Readers react to Kansas budget cuts, sewers, Ferguson

Make cuts at top

I suggest that when it comes to finding ways to cut spending we start at the top with Gov. Sam Brownback and his Legislature.

I’m confident they would be willing to sacrifice their salaries for their tax-cutting principles.

Leadership in sacrifice should start at the top instead of expecting children, the disabled and those on fixed and low incomes to bear the burden of misguided economic wrongheadedness.

Joseph Tortorici

Overland Park

Owning budget woes

I never thought I’d say this, but I think I owe Gov. Sam Brownback an apology. All this time, I thought the governor was keenly aware of the budget problem (11-26, A9, “Kansas mulls budget deficit”).

But maybe the Koch brothers didn’t tell him.

Regardless, I think I have the solution to the deficit concern — the one the governor “just found out about after the election.”

Because no one at the Capitol informs the governor of anything, Brownback should pull a Sprint and just lay workers off. Brownback has 125 members of the House of Representatives and a 40-member Senate, not to mention various agencies in Topeka.

Imagine the outcome — lower property taxes, better school funding, improved highways, a boost for social agencies. The list is endless.

Enough of the sarcasm. The truth of the matter is Brownback created this financial chaos. Denying its existence does not make it disappear.

Own the problem. It’s kind of like what we did when voters elected Brownback to office.

Ann Nolan Super

Kansas City, Kan.

Sewer construction

Many people were in favor of the sewer project when it was proposed. But now that the construction is underway, people are complaining.

We knew there would be construction, but it is a necessary inconvenience.

Ben McCausland

Kansas City

Fighting Ebola

I was pleased to read the Nov. 30 story, “Area nurses are heading for Liberia to battle Ebola,” because I am also headed to Liberia in the coming week.

I am a pharmacist in the United States Public Health Service, a uniformed service led by the surgeon general. His officers are health professionals in a variety of federal agencies, including the Indian Health Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and my agency, the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Leavenworth.

In addition to our day-to-day responsibilities, we deploy to domestic, and now international, disasters and public health crises.

Our mission in Liberia, known as Operation United Assistance, is to staff a hospital that provides high-quality medical care for African and international health-care workers, including nurses Zach Phillips and Tracy Cowell, should they fall ill during their service.

I am one of nearly 70 U.S. Public Health Service officers from around the country who are deploying to the unit, established in early November. It has discharged two Liberian patients who are now Ebola-free, and I look forward to many more success stories as we serve those in such dire need.

Quinn Bott

Platte City

End violent protests

The time has come for the good citizens of Missouri to rise up in righteous indignation for the criminal embarrassment that has occurred in Ferguson, Mo.

It is past time for the mayor of Ferguson, the governor of Missouri and the president of these United States to realize their political careers are rapidly drawing to a close.

We, the people, and we, the working taxpayers, are tired of being hurt by unlawful opportunists. We refuse to surrender our society to anarchy.

We will not concede to being victimized by bullies, thugs and terrorists, regardless of whether those lawbreakers live in Afghanistan, Washington, D.C., or St. Louis County.

Enough is enough.

Edwin Woolsey

Willow Springs, Mo.

GOP propaganda

As a Democrat, I was disappointed by the outcome of the midterm results.

I wasn’t surprised, considering how the Republican propaganda machine has been spewing lies, hate and misinformation for the last six years.

The people on the right have been hypnotized by the faux machine. The more the Republican Party spewed it, the more the people were likely to believe it.

Now, as for the election, the Republicans were elected fair and square.

We have seen how they govern. Just look at the first six years of the George W. Bush presidential term.

I would urge all Americans do their homework between now and 2016. Do not listen to the lies and deception put out by the super political action committees, left or right.

This great nation flourishes when both sides work together, not just the extreme right or left.

Maybe the Democrats should follow Sen. Mitch McConnell’s lead and vow to make Mitch’s time as Senate leader just one term.

Dennis Parker

Independence

Kemper for grain

It seems that the city fathers of Kansas City are embarrassed by the vacant Kemper Arena in the West Bottoms.

I have a solution. Think how best to use the building as a resource for the great American plains.

A recent Star business section had a front-page picture of thousands of bushels of soybeans piled on a street in Humboldt, Neb. I guess it was because of a good soybean harvest, not enough bins to hold them and railroads that are loaded with oil from North Dakota.

Kansas City should arrange to help store those beans in what we now call Kemper Arena.

Every day those beans are exposed to weather, the value goes down. Use some federal money to develop the West Bottoms to store grain in surplus times.

Rudolph E. Haston

Independence

Defending freedom

Heartland Honor Flight hosted a Dec. 2 reunion at the Kauffman Center, where more than 200 people attended.

One of the guest speakers was Mike McGraw, a business owner from Lee’s Summit, who, with his wife Jan, have been generous financial supporters of Heartland Honor Flight since 2008, allowing more than 800 veterans to visit the memorials in Washington

A young woman tearfully expressed her gratitude for the opportunity, during which she helped a World War II veteran in a wheelchair to make the trip. She said, “It served me as a chance to remember and love my own grandfather — also a World War II veteran, who passed when I was 12 years old.”

As a Korean-American, I particularly thanked the Korean War veterans for making Christmas very special six decades ago. Santa wore military boots under a red suit, came in a military jeep, spoke English and laughing ho, ho, ho, gave each child a red sock bulging with American goodies.

The reunion was an occasion for attendees to appreciate and honor those who defended freedom.

Therese Park

Overland Park

Google graffitti

Kansas City utilities use flag markers. What makes Google think it can use permanent paint to deface our sidewalks and streets?

I called the company’s customer service and was told in late June that crews would come and remove the graffiti they left on my sidewalk. A follow-up call in October told me they do not remove the paint.

Then I called my city councilman, Russ Johnson, whose assistant gave me the number for a man in City Hall who deals with Google. He assured me a woman from Google would be coming to my home.

That was weeks ago.

Google was to have used chalk paint, a second Google rep told me, but instead some subcontractors used regular paint.

I think Google should clean up the defacing it has done to our city and am grateful to the many flags the Kansas City Power & Light Co., Missouri Gas Energy and Kansas City Water Services Department use, which do not scar our beautiful neighborhoods.

Pam Polson