Letters: Readers discuss tornado damage in Oak Grove, Eric Greitens and EPA cuts
Caring community
Our 179-year-old family cemetery in Oak Grove was damaged by the recent tornado. The day after the storms, I went there to see how much damage we had.
Parts of a huge tree from a neighbor’s yard were lying in the cemetery, and large pieces of metal and a part of a small building were stuck in our fence. We had damage to only one small headstone, that of a baby who died at 11 months of age in 1838.
As I was leaving, a man in a truck stopped and told me he might be able to clear some of the rubble. I thanked him, thinking that there were many homes with so much damage that should come first.
Two days later, I saw that the tree had been cut into logs, the fence straightened and the metal placed in a corner of the cemetery.
To whoever did this hard work for us, thank you so much. Our family goes back many years in Oak Grove, and we know that this city cares about its community.
John George
Lee’s Summit
Be constructive
Gov. Eric Greitens, recently you posted a video on your Facebook page where you gleefully shot up a target then announced a gun manufacturer opening a facility in Missouri. Like your ad when you began your run for governor, you delighted in blowing something up.
Had the factory been for production of cooking utensils, water heaters, tractors or life-saving drugs, would you have been so gleeful? Is blowing things up or providing the means of blowing something up the best way to bring you joy?
I thought that when you were elected governor, you were going to work for all Missourians by building things, not blowing them up. Please, prove me incorrect in my thinking. Build bridges, both physical and metaphorical. Don’t just blow them up.
Steven Cottrell
Kansas City
EPA cuts are jobs
To Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts, and Rep. Kevin Yoder: Deep cuts at the Environmental Protection Agency are in the offing — a proposed 20 percent staff reduction. (March 2, 2A, “White House proposes cutting EPA staff by one-fifth”)
The EPA Region 7 office in Lenexa employs 450-500 people. In addition, multiple service industries and contractors derive economic benefit from that office and its activities.
The EPA has been cut to the bone by recent sequester budgets. Further staff reduction in Lenexa cannot be implemented without loss of core functions related to the protection of human health — clean air, clean water and remediation of hazardous waste problems.
If hundreds of individuals lose their jobs because of such a cutback, it will be a bitter pill for area residents whose livelihoods will be eliminated. This will also hurt the cash flow of area businesses that benefit from the cycling of those funds through the local economy.
Please preserve these Kansas jobs.
Fred Hopkins
Prairie Village, KS
Have courage
It was absolutely refreshing to read a letter in the March 5 Star (16A) from a person who identified himself as a Republican, adding that he was not a Trump supporter.
This person expressed surprise that more people are not, in his words, “combating the president.” I share his concern that more people should have the courage to condemn the behavior of the president.
Dan Fitzgerald
Kansas City
Misplaced anger
Oklahoma, a Republican-run state, had the first domestic terrorist attack that I was familiar with. Everyone said that Muslims had to have done this. They didn’t. A couple of Christian white men did, killing 168 people, including 19 children.
Several years later, Oklahoma passed an anti-Sharia law bill because people were scared of the people who didn’t attack them. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are at least 12 white supremacist hate groups in Oklahoma. Not one hate group is Muslim.
President Donald Trump is scaring people about Muslim terrorists. What about terrorists who look like Steve Bannon?
Arnold Mall
Kansas City, Kan.
Stay on time
It’s time to eliminate daylight saving time. It messes up our biological clocks and serves little purpose to productivity. Construction and other outside workers would benefit from early start times to beat the heat.
And speaking of construction, there is a labor shortage. Parents and schools should think about getting kids into the trades. Steer them toward vocational-technical schools. The result: No college debt, and they won’t end up living in your basements.
David Elliott
Independence
This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss tornado damage in Oak Grove, Eric Greitens and EPA cuts."