Readers react to the smoking age, retirement funds and Missouri legislators

Smoking age

Hats off to Kansas City and Wyandotte County leaders for banning sales of tobacco products to anyone under age 21. Now it’s time for all the other metro area leaders to raise the legal age to purchase tobacco products.

Smoking claims more than 480,000 lives a year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and each day 3,800 people 18 or younger smoke their first cigarettes. About 90 percent of smokers started by age 18.

Smoking is an issue near and dear to my heart because my husband died at age 55 from lung cancer caused by cigarette smoking. Please raise the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21 to help save the lives of our loved ones.

Jane Toliver

Leawood

Retirement funds

Wall Street is trying to block Department of Labor rules to protect retirement accounts, including IRAs, against unscrupulous financial advisers.

Think your broker puts your financial interests before his own?

He or she might but is not required to do so by any regulation. Sales people are allowed to recommend investments with triple the cost of the exact same investment packaged differently. That’s because the industry standard requires only that an investment be “suitable,” not that it be better than a lower-cost alternative.

Wall Street is trying to kill the Department of Labor’s fiduciary or “best interests” standard in a rider to the year-end budget bill. Area senators and most representatives on both sides of the state line support Wall Street.

Follow the money. But these are the same people who blew up the stock market in 2000 with the bubble in tech stocks and came back in 2008 to crash the economy with the reckless packaging of junk mortgages.

If you care about your financial future, contact your senators and representatives. Tell them enough is enough.

It’s time for them to look after their constituents, not Wall Street.

Barry Estell

Mission

Steve Rose column

After reading the Dec. 13 Steve Rose column, “Johnson County could raise smoking age,” I concluded that I should describe the way comprehensive smoking restrictions came to be in Johnson County.

This public-health initiative was passed by the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners in 2006 after results of a countywide survey that revealed strong support for comprehensive restrictions, including for all buildings accessible by the public.

The county’s legislation exceeded the existing smoking restrictions and air-filtration requirements that Overland Park imposed on restaurants with bars. Olathe was the first city to pass the county comprehensive ordinance.

Overland Park later adopted the comprehensive restriction. The restrictions do not ban smoking by individuals.

Our success in Johnson County led to the Kansas Legislature passing a similar law in 2010. Smoking restrictions include all public buildings except casinos.

Dolores Furtado

Former Johnson

County Commissioner

Former Kansas

Representative

Overland Park

University target

State Sen. Kurt Schaefer threatens to withhold funding if the University of Missouri Medical School doesn’t let him determine which physicians should have admitting privileges at University Hospital.

Missouri Rep. Rick Brattin and Kurt Bahr offered, and then withdrew a bill that would force the college athletic departments to revoke scholarships held by student-athletes if they engage in civil disobedience to support causes these esteemed officials deem inappropriate (12-15, A4, “Missouri House bill takes aim at activist student-athletes”).

What’s next? Maybe the university should abandon all activities except teaching. After all, researchers sometimes delve into topics of which our elected officials disapprove and, God forbid, a graduate student in social work might seek to investigate how legislation affects social services.

Even if the university’s role were restricted to classroom instruction, I fear the next step would be for legislators to determine what subjects should be taught and which “facts” are acceptable. After all, they already know more about science than the scientists and undoubtedly consider themselves the world’s foremost authorities on ethics, contract law, the English language and pretty much anything else an education entails.

Robert Powell, Ph.D.

Mizzou ’84

Independence

State’s heavy hand

Thank you for the Dec. 16 editorial, “Open season on universities coming up in Missouri legislature,” exposing the efforts of state legislators to micromanage yet another part of our lives.

GOP Reps. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville and Kurt Bahr of O’Fallon introduced, and then withdrew legislation that essentially sought to dictate policy for the University of Missouri athletic system as well as all other colleges and universities in Missouri.

This thinly veiled action to suppress student activism and racial protests in particular by legislating athletic scholarship policy was no doubt unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, attorney general candidate Sen. Kurt Schaefer of Columbia promotes his political and social agendas at the expense of public education in Missouri by instituting an inappropriate investigation of Planned Parenthood’s relationship with the University Hospital.

At the same time, state treasurer candidate Sen. Eric Schmitt introduces legislation that will allow a fishing expedition into university financing to further restrict the inherent freedoms of university students, staff and administrators.

As an MU graduate, I urge all graduates to protest the strangulation of our public educational system.

Jim Skinner

Kansas City

Plans for KCI

The Kansas City Council Aviation Committee is insisting on credible cost estimates for a new Kansas City International Airport terminal or the renovation to the existing terminals.

My prediction based on many years as a professional engineer is the winner will be a single terminal for KCI.

The basis for this prediction is simply politics and the power of the almighty dollar.

Hopefully, somewhere along the way to the final decision will be some thought to convenience.

On 12 occasions this year I have picked up or dropped off a person at KCI. Each of those individuals give praise to the convenience of the airport in Kansas City.

I have never needed and never anticipate needing a high-end restaurant or shop at KCI. My motivation for use of KCI is boarding an airplane or returning from an airplane and getting home.

Wayne Wagner