Readers weigh in on GMO tomatoes, road inspectors, drunken driving, election

Road inspectors

Kansas Department of Transportation inspectors ensure your roadways and bridges are constructed in a manner consistent with current standards and contract terms.

Called engineering technicians, these inspectors must know math — algebra, geometry and trigonometry — understand complex engineering plans, execute intricate field testing and laboratory protocols, and demonstrate a broad range of other skills and knowledge of construction activities, usually in extreme weather and field conditions.

Workers lay asphalt at temperatures of more than 200 degrees for 12 straight hours when it’s sunny and 98 degrees outside. Roadways aren’t typically known for being shady.

Inspectors check that every nut holding bridge girders together is installed appropriately 100 feet in the air when it’s 20 degrees and the wind is pounding. Man-lifts aren’t typically heated.

They oversee the installation of right-of-way fencing through poison ivy while sidestepping the local snake population. It’s all part of the job.

The reward for caring enough to ensure Kansans’ tax dollars are spent well and the traveling public has safe roads and bridges doesn’t come in a paycheck.

Bruce Reynolds

Tonganoxie

No extremists

After the election, Gov. Sam Brownback Republicans will likely remain in control of their party and moderate Republican legislators will often be forced to knuckle under to his crazy ideology.

I’ve been supporting moderate Republican candidates in the primaries for years in an attempt to stop the extreme ideologues in the Republican Party. It hasn’t worked.

Logan Heley, Democratic candidate for Kansas Senate District 21, would provide independent leadership to stop Brownback and the Brownback-controlled Legislature. Heley cannot be controlled by these ideologues.

As an articulate speaker with a well-studied grasp of the issues, he has the background and skills needed to represent us well in the Kansas Legislature. Your vote for Heley as our senator will go far to guarantee that Brownback cannot continue to wreck our state.

Dave Peterson

Lenexa

Tasteless tomatoes

Genetically modified organisms are cheap, sleazy, feeble attempts by egocentric humans with the audacity to presume to imitate a deity with their failed, substandard, disgustingly tasteless falsifications.

GMO tomatoes are tough, tasteless and, while looking ripe on the outside, will not fully ripen inside even after being in the hot sun for days and days.

Science, when used to benefit consumers along with the growers, brokers and scientists, can be a great blessing. However, when used to benefit only a select group of growers and brokers for the single purpose of enlarging their profits, it is another story.

It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.

Georgene O’Leary

Leawood

Public snow job

We are treating this presidential election like a reality television show. We do so at our own peril.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is doing what I call “the big con,” saying:

▪ I alone can fix it.

▪ Build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.

▪ I’ll bring all the jobs back.

The majority of the electorate is more likely to believe a big con than a small con because most people would never believe that someone would propose so many big cons. And they especially would not believe that someone would distort the truth so shamelessly.

One of Trump’s lawyers told an interviewer: “Donald Trump is a believer in the big-lie theory. If you say something again and again, people will believe you.” Trump said if he found out which of his lawyers had said that, he would fire him.

My takeaway? We’re being conned.

Bernadine Kline

Liberty

Proposition L

The Mid-Continent Public Library has placed Proposition L on the November ballot. This proposed tax levy will allow MCPL to not only maintain its high-quality of service but also to ensure improvements for future generations. The proposed levy increase is only 1 percent for the average household.

Many people still want much of their reading material in print formats. For children who are home-schooled, the public library is also their school library. In addition, some teachers use the public library to supplement materials in their classrooms.

The brick-and-mortar buildings provide a home for other services, such as income tax help for seniors and literacy programs. Many branches offer meeting places. As with any aging facilities, they need improvements.

A few people will argue that libraries no longer have a place in today’s technology-driven world. But MCPL offers many materials in digital formats and provides access to online databases.

MCPL has not had a tax levy increase since 1983. Thirty-three years with no increase indicates to me that they have been good stewards with our tax dollars. Please vote yes on Proposition L.

Denise Brown

Kansas City

Clinton experience

I am amazed that your newspaper and some readers have put forth the idea that Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy experience is a reason to vote for her. Let’s review.

As a U.S. senator, she voted for and supported the idiotic invasion of Iraq by George W. Bush.

As secretary of state, she sent a U.S. ambassador into the well-known violent chaos of Benghazi without adequate protection, resulting in his death.

She led the “reset” with Russia that failed to improve Russian behavior or relations but provided another dictator with credibility and domestic prestige while making the U.S. look weak and needy.

And, finally, the director of the FBI characterized the handling of sensitive and classified information by Clinton and her State Department aides as “extremely careless.”

Clinton’s foreign policy experience is a study in appalling carelessness, naivety and being just plain wrong that has cost the lives of American soldiers and statesmen overseas while damaging America’s global image and interests.

There may be good arguments to vote for Clinton, but her record of foreign-policy experience is not one of them.

Dan Galindau

Kansas City

Drunken driving

Our son was involved in the tragic accident on Interstate 70 last month that left two children dead. His car was demolished, but fortunately he wasn’t seriously injured.

We want to thank the first responders who offered comfort, support and guidance. And we want to thank the Blue Springs community, Facebook, friends and complete strangers for helping us locate our son’s dog, who jumped from the car in terror after the accident and could not be found.

We are deeply touched and extremely grateful for the help we received.

But sadly, none of this would have been necessary if someone had not chosen to drive while impaired and distracted. A family was destroyed because of this thoughtless act.

Lynne and Rob Genau

Kansas City

Voting for hope

There are a lot of unspoken suggestions in his statements that call on people’s fears. I believe that when people are afraid, they strike out, with little regard for the consequences. That’s close to what makes a lynch mob.

America has never achieved any greatness through fear. Only through the fulfillment of people’s hopes and dreams has America achieved greatness.

People all over the world want to share those dreams. We should welcome them. We hear a lot about the Islamic State, or ISIS, but all it is selling is desperation and suicide.

You never hear about ISIS leaders blowing themselves up. They have a storehouse of destitute young people eager for any kind of redemption, even death.

The fulfillment of our dreams for a better life for our children is what separates us from hateful entities like ISIS. We can’t become like them.

Please vote in November. Vote for hope.

Shane Smith

Olathe

New perspective

Thanks to The Star for running the “Hillary Clinton isn’t Every Woman; she’s a politician” column by Virginia Postrel of Bloomberg View (10-21, 9A). I thought it was thoughtful, well-written and non-partisan.

Seeing it was quite surprising, given The Star’s recent endorsement of Clinton. Here’s hoping the new Star editorial board will present its point of view in the same manner.

Richard Vincent

Olathe

Consequences

The Green Party platform aligns with my ethics and world view. It is inclusive.

That said, I will not be voting for Jill Stein. This is the second Green Party presidential run for Stein. The media ignore third-party candidates, so their names and party platforms cannot permeate public consciousness.

Another reality: Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become our next president.

Except for white males, everyone had to fight long and hard — many suffering beatings, jail or even murder — to gain access to the ballot box.

Voting matters.

Voting is our right, but it is also our civic responsibility. Elections have consequences.

Rosemarie Woods

Kansas City

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Readers weigh in on GMO tomatoes, road inspectors, drunken driving, election."