Letters to the editor

Pursuit of happiness

As a variety of candidates — Republican, Democratic and tea party — make their intentions known, it is important to remember that in every societal system there must be a ruling class or classes; in other words, a class gets control of a society and determines its political form or system. Once in power it will divert social effort to its own gain. In medieval society, the ruling classes were warrior kings and the clergy, and they used their power to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others.

Our society was set up to be ruled by the mid,dle class and institutions (executive, judicial, legislative) were created to ensure civil liberties for all classes. However, big business and the money elite, starting the the mid-19th century, have altered these institutions so as to have reclaimed the right of the wealthy.

So listen carefully to the individual messages, looking to those who will return control to the vast majority of Americans, and not to a particular class (political, economic, religious, etc.), so all may look forward to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

John Nelles

Shawnee

Firearms, freedom

With the stroke of his pen, King Sam Brownback has banished those pesky and intrusive government mandates requiring those in his kingdom to be trained on the safe and proper use of lethal weapons. Bowing to the altar of armaments and pledging allegiance to the National Rifle Association gods, our anointed leader decrees his wishes, not those of his subjects, will reign throughout the kingdom of Kansas.

Throw away the instruction manuals. To heck with what experts can teach you about the heat that you are packing.

We are free at last, free at last, thank the NRA almighty, we are free at last. What could possibly go wrong?

Ron Fugate

Overland Park

Razing old school

The Shawnee Mission school board is tearing down Milburn Junior High School/Antioch Middle School without any public notice. Demolition started this month without much apparent concern for dust and debris since the building was constructed decades ago. The original heating system, insulation, ceiling tiles and flooring materials may now be considered hazardous materials.

When asked, district personnel said the district would send out a newsletter to adjoining residents about project. To this date, I have seen nothing other than a two- to three-line bland statement in a pre-bond election mailer.

What is the board hiding in this publicly funded project? By way of information, when Milburn Junior High School was constructed, it faced a cornfield on the south side of 71st Street. That may pre-date the birth of most of the current school administrators.

Dick Clune

Overland Park

Storm water tax

The multiyear conversion of a sewer tax to a unified fee basis billing model for Johnson County Wastewater is complete. The storm water tax is still a line item on the property tax bills.

Runoff water from parking lots, driveways, private roads/alleys and roofs will give the county justification to fully integrate the gutter tax into the wastewater billing statement, with a fixed rate service charge and a variable volume rate impact charge of storm water on the sanitary sewer system. Treatment of storm and groundwater is already part of the operations and maintenance portion of the wastewater bill.

The county says there are no plans to change the current funding mechanism for storm water. Every city in Johnson County Wastewater’s service area has a storm sewer department and a collaborative partnership with the county.

The key word is utility. Overland Park refers to the gutter taxes collected as “funds from the storm water utility fund.” The fund covers repairs, maintenance, upgrades and construction costs of the storm water system.

The administrative costs savings from consolidating the storm water departments in the Johnson County Wastewater service area would help slow down accelerating wastewater charges and increase government efficiency.

Wastewater services are the largest part of the county budget. Johnson County is the largest local government in Kansas.

Jeff Harkness

Overland Park

Uber competition

Sharing has become a byword of our current generation. Ride-sharing, home-sharing, book-sharing and even Facebook have all encountered some sort of interference or regulation to impede growth.

The current obstructions to curtail the competitive edge of Uber and Lyft ride-sharing in our market appears to be the current hot topic. While the safety of passengers should be the primary concern, there is much pressure from taxi companies to eliminate the competition.

Uber is a worldwide company having demonstrated that its ride-sharing concept fills a definite need in communities. Kansas City cannot afford to drive Uber away because of its competitive edge.

For years, communities have sought ways to drive Wal-Mart away because of its competitive edge. Uber is the Wal-Mart of ride-sharing.

Ensure the safety of its passengers first, and then let it compete.

Steve Katz

Leawood

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor."