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Letters
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Monday, June 30, 2008, 10:59 AM
Brittany Willis' legacy strong after four years On June 28, unbelievably, it was four years since a life so young was taken, so unnecessarily. Brittany Willis would be turning 22 on Monday, the 30th. She would have finished college and would be ready to begin the rest of her life. Instead, her memory, and life, still shines very brightly in many ways. Most of the readers of this paper know well the two soccer tournaments that have carried her name, and memory, for three years now. Because of how Brittany, and her family were, and are loved by the people who know them, The Brittany has achieved successes beyond anyone's imagination. The many people responsible for starting, and continuing, this great event are one reason why Wilson is a great place to live, and raise a family. On Friday morning, the 20th, my wife and I went to the Gillette Soccer Complex and saw the first round of this very prestigious, regional soccer tournament. Watching a Florida team in the U-18 group, we chatted with a mother of one of this team's star players. Chelsea Hatcher happens to be joining Wilson's own Jennifer Laughridge(now married) at the University of Tennessee. Jennifer is an assistant coach at UT. I paid particular attention to the impression of these parents as to their impression of this facility. The descriptions were as you might expect. It was particularly interesting to later chat with parents on Saturday night who had seen the facility in Raleigh. Their comments in comparing the two made it very clear that the Burt Gillette Complex is unsurpassed, and a star that shines very brightly over our town. All this posses a bigger question. How much is the light that lingers from one Brittany Willis' life responsible for what is happening this weekend? As I watched the girls from Florida play the girls from the South Carolina team play, I allowed my self to look at the mothers and fathers, grandparents, et al, and thought to myself, "if you only knew the real All Star whose life is still shining so very brightly out on the pitch." Mike Radford Parkside Drive Paper should support 'City of the Arts' concept Dr. de Guehery's proposal that Wilson recast itself as the "City of the Arts" strikes me as the best Times letter I've read in my six years here. Although I regularly attend events in the performing and visual arts, I couldn't have named half the activities the letter enumerated. In support of the proposal, how about devoting a column a week to an Arts Calendar? As far as this reader is concerned, you could subtract that space from your over-coverage of TV or from your hundred-plus sports columns each week. Or how about dropping two of your three daily editorial cartoons, some of which lack wit, art, taste, or intelligibility. In one of today's cartoons, for example, a Democrat-donkey-sheriff stands next to a poster: Wanted John McCain "for rejecting taxpayer-paid campaign funds." I don't get it -- isn't it Obama, not McCain, who's rejecting taxpayer-paid campaign funds? Edward Styles Kingswood Road The Daily Times runs a weekly calendar -- "Something To Do" -- each Thursday in the Lifestyle section.
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