Readers react to the first day of school, The Bay Water Park and Ferguson
Cheering on students
It is great to see the Chiefs’ cheerleaders welcoming middle school students to their first day of school (8-11, A1, “A spirited start to the school year”). I suggest they reappear when the first-quarter honor roll is announced.
Rosemary Banta
Retired educator
Lee’s Summit
Security needed
Last year, operators of The Bay Water Park at 7101 Longview Road had a security guard there all night long.
Now, because people know there is no guard, we have had a murder there, and any time after 11 p.m. you can hear people partying all night long.
How many more murders have to be done in the water park before a security guard is put back after the park closes?
William McHenry
Kansas City
Ferguson tragedies
Vandalism in Ferguson, Mo., is a tragedy and must be stopped. However, we must remember that a policeman killing an unarmed black man started the whole thing.
Robert Cayton
Kansas City
Kansas’ hidden hand
In the Aug. 12 letters section of The Kansas City Star, right-wing Kansas Policy Institute President Dave Trabert, criticized Johnson County officials for their plan to raise taxes to provide for better community services in the county.
Mr. Trabert is a paid lobbyist who refuses to state who pays his salary, although it is widely suspected to be the Koch brothers.
Mr. Trabert’s position cannot be taken seriously when he refuses to say whom he works for.
Ted Glenn
Overland Park
America’s only flag
A recent contributor bemoaned the idea that some folks had no right to get their feelings hurt by those displaying the Confederate battle flag. It is, after all, only a symbol of “Southern pride,” not hatred.
From the founding of the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War, to Strom Thurmond leading the Dixiecrats out of the 1948 Democratic convention over the civil rights plank being inserted into the party platform, to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, to the Klan’s rally last month in South Carolina, the message conveyed to African-Americans is clear — keep your place.
The symbol of those sending that message, the Stars and Bars.
Many who advocate honoring this remnant rag of a lost cause purport to be Christian. Consider this: How tolerant would they be if I went into their church during a prayer meeting and began shouting extreme profanity?
Would they tolerate my excuse, “I’m just protecting my heritage because my great grandpappy was a muleskinner?”
How much more obscene was it for a deranged loser to pose with the Confederate battle flag on a website and later enter a church and slaughter innocents because they were black?
True Americans support only one flag, Old Glory.
Norence Nelson
Waverly, Mo.
Carson for president
Ben Carson is a well-known pediatric neurosurgeon. He loves this country because it gave him the opportunity to become that brain surgeon.
In high school he was in the ROTC. He excelled and eventually was given the title of executive officer over all the high school programs in the Detroit public school system.
He was offered an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but turned it down because he wanted to be a doctor. He applied to Yale and was accepted and attended on a scholarship, with medical school at the University of Michigan, and was hired by Johns Hopkins Hospital.
At the age of 33, he became the youngest major division director in Johns Hopkins history and was responsible for running a multihundred-million-dollar enterprise.
Dr. Carson has been honored with many awards through his life. He has authored several books. He has a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act and can explain it in simple terms.
In other words, Dr. Ben Carson has the leadership skills and desire and patriotism to bring our beloved country back together again. Please don’t call Dr. Carson outrageous.
He will make a great president.
Meredith Banks
Gladstone
Serving Americans
John Kasich, Republican governor of Ohio, last month announced his candidacy for president. He wants to leave a record of public service. This is admirable, but it is doubtful he will receive significant financial support from the Koch brothers, among others, if he in any way fosters programs they object to.
Much has been reported about the income gap between the average worker and the affluent. Universities from California to Kansas to Massachusetts have conducted investigations into this national phenomenon. They’ve found that an unacceptable percentage of workers aren’t earning living wages.
In Kansas, the figure is close to 75 percent according to one study. This has not always been the case in America, although it is doubtful against the current backdrop of avarice that we will see those days again.
We once had more compassionate and competent leaders at all levels of government, and in the legislatures. And it could happen again if those elected to public office would strive to leave a record of public service, as John Kasich wants to do.
The income gap was created by government policy and can only be corrected by government policy.
It is not rocket science.
Robert R. Cook
Manhattan, Kan.
Kudos to Brownback
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback proclaimed this week as Safety Net Clinic Week. This recognizes the primary-care clinics that provide a safety net for the most vulnerable Kansans — those who are uninsured and underinsured.
In 2014, Kansas clinics provided comprehensive health care to more than 250,000 people, regardless of their ability to pay. The clinics play vital roles in their communities by helping patients stay healthy and out of emergency rooms.
Safety Net Clinic Week is recognized annually to emphasize the services provided by these clinics. Besides providing needed services, these clinics boost local economies by providing health care and other jobs — something that is especially important given the current job market.
On behalf of its 46 safety net clinic members, the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved wishes to thank the governor, state and local legislators, private foundations and many community leaders who recognize the important role safety net clinics play in Kansas’ health-care system.
As more people look to these clinics for their health care, we are grateful for the commitment of these leaders for ongoing support to the clinics, the patients they serve and the communities in which they work.
Denise Cyzman
Executive Director
Kansas Association
for the Medically
Underserved
Topeka
Broken pencil
I enjoyed Lisa Gutierrez’s article/quiz in Tuesday’s Star about the iconic Dixon-Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil, “No. 2 is No. 1.” As a former editor of the Versailles newspaper, I wanted to comment.
For many years, the famous Dixon-Ticonderoga No. 2 was manufactured in central Missouri in our little town, pop. 2,500. The plant employed 160-plus people and was truly a point (pardon the pencil pun) of pride that can never truly be erased (groan).
The “Made in America” television show even came to Versailles and did an episode about the making of the famous pencil. In 2005, an Italian company (FILA) acquired Dixon-Ticonderoga, and Versailles lost its pencil factory. The equipment was shipped to a plant in Mexico, and the doors were shut. The building still stands empty.
I covered the plant closing and was there as equipment was moved out of the 150,000-square-foot building. The machines left a sad footprint where they had been. The last pencils off the line were kept by workers. It was just a really, really heartbreaking event for our community.
We used to brag that the world-famous Dixon-Ticonderoga yellow No. 2 pencil was made by Americans, Missourians in particular. Now, it’s just a memory.
Bryan E. Jones
Versailles, Mo.
This story was originally published August 13, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to the first day of school, The Bay Water Park and Ferguson."