Readers react to the Kansas sales tax, Lincoln Prep and trains
Shop in Missouri
I appeal to all Kansans living near the Missouri line to do their shopping in Missouri. We need to send a message to Topeka.
If Kansas merchants see a decline and Topeka doesn’t receive the revenue state officials anticipate, maybe they will rectify the unfair tax situation. As for the concern for the local merchant, please know that some of them help fund the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which lobbied heavily for what we have now.
Topeka Republicans are concerned about restricting the right to vote. I question whether those who don’t pay their fair share of taxes should have the right to vote.
Please note that the Republicans care little about anyone but the rich. If you don’t believe this, just contact one.
Ralph Moore
Leavenworth
Unreasonable honesty
Now help me get this straight. A lobbyist is a person paid by a company or group of people to “bribe” politicians to vote for measures that will benefit that company or group of people.
I wonder, for every dollar (or dollar value) a politician gets from lobbyists, how much does that dollar cost the taxpayers? Are lobbyists guaranteed a place in politics by the Constitution?
I have this great idea: Everyone in politics, at any level, should simply refuse to have anything to do with anyone who even smells like a lobbyist. That includes refusing campaign contributions.
I’m sure the recipients of these lobbyists’ gifts would be more than happy to do something honest.
There’s someone at the door. I think he’s come to take me away after saying something so insane.
Hey, I know. The president could use his executive privilege to ban lobbyists in order to keep things honest. Oh, now there are three groups of people here to haul me away.
Neil Simmons
Bates City, Mo.
Cheering Lincoln Prep
The U.S. News & World Report’s annual listing of the best high schools was published in the spring. Missouri’s best high school is right here in Kansas City.
Lincoln College Preparatory Academy is No. 1 in the state. But get this. Lincoln also is No. 67 in the United States. That is something to crow about.
Lincoln is composed of 38 percent male and 62 percent female students, and it is 89 percent minority. Those kids, those teachers and that staff need to be commended.
Janet Rogers Morgan
Kansas City, Kan.
Travel by train
I believe there is a future for travel by train in this country. Coast-to-coast passenger trains more than likely would work in the United States.
Travel with stops in major cities should be needed and desired. A long-distance trip by auto usually means staying in a hotel overnight for travelers.
Travel by rail should be the same. Leave one big city and travel to another for a day’s trip, then detrain to spend the night, continuing the trip the next day.
Let trains carry mail and express freight to add revenue. Every major city should be connected with other major cities with minimum morning and evening service.
Trains need not run 150 mph. They can get the job done by just making a reasonable speed on well-maintained existing tracks. If common sense applies, this kind of travel could work.
Tom Spath
Lenexa
Pay affects prices
I am all for anyone getting a pay raise, but I believe the consumer will be paying for all the hourly and management pay raises at Wal-Mart.
The stores already have raised prices considerably more than grocery stores, and by the time all the employees get their raises, no one would be able to save money or live better by frequenting Wal-Mart.
The fat cats at Wal-Mart need to think about this.
Kathy Engle
Kansas City
States’ laws, religion
People in the United States are free to join the religion of their choice and worship as they see fit. They are free to raise their children in their chosen religion and send them to a parochial school or teach them at home if they choose.
Fundamentalist pharmacists can refuse prescriptions if they object to them on religious grounds. Fundamentalist companies do not have to supply birth-control coverage to their employees, even employees of other faiths.
So I ask, why are the states passing religious freedom laws? And do these laws apply only to Christian denominations or do they also apply to Muslims who wish to follow Sharia law?
Mike Cunningham
Kansas City
Kansas Wonderland
According to Gov. Sam Brownback, the sales tax increase he recently signed into law is not a tax increase.
“Look at the totality of the picture,” he said. “When you look at that, it is a tax cut.”
The governor is being criticized by some who seem to think he is acting like the Wizard of Oz. But they are sadly mistaken.
It is clear that he actually lives down the road a piece in the Commonwealth of Wonderland.
With that insight, it would be completely unproductive to seek explanations from political pundits. We are much better served by the words of Lewis Carroll:
▪ “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
▪ “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
▪ “Curiouser and curiouser!”
Mark Shapiro
Kansas City
Support youths, art
As a musician, music educator and consumer of the arts, I am always impressed and invigorated by the variety and high quality of offerings in the Kansas City area.
Recently, I attended a production of the musical “Legally Blonde,” presented by Stage Right Performing Arts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the education of students from elementary through high school in musical theater and show choir.
I have seen and conducted a lot of musical theater productions, and these high school students were outstanding. The combination of great trained voices, expertly choreographed and executed dances, and budding and accomplished actors and actresses who performed to recorded accompaniment (no small challenge) culminated in a riveting and powerful presentation.
Founded in 2010 to provide performing arts opportunities and funding to talented youth in the Kansas City area, Stage Right Performing Arts is a phenomenal endeavor.
Director Donna West has invested immense time, energy and expertise to provide these youngsters with invaluable lessons in the process of mounting successful, rewarding performances.
If you have the chance to register, attend or contribute to this amazing organization, please don’t hesitate. Auditioned musical theater classes are held during the summer and choirs meet year-round.
This is our future.
Stephanie A. Henry
Kansas City
Royals All-Star
I’m a native Kansas Citian now living in Naples, Fla. A neighbor’s two grandkids, ages 9 and 11, have Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder generally diagnosed before age 18.
I remembered former Kansas City Royal Jim Eisenreich had the same condition, which kept him out of baseball for three years before the Royals gave him a second chance from 1987 to 1992, and he was the team’s Player of the Year in 1989. Jim and his wife, Leann, started the Jim Eisenreich Foundation for children with Tourette in 1996.
In Kansas City on May 28 for a meeting, I contacted Jim, asking where we could meet to sign balls for Justin and Nick, those two baseball-loving youngsters.
I had a meeting at the Legends, and Jim volunteered to meet me there. He drove 40 miles from Blue Springs to meet me, a 73-year-old stranger, just to chat and sign two major league balls, which he did “With best wishes.”
Kansas City should be proud of hometown Jim Eisenreich, just another Royal All-Star. Bless you, Jim, for who you are and what you do. Like Kansas City itself, the true heart of America.
Dick Panther
Naples, Fla.
This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to the Kansas sales tax, Lincoln Prep and trains."