Letters: Readers discuss Confederate monuments, the advantages of KCI Airport and U.S. Postal Service problems

Learn, don’t lionize

I hope most readers will disregard Darryl Levings’ guest column on Confederate monuments. (May 21, 15A, “Spare us the Confederate monuments”)

You must consider America warts and all. No nation is perfect, but we must strive for it.

I have read history for a half-century. My first reading of deeper history was William L. Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” in seventh grade. I love going to historic sites. The Civil War fascinates me.

You can read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” but then you must read about Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, George Armstrong Custer, J.E.B. Stuart, John S. Mosby, William T. Sherman and Stonewall Jackson. Individual battles also are compelling, especially Gettysburg.

You should not Talabinize history. In my work as TV journalist, I always thought news should be the beginning of history. This isn’t happening today.

We must understand that a lack of historical knowledge will hurt us in the long run.

David W. Anderson

Olathe

Insider view

When will the mayor and city council members stop spending taxpayers’ money needlessly? Any time a project or controversial job comes up, they immediately spend hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring outside consultants to review and give their opinions or evaluations.

Many times these consultants come up with the same conclusions that city engineers, architects, supervisors or workers made earlier but were denied or ignored.

If the project or job fails, the city can then blame the outside consultants for the outcome.

Another reason may be that certain individuals are benefiting from outside consultants being brought in, while Kansas City taxpayers are paying ridiculous amounts. I speak from experience as a retired 28-year city employee.

DeWayne Steele

Kansas City

A fine KCI

Do people go to the airport to travel, or to eat and shop?

I recently dropped my wife at the curb at Kansas City International Airport. She went through the door and to the check-in counter. I parked in the lot and walked across the street to the terminal.

We walked about 40 yards to the security entrance to the gates. It took her about six minutes to go through security, and she was at the gate where her plane was waiting.

On return, she walked from the gate about 30 yards to the luggage carousel and out the door, where I picked her up at the curb. She talked about how far she had to walk at the other three airports through which she traveled — from the arrival gate to the departure gate, and the very long lines to get through security.

At other airports, have you had to go to another terminal by bus or tram to get from domestic to international? Have you had to take a bus from the terminal to the plane or from the plane to the terminal? Have you stood in line more than an hour to get through security?

By the way, KCI’s Terminal A is empty.

Henry Rompage

Lenexa

Postal problem

I purchased postage after hours at my local post office for two Priority Mail envelopes. I addressed them by hand. Second-day delivery was assured.

Following the tracking online, I discovered that by the fourth day the envelopes had gone back and forth between a couple post offices but hadn’t been delivered.

I inquired at the office where I had left them with the attendant the morning after I purchased the postage. It happens that when I purchased the postage at the machine, I transposed two numbers in the ZIP code (creating a non-existent ZIP code), although I had written the correct address on the packages. They were both addressed to the same location.

As of this writing, it has been 10 days. I spent $40 to have the ZIP code corrected online, yet still no delivery. One package has been at the Kansas City, Kan., facility for three days, and the other has gone in circles in Houston between two facilities seven times.

The personnel at my local post office cannot offer assistance. It is hard to understand why the machine would print postage to a non-existent ZIP code and why Priority Mail doesn’t get priority return to sender. Use UPS.

Herb Hall

Leawood

Wall solution

Now I know how President Donald Trump will get Mexico to pay for the wall: Cut benefits and services to the poor until they will want to go to Mexico for a better life.

Then Mexico will want to pay for the wall to keep out illegal immigrants from the United States.

Jeff Lee

Overland Park