Readers share views on transmission lines, Ebola, KCP&L
High-voltage lines
We rural landowners in northeast Missouri find ourselves fighting a battle we never expected, as energy company Ameren attempts to push through the high-voltage Mark Twain Transmission Project line by eminent domain. The proposed line runs roughshod over houses, century-old farms and schools with no regard for the health and interrupted livelihoods of those thousands of citizens underneath.
Land and homes under high-voltage lines lose much of their value, while studies consistently show increased rates of leukemia in children living near high-voltage lines. Ameren’s apparent goal is to connect cheap Midwest coal (bundled with small amounts of wind energy and thereby labeled “green energy”) to premium-paying East Coast markets.
Missouri energy users, meanwhile, will not benefit from the energy and will pay higher rates, and taxpayers are stuck with partial project costs. Central Missourians are similarly fighting a high-voltage transmission line, the Grain Belt Express Clean Line, which would cut Missouri in half.
Before we let our precious farmland and forests become an energy superhighway and our homes and health be ruined on our own dime, shouldn’t Missourians be asking these energy companies (with annual revenues already over a billion dollars) what is enough to satisfy their greed?
Julia Jack-Scott
La Plata, Mo.
Containing illnesses
Let’s all hope that we are guided properly in responding to the Ebola virus. Using hand sanitizers, coughing into our sleeves, frequent hand washing and having flu shots will surely help limit the spread of diseases.
We will also need minute clinics and urgent-care facilities to be on alert so as to correctly diagnose flu symptoms. Let’s also hope health departments, visiting nurses and school faculties will be on high alert to keep us informed.
We need to be calm and informed.
Nancy Hatch
Kansas City
Quarantine need
So a nurse was going to sue over being quarantined? Really? We have gone through the looking glass of absurdity in this country.
For centuries, quarantine has been used to help stop the spread of disease. My childhood memories include quarantines for measles and polio.
Should we worry more about offending someone’s feelings and sensitivities than protecting her life and the lives of untold others?
Ebola is a killer. The Ebola virus does not know or care that this is the United States, where Ebola is not supposed to happen.
Mention was made of the nurse staying in a tent. Chances are excellent that the “tent” in New Jersey was far superior to the housing, or lack of it, available to her in West Africa.
Yes, it is a selfless act for medical personnel to risk contracting the disease to help those who are afflicted with it.
But those good intentions do not change the fact that Ebola is contagious and at-risk medical personnel should observe a quarantine to protect the American public.
Carol Elkins
Gladstone
KCP&L rate jolt
I read with disappointment the article about the Kansas City Power & Light Co. seeking an increase of 15.8 percent, which it says will result in “about a $14 monthly increase for the average residential customer (10-31, A1, “KCP&L seeking increase of 15.8%”).”
KCP&L cites “government mandates” as a reason for the increase. I understand “government mandates.” We live with mandates every day (health insurance, auto/home/renters insurance, taxes, etc.).
And how lucky KCP&L is that it can run to the Missouri Public Service Commission and simply ask for more money from the city’s residents.
Question: Whom do we run to and ask for more money?
For many (if not most) residents, our income doesn’t increase by $14 a month.
Groceries, sales taxes, property taxes and insurance (car and health) costs continue to go up, yet our paychecks don’t continue to go up enough to cover ever-increasing expenses.
Kansas City’s citizens need to voice their concerns to the Missouri Public Service Commission.
The article indicates KCP&L customers “will be paying more than 50 percent more for power than they did a few years ago.”
Riddle me this: Will KCP&L please ask my employer for a 50 percent pay increase for me?
Amy Cornwell
Kansas City
Missouri tax cut
A majority of most lawmakers in Jefferson City have made good on their pledges to put money back in Missourians’ pockets.
If next year’s tax bill for an individual is $500, the money put back will be a few coins.
Does that qualify as chump change?
Alan Franklin
Independence
Smart snack rules
I recently learned that the school district has now decided to implement “smart snack” rules, with one dictating that snacks sold during the school day must be under 200 calories.
Despite such intentions to promote healthy eating, it is yet another message to society’s youth about what is “bad” food.
Modern marketing and media continually preach that anything not labeled with “diet,” “fat-free,” etc. must be too unhealthy to consume.
And, apparently, if we are too sedentary and don’t exercise or stand more, then we are going to suddenly develop a laundry list of health problems.
With such cultural messages, it is no wonder that our society is always stressed and that it reflects two extremes: overweight or undernourished.
Having experienced both sides, I can say that the same health problems for one state will come about in the other.
Whatever happened to reinforcing the concept of balance — that there is a “middle ground” in all choices we make? That moderation is key?
Content, not calories, is what matters.
Well, off to eat my “unhealthy” snack — 330 calories of Greek yogurt and trail mix.
Oops, I just broke a “smart snack” rule.
Sarah Sunderland
Lee’s Summit
This story was originally published November 3, 2014 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Readers share views on transmission lines, Ebola, KCP&L."