Unfettered Letters

Space program worth price?

A recent Star article (3/25, A-2, “One Mars rover heads for hibernation”) stirred some thoughts I have had since the space shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas on its return to Earth in 2003.

The article stated the rovers were being put to sleep and having their activities reduced to cut $4 million from NASA’s budget. The budget for these rovers has been $20 million a year.

The rovers did send back evidence that water may have once run on the surface of Mars. So? I really don’t see how that information has helped the average citizen.

I acknowledge that we have gained some valuable data from past space explorations, but where are we going with this? I am not interested in living in a pod in outer space, nor interested in taking trips to look at Earth from above.

Are we getting any real benefit for the great amount of money this program is costing us? Maybe it is time we took a new look at what is really important to the future of mankind on Earth and where we focus our energies and tax dollars.

Roger C. Turner
Bonner Springs

Billion-dollar boondoggle

I’ve seen cost estimates for the light rail project ranging from $800 million up to $1.6 billion, after the inevitable cost overruns. How many buses can you buy for a billion dollars? For that amount of money, the buses could have leather recliners, an espresso bar, ESPN and stewardesses. In fact, for $1.6 billion, you could probably provide stretch limousine service for the entire projected ridership.

This project has “boondoggle” written all over it.

Barry Pascal
Overland Park

Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Even though preventing abuse is a year-round obligation, we focus our attention on community awareness each April to support National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

The statistics show that in Missouri there were 53,080 reports of child abuse or neglect statewide, involving 77,973 children. Of those 77,973 reports, 1,017 resulted in the death of a child. In the Kansas City metro area there were 8,259 reports of child abuse or neglect, and four of those were fatality referrals.

These shocking statistics provide a clear reason for our community to observe Child Abuse Prevention Month, not from the sidelines, but by taking collective responsibility for children in need in Kansas City.

The children who suffer abuse in Kansas City represent a clear challenge to all of us to take time out of our busy lives to learn the warning signs of abuse and report it; reach out to neighbors and families who may need help with their children. Take an active part in prevention efforts that are being highlighted this month and, most important, make a commitment to do more than we have in the past.

Susan Ball
Chair, board of directors
The Children’s Place
Kansas City

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Although child abuse is not something most people want to think or talk about, we resist even more the reality of child sexual abuse. It is a tough topic but one we must acknowledge and understand to prevent it from happening.

Child sexual abuse is not limited to one socioeconomic group; it occurs in every community. As someone who works in the field of child sexual abuse, a common theme I hear from parents and caregivers is “I never thought this could happen to my child.”

I truly hope that parents, grandparents or anyone involved in the life of a child will take the opportunity to educate themselves on steps that can be taken to reduce the chances of a child experiencing sexual abuse.

Shelly Owens
Family support specialist
Child Protection Center
Kansas City

KC Zoo too big

The zoo has the same problem as the city of Kansas City does: too few inhabitants per square mile. I frequently visit the zoo, but it seems it is more for the exercise than to see the animals.

The zoo is much too big for the number of creatures it has, just like Kansas City is too big for the number of people we support.

A great model for a zoo is the one in Wichita. It is smaller, but it seems like it has more animals, because you don’t have to walk as far.

My solution? Sell half of the land and use the money to create a smaller, denser zoo. I bet that would increase attendance and reduce the amount of financial support needed.

Allan Anderson
Kansas City, North

Homeland security

Thomas Hay (3/30, Letters) equates homeland security with our adventures in Iraq. He is terribly wrong.

Homeland security should start here, in the homeland. Being a curmudgeonly isolationist, I feel we should bring our courageous military personnel home and have them guard our borders from the inside.

The argument that we’ll fight the terrorists either over there or here at home is ludicrous. They don’t have an army in the sense we do and, regardless, they couldn’t mount an invasion of our homeland. We live in the age of the suicide terrorist.

The leader of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi, said recently that the countries of the area are their own worst enemies, fighting against each other. Good. Let them do the job we’re trying to, which is to kill the bad guys.

For millennia, they have been governed by tribal system. It worked for them. Why should we foist our democracy on people who do not want it or appreciate it and aren’t ready for it?

Timothy Earl Osburn
Parkville

Support KC with tax rebate

I would like to invite everyone in the Kansas City area to consider donating all or part of the tax rebates that the government is giving away to support the zoo and Liberty Memorial.

Think of it. Our leaders in D.C. want to stimulate the economy by giving away money. It’s happening when our states and cities are forced to cut jobs and services to make ends meet.

