Letters: KC readers discuss guns and booze, Parson’s inaction and lazy non-workers
Odd exemptions
Is it true that exceptions were made for gun shops and liquor stores to remain open for business?
How can this be?
This would be a great time for sobriety and great time to have fewer guns in the community.
- Rosemary Boudreaux, Raytown
You can help
The past few weeks have been overwhelming, scary, confusing — and this is just the beginning.
I have some favors to ask of you:
As a pediatrician, I ask that you do your best to help the children who rely on school lunches to continue to get enough nutrition.
As an internal medicine physician, I ask that you help our health-care system and stay home if you have a cough, fever, runny nose or sore throat. Call your doctor so he or she can help you decide what to do next.
As a husband of a pregnant wife and a grandson of a grandfather in a care facility, I ask that you keep in mind that although you might not be at risk yourself, the elderly and the health-care workers taking care of them are. Wash your hands frequently and stay home if you can.
And finally, as a fellow human, I ask that you say hi to and smile at those around you, regularly talk to your loved ones and do your best to not let isolation mean loneliness.
Don’t panic. Your rational actions will help us flatten the curve.
Oh, and again, wash your hands.
- Charles Maloy, Fairway
Deadly inaction
As I read a Wednesday letter to the editor praising President Donald Trump, I was expecting an “April fools” ending. (10A) As I reached the end, I realized the author was serious in his defense of Trump’s handling of the pandemic that has gripped our country.
A few facts: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first warning about the coronavirus Jan. 8. Trump continued to play golf on multiple trips to Mar-a-Lago and held 10 campaign rallies between Jan. 20 and March 2. He finally conceded that there might be a problem on March 3.
Closing our borders has been his goal his entire presidency. Knowing if people trying to cross carried the virus would have been impossible because there were no tests available for anyone — residents or non-residents.
The author of this letter needs to spend a few minutes with anyone in the health care sector. He might change his views about the president’s handling of this crisis. Trump has put our entire nation’s health and economy in grave danger. History will not be so kind to him when it examines this debacle and his hand in it.
- Leasa M. Caron, Kansas City
More than dollars
It’s hard to understand Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s reasons for refusing to issue a statewide shutdown. “Talking to people daily” and focusing on numbers in hospitals and people testing positive is meaningless. By the time testing equipment is available to give enough statistical data, many lives will be lost.
Is he waiting for the hospital situation to reach crisis proportions? And since when do “individual responsibilities” take precedence over lives?
Perhaps a shutdown order with violations punishable by substantial fines and jail time would save many. At least substantial fines would not damage the state’s economy.
Let’s all hail the economy while the enemy runs roughshod over the whole country, taking countless lives in its path! Does that sound like a good plan?
- C.K. Baber, Village of Loch Lloyd
Paid for nothing
I am not rich. I am an average, middle-class person. I live paycheck to paycheck. I should say I live comfortably paycheck to paycheck, but if the federal government did not add unemployment benefits in the recent coronavirus relief legislation, things would be tight for me.
That being said, lawmakers were right for trying to cap payments at an applicant’s weekly salary. Why should someone get paid more for staying home? That is what’s wrong with this country: We all think we are entitled to something.
I don’t care if rich people have more than me. They earned it. Maybe disdain for them is popular right now, but it’s wrong.
Yes, we should take care of our fellow people, but why do we expect the rich to pay our bills? What incentive is there to work hard and become well off if the payoff is everyone in your pocket?
A lot of people like myself want to work right now. I don’t care if I’ll get unemployment to end up with close to the same amount. Average people are not like that. If they can make $800 a week from the government instead of $400 at work, they’ll stay home. You are wrong if you believe otherwise.
- Brian Watson, Kansas City