Letters – Soccer and Stop Lights

Soccer for fun, not funding

To the Editor:

I wish to commend the Post-Register for the absence of World Cup coverage, at least in the July 3 and 10 issues. For weeks now U.S. journalism has had soccer on the brain. But Lockhart’s paper has kept its head.

Not that I am totally indifferent to the sport. I even hoped vaguely f

or a replay of the 1950 championship, which Brazil hosted. It almost won the Cup, but Uruguay prevailed in the final minutes. I think I would have rooted for that small pleasant land – none of its citizens ever bit me. Alas, in 2014 both countries got booted early. Well, the datelines still enchant me. Brazil is full of gigantic cities you never heard of, and you will continue not to hear of them. Many of their new stadiums will fall into disuse once the show’s over. Brazil, in contrast to the rest of Latin America, expects to get by on sheer size alone, just building lots of stuff and hoping it’ll all work out. Not all of it does.

Anyway, I look forward to soccer returning to what it does best, i.e., get kids off video games and out in the sunshine. There is little else to say about it. Even Brazilian sportswriters – there are such beasts – tell few tales, and the only statistics they like to quote have dollar signs in front of them.  In all the Third World, money is often the paramount preoccupation. (ESPN’s Portuguese-language site has a guide to American football, which includes a chapter on cheerleaders and states what they’re paid. I confess that when I look at cheerleaders, I never wonder about their salaries.) At least in the U.S., soccer, and even a lot of football, are still more for fun than for profit.

John Hutter

Lockhart

Driver has highway concerns

To the Editor:

On Friday, July 4, 2014, my husband and I were returning from San Marcos when we were involved in a six-vehicle accident at the intersection of State Highway 80 and County Road 101 (Old Bastrop Road). The accident was caused by a suspected drunk driver, and claimed the life of a 25-year-old man. Several others were injured, two critically.

Having lived in Caldwell County for 20 years, I have traveled Highway 80 to San Marcos regularly. This is the first accident I have witnessed at the deadly intersection, but I have seen many “near misses,” as vehicles have waited at the traffic light to turn left. I use CR 101 as a shortcut to access the southeast areas of San Marcos. Every time I use CR 101, I sit at the light with my left blinker on, glued to my rearview mirror and praying I won’t be rear-ended by an inattentive driver.

Recently, the intersection of Highway 80 and CR 1984 (just before the one where the accident occurred), has been improed with a traffic light and a dedicated left-turn lane. Surprisingly, there are currently no plans for upgrading the intersection at Highway 80 and CR 101. Before another soul loses their life, this intersection must be improved to included a dedicated left-turn lane.

Martha Stark Dolese

Luling