Don’t change KCI

I took my son to Kansas City International Airport so he could return to his Army base. I parked on the upper deck for Terminal C and walked about 100 yards to the ticket counter. The gate security check was an additional 30 yards.

It would have been similar for any airline at Kansas City’s easy-to-navigate airport. It may be the most user-friendly of any airport of significant size in the U.S.

KCI is not a hub airport. That’s OK.

We can get anywhere from here — with one extra stop at a hub airport.

Why does the Kansas City Aviation Department think we need to spend more than a billion dollars to maybe get an airline to consider KCI as a hub?

Is it to make it easier for vendors to sell their wares, because, of course, the airport is a dining destination in Kansas City?

Maybe we have a few extra security folks because of KCI’s layout. But don’t you figure we can pay them if we don’t spend a billion dollars?

You know even if the majority of the money doesn’t come from local taxes, it’s still the people’s money that would be wasted.

Daniel Stueckemann

Basehor

Gays and Boy Scouts

There seems to be considerable objection to the Boy Scouts’ willingness to include gay people in their organization. I’m just wondering how many anti-gay people actually know, personally know, anyone in the gay-lesbian community.

I have had many years’ experience of close association with a couple dozen individuals and have only the highest regard for them. They are among the most loyal, supportive, compassionate, generous individuals I know.

They are intelligent, usually more educated, more dependable, even more successful than many of my straight friends. I am blessed to have them.

I would encourage people to open their minds and hearts, and regardless of what they have been taught or preached to, to consider the reality of personhood, that we are all God’s children.

Most of the objections seem to come from religious organizations.

Isn’t it odd that they teach one thing and practice the opposite?

Ida Mayor Clayton

Lake Waukomis

Aid for homelessness

In response to the Feb. 3 article on the hard-core homeless, “Help or hindrance?” I think this story gives people the idea that if homeless people weren’t being fed then they would all seek help in shelters. That is misguided.

The shelter system only scratches the surface of the problem of homelessness. There are never enough shelters.

It is difficult to even count the number of homeless people. Homelessness is caused by poverty, insufficient affordable housing, insufficient money to pay for housing and a weak or nonexistent safety net of income maintenance and support services.

It is true that many people who are homeless are alcoholics or drug addicts. But they need assistance while they are coping with their problems (and not getting kicked out of a shelter for not following a rule).

Many homeless people have psychiatric problems, and many are veterans. We need more help from the state and local agencies to address these problems.

We do not need to end programs that City Hall is suggesting such as the Salvation Army’s Honk and Holler.

Connie Spies

Gladstone

Treasury secretary pick

In many speeches and other types of pronouncements, President Barack Obama has railed against Wall Street banking executives who made a lot of money while the banks lost money and the people suffered from the actions of these executives. He was particularly hard on those involved in subprime loans.

However, it appears that he has changed his tune, as his treasury secretary nominee, Jack Lew, fits this description.

Why do we not hear of this dichotomy in the mainstream media?

Mike Sienicki

Farley, Mo.

Logic to gas pricing

This might have already been asked and answered, in general, but my main question is why do gas prices seem to rise in increments of 5, 10 or sometimes 15 cents while they fall in increments of 1, 2 or 3 cents? What are the market forces that create that schedule?

I’m aware that distributors set the price of gas, but that seems in conflict with any reasonable version of competition when all stations must sell at the same price.

It also appears incongruous that gas delivered at a lower price to a station and existing in underground tanks is suddenly sold at the higher price of the day.

This also doesn’t seem to take into consideration that the daily price of crude that is not even in the delivery pipeline already is affecting the daily price of gas at the pump. Is the pricing algorithm so precise it can anticipate the rates of daily sales and future delivery rates?

I’m just a poor, uninformed consumer who would appreciate some detailed insight into the practical pricing system that’s being used.

Sheldon Castleman

Raymore

Quarterback for KC

Seeing that this is the offseason of football, I was wondering whether we might learn sometime soon about the quarterback situation for the Kansas City Chiefs for next season.

We have Andy Reid as the new coach, a variety of free-agent quarterbacks for consideration and the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft. There are a lot of possibilities, and I do not think I am the only one who would appreciate someone outlining all of the possible options.

Personally, I think West Virginia’s Geno Smith would make a great match here in Kansas City with Reid at the controls.

Smith plays like a young Donovan McNabb. He is mobile in the pocket, but a pass-first kind of quarterback. He reminds me of my favorite rookie quarterback from this season, Russell Wilson.

Max Kurlbaum

Overland Park

Parenting must improve

One of the saddest things about the recent tragedies our nation has experienced is this awful blame game. Blaming inanimate objects such as guns, movies and video games ensures the continued avoidance of the real problem that is creating this violence.

A lot of parents are not parenting. As a nation, we have to start admitting that some of our children are turning into violent and disturbed individuals while growing up.

It is not the guns or the movies or the games causing this. It’s the parents who are allowing these objects to raise their children because they are too lazy or don’t know how to raise kids.

New laws don’t create a better environment at home. Better parenting ensures a better tomorrow for our whole nation. There should be rules in all of America’s homes, rules created by loving parents.

There is a common thread to these killers. Their parents are to blame. You know it. I know it.

We need to address it. These children are crying out for some guidance. When it isn’t there, they choose their own direction.

Josh Keehn

Gardner

Drugmakers’ money

It’s OK to be a mass murder so long as you spread a lot of money around Congress.

Many Americans lose their lives each year taking drugs prescribed by their doctors. Some psychotropic drugs warn on their inserts that suicidal and homicidal behavior are part of a long list of side effects.

Do our national leaders care enough to end the de facto control of the Food and Drug Administration by the drug companies and save countless lives?

Like psychotropic drugs, the money they get induces a profound sense of apathy toward human life.

Michael Stone

Leawood

Overreaching gun rights

People are upset about the massacres of innocent children, teachers, students, worshipers, moviegoers, shoppers and firefighters. We are upset that assault-style weapons are available to anyone.

The response of the National Rifle Association is to put more guns out there, arming teachers and putting armed guards in schools. Should we also put an army at every college and university? What about shopping malls? Or movie theaters? Or churches?

The NRA is powerful. It is composed of the people who pay annual dues. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, flintlock pistols and muskets were the firearms. Our Founding Fathers believed in having a militia and armed citizens to protect the fledgling country from oppressors.

They couldn’t have envisioned the destructive artillery available today. There’s no reason for automatic and semi-automatic weaponry to be available to the public.

A ban of military-style and automatic and semi-automatic weapons does not infringe on the right to own firearms. We would still have rifles, shotguns and pistols.

If the NRA truly wants to protect Second Amendment rights, then it should be supporting the ownership of flintlock rifles and pistols.

Darlene Carter

Independence