Why was this driver not arrested for speeding? Police were focused on catching DUIs | Opinion
Priorities
I read the Dec. 31 story about the Claycomo Police Department pulling over a driver going 107 mph down Interstate 35 while playing a video game. (2A, “Game over: Driver accused of going 107 mph on KC area highway while playing video game”) The motorist was cited for speeding and not having a license. Incredibly, the police were too busy to make an arrest and instead were focused on their “wolfpack” operation looking for drivers suspected of being under the influence.
We can all agree impaired drivers pose a danger, but why wouldn’t you arrest someone exhibiting such dangerous driving and disregard for public safety?
- Bob Chaney, Blue Springs
Get along
Missouri has some of the best laws out there. This state is the epitome of compromise, and the economy is thriving. Not many states allow people to have such freedoms.
Michigan requires permits for purchasing firearms, and the state’s gun laws are extremely confusing, only setting up residents for failure in the long run. Even with all that red tape, violent crime is still an issue. Fun fact: You have to have a handgun permit to carry a Taser, and stun guns are heavily restricted in the Great Lakes State. That means women are not allowed to protect themselves in dark alleys burrowed deep inside the belly of Detroit.
People should champion Missouri because we have legal marijuana and the right for people to carry a firearm for protection. Many Republicans are against smoking marijuana because they think it’s as bad as smoking meth. Many Democrats fear guns because they are not educated in that realm, much like Republicans are ignorant to the effects of marijuana use.
That means in Missouri, both sides have come together to compromise, and that’s a wonderful thing. Other states need to take note.
- Sid Jones, Kansas City
New Orleans game
Leave it to Sen. Josh Hawley to politicize the tragic terrorist attack in New Orleans. Every reasonable person realizes that the FBI and Homeland Security directors had no role in overseeing local security measures in New Orleans, or any of the other thousands of public gatherings on New Year’s Eve.
Apparently, Hawley thinks they should have known that a U.S.-born veteran of our military would become an ISIS operative. That could happen only if our government monitored every action taken by every person in the country. Yet, Hawley wants the agencies’ directors to be grilled for failing to predict and prevent the terrorist attack.
We should expect that intrusion into people’s lives in authoritarian regimes, but not in the United States I’ve been privileged to live in and serve. Those, like Hawley, who want a dictatorial government should move to one of the dictatorships that abound in the world.
Hawley’s hyperpartisanship is beyond disgusting. For the life of me, until recently a fellow Missourian, I can’t understand why the good people of the state chose to keep him as their senator.
- Michael Trier, Custer, South Dakota
Fat chance
I just read that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might mandate that many foods containing vegetable and seed oils be prepared with beef tallow and lard if he’s confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
This is the most asinine idea I’ve ever heard. He essentially hates vegetarians.
- Lynne Kukal, Kansas City, Kansas
Work for us
We the people send elected officials to Washington, D.C., to do the people’s work. Infiltrating the halls of Congress are the oligarchs, tech moguls and corporate lobbyists. They should be banned.
An essential job of Congress is passing the people’s budget. The last time the budget was passed on time was in 1996. Shameful. Since then, instead of passing a budget, Congress either passes a continuing resolution, carrying over spending proposals from previous years, or stops the government from functioning altogether, sending federal workers home without pay. Yet, lawmakers deem themselves essential and continue to receive paychecks.
Ten government shutdowns have occurred since Ronald Reagan triggered the first in 1981, which ended in a few days. The longest occurred in 2018 under Donald Trump, lasting 35 days with 800,000 federal workers furloughed without pay.
Recently, another government shutdown loomed as Elon Musk, an unelected official, and Trump promoted their budget priorities. If they did not get what they wanted, Trump said to let the closures “start now.” It was undemocratic and wrong. Fortunately, a continuing resolution was passed and a government shutdown was averted.
- Angela Schieferecke, Prairie Village
Don’t publicize
In 1999, I temporarily boycotted The Kansas City Star and corresponded with its editor to protest printing the names and pictures of the Columbine High School shooters on Page 1A. I feared such publicity would stimulate copycats and maintained that showing their pictures was unnecessary. Their names could have been printed in an article continuation on a back page.
A photo widely circulated on the internet showed the recent Wisconsin school shooter wearing a shirt similar to one sported by one of the Columbine killers. Might we have had fewer than 426 school shootings since Columbine if the press had publicized the shooters less?
Now the media seems to be doing everything it can to publicize the name and picture of the person who allegedly shot a health insurance executive. We may see more such murders because of this media behavior.
- Claude Thau, Overland Park
Jail needs
Thanks to Melinda Henneberger and Jeremy Boyd for continuing to shed light on the hellish culture of sadistic depravity at the Vernon County Jail, where Kansas City sends its male detainees. (Dec. 26, 1A, “Black men targeted in Vernon County Jail, former inmate says”)
Alarmingly, there have been multiple reports of filth, brutal beatings, denial of medical care and proper attention (which led to the death of Dean Butterfield and at least one other) from various reliable sources. Yet city leaders offer only bland assurance that they’re talking to Vernon County. Many officials didn’t respond to questions. Meanwhile, jail detainees (many simply awaiting trial) are subjected to horrors worthy of an Assad-era Syrian jail.
Still, Kansas City has leaders who understand the urgency of this unfolding debacle. I hope those who gave tepid answers when questioned are doing all they can to improve conditions for inmates. Kudos and applause to those who grasp (and publicize) the urgency of the situation.
This story is the best argument for immediate relief for our prisoners and ultimately a new city jail. I would like more information and definitive action on this issue.
I support new Vernon County Sheriff Mike Buehler and look forward to hearing of his efforts to improve the jail. My best wishes for his success in a difficult task.
- Mary Schultis, Kansas City
Keep it going
For more than 45 years, I’ve made my living by repairing heating and cooling systems, primarily in people’s homes. In the early years of my career, it was not unusual to work on furnaces that were 25 to 50 years old. As of this writing, I still service two central air units that are older than 50 and working well with the original compressors.
This is why I was shocked to get inserts added to my monthly Evergy bill that suggest if my heating and cooling system is more than 10 years old and not behaving properly, I should consider replacement. From my years of experience and lack of trust in big corporations, I suspect there may be an ulterior motive for this advice. Just 10 years of service from any climate-control system is pathetic, and Evergy is doing its customers a great disservice to suggest otherwise.
- Armand Way, Topeka