Letters: Readers discuss gun and liquor laws, tiring of Trump and childhood strokes
Shipping variance
A popular Kansas winery is offering holiday discounts for online wine purchases delivered to your home. There’s a problem with this promotion in the Sunflower State because wine is among that alcoholic beverages that cannot be shipped directly to homes of Kansas residents.
Rather, the law requires that these libations be shipped to state liquor stores where they can be picked up by online purchasers.
How ironic that NRA-wined and -dined legislators allow most lethal ammunition to be purchased online and shipped directly to Kansas homes without requiring background checks through sanctioned gun dealers.
It must be that our elected leaders prefer that all guns be loaded rather than people.
Ron Fugate
Overland Park
Protect parks
For the first time in history, a president has moved to decrease the size of national monuments.
Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments have fallen victim to priorities other than the nature and history protected by their boundaries and designations. These great lands showcase our ecological inheritance and tell a story of those who occupied this amazing continent long before the European settlers pushed west. They also hold the natural diversity and archaeological richness we will pass on to our children … or not.
The story does not stop there, but comes home to Missouri, where Gov. Eric Greitens is looking at the possibility of selling three new state parks.
In November 2016, Missourians went to the polls and renewed the state park, soils and water tax with a majority of 80 percent, confirming that natural areas are important to all Missourians. These parks protect and nurture the diverse flora and fauna that have made Missouri a destination for sportsmen and nature enthusiasts alike.
It’s time to protect our precious natural areas and move forward with developing them for enjoyment by all Missourians.
Mary Nemecek
Conservation Chair
Burroughs Audubon
Society of Greater KC
Kansas City
A shot for that
Could the Roy Moore defeat in the Alabama Senate race be the early stages in an epidemic of Trump fatigue? Maybe the constant drama from the White House and the perpetual tweet machine have caused the country to build its resistance to the president’s childish antics.
Additional indications of the sickness will be attempts to place the blame on Steve Bannon, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Democrats, immigrants, the dishonest media, Crooked Hillary, the United Nations, his predecessors and those “snowflakes” in Alabama who dared to choose a Democrat over a child molester.
Watch for the inevitable swarm of tweets as the disease progresses.
Donald Trump won Alabama by 28 points over Hillary Clinton in 2016 but did not have the stamina to carry Moore across the line in one of the most conservative states. Blacks, women, college-educated whites and moderate Republicans rejected Trump’s late appeal and the Republican National Committee’s restored funding to Moore.
Fortunately, Trump fatigue can be alleviated with common sense and thorough hand washing. Doctors might prescribe a large dose of Robert Mueller. The disease will exhaust itself in November 2020 or, hopefully, sooner.
Ronald Curry
Kansas City
Childhood stroke
For some, the idea of children having strokes is unheard of. However, pediatric stroke is a top-10 cause of death in children. Strokes can occur in unborn babies, infants, toddlers, children and teenagers. Sixty percent of these children will have permanent growth and developmental delays.
Symptoms are often missed because they mimic other illnesses such as dehydration, viral illnesses and infections. Newborns will have twitching of the face, arm or leg, stare off to one side or have seizures. Children will have sudden headaches, difficulty speaking, dizziness, numbness on one side of the body, abrupt weakness in the arm or leg or trouble walking.
Recognizing symptoms is important because every minute the brain goes without proper blood flow, the brain becomes damaged. Three of four affected children will have a disability that will last a lifetime.
Remember the acronym FAST: F for face drooping, staring off to one side. A for arm or leg weakness. S for difficulty speaking or slurred speech. T for time to call for help.
National Orange Popsicle Week in May, when J.C. Nichols Fountain is turned orange, raises awareness about stroke in children and is an excellent way to become informed and to inform others.
Rebecca J. Kahler
Kansas City
This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss gun and liquor laws, tiring of Trump and childhood strokes."