Fan misbehavior at sporting contests is out of control

Fan misbehavior at sporting contests is out of control | Letters

Posted by Admin January 20, 2025 Sports

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| Des Moines Register

Fan misbehavior at sports contests is out of control

I support the athletic director and other Ankeny administrators and the match official for clearing the gym of fans at the recent wrestling event.

I don’t know which schools, Southeast Polk or Ankeny, was at fault, but I’m disgusted with the behaviors of grandparents, parents and fans at sporting events. This has gone too far lately. Obviously those who pay attendance think that gives them the right to complain, yell and scream at officials.

I think school districts need to draw a line in the sand to fans that unruly behavior will mean removal, especially after a warning. In fact, you should be banned for the remainder of the year for all sports events. Do you really think this type of behavior will not rear its ugly head again?

Most unsportsmanlike behavior from fans is just basically ignorance, ignorance of the rules and the enforcing those rules by that official. As the old saying goes for current and former sports officials like me, most officials have forgot more about the rules than most fans will ever know about them or how they are enforced. I just hope the Iowa High School Athletic Association stands behind the official in clearing the gym. How do you think those last few wrestlers felt competing in an empty gym due to no fault of theirs?

It’s time for fans to sit down and shut up and enjoy the kids and their opponents and cheer for all the work they have put in.

Where has sportsmanship gone? Enough is enough!

Jack Kopecky, Altoona

Polk County supervisors disappoint, especially double-dipping newcomers

It is so disappointing to see the well-paid Polk county supervisors, responsible for governing the largest county in Iowa, acting like school kids, necessitating law officers’ intervention to protect them from one another. Good role models for local governance they are not.

I will be especially interested in any future votes of the two newly elected supervisors on any proposed future salary increases while claiming this is only a part time as they receive their sizable full-time salaries.

And how will their constituents react to not knowing until after their supervisor was elected that they will only be working for them part time and obviously less available than other districts throughout the county for the same salary?

Lloyd Kaufman, Des Moines

County supervisors should aspire for better than juvenile behavior

Thank you, Lee Rood, for explaining the power struggle at the Polk County Board of Supervisors. I find the behaviors on both sides to be reminiscent of my days teaching junior high school students. Those guys make a lot of money. They should govern like adults.

Phyllis Goodman, Des Moines

Let’s start over with Polk supervisors

Maybe when taxpayers realize that in the cut-throat poker game of Polk County politics they’ve been dealt a losing hand, they’ll discard the lot and draw five new cards.

John Zeller, Des Moines

Hire back Des Moines sustainability employees

Scott Sanders, the Des Moines city manager, has cut the city sustainability office with its two employees. At the Jan. 13 City Council meeting he said that the duties of the Sustainability Office can be done by the different city departments. I don’t believe him. Don’t these city departments already have enough to do? They don’t have the expertise and motivation of the employees that were cut. During the upcoming budget discussions in February, this action needs to be reversed by the City Council.

Deborah Neustadt, Des Moines

Big house, big property taxes. Deal with it.

There is a very simple way to reduce a person or company’s property tax burden- build or buy a smaller house or a commercial property without a huge lawn. The glamorous houses featured in the Register and the business campuses along the interstate come with a big property tax burden. Seems disingenuous to demand budget cuts to schools and public safety when you’re living on an acreage and working in the middle of a golf course.

Mike Tramontina, Des Moines

Piddling fines can’t discourage pollution

Cargill had revenue of $160 billion last year. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources fined them $10,000. That would be like fining me 1 cent for burning old tires in my backyard. Worst still, Cargill says it cannot stop this polluting for another year, which is acceptable to our DNR.

Will the city allow me to keep burning tires in my yard as long as I pay my one penny each year? No wonder our rivers are so polluted they smell foul. I swam in the three rivers in Madison Country as a boy 70 years ago, and, yes, I drank river water when I was thirsty.

Michael Montross, Winterset