Letters: Readers discuss local control of Kansas City police, the coal industry and Safe Haven for Newborns Day
Local control
I must disagree with the editorial “Forté’s $499,117 retirement payout is a stain on the city” (March 25, 10A) that says control of the Kansas City Police Department should be returned to the city.
State control of the police department was an outgrowth of the corruption of the Pendergrast regime. Kansas City is one of the few cities in the country under state control. My question is: Why aren’t more?
Local control does not make a more efficient police department. It makes a department more susceptible to corruption and political favors. Promotions, assignments and police chief selections are subject to local politics.
As it is now, the mayor has only one vote in the selection of the chief, not the vote. A chief in Kansas City can do his job and make decisions for the right reasons, rather than those he thinks will allow him to keep his job.
In 1999, I was in charge of the background investigations in the selection process for chief. Without the board, the city would not have ended up with the best choice. Some behind the scenes had less-than-noble purposes. The board stopped that. Don’t make a mistake.
Jim Ripley
Lee’s Summit
Infant safety
Many people are still unaware that there is a safe alternative to infant abandonment. Thursday has been designated as Safe Haven for Newborns Day in Kansas City. No matter how desperate a parent might be, no one has to abandon a newborn.
All 50 states have some form of Safe Haven law designed to prevent the abuse, abandonment or murder of infants. They allow parents to safely leave their newborns in the arms of people at officially designated Safe Haven locations, no questions asked.
Missouri and Kansas require the child to be no older than 45 days and show no signs of abuse. At least 47 babies have been saved under the Safe Haven law in Missouri since the law went into effect in 2003, and Kansas reports at least eight since 2006.
In Missouri, Safe Havens include hospitals, fire, police and ambulance stations, maternity homes, and pregnancy resource centers.
Safe Havens in Kansas are hospitals, police stations, fire stations and health departments.
More information can be found at www.mchc.net or the United Way help line at 2-1-1.
Anne Biswell
Kansas City
Coal deception
On March 28, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for energy independence, stating his administration was doing away with the “war on coal.”
This “war on coal” is a false narrative hung around President Barack Obama’s neck by the fossil fuel industry.
Coal is in decline because of the fracking revolution, which “has crushed the U.S. coal industry,” in the words of a recent CNBC report.
The Clean Power Plan, calling for a 32 percent reduction in emissions from the power sector by 2030, was the U.S. contribution to the world community in its efforts to address our climate crisis.
The clean-energy revolution is worldwide, and China has leapt in with both feet. It is the leader in domestic investment and views it as securing a safe and prosperous future and an international economic opportunity.
Trump, our climate denier and dealmaker in chief, is dealing the U.S. a terrible hand in the clean-energy revolution. China wins; we lose. We will be a climate pariah and suffer economic pain. Our living Earth loses most.
Dave Mitchell
Kansas City
Vivid columns
Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian is the type of writer who disappears into the background when you’re reading his work — in other words, he’s really good.
His April 1 column about South Carolina basketball coach Frank Martin conveyed the depth of this mercurial coach — not with platitudes and wishful thinking, but by eliciting evocative and thoughtful comments from the coach himself. (1B, “Doing it his way”)
And on April 2, Gregorian wrote about Danny Duffy, the Royals’ ace. (17B, “Royals pitcher keeps strong ties to his hometown, but he also is passionate about Kansas City”) Once again, Gregorian took us to the source: Duffy and his parents. Once again, Vahe settled into the background, giving Duffy’s parents the space they needed to offer insights as to why Duffy turned out the way he did, and why he feels so close to the Kansas City organization. And Duffy recalled some good memories but was comfortable enough to recall some bad ones, including from early years in Kansas City.
Thanks to Gregorian, I feel as if I know each of these men a little better, and he made it as easy as sitting down and listening to them talk.
Scott Cline
Overland Park
This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss local control of Kansas City police, the coal industry and Safe Haven for Newborns Day."