Readers share thoughts on unwanted children, Kansas taxes, Donald Trump
Unwanted children
Do the pro-life people realize what happens to unwanted children?
A baby was thrown in a dumpster. Others have been shaken until bones were broken. A girl was kept in a closet. A boy was tied to a bed in a basement. Thousands of unwanted kids are in foster homes, waiting for someone to take and love them.
As a former foster mother, I saw the problems.
The right to have an early abortion should be a woman’s choice.
Margaret James
Liberty
Change tax policy
I want to applaud James Zakoura for his thoughtful and selfless attitude on the tax break he gets as a Kansas LLC owner (8-28, A1, “Hundreds of thousands of Kansas business owners are exempt from state income taxes. But many, feeling like ‘freeloaders,’ want the tax break to end”).
Like him, my three sisters and I are partial LLC shareholders in a family farm and ranch operation in Kansas. The only thing close to an employee we have is the local farmer who has harvested our wheat crop for years, as none of us lives in the area. Ironically, my sisters and I are also teachers in Kansas schools.
We have been dis-
heartened in recent years to see the lack of support and funding our Legislature and governor have given our public schools. Like Mr. Zakoura, we would much rather pay our fair share of income taxes.
I am a lifelong Kansan and have always been proud of our state’s reputation for fine public schools, good roads, strong social services and appreciation for the arts. Let’s restore this legacy by rescinding this misguided tax policy.
Kathy Harrell
Tonganoxie
Hollow gesture
Speaking as a black man who has been around long enough to know racists and racism when I see them, I don’t believe for one second that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s attitude toward Mexicans has changed.
When someone labels a group of people as rapists, murderers and drug dealers, this can’t be explained away with insincere apologies.
Not so long ago, blacks were labeled and portrayed in films as shiftless and lazy. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama have endured racist jokes and remarks for nearly eight years.
We, too, have heard the apologies but we still know who really meant them and who did not.
In my opinion, Trump’s Wednesday visit to Mexico will be welcomed by the Mexican people no more than his follower David Duke would be welcomed by blacks at an NAACP convention.
Eddie L. Clay
Grandview
Rolling violations
I have a few questions for a law-enforcement officer, preferably one in management. But I will explain why I have these questions.
I have been known to drive on Lamar Avenue through Mission and Overland Park. I am acutely aware of the Mission Police Department’s practice of setting up a radar SUV between the school zone flashing signs on Lamar between 51st and 53rd streets.
On one day, I watched a Hyundai in front of me travel south on Lamar, going 20 mph, as is wise. What wasn’t wise, in my opinion, is that this Hyundai had obvious damage to its rear bumper and taillight; there was no red lens over the light.
Also, the driver was not in the practice, as required by both Kansas and Missouri law, of turning on the headlights during rain.
My first question: Why was this car not pulled over?
I recall the last time I was pulled over, in Prairie Village. I fixed the light problem pronto.
Why are cars not being pulled over for not turning on their headlights when the wipers are running? Between Interstate 35 and Martway Drive, while driving south on Lamar, I counted 11 cars without their lights on in the rain.
It makes me think this law is not being enforced.
I ask these questions because my dad, who was an MP at Fort Leavenworth before picking up a sheriff’s deputy badge in Wyandotte County, would have pulled over this person, and so would many of the police officers I knew from childhood.
Michael J. Knight
Kansas City, Kan.
This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Readers share thoughts on unwanted children, Kansas taxes, Donald Trump."