punished "harder." Ha! Unfortunately, that's not true unless you have some pretty screwed-up attorneys. I would also like to say that those big funds that go to our high school - well, they only go to the kids who join the sports, aka our new football field and the auditorium. Come on Warsaw, no one would read the paper if the reporters didn't get the sports or the theater shows (hope I didn't offend anyone).
So, yes, your school may be undereducated and underestimated, but think of all the kids who don't have the money and popularity to join a sport or join drama club and how they get treated differently in my school. My school has this problem of putting sports before education. So I guess we're in the same boat as you are. I do feel sorry for the person who wrote the letter, but at the same time, when you're thinking you get treated badly in your school, there will always be someone in a worse position, so be lucky you even have the chance to learn something. It's not always the school you're in, it's the people who are in it.
Kristine Tezekjian, via e-mail
Winona Lake
Bad Polls
Editor, Times-Union:It is my opinion with a little investigating you will find that the poll that Fox News (whoever) takes is really not very accurate.
To my memory, our president said, "His main objective as president is to protect our country."
If the following method were used, I think his rating would be very much higher:
1 - Ask what rating they would give our President regarding the war.
2 - Ask what rating they would give our President regarding protecting the home front.
3 - Add the two figures and divide them by two.
That would be a more honest, fair and accurate rating regarding his performance as president. To illustrate: 46 plus 98 equals 144. Divide it by two, equals 72. I think his rating regarding protecting U.S. is 98-plus.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Basketball History
Editor, Times-Union:This is in the response to the March 17-18 letters, where the writers obviously did not like Doug Ogle. This is not to defend Doug, but to let Warsaw fans, what few you have left in the last 15 years, know how different it is now than the past.
First of all, the writers said this year's graduating class were 20-0 as freshman and 17-3 as sophomores. And made lots of jokes as to how they could have gotten worse their junior and senior years. Well, anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that doesn't mean anything. Kids mature and grow and sometimes don't, etc. Large schools dominate lower levels. Remember Warsaw's '67 class? They blew everyone out by 30-40 points a game in 7th, 8th and 9th grades. They never lost a game. But, alas, they never got our of the regional. I have seen too many times to count, not one kid who started as a freshman starts as a senior.
How ironic that when Doug's JV teams were going undefeated year after year and setting state records, I can't tell you how many times I heard Warsaw fans tell me Ogle takes them undefeated and Al Rhodes screws them up. We have short memories, don't we?
Class basketball is here and Warsaw does not have the smaller schools to thump in their sectional anymore. Warsaw is not going to win their sectional 65-75 percent of the time anymore. Warsaw may be lucky to win it 20-30 percent of the time. They have to play 4A schools from the get-go. Instead of maybe not playing any 4A schools to get through the regional, they may now have to play five.
Remember when Warsaw would say they were cursed in the Elkhart Regional. Well, we had some bad luck, I'll grant you. But the big problem was the South Bend winner, Elkhart as one school, Michigan City, Goshen, Penn, etc. We had no luck in the tournament until they broke them tough feeds up somewhere around the early '70s.
Warsaw fans seem to think Warsaw basketball has always been great. Al Rhodes did a great job but let us not forget even Al went 4-18 and 9-12 certain years. And, boy, how many times did he get bad mouthed? Hopefully, Warsaw will bet some more of that one-in-a-million like Jeff Grose, Kevin Ault, Marty Lehman, Steve Reed, Gordy Clemens, etc. But the days of Warsaw and Marion winning their sectional every year are gone. In class basketball Al won 1 of 4, and Doug has won 1 of 4. Al did a great, great job, had some great luck and some great players in a whole different era of basketball. Blind parents, idiot fans, ridiculous sportswriters, etc. should not make fools of themselves. We have a great athletic department and school board who evaluate our coaches impartially. Show some class, people.
Jeff Johnson
Warsaw
Second Amendment
Editor, Times-Union:I received Senator Mishler's questionnaire results the other day, as I'm sure most people did. The one I found most interesting, of course, was No. 7. "Do you support the right of citizens to carry concealed firearms as long as proper permits are obtained?"
His results show 66 percent in favor and 34 percent opposed. Almost 2 to 1 in favor. That's very good, but I would just about bet that if that poll were take on a statewide basis it would come out more like 75 percent to 25 percent. What surprised me about this poll was not that it came out with a more narrow margin but that the margin was so wide.
Senator Mishler's district includes St. Joseph County, which has never been noted for its support of the Second Amendment. In fact, if it were not for Indiana's firearms pre-emption law, South Bend would have some pretty nightmarish firearms ordinances by now. It also includes Elkhart County, which is, at best, lukewarm on the Second. St. Joseph makes up 47 percent of the district and Elkhart another 32 percent, so I would not have been a bit surprised to have seen a 50-50 split.
On a side note, I see the Toll Road lease was opposed by 86 percent. Voting in favor of a bill with that much opposition is not "leadership," it's downright elitist. The Democrats are probably correct when they say the Republicans have committed political suicide. Between daylight-saving time and the Toll Road lease, I think most Hoosiers are pretty upset.
