Readers react to the Plaza lights, climate change and a Good Samaritan
Plaza lights
In deciding who to turn on the Plaza lights, did the Kansas City Royals not win the World Series this year (11-27, A4, “Plaza tradition alive, well”)? Yet we had an author pull the switch on the Plaza lights.
I’d be willing to bet that not one-tenth of the 800,000 people at the Royals’ celebration parade have read the book she wrote.
Why not have manager Ned Yost or owner David Glass throw the switch?
Or maybe even have Alex Gordon repeat his 2014 switch flip, but this time without general manager Dayton Moore.
That way, at the end of the World Series, instead of saying, “I’m going to Disney World,” Gordon could have said, “I’m lighting the Plaza lights!”
Then maybe he’d want to stay around.
Ron Paradise
Overland Park
Practical footwear
Weather during the fall in Missouri is too frigid for people to wear sandals because their toes will freeze, and sandals cannot be worn while other people are wearing boots.
The weather in Missouri, as we all know, is unpredictable. It could very well be 40 degrees Fahrenheit in October, so to wear sandals at such a time is impractical. In my experience, fall mornings are extremely cold, and a person’s feet would go numb just walking from the car to the school.
In autumn summer footwear should be tossed into storage, and closed toed shoes are the only acceptable option. Fall footwear sandals should not be seen.
Many may argue that sandals are convenient and that fashion rules are outdated. However, guidelines for dress are necessary and helpful when seeking outfit inspiration. Booties are as easy to wear as sandals, if not easier because pedicured toes are not a concern.
Because fall temperatures in Missouri are too low for sandals, boots should be worn.
Anna Hedgpeth
Blue Springs
Thanks to The Star
Thank you so much for the Nov. 30 FYI article, “Name game a perpetual perplexity.” It was such a relief to see that proper punctuation is not dead and forgotten.
It irks me when I see apostrophes used incorrectly. I’m shocked to see how many educated people misuse them.
With the shortcuts now in texting, it seems that grammar and spelling rules are things of the past. Thank you for bringing this one back.
Phyllis Hamilton
Smithville
Climate change
Before you get worked up to the point that you can’t sleep for worrying about climate change causing the Atlantic Ocean or seas to swallow coastal cities and heat waves to roast Australia, I suggest you read the other side of the story (11-30, A1, “Stage set at climate talks”).
The book “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” by Alex Epstein is an excellent study of the facts surrounding climate change.
The environmentalists’ argument seems to have the floor at the moment, but Epstein wonders why environmentalists rarely mention how their proposals would affect jobs and/or the economy.
A quick read might help you have a better understanding of climate change and its effects.
Edward “Gomer”
Moody
Kansas City
Winter’s approach
The season of falling leaves, approaching winter and advancing years reminds me of the opening quatrain from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73”:
“That time of year thou may’st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.”
Robert Willson
Overland Park
Good Samaritan
On a Monday this fall, I lost my cellphone.
By the time I reached home, a Good Samaritan had found it in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart at Kansas 7 and East Santa Fe Street in Olathe and had begun to search for the owner of the cellphone by accessing my contacts.
She left messages and/or talked to friends and family members before deciding to leave my phone at the customer service desk in the Wal-Mart.
She did not leave her name or phone number, so I couldn’t thank her personally.
I therefore hope she reads The Kansas City Star and will know that I am grateful for her diligence in searching for me. Thank you for being one of the Good Samaritans in this world.
Dixie Crump
Olathe
This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Readers react to the Plaza lights, climate change and a Good Samaritan."