Unpleasant experience in Downtown
We went to a Pirates game on Sunday, Sept. 8, a 1:35 p.m. game. After the game, we decided to go to Station Square to the Gandy Dancer Saloon, one of our favorite restaurants there. To our dismay, the street was blocked off and closed by the city, and so too our destination.
As an alternative, we went back across the bridge to Market Square to visit the area and eat, for our first visit there. Parking on the street was not possible, but there was a handy parking garage nearby, within easy walking distance, and very affordable. We had decided on Winghart’s and found plenty of outside seating.
There had been a pizza shop next door to Winghart’s that was closed for the day, and it had put about 15 to 20 black garbage bags on the curb. To make matters worse, Starbucks personnel were taking more white trash bags to the curb, about 10, and two large 45-gallon wheeled garbage cans.
It wasn’t even 6 p.m. Couldn’t these establishments have waited until closing? Our surroundings were not very pleasant for dining. We have been to many such areas in other large cities that were much more pleasant with more police presence visible. Mayor Bill Peduto should take a walk here sometime when he is not traveling abroad on the people’s dime; he might learn something about “his” city.
GEORGE and SHIRLEY WINGER
Harmony
Bad luck
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ holy trinity is no more. Star receiver Antonio Brown has been traded. Versatile running back (who is also a top-notch receiver) Le’Veon Bell signed as a free agent with the New York Jets in the offseason after failing to reach an agreement with Pittsburgh.
Future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a serious elbow injury in the second game of the season and is out for the year. So the offensive core of the Steelers, which has helped them win countless games for several years, is now decimated. Who would have thought that this would ever happen to the Steelers?
It is as if the Steelers were hit by the biblical plagues. The Steelers haven’t had such bad news since they failed to keep Johnny Unitas on the team after drafting him, with the Steelers head coach thinking Mr. Unitas was not smart enough to quarterback an NFL team. KENNETH L. ZIMMERMAN
Huntington Beach, Calif.
Lashing out
Predictably, President Donald Trump is lashing out at John Bolton, just like he has done with Gen. H.R. McMaster, Jeff Sessions, Jerome Powell ... and the list gets longer almost every day. My question is, “If these people are so terrible, what fool hired them in the first place?”
Anyone care to take a guess? The end result is that our president is increasingly surrounded by sycophants and yesmen who are as afraid of him as he is of the National Rifle Association. Draining the swamp? JEFFREY HOLST
Murrysville
Recall history
White supremacists, who are you? Which branch of white supremacy do you belong to? Have you checked your DNA for “purity”? What will happen if your hateful goal is achieved? What sect will hold your loyalty?
Think back through history and of all the branches or sects that so inspire you. Recall all the internal disagreements that led to the splintering of those beliefs into new, smaller factions.
Catholics fought Christians during the Crusades. Martin Luther broke from the Catholic Church to form Protestantism, of which Lutherans are just one sect. White Irish Protestants fought white Irish Catholics for decades.
So even if white supremacists wipe all the rest of us out, they will never be satisfied. They will still get frustrated, angry and hateful enough to pull the trigger on someone for not dressing “right,” not using the “correct” ammo or religious reference, or perhaps over something more “trivial” such as family inheritance disputes, kids, money or lovers.
Any person who aspires to dominate other races, culture or religions will ultimately mistreat or kill anyone and blame them for the end result. BARRY GOVENOR
Brentwood