Improve patient care

I became very upset after reading the Dec. 28 letter regarding the nearly 100-year-old stepmother housed in a nursing home without as much as a warm robe or proper attire. I not only feel that her stepdaughters are neglectful but hold the nursing home accountable for this neglect as well.

Someone is paying the nursing home to care for this lady. It may actually be you and me, the taxpayers, as Kansas residents through Medicaid. I personally do not believe we are getting our money’s worth in this case.

Is this how we want to be treated when we grow old? Is no one at the nursing home accountable for ensuring that this woman and any another patient has appropriate clothing?

I believe that the Kansas ombudsman for nursing home care should be contacted to start an investigation, as this is truly nursing home neglect.

Shame, shame, shame on all of them.

Kathleen Whitworth

Roeland Park

Preventing car crashes

I read with interest a Dec. 30 letter in which the writer was not happy with a police officer for stopping her car and apparently issuing a citation because the driver was traveling 14 mph over the speed limit.

Apparently, the writer does not realize that officers stop speeding cars because they do not want to go to a home and let the occupants know that a child, a mother, father or grandparents have died in a car accident caused by a speeder.

Most police officers have too much to do in a shift to just sit in a car and use a radar gun. If an officer is in a car using radar, it is usually because there has been a rash of speeding and/or accidents caused by speeding in that area of roadway.

Actually, most officers set up in an area because members of the public have contacted the police and told them about a number of speeding cars in the area. Be thankful that officer was present because it may have prevented someone from being hurt or worse.

Jack Stultz

Lenexa

Chiefs’ Pioli did his job

The main task of the Kansas City Chiefs’ general manager is to make money for the owner. Scott Pioli has excelled at that.

His ragtag football team has put millions and millions into owner Clark Hunt’s pockets.

Of course Pioli wouldn’t be fired.

He has done his real job. Romeo Crennel, on the other hand, had to take the fall while Hunt takes the money.

Dan Lopez

Kansas City

Obama’s high flying

Did you hear that? It was President Barack Obama flying over us, laughing all the way back to Hawaii (1-2, A1, “It’s a deal”).

Marian Watkins

Overland Park

McClanahan column

Conservatives have been pushing that the “government caused the housing bubble and, therefore, the recession” for more than three years. So government, poor people and minorities were responsible for the Great Recession.

You know, the usual suspects of conservatives. How convenient.

E. Thomas McClanahan (12-30, “How an anti-redlining law fed the housing bubble”) failed to mention that a large percentage of the mortgages issued during the bubble were to people who owned more than one home. And an even larger percentage of the mortgages in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida went to people who owned more than one home.

Also, if poor black and Hispanic people caused the bubble, then home ownership in their communities must have soared during this time. But that didn’t happen.

What did happen was the percentage of rental housing, owned by investors, did take off. Communities that had been more than 80 percent owner-occupied became more than 80 percent rental housing in Kansas City.

The money that was lent went to older residents who couldn’t afford to make repairs. It was lent at loan shark interest rates.

The game worked just like the “buy here, pay here” used car lots.

Jan M. Thomas

Kansas City

KC needs rail system

As our population ages, more older drivers will be on the road — many of us driving safely while others should not be driving. There is an increasing need for alternative transportation as baby boomers age.

Kansas City is lacking in this area, and residents seem not understand the need for modern public transit, including commuter rail, light rail and streetcars, to serve this need. Buses have their place but aren’t as efficient as light rail, which I have ridden recently in many cities, including Istanbul, Seattle, Portland and St. Louis.

Along Seattle’s new light rail system are many new developments containing businesses and residential structures.

I like to go to Kauffman Stadium to see the Royals, but I have to drive. Why can’t I get to the stadium as in most major cities on a modern light rail line?

The streetcar line approved by voters recently is not the ultimate solution to the problem, but it could be a start to a modern urban transit system providing a safe alternative for young and old.

Dave Pomeroy

Topeka

‘Chasing Ice’ film

What great photography in “Chasing Ice,” playing at the Tivoli Cinemas.

Photographers were in danger as they climbed down glacial crevices to show how melted water flows to the base of Greenland’s glaciers, moving glaciers faster to the ocean because water at the base acts like grease.

The crew of Extreme Ice Survey set up timed cameras in Alaska, Greenland, Antarctica and Montana that show how glaciers move over time. Photos showed they move a lot.

“We are witnessing a powerful piece of history,” said James Balog, head of the survey.

Glaciers are huge. A 75-minute calving, or falling off, of a glacier’s 300-foot wall into the ocean was like sinking all of the buildings in Manhattan.

Do you suppose over the years we’ve had glaciers sinking into the ocean this fast? Or is it because we are warming our planet with our use of fossil fuels producing carbon dioxide, trapping heat in the atmosphere?

Mary Helen Korbelik

Mission Hills

Shooting off on guns

So tens of thousands have signed a petition to have Piers Morgan deported for his gun-control views (12-30, A2, “CNN host has a gun-control ally”).

No matter what our views, I thought we were allowed to voice them without retribution in the United States.

I don’t always agree with Morgan, but he has a right and obligation to speak his mind, as we all do. I want to hear all sides.

That’s what the U.S. is all about.

Katherine Distefano

Parkville

Cut Congress’ perks first

Politicians need to leave Medicare alone. It’s not an entitlement. Everyone who has worked since its inception has paid into it and still does.

If any program needs revamping, it’s the perks those in Congress receive.

Years ago, Congress thought it was just fine to dip into Medicare to pay for other programs. Well, now it’s time for Congress members to cinch their belts and see what they can whittle from their own “entitlements” in an effort to reduce the deficit.

They need to look at all programs to see which are lucrative and which are simply draining the coffers needlessly. Get rid of the ones that aren’t productive.

The president and the first lady could do their part by cutting back on unnecessary travel and their own staff. Just how many assistants are needed to do what needs to be done?

Let’s make better decisions when it comes to spending money. Is it really necessary to spend thousands to have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drive a few miles to attend a meeting when it could have been managed via a conference call?

The politicos need to stop pointing fingers and start looking in the mirror.

Mary Spohn

Platte City

TV sound irritation

Fox 4 News (channel 4) sure needs a new sound man, or perhaps a new sound crew, or how about a new producer, for not recognizing how terrible and irritating its up-and-down volumes are to the listener.

Larry Goodloe

Richmond, Mo.

Missouri college funding

The newly proposed college funding plan is a great standard to hold our Missouri colleges and universities to. The better performance we can extract from our schools, the higher they can move up in countrywide rankings and accreditation, ergo the more funds that school deserves.

With these funds, the schools can continue to work on improvements and set goals, such as beginning new programs and revamping the old ones with good potential. Eventually, this could produce a perpetuating effect and lead to a considerable boost in the performance and overall quality of our Missouri colleges.

Jodie Foster

Lee’s Summit