Letters: Driving with a cell phone, MU troubles, Danedri Herbert’s column

Cellphone menace

I have become a “whistleblower,” regarding hand-held cellphone use in motor vehicles. I drive personally and professionally hundreds of miles each week.

A few close calls and I am convinced my personal cellphone use while driving will result in an accident. Just a minimum of five seconds with eyes off the road can cause an accident.

Studies show that 27 percent of all automobile accidents are the result of cellphone use. Currently 10 states prohibit the use of hand-held cellphones, and 39 states prohibit texting.

Based on personal experience, I would like to see a warning issued for first-time offenders caught operating a hand-held cellphone while driving and a citation for the following offense. Operating a hand-held cellphone is not only a temptation but an addiction.

Pull over to the side of the road to answer and to operate your cellphone.

Steve Katz

Leawood

Ongoing MU drama

The actions at the University of Missouri-Columbia sets a dangerous precedent. A student skips a few meals and screams that the president of the university system is a racist, and the landslide starts unopposed.

In a few days of chaos, confusion and stupidity the president is gone and the loser of a professional student gets to pad his resume. I hope the new president is tested to ensure he has a spine, as the old president definitely was lacking one.

Joseph Lavender

Lenexa

Large items missed

After the inconvenience of large-item trash pickup moving six months later in the year, an entire neighborhood was missed. Trucks were on streets on either side of mine but never managed to make it to my street.

This is after I spent a Friday night in the rain with a flashlight making sure everything was at the curb before 7 a.m. Saturday. Now several of my neighbors and I have large debris on our areas.

This is outrageous and very disappointing.

I suppose I will get fined for having trash at my curbside longer than allowed. A new revenue stream for Overland Park perhaps?

If Deffenbaugh can’t do the large-item pickup correctly, maybe it is time Overland Park hire a different service.

Kay Brown

Overland Park

Herbert column

René Descartes as a conservative? Danedri Herbert’s Nov. 11 commentary, “I think, therefore I’m a conservative,” has many interesting contradictions.

Our “heinous tax system” does not give power to politicians. Politicians use their power to manipulate the tax system.

Why isn’t the conservative majority currently in Congress trying to clean it up? Does Herbert really want a truly “free market?”

That would mean no complaint about a drug company dramatically increasing the price of a patented drug. Even Adam Smith recognized the need for some regulation in a “free” market.

Is it true that “Christians in particular, want to lift people up?” What about the rest of us?

Finally, if we are to pray for God’s wisdom, how will we get it and who will interpret it? Her generalities are engaging, but our problems are complex.

Labels are often simplistic.

Jack Mayer

Mission

Voting for change

According to an Associated Press news story this month, Kansas lawmakers will automatically get an 8.5 percent raise in their per diem allowance. Really?

Is this not a rank insult to the people of Kansas? After cooperating with our “experiment-prone” governor in economically crippling our state, they have the unmitigated gall to accept this kind of a raise.

I believe the proper response is for those of us in Kansas who aren’t tea party extremists to get ourselves to the polls in 2016 and vote for change.

Don Wilson

Overland Park

Callous Kansas

I was once again dismayed by the Kansas GOP's move to influence the outcome of a committee charged with evaluating expanded Medicaid in Kansas (11-12, A4, “3 Kansas GOP lawmakers ousted from health panel”). Three moderate Republicans were pulled from the Health and Human Services Committee in favor of three more conservative Republicans when it became evident that Medicare expansion could pass out of committee if the three moderates were allowed to vote.

Like the Republican strategy of controlling the electorate if we don't vote the way Republicans want, the strategy on this smaller stage is to manipulate the committee vote if the conservatives can't stop the support of this expansion, which would help low-income citizens of Kansas, hospitals and state coffers.

The governor's tax cut plan was based on his belief that companies would want to establish themselves in a state with minimal or no tax. However, as we have seen, that state also has minimal or no safety net. Who in their right mind would voluntarily relocate to Kansas when they could be left out in the cold when things don't go well?

We need to replace these conservative GOP legislators with Kansas citizens who truly care about all residents of the state, not just their own power.

Lynda Raner

Overland Park

Changes at MU

The University of Missouri-Columbia is in turmoil. The liberal leadership at MU has been removed, and it is increasingly obvious that the progressive secularists who have held near absolute power on college campuses for decades have failed to provide a comfortable and secure environment for students.

Minorities have been made to feel less than equal. And Christians have in many cases been treated in a similar fashion by hostile curriculum and professors who often demean or ridicule Christianity and Christians.

Professors need to be monitored closely by students and citizens for offensive or unfair speech, and we should replace the progressive leadership that has been responsible for the tolerance of racism and bigotry on college campuses.

Students need the freedom to think, and unfortunately at MU, they can’t.

Charley Morasch

Leawood

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Letters: Driving with a cell phone, MU troubles, Danedri Herbert’s column."