Letters: Readers discuss bus service to Arrowhead, moderate politics and Mizzou basketball coaching
Game-day buses
Some people are curious why there is no Kansas City metro public bus service for sporting events at the stadiums.
It is my understanding that no city bus service can work the events since they receive government aid. However, if other bus companies can’t furnish enough service, the KCATA equipment can be used.
As a former KCATA driver, I remember providing service to the stadiums from Metcalf South, Ward Parkway, the Country Club Plaza, lots north of the river and Kansas City, Kan. We also used to provide transportation from the downtown hotels for the baseball and football teams to the stadium. Talking with them was a great experience.
More public transportation to and from the suburbs would alleviate a lot of traffic jams on game days.
Harold H.
Ambrosius Sr.
Kansas City
Moderate view
I am a member of a group nearing extinction. I am a moderate Republican. Our country is being taken over by extreme right-wing powers with vast wealth and the power wealth entails. This power base has enlisted the support of the very people who will suffer the most under the control of the super rich.
The United States is on the brink of returning to conditions we experienced 100 years ago. We will return to a time without clean air or water, a time without consumer protection or workplace safety. We will have religious and ethnic intolerance.
Because of school vouchers, we will see underfunding of public schools in order to divert funding to private schools. Private schools are the realm of the upper class, which can afford to pay for private education. Because of this undereducated population, we will experience a long-term downward spiral.
This is not the Republican Party I joined 50 years ago.
Ronald Shipley
Kansas City, Kan.
Open carry
In last year’s election, many conservative Kansas Republicans were voted out of office and replaced with moderates. Issues that were important to voters were not being addressed, including the ongoing budget shortfalls, education funding and passage of open-carry laws.
Senate Bill 53 was a bill that would have extended the exemption of public universities, hospitals and mental health facilities to prohibit carrying concealed weapons. To be clear, the law passed in 2015 allows anyone to carry a concealed gun regardless of training.
Sen. Jake LaTurner was the committee chair and refused to advance it despite support from other committee members and even though the majority of people who called his office supported the bill. His secretary was kind enough to share that information.
This is not right. The bill deserves the chance to go to a vote on the House floor so that the current representatives can vote on it. Please call LaTurner at 785-296-7370 and let him know your opinion on Senate Bill 53.
Barbara Nichols
Leawood
MU basketball
I continue to read articles that imply MU basketball coach Kim Anderson will be fired at the end of the season. He was handed the keys to a car with no engine, four flat tires and a lien against it, and expected to win the Indy 500.
As with any rebuilding project, sometimes you have to let your subordinates fail to learn how to succeed. It has not been that long ago when fans were calling for the heads of the Royals’ Ned Yost and Dayton Moore. They persevered against the odds and eventually brought a championship to Kansas City.
The problem with taking over a broken program is that the other programs do not stop improving so you can catch up. The patience we display in rebuilding is that we are patient as long as it is turned around immediately.
The MU basketball program was going down the drain in more ways than one when Anderson was hired. Anderson is a class act who will make the MU program one to be proud of if he is given the chance. If he is not given the chance, he will keep his class and MU will lose its.
Jim Ripley
Lee’s Summit
Care for animals
We’ve seen in the news time after time animals that have been starved and left out in the cold to die. Obviously they are not house pets because they never see the inside of a house.
They can’t be very good guard dogs because they’re usually on a 6-foot chain. Unless someone gets within that range, they are helpless to do anything but bark at them. In the meantime — even if only occasionally, as we’ve seen evidence of — you do have to feed them. Why not turn them over to a shelter or rescue where they would at least be warm and fed?
Better yet, why get them in the first place?
V. Joyce Kidd
Kansas City
This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss bus service to Arrowhead, moderate politics and Mizzou basketball coaching."