There’s a howl when the mayor wants to reduce or cut funding for “nonessential” subsidies. Instead of whining that the city needs to keep the zoo and the memorial viable, let’s support them ourselves.

I pledge to give my rebate to the zoo and Liberty Memorial and to make annual contributions. Who’ll join me?

Rick Dierks
Overland Park

Happy with American car

I admit American car manufacturers were slow in their redesign to include some of the items “women drivers want” (3/30, Letters), especially the gas mileage. I wonder how long it has been since D.A. Duke has tried an American car and seen the improvements and thought about what the insistence on foreign cars has done to our economy? Do we consider the lost profits, the lost jobs and the Americans with no income?

I drive an American car that gets 20 to 22 mpg in town and 30 to 32 mpg on the highway. It is a full-size car with a V-6 engine and a very good and comfortable ride. And the money I paid stayed in the U.S.

Joe Kramps
Lee’s Summit

Sex-offender list

John Olsen (3/29, Letters) accuses the Missouri legislature of wasting time and money on “nutty” ideas by proposing a constitutional amendment to restore names of sex offenders who committed crimes before January 1995. Even if the legislature’s only motive were an election-year stunt, I would still support the proposed amendment.

According to Mr. Olsen’s logic, any person who committed any sex crime against any child before 1995 is now trustworthy until he or she strikes again — and until the state can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Some, of course, have been rehabilitated. But not all. Others have been suspects and benefited when the evidence against them was legally insufficient. It sounds like Mr. Olsen wants to keep these perpetrators under the radar screen as long as possible.

Local communities have a right to know in order to assess community risk. As a parent and guardian, I have a right to know so I can make informed decisions. Sex offenders made their choice. If the measure is on November’s ballot, I will make my choice: to protect children, not a convicted felon’s privacy.

Clyde Waltermate
Raytown

Why we need churches

“Why do we need churches?” asks Ross Freese (Letters, 3/28). My initial response, Mr. Freese, is “to help people transcend the sort of bigotry and narrow-mindedness demonstrated here.”

Throw out churches and you throw out Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King. Throw out churches and you throw out the second and third biggest supporters of disaster relief in the United States: The Salvation Army and the Southern Baptists.

Churches and their people have taken the lead in many great movements in our history. Abolitionism and the civil rights movement spring to mind. In 19th-century England, it was the church that cared for the poor, the orphans and the disenfranchised. Churches build hospitals, universities, and a host of other good institutions.

The fallacy of your argument is obvious. Anyone can pick out abuses by members of large organizations in order to discredit the organization. Why do we need universities? Hospitals? Political parties? Businesses?

One might ask Mr. Freese, why do we need you? Churches and other religious institutions have an answer for that troubling question. Perhaps you’d do well to hear that answer.

Mark Browning
Raytown

Mr. Freese: The thing about churches is they are made up of people. And the thing about people is we tend to screw up. We screw up a lot — make mistakes, do the wrong thing, make bad decisions.

People need churches because we are screw-ups, and it is good to be in a community of other screw-ups who are just trying to live better lives. We need churches because they are good places to learn about grace and forgiveness and renewal and love.

The Rev. Andy Bryan
Kansas City, North

While some of the things Ross Freese said about churches are true, many of his statements are a sad reflection of what some have experienced as “church.”

People attending churches are themselves flawed individuals. The church is a place of acceptance and tolerance. It is the community of believers that gather not to be perfect but call each other to hope and a promise of better times. After all, we are an Easter people.

Renata J. Beaudoin
Independence

I am almost 65 and have been attending church since I was a newborn. Never once have I heard a sermon that promoted hate and oppression based on race, sexuality, gender and religion.

The churches I have attended did not allow the leaders to spend money on a lavish lifestyle. The churches I have attended have caring members that want to live fuller lives through the example that Jesus set. We all fall short of his example.

I suspect Ross Freese doesn’t have personal experience with churches but has only read or heard of the charlatans that have taken advantage of parishioners. There are crooks everywhere, but not to the degree the writer alludes to.

C. A. Hyde Jr.
Grain Valley

Isn’t it rich?

I cannot describe the devastation I feel when I think of people about to lose their 10,000-plus square foot, $1 million-plus homes (3/23, A-1, “An abrupt end for high life”).

In reading this article, I must have missed the part about which bank has set up a trust fund so that I may donate to the cause of saving these people’s mortgages.

I am sure if I rummage through my pant pockets and couch cushions I can easily come up with a monthly payment or two to help bail out these poor, pathetic people.

Patrick Keating
Overland Park