Letters to the editor: Skating, traffic, kindness and politics

Excellent skating story

As a lifelong ice skater, I enjoyed the excellent and informative 913 cover story on Aug. 17 about ice skating. I began at the Play-Mor about 65 years ago and continue to skate.

Gliding on the ice is such an incredible feeling and treat. Seniors might like to know that Crown Center’s winter rink is free (including parking, but not skate rental) for those who are over age 60.

Also many websites have guidelines on the basics, everything from lacing skates to stroking and more.

Irene Starr

Mission

Stop line safety

The various lines on the city streets serve a purpose. A solid white line at intersections, known as the “stop line,” creates a safe zone for motorists.

It keeps us far enough back from the intersection to keep us out of harm’s way in case of an accident in the intersection. It also allows motorists who want to turn right on red to see without nosing into the intersection.

Pedestrians also count on motorists to wait behind stop lines for their safety.

Bob Goodrick

Overland Park

Kindness counts

It was 5:30 p.m. on a hot and humid day. I was anxious to get inside my house.

I heard the trash truck coming and when it got to my house, I waved.

The truck driver waved back and yelled, “Thank you.”

I had not done anything, so I yelled back, “No, thank you!”

He answered back: “Thank you for your smile. We don’t see many of those.”

The little man who was throwing our trash into the truck, also waved at me and had a huge smile on his face.

I began to question about what kind of people we are becoming. We have little tolerance to understand that sometimes things happen that prevent our demanding expectations from being fulfilled.

There will be times when we can’t have our trash picked up “on time.” We don’t appreciate the circumstances of those who are trying to serve us.

We should be grateful that anyone wants to do that job and also that the trash company is training these employees before sending them out on a route.

Unfortunately, we need to be reminded that despite what some would have us believe, we are a civilized nation and should treat everyone with kindness.

Leslie Smith

Overland Park

Tim Kaine’s stance

I would like to suggest that the Missouri and Kansas Right to Life contact the Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine and request that he no longer give notice to the public that he is Catholic and a graduate of Rockhurst High School.

He is supporting Hillary Clinton as her running mate. She has professed to support abortion in her agenda, if elected.

Kaine is using his Catholic background to manipulate others that abortion is OK and can be compromised. He is representing his high school as an advocate for abortion rights.

I do not care for his personal approval of abortion by accepting the nomination as a vice president with Clinton. But he should not use his Catholic religion and high school as a foundation of part of his campaign.

I am sure Rockhurst High and university are not proud of this representative of the Catholic faith plus his affiliation with Clinton as an abortion advocate.

William Service

Shawnee

Trump’s regret

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent “pivot” has no more value than anything else he has said. He regrets saying some things that “hurt” people, but apparently he has too few regrets to mention.

He then talks about black voters in front of a predominately white audience. Telling black people they have nothing to lose by going with Trump is the same “wink, wink” racist comment he’s been making all along. To me, this is not an attempt to “soften” and appeal to suburban white women, which I’ve heard from some commentators, but a cynical confirmation of his previous positions and an appeal to the same base that already supports him.

There is a strong element of nativist, reactionary beliefs that is holding up his poll numbers. The anger I see is not an economic one, but an “us against them” anger that has no solution except from people who fight against those ideas and remind us what democracy is.

It may be OK to disrupt an industry as Uber or Amazon have done, but disrupting our political system could unleash danger for all of us.

Stanley Stern

Prairie Village

Trump’s logic

After listening to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent speech, like many before, he simply shows his ignorance by opening his mouth. To connect coal miners to General Electric locomotives shows you where he wants to take this country.

Diesel replaced coal fired steam locomotives long ago. General Electric is a profitable company that did not pay any federal taxes a few years ago on billions of dollars in profit as I recall.

Trump said that he would put a 35 percent duty on all imported products coming into this country. That would put the world economy in a downward spiral the likes of the Great Depression in the 1930s when similar action that was taken extended the misery in this country.

If Trump felt so strongly about the American economy, why didn’t he make his menswear products in the U.S. rather than contribute to the stated $500 billion trade deficit? It was for profit, personal gain and all about himself, as every speech before.

Trump said that a military trial of U.S. terrorists at Guantanamo is OK with him rather than using U.S. juridical prudence. That is against the law.

Total ignorance, with every word.

Robert Miller

Overland Park

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Letters to the editor: Skating, traffic, kindness and politics."