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Drop in profits will be temporary

The recent Tax Watchdog article about declining public golf course revenues and ensuing editorial paint a seemingly startling picture of "failing" golf courses now being "subsidized" by taxpayers. Horrors!

Oops, no mention that many of these "failing" public golf courses have been cash cows for many years, The revenue surpluses generated by golf course operations have been used to subsidize tennis courts and pools, saving taxpayers tens of thousands each year. And while fleecing their paying golf course customers, public courses imposed tee times that overfilled golf courses and created five- to six-hour rounds instead of four- to five-hour rounds.

I'm a golfer and a taxpayer, and I resent the shortsighted and unfair position about public golf taken by the Daily Herald. Most knowledgeable observers attribute the recent decline in the number of golf rounds played to the economic downturn that still has not righted itself. Closing golf courses should be a long-term solution, not a response to short-term financial exigencies.

Maybe my being a golfer has given me more patience than the Daily Herald editors. I suspect they have been playing tennis on free public courts for years.

George Peternel

Arlington Heights

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