Harold Kitson
Warsaw
Trashy Roadways
Editor, Times-Union:For the subject line on yesterday's paper. Cleanup Along County Roads: I agree but I would like to add that we have property on South Packerton Road and my family spent four hard days cleaning a ditch line and road frontage area up to plant more trees this past fall.
All this just to watch all the trash/landfill trucks come flying by with no covers or tarps and allow trash to fly out of the back, so again we have days' worth of trash to be picked up again. I feel this is a shame this is allowed to happen, let alone the company (landfill) they are going to doesn't take more pride in their surrounding area than this.
It is very unclean, unsafe, let alone the upkeep is not fair to the homeowners along this road. Something should be done to the trucks that are causing this unsightly mess. I understand there are those people who still throw trash out of their car windows but I see a lot more coming from these trash trucks on their way to the landfill than anything else.
I would like to also know why there has to be a commitee formed or county taxes used every time there is a problem. This is why taxes are so high now because everyone wants to form commitees and use taxes for projects that should be volunteer work.
We could start with some of the resources used for these problems on this road, which would be the trucks going to the landfill.
Angela Ward
Claypool
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- Coach Ogle - Responds To Valley - Bad Polls - Basketball History - Second Amendment - Trashy Roadways
Coach Ogle
Editor, Times-Union:I was very surprised and disappointed in the article that appeared on the Times-Union Web site blasting coach Ogle and Tiger Basketball. The Times-Union has always been a top-notch newspaper. The opinionated article that was printed by the paper was ridiculous and unprofessional on the newspaper's part. To let an employee of the Times-Union take the opinions of some bitter parents and use his own clueless points of view to write an article attaching a high school basketball coach was wrong. A person that has had such a positive influence on so many young people in your community deserves a lot better.
I can tell you from first-hand experience that Coach Ogle can coach the game of basketball, as I was a Tiger Basketball player (1993 graduate). Coach Ogle learned the game and how to run a program from one of the country's finest high school basketball coaches, Coach Rhodes. Coach Ogle did not assist Coach Rhodes for all those years without learning how to do things the right way. Coach Ogle is a very capable coach who is intelligent, hard working, and knows so much about the game of basketball.
As a high school basketball coach myself, I have found that your team does not always play the way you would like it to play on the court, even with many repetitions through constant drilling and continuous teaching. Coach Ogle will fix the problems in the program if given the time and support.
Players have been asked to play certain roles throughout the years of Tiger Basketball for the betterment of the team and program. The two players mentioned in the article aren't the first to be asked to do this. Wasn't there a player that went to North Carolina that played in the post as a Tiger Basketball player, but played on the perimeter as a Tarheel? In Tiger Basketball, the good of the team has always come before any individual player and that is why it has always been so successful. Coach Ogle obviously thinks very highly of the two players and especially the younger player as he was a freshman getting varsity minutes.
It is time for the players of Tiger Basketball to dedicate themselves to the program and to what is being asked of them by the coaching staff. It is time for the parents and community to support Coach Ogle, the coaching staff, and Tiger Basketball in a positive manner. It is also time for the local sportswriter to report on the local sports news and not try to make or be the sports news.
Eric Ewert
Assistant Varsity Boys Basketball Coach
Deltona High School
Deltona, Fla.
Responds To Valley
Editor, Times-Union:OK, yes, I go to Warsaw Community High School and I know there are not many schools out there that do not like our school. But I have to say that the student who wrote about the "Valley Injustice" that just because you go to a different school than us kids in Warsaw does not mean you get treated differently when it comes to the law.
First, I would like to point out that you said you have heard "tales" and "horror" stories of kids being treated differently, please tell me did you see the actual incident? I am pretty sure you didn't or you would have said something. Now, please correct me if I am wrong, but don't "tales" get changed every time it gets passed on (especially by high school students)?
Then, secondly, I think it's hard to believe that just because the student went to Valley they got punished "harder." Ha! Unfortunately, that's not true unless you have some pretty screwed-up attorneys. I would also like to say that those big funds that go to our high school - well, they only go to the kids who join the sports, aka our new football field and the auditorium. Come on Warsaw, no one would read the paper if the reporters didn't get the sports or the theater shows (hope I didn't offend anyone).
So, yes, your school may be undereducated and underestimated, but think of all the kids who don't have the money and popularity to join a sport or join drama club and how they get treated differently in my school. My school has this problem of putting sports before education. So I guess we're in the same boat as you are. I do feel sorry for the person who wrote the letter, but at the same time, when you're thinking you get treated badly in your school, there will always be someone in a worse position, so be lucky you even have the chance to learn something. It's not always the school you're in, it's the people who are in it.
Kristine Tezekjian, via e-mail
Winona Lake
Bad Polls
Editor, Times-Union:It is my opinion with a little investigating you will find that the poll that Fox News (whoever) takes is really not very accurate.
To my memory, our president said, "His main objective as president is to protect our country."
If the following method were used, I think his rating would be very much higher:
1 - Ask what rating they would give our President regarding the war.
2 - Ask what rating they would give our President regarding protecting the home front.
