Letters: Readers discuss KCK animal control, surviving polio and the Catholic Church
No control
If ever there was any doubt about how utterly worthless Kansas City, Kan., animal control (now known as “Animal Services,” a euphemism if ever there was one) is, it has just been removed completely.
After requesting a well-being check on two dogs in a neighbor’s yard, I was told by officers that they cannot “trespass” to see dogs in a backyard. One of the dogs had been crying, but I could not see it. I asked, “So if a dog is screaming in pain, you are telling me that you cannot go in to see why that dog is screaming in pain?” The answer was no, they cannot without permission from the residents.
Based on this policy, a dog chained and starving or being beaten cannot be rescued without permission to enter the property. This is absolutely crazy, inhumane and incomprehensible.
An agency tasked with enforcing animal-cruelty laws is itself perpetrating and endorsing cruelty to and neglect of animals. There are many residents (including me) who would risk their lives to save a dog in a backyard if animal control officers lack the courage and character to do it.
Wyandotte County residents deserve an explanation.
Kathleen M. Isabell
Kansas City, Kan.
McCain called it
Fellow Republicans, can we just go back to being Republicans and stop being ReTrumplicans? If you are wondering what a ReTrumplican is, it is a Tyrannical Republican Using Misguided Principles.
An example of condoning those misguided principles is supporting someone who:
▪ places blame on those who disagree with him, and never accepts blame;
▪ calls people names if they do not agree with him;
▪ has uncountable witnesses attesting to his lying, cheating, non-payment of bills, affairs and evidence of racism and misogyny;
▪ ignores facts over his own preconceived ideas;
▪ attempts to sway justice to suit his own agenda.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Let’s just open our eyes, as Sen. John McCain has done, and recognize that the emperor is not wearing any clothes.
Jan Atkins
Roeland Park
Polio aftermath
Thank you for the articles about polio survivors. (Aug. 19, 12A, “When polio struck; 3 KC-area survivors recall the trauma of the epidemic”) It wouldn’t surprise me if you get follow-up letters from other survivors. I am one of them.
I had polio in October 1943. It was called “infantile paralysis” in the early days because many of us were very young. I was only 10 months old. My family lived in southwestern Kansas, so I was taken to what was then St. Francis Hospital in Wichita for treatment. (My wife was born in the same hospital a month before I was taken there.)
During the summer after I completed first grade in 1949, my parents took me to the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation in Warm Springs, Ga., for treatment. It was there that I got my first braces and crutches. I went back to have them adjusted to the new size of my legs.
My parents realized my need for an education, and I was the first member of our family to obtain a college degree. I also obtained a private pilot’s license.
There is a lot more to my story, but I have had a very good life — married almost 54 years, with two adult offspring and two adult grandsons.
Joe Woelfel
Olathe
The right honor
Befitting the City of Fountains should be a world-class “Peace on Earth” memorial fountain to Martin Luther King Jr. in the new Kansas City International Airport terminal.
One could envision coins being tossed in it for a worthwhile charitable cause. It’s time to stop going around and around the Meyer Circle Fountain and “park” the whole thing in the new terminal at no cost to the taxpayer.
C.K. Baber
Village of Loch Lloyd
Face realities
The Catholic Church is going to have a tough time getting members to donate while it is spending millions of dollars to settle claims concerning sexual predators among priests. (Aug. 18, 11A, “Is it too late to save the American Catholic Church?”)
No one is talking about what is causing the problem. It is not normal to be celibate. Therefore, the church attracts men who are not normal.
It started hundreds of years ago when the church leadership decided that priests could love God more fully if they didn’t have to bother with loving a spouse. That was clearly nonsense.
The answer is new rules. Train men and women who can love each other. Hire both men and women who intend to get married. Problem solved.
Phil Langley
Lenexa