Letters to the editor

Suffering Kansas

All Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback needs is to listen to Grover Norquist, the biggest loser of economic policy since President Herbert Hoover. Norquist never saw a tax he ever liked, especially on the rich.

When will Kansas citizens smarten up and look for moderate Republicans and Democrats in their state to solve problems causing most Kansans (except the Koch brothers) to suffer in rural and urban areas.

John D. Koehler

Kansas City

Hands-on classes

Years ago schools had wood shop, cooking, sewing, auto mechanics and other hands-on classes. The money crunch killed some of these programs, and the idea that everybody had to “hit the books” for college did in others.

The learning process for human brains is not all the same. Reading and mental visualization works for some, but others need to feel, touch and put it together.

Neither way is either right or wrong. It’s about the way each brain functions, and no two are identical.

I was one who needed to see, feel and touch to get it into my head. The middle school years with shop classes were great for me.

I hope these efforts are supported by industry to build the American work force that can innovate and create from the ground up. This new teaching space is filled with computerized everything that I never knew.

But, that is where the world is.

Richard Blaisdell

Kansas City

Will Shields honored

Will Shields has been and always will be my favorite player (2-1, B1, “Ex-Chief elected into football shrine”). He is like that soldier, whose name you do not know; he goes out, protects the general, and goes home anonymous.

We salute the soldiers; we don’t know their names, we just enjoy the freedom he has given us. Will and others made third-string quarterbacks look like Superbowl MVPs.

His position will never garner the press and accolades that other positions might. However, without him those other positions wouldn’t have the glory that they do without men like him. Will continues to work in our community, for our community, almost the same way he did with the Chiefs.

Hard, honorable, and letting others bask and benefit while he protects without asking for reward. We could blame the press for not promoting more players like Will.

But we should blame ourselves for not paying more attention to the silent soldier who protects the freedom of others, for us. Congratulations Will Shields, well done, soldier.

Dave Free

Lee’s Summit

Melting ice, warming

There are a lot of letters written about global warming and how the oceans are rising because the ice is melting up North. We are all going to drown someday. Others write that we are going to run out of water and die of thirst or starvation. I conducted an experiment with my granddaughter over the holidays to see how much water rises as ice melts.

We took a 12-ounce glass and filled it with ice cubes and then added water up to about a half-inch from the top. The idea was to see whether the glass overflowed as the ice melted. After about 30 minutes the ice was melted and the water level stayed the same, about a half-inch from the top of the glass.

The water from the ice melt simply replaced the space the ice cubes were occupying before they melted. There was no change in total volume.

You can’t imagine how my granddaughter squealed with delight when we witnessed the result. She is only a year old, but she understood!

Dan Coffey

Kansas City

This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 12:58 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor."