Gang Threat Cancels Game

In response to “School Forfeits Game Over Fear of Gang Violence,” Oct. 30:

It is over 50 years since I and my Dorsey High buddies initiated and broke in the football field and running track at what is now Jackie Robinson Stadium.

What a sad day for us and this city that conditions have so regressed at our old field of dreams that Banning High School chooses to forfeit a game and face other penalties rather than risk the very real threat of violent incidents at the stadium.

Our era (1937-1938) was not the age of innocence. Big events brought out then, as they do now, the dropouts, rowdies and gangs. The problems of that day, though, were manageable. Was it a better world? Maybe, maybe not--but the problems of today are wildly out of control, and the reason can be summed up in one word: guns. So chalk up a win for the National Rifle Assn. and a big loss for us, our children and our grandchildren.

BUD PLONE

Dorsey High ’39

Playa del Rey