Letters: Readers discuss nuclear hazards, African American honor and Foo’s departure
Nuclear waste
I am a retired principal engineer with the Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company, and I challenge the assertion from the Heritage Foundation’s Katie Tubb that nuclear plants deliver “clean” energy. (Dec. 21, 9A, “Nuclear plants deliver clean energy, but they’re shut out”)
Spent nuclear fuel is dangerously radioactive.
Two ways have been developed to get the heat required to generate electrical power: the ancient one of the chemical reaction of carbon with atmospheric oxygen — burning, which produces CO2 — and the nuclear reaction of fission.
Nuclear energy produces “ash,” or spent fuel rods. They are equivalent to the problems created by burning other fuels. The public does not see them, but they are dangerous.
The report, “Safer Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel,” published in March 2011 and updated in June 2012 by the Union of Concerned Scientists, discusses the disposition of fuel rods and the failure of authorities to provide permanent repositories for them in the United States.
These spent nuclear fuels can have a half-life of 159,200 years. A December 2015 report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicated that 70,000 metric tons were in storage already.
- Robert E. Dillon, Kansas City
American honor
Despite battlefield bravery amply demonstrated by African Americans since 1775, during World War II very few were used as infantrymen in Italy and the Pacific, while none served in France, Germany or Belgium.
Initial Allied casualties during the Battle of the Bulge were significant. Faced with a shortage of infantrymen, General Dwight Eisenhower on Dec. 26, 1944, allowed African Americans, performing logistical support duties, to train for combat.
Seasoned white sergeants and corporals trained roughly 2,500 volunteers, some of whom accepted reductions in rank and pay so they wouldn’t outrank their white teachers. After training for two months, African American platoons were added to white ones to form semi-integrated infantry companies.
For actions on April 8, 1945, Kansas City native Pfc. Willy F. James Jr., one of these volunteers, was posthumously awarded a Distinguished Service Cross that was later upgraded to a Congressional Medal of Honor.
The satisfactory performance of James and the other volunteers as well as the inefficiency and high cost of maintaining segregation were contributing factors in President Harry Truman’s ending military segregation and opening opportunities, resulting in the commissioning of 60 African Americans as generals and admirals over the last 70 years.
- Paul L. Newman, Merion Station, Pennsylvania
Phooey, no Foo’s
It’s so very sad to hear that Bob Regnier, owner of Ranch Mart North, has chosen to turn his back on local business in the Prairie Village/Leawood area by declining to renew Foo’s Fabulous Cafe’s lease. (Dec. 8, 4A, “Foo’s Fabulous Cafe is closing soon in Leawood’s Ranch Mart”)
The Ranch Mart complex was one of the few remaining bastions of community in Johnson County, set apart from the sterility of southern Overland Park and the homogeneity of newer developments.
Foo’s provided a safe, culturally rich environment for people of all ages to connect and, as the cafe says, “celebrate and enjoy life.”
I suppose Begnier will celebrate its closing, though it will be to the detriment of the neighborhood, while he anticipates great profit for himself. I am one of many who will not patronize whatever chain replaces this local gem.
Regnier is selling out this community, the students who work at Foo’s, the owner who is well-established in this neighborhood and his own loyalty.
- Noelle Hodge, Overland Park
Spell it out
Please include the full meaning of acronyms and other abbreviations any time you use them in a column or news story. Your writers should not assume everyone who reads the paper knows the meaning of the acronyms.
- Ken Kerle, Topeka
Improper tax
I am disappointed to hear that the City Council voted to approve establishing a CID, or Community Improvement District, for the Romanelli Shops in Waldo, which triggers an additional 1-cent sales tax.
I believe CIDs are meant for neighborhoods, not single property owners. Repairs and renovations to a building are the responsibility of the landlord, not the taxpayers.
I will not patronize the Romanelli Shops until the additional 1-cent sales tax is removed. Thank you for printing the story and keeping us up to date with events in the city.
- Carol Hobbs, Kansas City