Riverfront use, gun control, aftermath of killings

For our pleasure, the wind is blowing enough to sustain a city’s infrastructure. Why in the world has no educated individual introduced the concept of windmills on our underdeveloped riverfront?

In an April 15 column, “Thought police killing debate on key concerns,” Charles Krauthammer writes of a petition to The Washington Post “demanding a ban on any article questioning global warming.”

Reading the actual petition, I found it actually said this: “We can’t afford to let major American newspapers mislead the public by printing errors of fact about climate change.” This petition is a call to The New York Times and The Washington Post to cease printing inaccurate statements such as this one from Charles himself: “There’s no sign humans have caused climate change.”

No sign? It’s one thing to debate issues like global warming; it’s quite another to publish columns with outlandish claims.

This petition is not about some purported leftist totalitarianism but about the need for newspapers to publish factual Op-Ed commentaries.

It’s not attractive to play the victim, Charles.

I read where the U.S. Department of Agriculture is planning to spend millions of dollars on forest restoration in 12 states. I see a wonderful opportunity to implement a new Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps camp where young people can find jobs to help their country.

I also see a way for those on unemployment and welfare to join in, learn valued skills and take themselves out of the situation they are in. Our Congress could save much face with the American public by a good showing of support on this vital ecological and economical issue.

I drove tensely through the Grandview triangle twice each day for two weeks. I mourn the loss of life of victims in the April 13 shootings in Overland Park (and many others in our communities).

I also feel a growing trepidation as I shop or attend events because of the slow, dawning recognition that anyone I meet may be carrying a concealed and loaded handgun. I reflect that like the frog in gradually boiling water, we as ordinary citizens of this great country are losing one of our most precious freedoms.

Inch by inch, we are losing our freedom from living in fear. All of this is to protect the supposed right of a small minority to be free of even the most sensible gun legislation.

How unspeakably and unnecessarily tragic.

In light of the tragic loss of life at the Jewish Community Center and Village Shalom senior living facility in Overland Park on April 13, I ask that the alleged perpetrator be silenced. I seek the following:

• To the media, we know the name of the alleged shooter. To hear his name and see his picture once is enough.

Refrain from showing his picture and refer to him by his inmate number. I ask that he be denied the public forum he sought with this act. As for his website, I ask that it be confiscated as evidence.

• To the judge, I ask that the courtroom be closed except for attorneys, immediate family and one reporter.

• To the sentencing jury, I ask that you not sentence him to death and 20 years of public appeals in open forums. The world does not need another martyr for his cause.

• To the sentencing judge, I ask that you sentence him to life in the supermax — that sanitized version of hell known as the U.S. Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility, where his only audience will be his depraved mind, until the day death and hell come to claim their own.

The NAACP Kansas City Branch expresses its deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and the entire Jewish community because of the senseless act of violence that occurred April 13 at the Jewish Community Campus and Village Shalom senior center.

Just as we stood together in November and said no to the hatred of the neo-Nazis, we stand with you and pray for the day when our differences will not matter and we can all live together in peace.

This act of hate is a grinding and degrading way of life that drains the hopes and breaks the spirit of those who are within its grasp. Therefore, we will continue to pray for you as well as for those who are responsible for this act of violence.

We stand together with you, seeking to defeat evil. In the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, “The tension is at the bottom, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.”

And when there is a victory, it will be a victory not merely for the Jewish community but a victory for justice and the forces of life.

Letters from critics of Obamacare amaze me alleging that President Barack Obama lied when he promised we would not have to change doctors.

When I lived in Springfield, Mo., the insurance provided by my employer had a contract with the St. John’s network. After employees had established relationships with St. John’s doctors, my company changed to an insurance carrier that contracted with Cox Medical Center, so all of us had to change doctors.

Later, a large group of physicians at St. John’s moved to the Cox system, so even if we had stayed with St. John’s, we would have had to change doctors. And, my favorite doctor at Cox retired, so I had to find a new doctor there.

Even now, all of us can see the doctor of our choice, whether he or she is approved by our insurance company or not — we just have to pay an out-of-network fee.

The argument that we can’t see whom we want is ridiculous and untrue, as is blaming the rise in premiums on Obamacare. Our premiums went up almost every year because of high usage. Again, this was long before the Affordable Care Act.

As a country, we know what to do when a child is abducted and have Amber Alerts to make everyone aware of lost children. But how many of us know the signs of child abuse or what to do when we witness or suspect abuse?

With a whopping 30,060 cases of abuse and neglect reported in Kansas City from July 2012 through June 2013, we’ve got to step up to the plate and attempt to solve this continuing problem.

If you saw multiple cigarette burns on a toddler, would you call 911 or the state hotline for abuse?

Or if you saw a lot of bruises on the legs of a 4-month-old baby, what would you do?

With an average of 3.4 reports of abuse or neglect per hour, it’s easy to think this problem is too big for any one person to solve. However, you can make a difference for the children you encounter in your everyday life.

I urge you to educate yourself on the signs of abuse and neglect.

And don’t put off calling the authorities if you suspect abuse. It’s their job to investigate and make the call.

For several years, HyVee stores have allowed solicitation by volunteers from Catholic Charities at several Johnson County stores. Volunteers seek grocery purchases or cash donations in support of food pantries.

The response from the public is nothing short of amazing. Each Saturday that such efforts are made, groceries and cash in the many hundreds of dollars pile up at the locations.

People clearly have the message that we are our brother’s keeper. Well done, Kansas City, and God bless you for your generosity.

We never know which of us may need those donations next.

This story was originally published April 18, 2014 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Riverfront use, gun control, aftermath of killings."