Readers react to Gov. Brownback, Donald Trump, hunger in children

Lack of caring

I am a teacher in the Kansas City, Kan., School District. In 2015, I wrote Gov. Sam Brownback a letter about my concerns with the school finance problems.

He wrote back saying that our schools have more money now then ever. Never mind inflation. Yet here we are again.

One member of the Legislature stated that the Supreme Court overstepped the boundaries. She and the governor stated that the court is liberal and trying to force a conservative Legislature to do what the court wanted.

Here is what I see. The governor and Legislature don’t care about the students in summer school or that they are fed. They don’t care that their parents probably work and will have a problem of what to do.

They don’t care about the hundreds of thousands people who won’t get checks. I am not just referring to teachers. There are cooks, janitors, nurses, all the staff in the central offices, groundskeepers and bus drivers.

I could keep on going.

While the Legislature and governor are playing games, they are proving they don’t care about the people of Kansas.

Nancy Roos

Olathe

Bowing to Trump

It’s wonderful to read the headline on the June 7 article, “GOP gubernatorial hopefuls debate for Missouri votes.” John Brunner, Peter Kinder, Catherine Hanaway and Eric Greitens all accept racism, bigotry, the attacks on many religions and everything that America has stood against for this last 240 years.

At least many Missouri voters will immediately make note of these poisonous political followers and avoid embarrassing themselves by voting for them.

We are Americans. We do not have to accept these weak candidates who have folded and bowed down to Trump-idiocy.

Will Jones

Maplewood, Mo.

Attacking hunger

Kudos to Kathy Koehn, who saw hungry kids in her hometown of Iola, Kan., and then set out to do something about it (6-4, A1, “ ‘Chow bus’ takes food to needy kids in Kansas towns”). Your creativity and can-do spirit inspire me to look around my own community and see what I can do.

Kathy, you are what makes America great. Thank you.

Dawn Allman

Liberty

Muhammad Ali

On June 3, the sports world lost one of the greatest professional boxers with the death of Muhammad Ali. Ali, who was 74, had been battling Parkinson disease for many years.

There will never be anyone else like him.

He is the only boxer to hold the heavyweight championship three times. Rest in peace, champ.

You are no longer suffering. Your family, friends and fans will miss you.

Tony Lordi

Kansas City

Rename county

Johnson County is named after the Rev. Thomas Johnson. He was a slave owner and an advocate for that institution. It seems inevitable that the citizens of Johnson County will want to rename it sooner or later.

Johnson County should take this opportunity to rebrand itself with a forward-looking new name that has positive associations. The county could hold a competition to solicit ideas for a new name.

We should avoid naming places after fallible humans. Why not choose a name from nature or one that represents some sort of ideal? Perhaps the best names are those that honor the past while also looking to the future.

Here are some possibilities: Sunflower County, Pioneer County, Stardust County (remembering the state motto), Frontier County, Harmony County, Trailblazer County, Goodwill County, Spearhead County, Rainbow County (recalling Oz) or, more whimsically, Somewhere County.

The options are plentiful.

Surely the citizens of Johnson County can come up with something more imaginative than plain old Johnson County.

Graham Lester

Roeland Park

City Hall cleanup

In raising our water and sewer rates, the Kansas City Council has overstepped its authority.

In approving the earnings tax, we were promised services. Now there is talk of reducing the number of police officers.

What sort of hanky-panky is going on? Mayor Sly James talks about raises. Hopefully not for him, the City Council members and staff.

It all sounds like doubletalk. I think there could be a call to clean out corruption and dishonesty.

William A. Ingram