Play ball! Kansas City welcomes spring with the classic game of community and resilience | Opinion
That time again
Kansas City is a town with tobacco juice on its lip, sweat stripes on its hat and a heart that says, “So what if it snowed last week? Play ball!”
We have a river that rolls on, streets that pulse with jazz and the smoky perfume of barbecue that drifts through the air like your momma’s promise.
We have a TV soccer coach, a likable quarterback, a legendary saxophonist, a world-famous mouse and the best tagline in advertising history because we really do care enough to send our very best.
And now, on March 27, we have baseball in the spring.
Baseball in spring has always been more than a game. It’s a mirror of life itself — of struggle and triumph, of community and resilience. It is a place where memories last forever.
We have Moose and Cookie. Perez and Cain. We have Bo’s throw, Brett’s home run against the Goose and Saberhagen’s masterpiece. We have Willie’s inside-the-park homer, Gordon’s catch, Hoz’s clutch hit and Paul Splittorff’s steely stare.
Baseball is a thread woven into the fabric of Kansas City, a rhythm that returns every year like an old friend. It reminds us there is always another chance — another season, another game.
Play ball!
- Jim Dunn, Prairie Village
Listen to us
Does the Missouri General Assembly understand democracy?
Members of the legislature are overstepping their mandate as elected officials by disregarding the state constitution in attempts to override the will and intent of the majority of voters.
Regardless of where that majority lives, politicians are not elected to pursue their personal agendas based only on their own counties. Missouri cannot have one set of laws for rural areas and another for urban parts of the state.
Respecting the democratic process has never been more necessary than right now. That respect has to start locally. Please contact your elected officials and let them know you expect them to set the standard of respecting democracy throughout Missouri.
- Kathy Martin, Liberty
Water vote
There is a proposal on the April 8 ballot to sell the Sugar Creek water and sewer systems to Missouri-American Water. The company is offering Sugar Creek $5 million for the systems and guaranteeing it will invest $8 million in improvements.
Sugar Creek needs to make improvements to its water and sewer systems. Sewer rates just went up this month, and water rates will likely increase, too. The question for voters is whether the city will fund those improvements through debt or Missouri-American will pay the city for the asset and fund the improvements itself.
Studies have shown that private utilities generally operate more efficiently than public utilities. Privatization of these two systems could result in a substantial infusion of money for the city, and placing the water and sewer facilities on the tax rolls would expand the tax base. That large payment plus the broader tax base could lead to tax cuts elsewhere in Sugar Creek.
Residents of Sugar Creek currently receive their gas and electricity from private utilities regulated by Missouri’s public service commission. Getting their water from Missouri-American Water would be no different, and this sale could provide significant benefits to them and the city.
- David Stokes, Director of Municipal Policy, Show-Me Institute, University City, Missouri
All must go
United States bankruptcy sale! Only American and Russian billionaires need apply. Contact the Department of Government Liquidation at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
- Margaret E. Caswell, Prairie Village
Vaccine truth
I practiced office pediatrics in the area for 45 years. In my training at Children’s Mercy, I performed more than 100 spinal taps, which can diagnose meningitis, a serious infection of the linings around the brain. In the 1980s, two vaccines were developed that reduced the infection rate of the two most common causes of this disease by 99% — an incredible medical accomplishment.
It is very troublesome to see what is happening to public opinion of vaccines. Vaccine development is guided by rigorous scientific principles. Some people want to turn vaccines and their rare side effects into some type of magical belief system. Jenny McCarthy claiming the MMR shot caused her child’s autism does not make it true. Autism is caused by genetic variations of DNA — not vaccines. I believe antibiotics, clean water and vaccines are why parents today don’t need to have to 10 children to ensure two make it to adulthood.
I encourage parents to listen to scientists, physicians and practitioners who deal with reality, and not trial lawyers who derive income from suing vaccine manufacturers.
- Bryan C. Nelson, Shawnee