3 - Add the two figures and divide them by two.
That would be a more honest, fair and accurate rating regarding his performance as president. To illustrate: 46 plus 98 equals 144. Divide it by two, equals 72. I think his rating regarding protecting U.S. is 98-plus.
Leslie E. Swanson
Winona Lake
Basketball History
Editor, Times-Union:This is in the response to the March 17-18 letters, where the writers obviously did not like Doug Ogle. This is not to defend Doug, but to let Warsaw fans, what few you have left in the last 15 years, know how different it is now than the past.
First of all, the writers said this year's graduating class were 20-0 as freshman and 17-3 as sophomores. And made lots of jokes as to how they could have gotten worse their junior and senior years. Well, anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that doesn't mean anything. Kids mature and grow and sometimes don't, etc. Large schools dominate lower levels. Remember Warsaw's '67 class? They blew everyone out by 30-40 points a game in 7th, 8th and 9th grades. They never lost a game. But, alas, they never got our of the regional. I have seen too many times to count, not one kid who started as a freshman starts as a senior.
How ironic that when Doug's JV teams were going undefeated year after year and setting state records, I can't tell you how many times I heard Warsaw fans tell me Ogle takes them undefeated and Al Rhodes screws them up. We have short memories, don't we?
Class basketball is here and Warsaw does not have the smaller schools to thump in their sectional anymore. Warsaw is not going to win their sectional 65-75 percent of the time anymore. Warsaw may be lucky to win it 20-30 percent of the time. They have to play 4A schools from the get-go. Instead of maybe not playing any 4A schools to get through the regional, they may now have to play five.
Remember when Warsaw would say they were cursed in the Elkhart Regional. Well, we had some bad luck, I'll grant you. But the big problem was the South Bend winner, Elkhart as one school, Michigan City, Goshen, Penn, etc. We had no luck in the tournament until they broke them tough feeds up somewhere around the early '70s.
Warsaw fans seem to think Warsaw basketball has always been great. Al Rhodes did a great job but let us not forget even Al went 4-18 and 9-12 certain years. And, boy, how many times did he get bad mouthed? Hopefully, Warsaw will bet some more of that one-in-a-million like Jeff Grose, Kevin Ault, Marty Lehman, Steve Reed, Gordy Clemens, etc. But the days of Warsaw and Marion winning their sectional every year are gone. In class basketball Al won 1 of 4, and Doug has won 1 of 4. Al did a great, great job, had some great luck and some great players in a whole different era of basketball. Blind parents, idiot fans, ridiculous sportswriters, etc. should not make fools of themselves. We have a great athletic department and school board who evaluate our coaches impartially. Show some class, people.
Jeff Johnson
Warsaw
Second Amendment
Editor, Times-Union:I received Senator Mishler's questionnaire results the other day, as I'm sure most people did. The one I found most interesting, of course, was No. 7. "Do you support the right of citizens to carry concealed firearms as long as proper permits are obtained?"
His results show 66 percent in favor and 34 percent opposed. Almost 2 to 1 in favor. That's very good, but I would just about bet that if that poll were take on a statewide basis it would come out more like 75 percent to 25 percent. What surprised me about this poll was not that it came out with a more narrow margin but that the margin was so wide.
Senator Mishler's district includes St. Joseph County, which has never been noted for its support of the Second Amendment. In fact, if it were not for Indiana's firearms pre-emption law, South Bend would have some pretty nightmarish firearms ordinances by now. It also includes Elkhart County, which is, at best, lukewarm on the Second. St. Joseph makes up 47 percent of the district and Elkhart another 32 percent, so I would not have been a bit surprised to have seen a 50-50 split.
On a side note, I see the Toll Road lease was opposed by 86 percent. Voting in favor of a bill with that much opposition is not "leadership," it's downright elitist. The Democrats are probably correct when they say the Republicans have committed political suicide. Between daylight-saving time and the Toll Road lease, I think most Hoosiers are pretty upset.
Harold Kitson
Warsaw
Trashy Roadways
Editor, Times-Union:For the subject line on yesterday's paper. Cleanup Along County Roads: I agree but I would like to add that we have property on South Packerton Road and my family spent four hard days cleaning a ditch line and road frontage area up to plant more trees this past fall.
All this just to watch all the trash/landfill trucks come flying by with no covers or tarps and allow trash to fly out of the back, so again we have days' worth of trash to be picked up again. I feel this is a shame this is allowed to happen, let alone the company (landfill) they are going to doesn't take more pride in their surrounding area than this.
It is very unclean, unsafe, let alone the upkeep is not fair to the homeowners along this road. Something should be done to the trucks that are causing this unsightly mess. I understand there are those people who still throw trash out of their car windows but I see a lot more coming from these trash trucks on their way to the landfill than anything else.
I would like to also know why there has to be a commitee formed or county taxes used every time there is a problem. This is why taxes are so high now because everyone wants to form commitees and use taxes for projects that should be volunteer work.
We could start with some of the resources used for these problems on this road, which would be the trucks going to the landfill.
Angela Ward
Claypool
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