Readers share thoughts on Sprint, police chases and innovation

Sprint’s problem

Sprint’s new chief executive officer might say it’s not the network, but he’s wrong.

I live just a few miles from Sprint’s campus. At least half of my calls drop, notwithstanding my repeated complaints. A Sprint store employee told me that she had the same experience in another part of town.

If I don’t use Wi-Fi, my cellphone’s Internet connectivity is horrible.

Sprint can try all kinds of marketing and pricing games, but people are leaving because it is a poor product. The new chief executive needs to learn that without a quality product, a business can’t and shouldn’t succeed.

Leonard Singer

Overland Park

Police, car chases

I am very much in favor of police officers working together. It helps solve cases and can be of use in emergencies.

What bothers me are police chasing supposed criminals over county, city and state borders, which results in innocent citizens being killed or injured. I would rather have my car stolen than have innocent people killed because the roads the thieves travel on become like the Old West.

It was not that many years ago that a teenager was killed in Johnson County because of a chase from Missouri. No chase for out-of-the-area minor crimes is worth the death of any innocent citizen.

I have met many fine police officers in Kansas, and I prefer them working chases in our county and state.

Jack Stultz

Lenexa

Abuse is never OK

I overheard a conversation about how former Ravens running back Ray Rice didn’t deserve a suspension and the vilification by the media because the female in question pushed him. This conversation came out of the mouths of two women.

Are you kidding me? OK, she pushed him. He did not push her back. He punched her and knocked her out. What about that action is OK?

With regard to Adrian Peterson “spanking” his 4-year-old son with a willow switch, there is also talk about how that is OK, too. Stuffing the leaves of the branch in the 4-year-old’s mouth and beating him bloody is not OK.

These are football players and not infallible icons to be idolized by a fan base that will accept any behavior as long as points are put on the scoreboard.

It is no wonder that our politicians think we women don’t deserve to make as much money as our male counterparts and that we need 72 hours to decide what to do with our bodies because abortion is a spur-of-the moment decision like buying a pair of shoes.

Wake up. Enough is enough.

Linda Christian

Greenwood

Stifling innovation

Congressman Dave Camp’s recent tax-reform proposal addresses many of the fundamental issues with our tax code, but the inclusion of a tax increase on carried interest would discourage innovation and growth in our flourishing tech economy, recently boosted by the arrival of Google Fiber.

Carried interest is a long-standing incentive for those who take the risk of investing in businesses such as tech start-ups on the hunt for capital. Increasing taxes on carried interest would hurt investment in local start-ups that create jobs and encourage growth.

Some of these projects could include capital for software solutions for health care or the latest innovation in wireless, cloud-powered home-security systems.

This legislation would increase the carried-interest tax rate from around 20 percent to 35 percent. . This would be a mistake, and I hope our congressional delegation will work to oppose it.

Brandon Kenig

Shawnee

Snow Symposium

When the 2014 Edgar Snow Symposium convenes Oct. 16, an ardent supporter since 1984, Dr. Charles White, will attend in spirit.

Over the years, Dr. White, Kansas City’s Renaissance man, delighted guests from China with “Charlie and Ed Adventures.” They are stories of playing saxophone and adventuring when he and Edgar Snow were youths.

Please, be with us at the symposium, where jazz great Bobby Watson will honor Ed, Charlie and all of us with his great music.

Joyce Dutcher

Edgar Snow

Memorial Foundation

Overland Park

Fan of Rex Hudler

I like Royals TV announcer Rex Hudler. Rex is Rex.

His language may not always be perfect, and sometimes the words he uses are only close to what he means, but you can usually figure it out and it’s almost always funny.

Rex gives us baseball sounding just like an old player, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

He doesn’t bore you with stupid, endless stats. He knows the game well, and you can learn a lot by just listening.

I like his humor and insight.

On the other hand, if you need a quick nap, turn on the Royals radio. You’ll be sound asleep in a couple of minutes.

Watching Hud sign a ball in the stands for a youngster in Colorado makes me an even bigger Hud fan.

Hud, keep driving the bus.

Roy Lake

Kansas City

Better gun control

Susan Choucroun, Lorene Hurst and Darrel Hurst are important names. These are not just dry ink on paper but fellow human beings.

They were killed at their homes in a senseless rampage. The person charged has a long history of violence, and that’s important to note.

Where were the background checks?

I read that most gun dealers are honest and check. But 1 percent of the dealers do no checks or weak checks of the buyers. A high percentage are online with almost no checks.

The police started a program last year of homing in on the relatively few criminals who murder and have reduced the number of murders. But where do these bad guys get guns?

The Star could publish the source each time there is a shooting. Maybe we can identify that 1 percent of bad apples of gun sources.

When I hear people say, “Registration will leave only the criminals with guns,” I think we all can recognize the illogic.

The idea is not to take away guns of everyone. The idea is to work to reduce the guns available to bad guys. If you have a record of domestic violence or criminal activity you should not have a gun.

Harold Koch

Northeast Kansas

Member

Brady Campaign

Against Gun Violence

Leawood

NATO strike force

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization plans to have ready a 48-hour, worldwide strike force of several thousand troops to dispatch to member nations.

During the Cold War, there was one undisputed principle never violated — never put Soviet and U.S. troops into a hot war, eyeball to eyeball on opposite sides. There is a big advantage to being in place first in the NATO states, thus stopping the enemy from advancing.

NATO troops should be deployed now. We need to be there first. If not, knowing the dithering nature of our government, the order to deploy the rapid force will come too late if at all.

Take the initiative when we can. Act now.

Mike Hellige

Olathe

Kindness at Royals

Sometimes reading and watching news stories makes it hard to remember that most people are kind and generous.

My daughters recently took me to a Kansas City Royals game, in part to celebrate my birthday. Arriving fashionably late, we pulled up to the parking lot attendant. While I was digging through my disorganized purse, he asked whether I was looking for the parking fee.

When I said yes, he said to forget it. Someone ahead of us had paid for the next nine cars.

I’ve often heard about people paying it forward with a cup of coffee, but this person dropped about $100 to pay for strangers. It was a beautiful night, the Royals won and someone we’d never met gave us a gift.

Whoever you are, thank you.

Marilyn Keeshan