More than 150 years after William Quantrill, it’s sad that people are still coming across the border from Missouri and shooting innocent Kansans in cold blood.

The April 22 article, “Somehow, boy survived,” about the 15-year-old who flew from California to Hawaii inside a jetliner’s wheel well really shocked me for several reasons. First and most because of what we travelers are going through at checkpoint security.

I appreciate the airport security activities done for us to fly safely. I’d rather take off my shoes, show all of my electronics, etc., because I like to feel secure in the plane.

But I am shocked that someone is able to slip into an airport and get into a wheel well. I get goose bumps thinking that we are screened for toothpaste but someone (a terrorist?) could get in a very sensitive part of the plane.

What is most disturbing is I read that this has happened before, and if stowaways survive no charges are pressed against them, which is ridiculous. They should be charged for trespassing, traveling without a ticket and risking the security of the passengers, and the employee who monitored the security videos should be fired.

It’s unbelievable, at least to me, that some employers are trying to use their personal religious beliefs to discriminate against employees by making it impossible for contraceptives to be covered by insurance that the employer provides as part of a work agreement.

Talk about deciding that you know better than someone else about their own reproductive health care.

I am a Catholic and I understand full well the Catholic Church’s policy on this matter, but I do not agree with it. I believe all human beings should have the right to make conscience-driven decisions about their reproductive behavior.

That is real religious liberty, not allowing one person to hide behind a business to determine what someone else should do.

I can only hope that the Supreme Court will agree with me regarding this right.

A walk in a hypothetical park was presented as a metaphor for the April 24 first public meeting on the the redevelopment of Metcalf South Shopping Center in Overland Park. But from the outset, the standing-room-only crowd made it clear that, park or no park, the Glenwood Arts Theatre had better stay.

The Glenwood Arts (a winner at the Historic Kansas City 2013 Preservation Awards for owners Brian and Ben Mossman’s years of restoring Kansas City’s historic movie houses) quickly became the theme of the evening. The first comment to save the Fine Arts Theatre Group’s flagship theater, and home of the upcoming 14th annual Kansas International Film Festival, brought unanimous applause.

There were comments throughout, and the general session wrapped up with a replay of public militancy inspired by efforts to change the architecture of the Country Club Plaza. The second public meeting on the redevelopment of Metcalf South will be at 7 o’clock tonight at the Matt Ross Community Center, 8101 Marty St., in Overland Park.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s signing of the Health Care Compact legislation at best is simply pandering to right-wing extremists in Kansas and at worst the biggest mistake our state could possibly make (4-24, A6, “State joins anti-Affordable Care Act compact”).

This is the same governor whose grand plan to privatize Medicaid has fallen far short of what he promised the citizens of Kansas. And now he thinks he can run Medicare better than the federal government. Simply laughable.

He alleges that Obamacare has raped Medicare of $700 million but doesn’t bother to explain how. He knows, and that’s why he won’t say.

The $700 million came from an agreement between our nation’s health-care providers and the Senate to help bring down costs in the face of two impending realities — the onslaught of millions of baby boomers becoming Medicare eligible and the realization that the government had been grossly overpaying the insurance companies that were offering Medicare Advantage plans.

I paid my Medicare taxes to the federal government, not Kansas. Every Kansas Medicare recipient should do everything possible, including legal action, to prevent that from occurring.

It seems to me that the issue with Hobby Lobby is this: Does Hobby Lobby require its employees to be members of the Mennonite church?

If not, then denying employees access to all forms of birth control provided for in the Affordable Care Act is restricting the employees’ religious freedom. If employees are required to be Mennonite, then there is no problem.

I am fortunate to be one of the 15 successful transplants at St. Luke’s Hospital. The care I have received is outstanding.

The transplant team feels like part of our family. The skilled team has encouraged and supported us before and after the transplant.

I was formerly on the transplant list at another area medical center but was just a number. The care was impersonal, and there was a lack of communication.

I was excited when I found there was another option. With St. Luke’s, you are a person, not a number.

St. Luke’s continues to care for post-transplant patients. I look forward to St. Luke’s resuming the transplant program so others will have an option also.

I fully support it.

I hope Kansas City International Airport will be renovated to a standard to satisfy those who want a fancier airport and not demolished for a whole new footprint.

KCI is the only user-friendly airport of its size that I can think of in the world. But please save one of the best parts.

The terrazzo flooring is one of the finest and most rare features of KCI. And it has held up beautifully to all the foot traffic. The artwork underfoot is a fascinating way to pass the time waiting for a passenger or a flight out and is beautiful in its own right.

Don’t let it go to waste. Let’s preserve it. We don’t want the monotonous miles and miles of commercial carpet so common in other airports.

I note that Palestinians, again turning historical fact inside out and upside down, now claim that Jesus was not a Jew but was a Palestinian who would not be able to enter Israel because of the wall.

Palestinians forced the building of the wall by encouraging, even to this day, their young people to become martyred suicide bombers. Israel constructed the wall (most of which is actually a fence) to protect civilians.

The wall is serving its purpose and is saving lives by keeping out most suicide bombers. If Jesus were alive today, the fence or wall would help prevent him from being killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber.

I live very close to a grocery store. Every once in a while, when the sun is shining, I decide to hop on my bike and grab items forgotten on the recent shopping trip I had made.

Every time I get there, I again frown at the bike rack that Price Chopper is lacking. Every time, I have to trust my neighbors not to steal my bike.

All I ask is that stores such as Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and CVS provide somewhere to lock up bikes. Not only would this make it possible for people to ride without worrying about leaving their wheels unattended, but it would promote a healthy, active lifestyle, something our community desperately needs.