Letters: Readers discuss immigration, horse-drawn carriages on the Plaza, and the Grain Belt Express

Accept change

Women have outnumbered men in this country since at least 1950, yet they are assigned lower status by some who believe in the innate superiority of white males. Same situation for Asians and Hispanics, whose populations each grew by 43 percent from 2000 to 2010, while blacks grew 12 percent and whites less than 6 percent, according to a report on the 2010 U.S. Census.

Things have been changing. Get used to it.

My father was a high school graduate who had flawless penmanship and was a clerk with a Pittsburgh steel company. Being a white male with flawless penmanship no longer gets you anywhere.

We have a friend from the Indian subcontinent who came here unable to speak English. He washed dishes for a pizzeria, learned English and how to run a business, worked 70-80 hours a weeks as he lived poor and saved, and now he owns three successful liquor stores. Hard work, focus and patience in reaching his goals are his example.

This is the multicultural reality in which we live, and it demands assimilation and inclusion instead of hate, fear and an unrealistic nostalgic bleat to go back to some imagined glory year.

Dave Smiley

Shawnee

Plaza horses

If there is a petition to ban horse-drawn carriages in Kansas City because they’re dangerous, it seems to me there are other activities just as dangerous that need to be addressed (12-6, 1A, “Carriage horse’s owner defends business”).

Skateboards, bicycles, Segways and so on — the list could go on forever.

Traffic is dangerous. How about banning that?

Howard Leuthen

Kansas City

There seems to be a bit of a frenzy because horses are pulling carriages. Here’s a shocking fact: Horses have been pulling carts, carriages and wagons for centuries.

The carriages I’ve seen on the Plaza seem to provide an easy day at the office for horses of their size. If the animals are taken care of with adequate feed, vet care and shelter, the Plaza activities are well within their abilities. But the recent incident needs to be investigated and a reason or cause determined.

Until the mid-1950s, horses in some areas of this country were used to farm and engage in commerce. Carts and wagons pulled by horses were a common sight in the city where I grew up — wagons going from pub to pub delivering kegs, carts used by neighborhood merchants hawking their wares and massive draft horses towing barges.

Horse-drawn vehicles are the original low-pollution conveyance.

Paul Comerford

Blue Springs

Decisions around the future of the popular horse-carriage rides in Kansas City should not be made on the basis of a petition or ready slogans.

Here in New York, activists tried to ban our thriving carriage community, but on examination it was apparent that the horses were cherished, highly regulated in terms of their welfare and statistically one of the safest forms of transport in New York.

Look further and you will find the same. When 140,000 horses are sent from America to foreign slaughter houses annually, the Kansas City horses with safe homes and a job are not the ones to worry about.

Ruth Moore

Member, New York State

Horse Council

Brooklyn, N.Y.

Grain Belt Express

I am a land-owning Farm Bureau member, a community leader and a parent. I believe the Grain Belt Express, a 780-mile transmission line to carry wind power from Kansas to the east, would provide an economic boost while lowering electricity rates. As a supporter of the project, I’m concerned project details are being twisted.

Missourians would save money with lower electric rates. Its developer, Clean Line Energy, estimates that affected rural communities would receive $7.2 million in tax revenue during year one while supporting more than 1,500 jobs.

Rural Missouri is seeing many changes, and our methods must change to meet the challenges. Because of decreasing population in rural communities, this will be difficult with fewer taxpayers paying the bills.

We must do something to support economic development in this area to help working families afford to live here and raise their children. The Grain Belt Express could ease the burden for rural communities and landowners, and provide jobs for Missourians.

Andrea Rice

Salisbury, Mo.

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 9:17 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss immigration, horse-drawn carriages on the Plaza, and the Grain Belt Express."