Letters: KC readers discuss Rick Smith’s wisdom, reopening schools and a new Chiefs name
Faith in KCPD
I have known Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith for many years. He is smart, strategic and well-informed on crime and solutions.
He works well with other policing agencies to create smart plans and larger forces to protect our community. He puts his officers out in the community so we can know them — by name. He works behind the scenes (not in front of the cameras) to accomplish much for Kansas City.
We have been talking about our escalating crime rates since 2016, especially acts of gun violence such as drive-by shootings. During the Jan. 10, 2017, Board of Police Commissioners’ meeting, then-Mayor Sly James said crime was multifactorial: “We have to get to the root cause. … There are too many guns on the street … in hands of those who shouldn’t have them. … We all need to get on the same page.”
Until we get there, violent crime will continue to rise. Along with the gun problem, Kansas City is a central location for trafficking drugs.
I watch the police commissioners’ meeting on television every month. I witness the forward thinking, planning and results that Smith and his department provide our community.
So, please, lay off the chief and his officers until all the facts are known.
- Michele Kerwin, Kansas City
School reality
We have all heard of the high school and college students testing positive for COVID-19 because they were working out together or living on campus. How can we keep students safe moving around classrooms or moving from one class to another? We can’t.
Some school districts are giving students a choice of whether to take classes online or in person. Are teachers given this same choice?
I understand the yearning for normalcy. I understand wanting to get back to “normal” from COVID-19, but the fact is, the coronavirus is an enormous tragedy. Almost 140,000 people have died in the United States alone, and the virus is not gone. In fact, cases are on the rise daily.
Do we want to harm our children and hurt their lives forever because we are impatient? Where is the will, the desire to save lives?
Please do not take precious lives for granted. It’s one fall. Please think of our children. Please think of our teachers. Please consider how disastrous it would be when students and their families test positive because we wouldn’t close schools for one season.
Do the right thing and close schools for the fall. It’s one season to save lives.
- Lorie Cooley, Olathe
Light them up
Some recent letters to the editor indicate people might be missing the point about the name of Washington’s NFL team. I agree that naming a team after a tribe, such as the Seminoles or Illini, could be seen as a compliment. It’s somewhat like the Fighting Irish or the Vikings.
However, “redskin” was never anything except a derogatory word for Native Americans. It’s like naming a team with a slur or as Italians, Jews or, heaven forbid, the n-word.
As far as the Chiefs go, “chief” is a generic term for a boss or head. So, keep the name, just get rid of the degrading accoutrements: the chop, the chant, Warpaint and so on. Instead, why not a different association: the Fire Chiefs?
We could keep the red color scheme. Instead of the chop and chant, make siren noises. Instead of Warpaint circling after a touchdown, a fire truck could drive around the field. Even the Arrowhead could be redesigned as a flame.
How about it, Chiefs and Chiefs fans?
- Suzanne Conaway, Kansas City
Wrongheaded law
I read about the bill Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed into law allowing people over the age of 26 to ride a motorcycle in the state without a helmet providing they have health insurance. (July 14, KansasCity.com, “New Missouri law guts helmet requirement for motorcyclists”)
Really? How many people get their motorcycles licensed, show proof of insurance, then let their insurance lapse? I was a victim of that scam.
Why not require them to sign a waiver of public assistance should they have an accident that renders them incapable of living on their own? Also, include that if they die as a result of an accident, their families are not eligible for public assistance.
I don’t care if they ride without helmets. But I do not go to work every day and earn my modest wage to pay for someone else’s full-time medical care or to keep someone on life support because he or she chose to ride a two-wheeled vehicle without a helmet.
They should also be mandatory organ donors.
Are Missouri lawmakers trying to thin the population?
- Allyson Nutt, Grain Valley