Letters — Dallas Stars, Plano, religion, Minnesota

I grew up in Buffalo and when we got an NHL franchise, the Sabres, I was in hockey heaven. Then I moved to Dallas in 1978, and my hockey drought began. When the Stars moved to Dallas, I was there for the first game in 1993, and I’ve been a loyal fan ever since.  

In 1999, a chance meeting with Pierre LaCroix, the Colorado Avalanche’s general manager, resulted in me receiving tickets for game 1 and 7 of the conference championship when the Stars were on their way to our only Stanley Cup.  

Ask any true fan and they will tell you that the intimacy of Reunion Arena was the best place to watch Stars hockey. Then, came the American Airlines Center and now we learn, it doesn’t function as a hockey arena in the 21st century. 

Evidently, there aren’t enough locations to empty your wallet and make Instagram posts. The luxury suites apparently aren’t luxurious enough.  

I realize the NHL is a business, but it’s a business built on a sport and its fans, most of whom can’t afford to attend. Without the fans, there’s no league. It seems hockey fans are being displaced by selfie fans.  

It’ll be a sad day when the Dallas Stars move to Plano. 

Paul Sokal, Dallas 

I attended the meeting at Plano City Hall about the Dallas Stars move. I was scheduled to speak but was not called upon. 

The case for the stadium was classic gobbledygook. There was significant respectful opposition which was ignored by the council. I think the citizens of Plano deserve, at the very least, a simple explanation of the benefits for the city and a counter to the reasons from the opponents. 

This decision is so important that I think it should be put to the voters. I propose that the citizens of Plano write and call their city council representative and the mayor to ask for support of a citywide referendum in favor or opposition to the stadium. 

Jerry Frankel, Plano 

Re: “Plano council votes on Stars’ new arena site,” online story. 

I find it hard to believe that the Dallas Stars and Plano city leaders are actually serious about not making the transportation experience to games worse than the way it is right now at the AAC, if the idea of working with DART seems like an afterthought. It will be hard to beat the American Airlines Center’s rail access to places as far out as East Plano and Downtown Fort Worth with a site that’s over five miles from just one rail line. 

If expanding toll roads is their first idea of improving fan access to games, get ready to have a worse time driving further to games on roads you have to pay to use, be charged exorbitant parking fees and sit in gridlock traffic for an hour after games as all of West Plano gets glutted by cars. 

James Outlaw Urech, Richardson 

Re: “Texas weighs bigger role for religion – Proposals for classrooms headed to vote before State Board of Education,” Monday news story. 

When I was in high school, Dallas ISD allowed religious organizations to conduct weekly one-hour classes during the school year. The students received credits for these classes. 

This allowed each organization to teach its own beliefs to its own young people without indoctrinating others. Thus, no one could complain that their kid was being indoctrinated in public schools, and getting credit for the elective course was an added benefit. 

David White, Dallas 

About a quarter of a million years ago, our ancestors began using symbols for communication. One of the first uses was religious formulation — assigning a god to each and every event that they did not understand, or what contemporary theologians call “the gaps.” 

Gods are in the gaps. As understanding of these events grew, the need for the gods decreased. In his teachings 3,000 years ago, Zarathustra posited that there were not numerous gods, but one, and despite evil in the world, he was good.  

That dualism became the basis of Jewish thinking during the Babylonian captivity when most of the Old Testament was written. It remained the basis of Jesus’ teaching as well as that of Mohammed. During that time and a few thousand years before, religion and government each tried to co-opt the other. 

The Pharaohs, Henry VIII and many others have named themselves the heads of both church and state. Some attempt it even today.  

When will we realize that all culture is manmade and situations function best when left in their own spheres? 

James C.Cargile, Plano 

The JFK Profile in Courage Awards were created in 1989 by John F. Kennedy’s family to honor both him and public officials at the federal, state and local level who demonstrated the type of political courage described in Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage. 

On May 31, two of these awards were handed out. One went to Jerome Powell for protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve despite years of personal attacks and threats from the highest levels of government.  

The second award went to the people of the Twin Cities in Minnesota, for risking their lives to protect their neighbors and immigrant community members from an unprecedented federal law enforcement operation – peacefully defending the human rights and values that serve as the foundation of our constitutional democracy. 

As I was born and raised in Minnesota, and still consider it home, I am beyond proud of the people of the Twin Cities, and proud to say I am a Minnesotan. 

On the other hand, I am very disappointed in not seeing this news in The Dallas Morning News.  

Sandra Bakkethun, Krum