Readers share thoughts on the Lake of the Ozarks drowning, Egypt and President Obama
Kangaroo court
I have been following the story presented by The Star on the drowning of a young man while in custody of a state trooper (9-9, A1, “Trooper’s actions weren’t ‘reckless’”).
The judge said she considered the first eyewitnesses’ accounts but left them out of the grand jury inquiry.
Her comment about omitting the first witnesses who “left” the scene but keeping the second set of witnesses who “stayed” seemed snarky to me. Actually, the accounts of the first witnesses would have supported and made believable the trooper’s faulty assessment of this dire situation because they also thought the trooper had things under control.
Not knowing the young man was handcuffed is why they left.
Now, the inquiry seems like a kangaroo court, allowing the jury to see the trooper only in his most favorable light.
Jennifer Chapin
Independence
Stable Egypt needed
Freer and better is the long game. Short term, we need Egypt stable.
Don’t get me wrong. Having the Egyptian military running things is hardly inspiring stuff, but it’s better than the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sadly, the latter’s embrace of democracy extended only to getting elected. Allowed to expand its foothold in that country, it would likely prove to be a destabilizing force in the region.
Theocracies in that part of the world are uncompromising, hardly fertile ground for a robust democracy.
Jim Eschrich
Lenexa
Obama corruption
We are now in the sixth year of the most incompetent and corrupt presidency in American history. The proof is in the anemic economy, even after billions in stimulus spending.
Included in the problems are the insane national debt and unfunded mandates, high real unemployment, the explosion of food stamp and Social Security disability rolls, destructive energy policies, a failure to criminally convict anyone responsible for the economic meltdown, Fast and Furious, Benghazi, a lawless Justice Department and threats to journalists reporting on government malfeasance.
Don’t forget the Internal Revenue Service tyranny, multiple violations of the Constitution by improper use of executive authority to bypass Congress, failure to hold any government official accountable for serious malfeasance, the Obamacare debacle and the use of phony numbers to support its viability, irresponsible foreign policy and damage to our international standing and prestige that has diminished our security against terrorism.
To all Obama apologists and deniers, there is now overwhelming and indisputable evidence of what results from electing an amateur and a con man to the country’s highest office.
Crosby P. Engel
Weatherby Lake
City Hall service?
How much does Kansas City’s 311 service-line system cost taxpayers? I hope it is nothing because that’s all it’s worth to me.
It seems like every time we call about a problem all we get is a card that says they looked into it. We never see a real person, and they never call us back.
Maybe if Kansas City weren’t too busy building soccer parks in Swope Park the city could focus on issues somewhere else.
All we get is the same runaround from City Hall.
If the light rail or new soccer fields have problems, the City Council goes crazy to solve them. Taxpayers get sidestepped with blah, blah, blah.
The water department acts as if taxpaying citizens can’t do math, but officials won’t explain how they calculate your bill. Pay it, or you’re late.
When the people speak in votes, city officials still don’t listen. Taxpayers should speak out and run these people out of office.
Let’s start helping the working people of this city.
After all, we sign the paychecks at City Hall.
Ben Julius
Kansas City
Capital punishment
Maybe it’s time to bring back firing squads and public hangings. Cheap and effective.
Make the executions public, so folks can see what they’re paying for with their tax dollars and criminals can see their just rewards.
Maybe make it pay-for-view or sell tickets for a lottery to be one of the firing-squad members.
Use the money to pay for the offenders’ government-funded trials.
Earl Brigham
Sugar Creek
Mental health parity
In the late 1960s, I attended the second grade at Pitcher Elementary School in Kansas City. It was there that it took me only one day to learn about mental illness.
A friend and student in my class and I were alone in our classroom after lunch. He shoved me and I shoved him back.
He grabbed the teacher’s pingpong paddle that she used to discipline the students. He used the edge of the paddle like an ax, repeatedly pounding the back of my head as I walked away from him.
In a rage, he threw the paddle up on the upper bulletin board, leaving a long streak of my blood.
To this day, I feel sorry for my classmate.
Mental health was a non-issue at the time. Looking back on this experience has given me the ability to make two observations.
First, I hope that someday we consider a person’s mental health as important as one’s physical health. As a society, we have done poor a job of it so far.
Second and even more important to me personally is that I am glad the pingpong paddle was not a gun.
Norman Dexter
Lee’s Summit
Part-time push
The American workforce is being reduced to part-time, minimum-wage workers by the economy and government regulations.
The government is requiring businesses to provide paid leave for any reason, workman’s compensation insurance, unemployment insurance and health insurance, among other things.
Businesses are working full time to find ways to cut overhead costs in a weak economy.
Part-time workers are not covered for benefit requirements under current regulations. Contract workers, not on the payroll, are also not covered.
More and more businesses are using contract labor or 25-hour part-time help to reduce costs and stay profitable.
Pay disparity will grow greater in these conditions. The effect of this trend is to reduce taxes to the government and cause people to be disconnected from work and not have any commitment to community.
They are too busy working three part-time jobs just to eat and have a place sleep to care about anything else.
Richard Blaisdell
Kansas City
Illegal immigration
President Barack Obama jokes that some veterans like me want alligators in a moat to keep illegals out. But I just want a good fence like we had in places I was stationed in the Army overseas and at home.
Our tax dollars should be used for protecting the United States and not for increasing our welfare and food stamps for those jumping the immigration lines.
Ron Erickson
Independence
Circus animals
Yes, the circus is in town.
The Greatest Show on Earth, yes, the flying trapeze, the clowns, the dancers and all the frills that go with it.
And, yes, the elephants, the tigers, the horses and more are part of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at the Sprint Center.
Most of the animals in the Ringling show were born in the U.S.
Their spirits are not broken by mental and physical abuse. They are trained with positivity and reinforcement.
The elephant hook is used like a bridle is used, and the sticks and whips are to cue the animals.
They are not trained with pain and fear. You could not make elephants or tigers perform if they weren’t trained with care and passion.
Ringling Bros. takes very good care of its animals. It also has a breeding program for the Asian elephants.
I encourage everyone to go to the circus and see for yourself how good the animals look.
It also has veterinarians on call 24 hours a day to care for the animals if necessary.
Go check it out yourself. You won’t be sorry.
May all of your days be circus days.
Gary Hershey
Frankfort, Kan.
This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on the Lake of the Ozarks drowning, Egypt and President Obama."