Letters To The Editor
Forced into a painful choice
I love my school and soccer is my favorite sport. This year I am a junior who has already earned two varsity soccer letters, but now I am unable to play soccer for Coeur d’Alene High. Previously, I was allowed to play high school varsity soccer and premier soccer.
This year, I was told by school officials I had to make a choice.
I don’t understand why I was forced to make a choice as there was no conflict of practice or games. If I chose to play premier soccer and another high school sport, school officials would allow that. This makes me sad and also confused.
When I asked why I had to make a choice, school administrators said it was mandated by the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA). But the IHSAA wrote my parents a letter and stated it does not govern high school soccer.
Then school officials said Idaho Youth Soccer Association (IYSA) rules prevent me from playing on both teams. Wrong! I have a letter from the IYSA that says I can play both.
If I lived in Spokane I could do both, but I can’t in Coeur d’Alene - it doesn’t make sense.
Because my premier team (Spokane Valley Flash) is ranked as one of the top eight teams in the state of Washington and because the Premier One league is super competitive, I chose to play premier ball and sit out my high school soccer season this year.
Shouldn’t a person be FREE to do what they choose on their own time? Isn’t playing soccer for your school better than doing drugs or worse? If players for the U.S. women’s Olympic soccer team had been prevented from playing soccer in high school, would they have made the U.S. Olympic team? Liz Hail Coeur d’Alene
No way to run a program
Last weekend (Aug. 28), I took my family out for a night of racing at Spokane Raceway Park.
I had seen a flier that was posted at my favorite auto parts store about a “Mini-Truck Invitational” with $1,000 to win. Being a big fan of the NASCAR Super Truck Series, I figured on a good night of truck and auto racing. I was a little disappointed when I saw there was a field of seven trucks, of which five were from Spokane and the other two were from Buckley, Wash.
As for the other classes, hobby compacts, fever4s, and the street stocks, their car counts weren’t much to speak of.
In the truck program, there were 14 trucks advertised from the Seattle/Tacoma area and six from the Spokane area. Ted Morris announced from the tower that someone had started a rumor that Spokane Raceway Park had closed, and the truck race was canceled. That may have kept most of the other truck drivers and their teams from making the trip to Spokane.
After the race, I took my kids down to the pit area to meet the drivers and look at the trucks. While talking with a few of the drivers from both the fever 4 and the minitruck classes, I was told the track officials had tried to run both classes together. When the truck class refused, the track owner penalized each truck driver $50 of an agreed-to $100 per truck that started the main event.
It seems to me that these people put a lot of effort into this truck race, and to have a rumor and a track owner almost put a stop to the whole event was terrible to hear. I paid to see truck racing, NOT a combination truck/car race. It is no wonder the car and truck counts are down. No one should treat anyone who takes the kind of time to build, race and promote these classes as though they aren’t important and they don’t mean anything.
It is unfair to pitch one class against the other. They should be treated as the special separate classes they are. And in no way should anyone be penalized for refusing to play the “last minute change” game. If anything, they should be acknowledged and credited for all of their efforts. I am writing this letter in hopes of change. Spencer Tredway Spokane