I have grown up in this county, and graduated from Leesburg High School. I had heard it said many times during my school years, when one of the smaller surrounding schools had a successful sporting event that, "The Warsaw Times won't print any pictures because they only report about Warsaw sports." Sometimes that proved to be true.
Well, now I have grandchildren participating in sports in the Valley school district and the Whitko school district.
Tuesday night, Oct. 26, the Whitko Middle School eighth-grade football team won the NELMSC with a score of 16 to 8. It was a very good game. There was a photographer taking pictures and much excitement. Every team in that conference trained hard and played hard. They all deserved to win. Only one team from each grade level can be a winner. The Lakeview seventh grade were winners at that level.
Your paper printed a full team picture with their coaches and staff along with the plaque they had been presented. The eighth-grade champs were afforded only a few lines of type and four names mentioned.
These boys consider themselves a team, and played as such. I realize printing all the names isn't possible (is it?) but a picture along with the stats would have been nice. Like the one you printed for the Lakeview team. Also, many of these coaches have full-time jobs other than coaching these young teams. They put in a lot of time and effort and are deserving of recognition.
Perhaps you could have omitted a few of the foreclosures. Is other people's misfortune that newsworthy?
I apologize if I have offended anyone - but Hell hath no fury like a grandmother expecting the local newspaper to print pictures of all the champion teams and finding only one.
Vonnie Huffer
Winona Lake, via e-mail
Editor's Note: The Times-Union sports staff comprises two people covering seven school corporations. They do not routinely cover middle school sports. They rely on coaches to provide information on middle school sporting events. What the letter writer saw in the newspaper was what was provided by the respective coaches.
