Readers react to Muslims, college campuses and QuikTrip expansion

Support needed

The Muslim tradition has given much to our civilization. Muslims were part of America before the United States itself was formed.

Muslims have made contributions to our community in every conceivable way — in sports, medicine, education, public safety and the armed forces, business, government and the arts.

Hateful and ignorant remarks by Republican presidential contender Donald Trump serve as powerful recruiting tools for terrorists. He plays into the dangerous and mistaken apocalyptic world vision of the Islamic State and reinforces its befouled view of who we are.

Kansas Citians embrace our Muslim friends, as we embrace those of all faiths who are building a community of mutual support and understanding.

Rev. Vern Barnet

Minister emeritus

Center for Religious

Experience and Study

Kansas City

Protecting youths

Special ops should be employed by every campus, university on down.

Otherwise, I would keep my child home.

Sheryl Hay

Weston

QuikTrip growth

I own a business adjacent to the QuikTrip at 119th and Riley streets that has been proposed to be expanded. The convenience store already creates major congestion at peak periods, including the morning commute, lunchtime and after work.

Expanding will only exacerbate the problem. Allowing QuikTrip to double its size with only one major entrance or exit should not be allowed in a progressive city like Overland Park.

I believe Overland Park will approve the request and fall into the trap that most cities succumb to with the allure of tax dollars. If a small local business proposed the same plan, I’m sure the city would find many things wrong with the proposal and deny it.

It’s a shame that QuikTrip can pretty much dictate to cities what it’s going to do, and the city officials hired to look out for the well-being of all residents just cave to QuikTrip’s demands.

This expansion would not serve the best interests of the residents of Overland Park.

John David DiCapo

Kansas City

KCI space future

I remember when Kansas City International Airport was finished in the 1970s that critics said “we built a new terminal complex and nobody came” and that “international” was a misnomer (12-11, A1, “Study confirms a new KCI terminal is cheaper”).

Airline deregulation and loss of hub status added to the decline. If we’re going to revamp a 40-year-old airport, let’s look a bit further into the future.

Consider reworking Terminal A to modern security, comfort and energy-efficient standards. After that is up and running again, even though it would be crowded for a while, salvage replacement parts from Terminals B and C, and tear them down for a new central terminal. Terminal A could be kept for charter and emergency use if the central terminal is under threat.

Now for the forward-thinking part. There is a public awareness of the possibilities of space tourism.

The unbuilt Terminal D site could be earmarked for a spaceport with its own requirements. It may sound like science fiction now, but if you are going to think big about Kansas City’s future in aerospace, we need plans to match those aspirations.

Craig Andrews

Independence

Precious diversity

To advocate preventing all Muslims from coming to America, as a candidate for president of the United States is now doing, is unconstitutional, un-Christian, un-American, unworkable and exactly the response terrorism is designed to provoke.

In America, any private citizen is allowed to advocate most anything.

But one who aspires to lead surrenders that ambition by such uninformed and ill-tempered advocacy. Swift and total repudiation is demanded if such toxic rhetoric is not to fray the ties that bind us.

As ambassador to other communities of faith from Second Baptist Church in Liberty, I have been privileged for years to take our members to visit other faith communities and bring members of other faiths to visit with us.

This little piece of God’s good earth we know as Greater Liberty is home to us all.

More than just a place, Greater Liberty is even more a principle of red and yellow, black, brown and white, Christian, Buddhist and Jew, Hindu, Baha’i and Muslim, too. All are precious in our sight.

Ed Chasteen

Liberty

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Readers react to Muslims, college campuses and QuikTrip expansion."