Mid Continent Nail Corporation, Worlds of Fun and pre-K

Keep it local

A question about Mid Continent Nail Corporation, which I’ve not seen asked, is why was the company using non-domestic steel and thereby helping kill American steel jobs? (July 6, 13A, “Trump stands blameless in Poplar Bluff”) If it had been using all domestic steel and supporting domestic steel jobs, there would not be any issue with tariffs on foreign steel, now would there?

And it tangentially brings to mind the question of why through the decades has my Medicare prescription drug plan kept calling and pressuring me to go to mail-order prescriptions and thereby help Medicare and the federal government kill our local pharmacy and its jobs?

Scott Wood

Boonville

Everyone’s mess

Well, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has done it again. Recently, it approved a concentrated animal-feeding operation in Lone Jack, which means a cattle company can have up to 6,999 head of cattle on land that neighbors beautiful homes and is just down the road from Powell Gardens. Think about the runoff from that many cattle — yuck.

Now, we learn from The Star that pollutants from Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun — including chlorine, oil, grease and “total suspended solids” — are being allowed to run off into the Missouri River. (July 8, 1A, “Limits get looser; Environmental groups unhappy with the pollution levels flowing from Worlds of Fun”)

Wake up, Department of Natural Resoureces. Stop allowing a few business owners’ free rein to mess up everyone’s environment.

Patty Pitcher

Grain Valley

Specifics needed

I’d like to thank Mayor Sly James for introducing the idea of preschool for the youth of Kansas City. (July 4, 4A, “Mayor James launches campaign for sales tax hike to fund pre-K”) Education is of utmost importance to a major city.

But I do question two things:

1. Why wouldn’t this program be conducted by the boards of education within the city? We don’t need another city department to administer the preschool program.

2. Education should be funded through property taxes, not another sales tax. As a homeowner, I’d gladly vote for preschool education if funded the normal way with property taxes. I cannot justify another increase in our regressive sales taxes.

Our City Council can’t fix our streets and infrastructure, never mind trying to take on the education of our preschool kids. We need to see a detailed plan on how this program would be administered before voting on the concept.

Larry Bilotta

Kansas City

Unneeded rule

I would like to comment on Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s letter to the editor in Saturday’s Star. (10A) I believe that requiring recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) to work or participate in work training is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Unemployment is at an all-time low. Most SNAP recipients are working at low wages.

Let’s do the math: A person working for $10 per hour, 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year would make $20,000. If this person had a family of three, they would likely qualify for SNAP in Missouri. Also keep in mind that almost half of the recipients are children.

Virginia A. Stuhr

Overland Park

Just don’t play

I urge China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico to hang tough and not negotiate the trade war that President Donald Trump has begun.

Yes, their economies will be hurt, as will ours. However, the big picture must be to not let this bully “win” anything. Once companies begin layoffs and closings, the monthly economic reports will show his way is harmful. He has realized that he alone has the power because our elected officials have not taken a stand against him. Anyone who fears his childlike rebukes is not a person worthy of my vote.

Trump wants to return us to 1950s minimal global interaction, with women at home where they belong and with no say over their bodies. He would privatize schools, prisons, the postal service and health care to allow the 1 percent to control our daily lives. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security would all be cut.

Our despair and our deaths are meaningless to this inhumane hopeful dictator. It is all about him and making money. Stand firm and let our hurt sway more voters to the polls. Save our already-great United States democracy.

Cheryl Kelly

Kansas City

Still missing

The latest city honor has been bestowed on former Mayor Kay Barnes with the dedication of the Kay Barnes Grand Ballroom in the Kansas City Convention Center. Her name joins others, as in the Buck O’Neil Bridge, Kauffman Stadium, Bartle Hall, Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and many others.

Meanwhile, the ghost of Martin Luther King Jr. is still wandering the streets and byways of Kansas City like a lost child, searching for something to be named after him.

Bruce Erickson

Lee’s Summit