The young lady that your paper named the soggy queen deserves an apology. Her name is Kyla Wilcher and she is a scholar, a straight A honor student and a outstanding young lady that has worked hard to earn the trust of her peers to be named 2015 Brookhaven High School Homecoming Queen the picture that you chose was a bad representation of her. I know there was better pictures out there, because the same place you got the rainy wet soggy queen picture (as you called her) from a very beautiful representation of her was in the same group of photos.

But your writers chose to make fun of something a little girl dreams of her entire life. That small but powerful headline could have ruined her if she was not a strong, God fearing, saved young lady that has always tried to do whats right by everybody. Daily Leader you could have done better. I think you need to print a retraction/apology for calling her something that will follow her forever. If you don’t see fit to correct what a lot of people see as wrong God bless you anyway.

Sandra Banks

Disappointed in photo

The title used for the homecoming queen was very belittling. You may not have meant it like that but that’s how the community is taking it in to put her in such a small space when all of these years Brookhaven High School has been front page homecoming. Yes, the black community is in an uproar about the title that you chose in the way that you chose to handle it.

Signing off as disappointed in the Daily Leader.

Robin White

 

Editor’s note: It was raining on homecoming night, and the photo captured the event as it happened. The escort provided his jacket to shield the queen from the rain, and we thought that act showed the rare trait of chivalry. It was a touching moment. We didn’t intend to offend anyone.  A photo of a completely dry queen and her escort can be found on the front page today. 

 

Are abandoned buildings  dangerous? 

When I wrote the original letter to the editor (and forgot all about the old Stahl Urban building), it was from the perspective of asking for fairness in the “city cleanup initiative.” My plea was for the city to lead by example. Never it my wildest dreams did I envision how many layered this actually is. 1 Timothy 5:8 speaks of charity beginning at home. How great an example of that is this?

How hazardous are these materials in these buildings? What dangers do these hazardous materials pose to not only those living near these buildings, but to the citizenry as a whole? To be clear, I am not against the notion that property owners should be held responsible for keeping their properties clear, safe and presentable. Doing so helps our community remain beautiful and picturesque, “the Homeseekers Paradise.” We all ride the city and see places in each ward, not just in the areas targeted for this cleanup initiative, that need great attention as I pointed out in the original article. However, I am now even more perplexed that taxpayers and property owners — some of them elderly, most of them hardworking members of Brookhaven — were paraded in front of the Board of Aldermen like criminals about their property issues which, as I said in the original article, “pale in comparison to this.” Not only were they paraded in front of the board but given a year to correct the problems or face possible liens on their properties when these landmarks have sat for decades. No, we learn they are hazardous. Really?

Are there not grants available through the federal government or even FEMA or MEMA assistance that could remove these materials at little or no cost to our local budget? Surely, there have been outside resources we’ve not tapped into or researched for assistance. I would welcome the opportunity to work on a community clean-up committee, comprised of residents and city officials, that seeks resources to assist municipalities in addressing concerns such as this. Again, the city seems to have far more on its hands, for more pressing matters of property clean up itself than the individual property owner.

LaRenda J. Harrison