Letters: Time to shelve Red Raider mascot; College Township positioning itself as a ‘bully’

Time to shelve Red Raider mascot

The Red Raider mascot has to go. It offends the people it portrays. It’s fair that many have fond memories of their affiliation with a wonderful school in a charming town. There’s no shame in nostalgia. But it’s a shame to confront evidence that your mascot is racist in name (the “Red Raiders!”), caricature (in the ‘80s and ‘90s when I was a student, a red foam head with a grotesquely huge nose) and logo (how is this authentic — it’s a Great Plains headdress!), and cling to it while denying it’s offensive.

Bellefonte is a beautiful town, well situated to bloom as the economy responds to the seismic shifts of remote work post-pandemic. Bellefonte’s tremendous architectural presence mere minutes from a research institution will really shine if we don’t insist on clogging the view with embarrassingly retrograde stereotypes perched atop every lawn sign.

It’s time to shelve the mascot. You don’t have to burn the memorabilia (in fact, I don’t think you get to pretend it never happened). Shelve it, put it under glass, explain the whole history, that in an era when people played “cowboys and Indians” we picked a mascot that we later learned was offensive to the people whose image we’d chosen. Tell the story of every time we failed the simple test of doing the right thing, and please, tell the story how, in 2020, we finally did the right thing and picked a mascot that could make Bellefonte proud without reservation.

College Township positioning itself as a ‘bully’

I have been closely following the debate between College Township and Maeve Elliott, the young girl defending her right to keep chickens as emotional support animals. I am disturbed at the extremely thoughtless behavior the township is displaying.

Examining the facts, the current ordinances in College Township specify that no property under 10 acres may be used for “farm use.” Nested in this ordinance are several more rules that restrict things as frivolous as having a vegetable garden and the ownership of poultry.

There is, however, no rule restricting or otherwise specifying which animals can alternatively be kept as pets. Additionally, the township has completely ignored the fact that this child has a letter from her doctor qualifying her birds as emotional support animals.

The right thing for College Township, (which is operating at a $700,000 deficit) both morally and financially, would be to stop wasting taxpayer dollars arguing with a 10-year-old about her right to doctor-recommended emotional support animals.

The township should step back and admit that their ordinance does not apply to this family’s situation.

This whole situation would be laughable if it weren’t so detrimental to this young girl’s feelings of routine, security and companionship. As it is, College Township is positioning itself as a bully.

Return to athletics not worth the risk

Regarding the article in Thursday’s CDT, “Not all Penn State football players planning to return to campus ...” James Franklin explains how the COVID situation has affected his family. It is sad to hear that one of his daughters is a member of a highly vulnerable population group. We have three family members in our household that are highly susceptible as well. It is also very sad to see that the almighty dollar supersedes safety, common sense and human life. We lost a family member to COVID symptoms.

In spite of low infection rates in our community we have limited our local trips, to the point of having household necessities delivered. We aren’t going anywhere, let alone to a state that is seeing a surge in COVID cases. Doesn’t Franklin’s actions speak to his concern that our community might not be a safe place in the future? Could the selfish need to revitalize athletics push our community into a state of despair? There are plenty of breaking news reports pointing to a resurgence of the virus. Texas comes to mind. Let’s not be part of those stories. Spreaders and superspreading events are not welcomed here.