Kauffman concessions

I hope the Kansas City Royals are spending time this offseason to improve the concessions at Kauffman Stadium. It’s sad to say to visitors that Kansas City’s worst barbecue is at the ballpark.

Why not add some local flavor?

Garrett Meyer

Olathe

Honoring Adele Hall

Adele Hall helped create the Local Investment Commission in the early 1990s. LINC is a unique public-private partnership with special responsibilities for state and federal programs serving our most distressed families and neighborhoods.

Adele’s commitment to LINC’s work was and is an inspiration to all in Kansas City and an example for our state and nation. She was a protector of those families, their neighborhoods, their teachers and the professionals who serve them.

She guided our collective efforts to make things right for all of them. LINC will continue to honor her spirit and her commitment to this work.

We join everyone in mourning her death.

Landon Rowland

LINC chairman

Kansas City

Bert Berkley

LINC founder

Mission Hills

Pushing gun control

If you feel assault-type weapons should be banned and requirements on gun-show purchases strengthened, let your congressmen know. A word of caution, though.

In Missouri, Rep. Vicky Hartzler, Rep. Sam Graves and Sen. Roy Blunt are rated A++ by the National Rifle Association. All have received big-bucks donations for their campaigns from the NRA.

In Kansas, all congressmen are supported by the NRA, and again it poured in big bucks.

Be that as it may, write them to let them know how you feel and let them explain why they can’t support these measures.

This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment. Yes, we will still have handguns and we will still be able to hunt.

It is about the safety of our population. Looking back on the mass shootings since Columbine in 1999, many have been with assault-type weapons with high-capacity clips.

Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, Arizona, Colorado and, of course, Newtown, just to mention a few. We need to hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire on this issue.

Nancy Duncan

Lee’s Summit

Backward NRA, guns

So, the National Rifle Association’s answer to gun violence is more guns. That makes a lot of sense.

It’s like saying that the answer to obesity is more food.

Lynne Weidmaier

Overland Park

Guns, bombs, death

Guns don’t kill people, in the opinion of some letter writers. So if we follow that logic, then neither do nuclear weapons.

So what’s all the fuss about Iran getting the bomb?

Paul Mohr

Kansas City

Brownback’s hypocrisy

Recently, I wrote to Gov. Sam Brownback expressing my displeasure with the actions he has taken in the past two years, particularly the revisions of the income-tax laws. The new law is not only grossly unfair, it will result in a significant reduction in state revenues.

Because 60 percent of the general fund goes for K-12 and higher education, reduction in state support is bound to affect the quality of education.

Perhaps even more surprising this year is Brownback’s audacity, proposing an extension of a temporary sales tax to make up for the loss in income-tax revenue.

This sales tax, which is to expire in July, was passed by the Legislature three years ago to get us through the recession and provide more support for education.

Several Republicans had the courage to vote for this temporary tax.

Unfortunately, the governor and his cohorts used those votes in the election last fall to defeat fellow Republicans who had not toed his line. He will now be pressuring new legislators who used that tactic in winning election to vote for his new proposal.

To me, this is the absolute height of hypocrisy.

Wendell Lady

Kansas House Speaker

1979-1982

Overland Park

KC’s broken fountains

Kansas City has a reputation of being the beautiful City of Fountains. It is disappointing that the city fathers have decided to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a two-mile streetcar system when our fountains are in such disrepair (2-5, A1, “Community’s ‘signature pieces’ at risk”).

I was born in Kansas City and realize that the fountains are works of art that are enjoyed not only by thousands of residents who live here but also tourists and convention attendees.

It is a reality that most of the residents of Kansas City and most visitors here will never see or use the streetcar because of the limited route of the system.

Shame on Mayor Sly James and the City Council for wasting the city’s money. It reminds me of the adage about Emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Patty Whitaker

Overland Park

Assault weapons ban

The original intent of the Second Amendment was personal protection. The Constitution speaks of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

It’s not an excuse for some folks to “keep and bear” assault weapons.

Homer Watts

Raytown

Patty Whitaker

Overland Park

Foreign aid for U.S.?

Besides prayer and the bravery of our elected representatives in not making decisions benefiting their parties or themselves, we could benefit from some assistance when we have a catastrophe such as Superstorm Sandy. Where is help from France, Switzerland, Germany and other countries we have helped?

We’ve bankrupted our beloved United States of America intervening in every disturbance, and then we are criticized.

We need to stay out of foreign wars, which only result in the U.S. spending itself into deeper debt.

Lois Theilmann

Lee’s Summit

Change of scenery

For those readers with interest in finding a new and different entertainment venue, watch the squirrels. It’s mating time.

Bill McDannold II

Lee’s Summit

Religions, blasphemy

We watched the movie, “The Bucket List.” How can they/we use God’s name in vain and as curse words and do nothing about it?

But if we use Muhammad’s name in vain, the world starts to riot. No wonder problems exist.

Jesus’ name is to be revered. There are consequences.

Leonard Hachinsky

Kansas City

Marriage equality

The days of marriage equality have just begun, and Missouri shouldn’t place itself behind the curve. Maine, Maryland and Washington now join the ranks that have legalized same-sex marriage.

The U.S. as a whole has been discriminating against these couples for years, preventing partners from receiving benefits on the state and federal levels. It’s time for voters to wake up and stand on the right side of history.

It’s unfair to call the civil rights movement and the gay marriage movement the same, but there are apt parallels. The phobic tendencies of the majority shouldn’t tyrannize any minority. Bigotry, violence and discrimination have no place in deciding how the United States should carry out equal protection under the law.

The question stands: Where is this equal protection now? Or does the Constitution only apply in the hindsight of history?

The issue of same-sex marriage is no longer an issue of morality; it is one of equal rights. Citizens are allowed to carry their own beliefs on homosexuality’s moral implications, but the United States is not.

Missouri should adopt same-sex marriage, sending a message that the 14th Amendment applies to all citizens, not just straight ones.

James Geiger

Maryville, Mo.

Crack down on welfare

I am tired of our government and citizens referring to entitlements to welfare. Social Security and Medicare are entitlements because we worked for them. It’s our money. Welfare is not an entitlement.

Entitlements are for wounded soldiers who wait for almost a year to collect any paycheck. They are often totally without finances because it is necessary for their spouses to quit work to become caregivers.

Working for social services in Jackson County, I interviewed people who were fifth and sixth generations of welfare recipients. They have no desire to work, and they have children because they receive more money.

Why should hard-working people work two jobs to put food on the table and pay taxes so that others can eat free?

Why should we pay others’ medical bills when we have trouble paying our own?

There needs to be a crackdown on welfare entitlements. We have too many people wanting it all for nothing.

Jeanie Adkins-Peine

Overland Park

Leonard Hachinsky

Kansas City

James Geiger

Maryville, Mo.