As a taxpayer, I cannot believe what I read in the Sunday, April 25, 2010, edition of the Herald Democrat sports section. The title of the article is "Project aims to keep Bearcat Stadium dry." I'm not upset at trying to keep the stadium dry; I'm incensed about the mismanagement of money being used for this project.
I'd like to remind the readers that we passed a multi-million dollar bond where a very large sum of money was just spent on the stadium, and then to read in the article Coach Kinne's quote: "No one can currently take showers there because the plumbing isn't good." It amazes me that we just had a major renovation of the stadium and "the plumbing isn't good." Shouldn't the infrastructure of the facility (plumbing, wiring, etc.) been the number one times taken care of on the list?
Day after day we are inundated in the media about budget cuts in all areas of the government. I'd sure like for the SISD school board to ensure that someone with a little more savvy is watching over our tax dollars. This mishandling of taxpayer money is absolutely ridiculous, and the person making these sorts of decisions should be "shown the door."
As for the half-million dollar unexpected gift, I don't buy it. Daily attendance is one of the most watched figures in the local school districts. For our district to say they didn't know they were in line for a check like this is unbelievable.
Wouldn't it have been nice if, instead of using this money for plumbing (that should have already been taken care of), we used it for something really important, like keeping our good teachers and attracting more good teachers?
Hank Watson
Sherman