Concert fears unfounded (5/20/05)

I would like to ask a question. Why was there such coverage to the negative before the recent concert at X-Plex, yet there was not a single mention of how well things turned out or any pictures or coverage in the following Monday’s edition?

Apparently most of the children of this community know how to handle themselves. By some of the ways the previous letters were printed, mass chaos was inevitable. To my knowledge it was not. Thank you for your confidence in the youth of this community (that was sarcasm).

Sorry about the fact that Drowning Pool goes against your beliefs of what is right and wrong. It would be a shame to not allow people to gather with a common belief, although not yours, while we have men and women fighting and dying to give this right to others. No one was forced to go to the show. Tickets were sold. No lives were sacrificed, not even the lives of cows (sarcasm again).

It is a good idea to know what your children are listening to and what they are doing. It seems the parents of this community know what is best for their children individually. What is good for one child is not good for all. If you trusted your child could handle such an event then I hope they attended and shared with you their experience.

I would like to say thank you for those responsible for bringing this event to our town. Hopefully this community will continue to allow more events like this to happen to give our youth some things to be proud of and possibly a few more reasons to stay and raise their own families someday.

Devon Smith

Bryant

Celebrate choice

To the editor:

I am writing in regards to the letters I read in the paper last weekend. I found the opinions about the concert headlined by Drowning Pool somewhat bothersome.

I have noticed an ongoing trend in this country. There seem to be a lot of people who believe that in order to protect their children, they must shelter them from what they do not agree with. I believe that our strongest defense is to educate our children.

We must teach them the difference between right and wrong, fantasy and reality. We cannot send them blind into the world, and expect them to react properly when faced with decisions. Without proper guidance, our children will not have the strength to choose for themselves, leaving them to follow.

Furthermore, although we live in a small, close-knit community, we do not all share the same beliefs. Along with our freedom of choice and religion comes a responsibility to maintain a reverence for the beliefs of others.

We may not agree on music, religion or politics. However, I am sure we all agree that we are proud to live in a country where we have the right to choose.

Joshua Rines

Portland

X-Plex thank yous

To the editor:

With the first of what is sure to be many successful events under our belt, the staff of X-Plex Extreme Competition Park would like to take the time to recognize and to say thank you to everyone involved in this amazing project.

None of this would have been possible without the help of all of you.

X-Plex would like to thank: Terry Coby Jr. and the entire Coby family; Rodney Weesner and everyone at Hoosier Excavating; local community leaders; John Simmons and Coca-Cola; Pizza Hut, Sugar & Slice and Fisher Packing; Jay County Red Cross and EMS; Portland Police Department; Jay County Sheriff’s Department; Paul Wickelman; security, concessions and track crew volunteers; The Commercial Review; The Muncie Star; Dan Daniels; Charis Beitler; Debbie Gant and United Insurance; all of the performing artists; the American Motorcyclist Association; local and regional moto-cross competitors; each and every spectator that took the time to come out.

We apologize if we’ve missed anyone, and if we did, you know who you are. Thank you all for a great opening event weekend.

Sincerely,

Jennifer McCombs, for the

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