Readers share thoughts on Ebola, clean water and roadwork headaches

Fighting Ebola

No country should fight an enemy on its own soil, even if the government thinks it can beat the enemy. The consequences are too dire to run the risk of being wrong with our exposed population.

Don’t permit people to come into the United States from Ebola-infected parts of the world even though some think they can beat the fatal disease. Common sense dictates that, which is probably why it is not President Barack Obama’s policy.

Mike Hellige

Olathe

Support clean water

Small streams and wetlands are invaluable natural resources.

Missouri still lacks water-quality protections for thousands of miles of streams and all wetlands. A new rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers could change this by clarifying that small streams and wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act.

In recent years, millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent litigating over which waters are protected from pollution. The new Clean Water Protection rule would eliminate this expense. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment supports the new rule because it would require Missouri to set pollution limits on the unprotected streams and wetlands that are essential for clean water.

It accounts for water use by agriculture and private businesses and has been endorsed by many farmers and water-dependent businesses. It is imperative that the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers adopt the clarification and enforce its implementation in Missouri.

Stand up for clean water. Submit your public comment at www.moenviron.org. The deadline for comment is Friday.

Heather Navarro

St. Louis

Roadwork headaches

As a teenage driver, I am a busy person. I have a lot of places to be.

One concern I have in the Kansas City area is road construction.

No matter where I am driving, there is always some reason for me to take a detour or to dodge cones. The area I am most concerned about is on State Line Road, north of 103rd Street.

Every single day, I am forced to stay behind in slow traffic or turn onto 103rd Street toward Wornall Road because there is construction. I haven’t seen changes in more than a year.

I rarely see construction workers actually working on something in that area, and I wish this issue could be solved. State Line Road could be the most efficient way for me to get to and from school and other places, but the constant road construction forces me away to slower routes.

Trevor Weinrich

Kansas City

KCI parking blues

On a recent arrival to Kansas City International Airport, I was dismayed to discover the parking garage for Terminal B and its accompanying outside lot were completely full, which had never happened to me before. Meanwhile, the parking structure at the closed Terminal A sat empty.

Why not simply open the Terminal A garage for overflow self-parking, because shuttle buses are already running? This could make money for the airport and vastly improve service.

This would be much preferable to the currently offered valet parking alternative at $27 a day.

Steven Go

Overland Park

Climate change

When the cool air of March fails to defeat winter’s cold and summer doesn’t arrive in June and slowly morphs to fall in September, which again gives way to winter’s colder temperatures in November, then I will truly believe in climate change.

This is our climate here in our city and has been for all 55 years of my life.

I’ll agree with the Chicken Littles when and only when our climate does indeed change.

Terry Kliethermes

Leawood

Protecting children

When is the Catholic Church going to stop protecting its pedophile priests and start protecting our children?

Rich Barnes

Overland Park

Banning illegal guns

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a national organization that supports the Second Amendment. However, in a bipartisan effort, it wants to reduce the purchase of guns by criminals and wants stricter background checks.

Mayors in Kansas City, St. Louis and Lee’s Summit as well as Wichita and Hiawatha, Kan., are members. In a phone survey, five of the mayors in Johnson County said they did not belong; nine mayors did not respond to the question either by email or phone message.

There is a need for a uniform policy to enforce the laws that are in place so there is a reduction in the sale of firearms to criminals. Let’s encourage more effort by mayors to address this public health issue.

Mary Fran Zeller

Overland Park

Light rail for KC

In my History of Kansas City class at school, we have talked a lot about the new streetcar that will stretch from Union Station to the River Market.

I believe the plan is great for economic development of the surrounding area and could add an extra boost to the rapidly increasing popularity of downtown.

I hope this streetcar project will provide inspiration among city leaders to turn their attention toward new means of public transportation, specifically light rail.

I believe light rail would provide a dynamic transportation option for the public. A light-rail system that connects Kansas City International Airport with downtown, Westport, the Plaza and the Truman Sports Complex would be huge for the city.

A system like this would give residents and tourists an easy, direct way to go wherever their hearts desire to eat, drink or catch a game or a movie without worrying about traffic, parking or even staying sober.

Light rail would also provide opportunity for economic development to occur along its routes just like the streetcar’s plan insists will occur.

Charlie O’Neill

Lenexa

U.S. needs strategy

The current Middle Eastern conflict has its roots in the period surrounding World War I. The United States is at another crossroads with a Middle Eastern conflict morphing into war that will encompass parts of several continents.

Gruesome ingenuity has ensured that a handful of combatants can inflict mortal damage on thousands of civilians in unsuspecting places. The battlefield will not be static and or defined.

My concern is that so many buffoons have been elected to the U.S. Congress exclusively on the Republican ticket because of gerrymandering that a thorough understanding of the issues by some of these lawmakers isn’t possible.

We must have elected representatives in Washington, D.C., who can fathom the serious issues facing our republic.

We need serious and informed debate. The Republicans’ stonewalling and missing-in-action strategy is unacceptable in this place and time in our history.

Paul Comerford

Blue Springs

Puzzling speed limits

I received a speeding ticket for going 10 mph over the 15 mph speed limit on Bel-Ray Drive between Jasmine Lane and Greenwald Drive in Belton last April. There is a 15 mph sign, and about 10 feet from that sign is a 25 mph sign.

I have wondered whether it was justified that I received a ticket. I am very concerned about the distance between the signs and think the city should have one speed limit for both signs.

Temujin Strickland

Belton

This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on Ebola, clean water and roadwork headaches."