Unfettered Letters

High movie prices

Have you been to the movies lately? The tickets are up to $10 a person unless you can go during the day when they’re $5 for everyone. But who can go to the movies during the day? And then when you get into the movie theater, they have snacks, but who wants to pay $3 for a small bag of popcorn or $4 for a box of candy? Sooner or later, going to the movies is going to be like putting a down payment on a car.

Courtney Garza
Prairie Village

Embarrassed

I’m almost ashamed to admit that I vote Republican. We have become the party of “no.” We have one in six people without health insurance or one in five workers without it.

Yet our announced candidate for U.S. Senate, Roy Blunt, is worried about our government offering a group rate to them. He gets it, but not his constituents.

And he says that he’s worried about the insurance companies competing.

I’ve got news for you, Mr. Blunt: They are already competing on yours with names like Aetna, Blue Cross, Coventry and many others.

See why I’m embarrassed?

Bud Young
Kansas City

Costco not enough

Costco’s patchwork compromise is not the answer on hot fuel (4/23 “Finally, a fix for hot fuel”).

Large companies can afford to modify their pumps where as small businesses, such as mom ‘n’ pop stations, might not be able to. Congress should mandate raising the industry’s 60-degree temperature standard to 90 degrees, and calibrate the pumps to match. This would favor consumers and put the onus on the oil industry.

Big Oil would find the shoe on the other foot and suddenly see the $2.3 billion cost coming out of their pockets instead of into them. You would quickly see a wave of pump modifications beginning in the northern states and then sweeping southward. Small businesses could elect not to modify their pumps. Economically, they might choose losing a couple of cents per gallon over the cost of modifying their pumps. Either way, it’s their choice.

Lynn Alsup
Lee’s Summit

Don’t trash youths

I recently heard a rather disturbing testimonial from a Kansas City resident at a city budget hearing.

In the testimonial I am referencing, a woman stated she would rather have her tax dollars spent on trash collection than on the Youth Advocacy Office.

The Youth Advocacy Office of Kansas City is a relatively new office whose budget gets slashed year after year. It is amazing that it is even able to operate with only one city-paid employee and an office of college interns.

It is still able to drum up the majority of its funding from private sponsors. This office offers many positive opportunities for the young people of Kansas City, including the annual Bright Future Employment Fair, Agenda Kansas City Leadership Conference and Kansas City Youth Commission among other things.

It really is chilling to hear my neighbors testify that trash is more important than our children.

Claire West
Kansas City

KC fountains more than water

Living on Meyer Boulevard, the circle fountain is in view of my house. Waking up every morning, I slowly look out my kitchen window, feasting my eyes upon the large, well-known Meyer Fountain.

Debating whether or not to turn on the fountains seemed as though there was only one obvious choice: The fountains must stay on. Looking out my kitchen window every morning to a bare, bone-dry fountain would just not serve Kansas City right.

I am very thankful Kansas City has decided to turn the fountains on. Now we can truly live up to our town’s name, “The City of Fountains.”

Just like our sister city in Spain, Kansas City is known for its intricate and extravagant fountains. Many heavily populated areas have acquired beautiful fountains that are pieces of artwork.

To not let water run through them would be an insult to the artist. A main shopping area, The Country Club Plaza, is a large gathering place for Kansas City residents, shoppers and people passing through from all around.

The Plaza is home to many fountains, and they have become an attraction for the area. In the summer, having the pleasure to walk by and see water spouting out of horses’ mouths to a woman standing with water draping around her only makes the experience of being in Kansas City even more exciting.

Regan Wiley
Kansas City

Reason returns to the White House

In his first 100 days President Barack Obama returned reason to our land, overcoming George Bush’s religiously driven edicts that were extraneous and exceeded far beyond anti-abortion protection of any “baby” in the womb.

Obama freed stored stem-cells for use in the advancement of humane medical cures, which George Bush by executive order had severely restricted. Obama overturned George Bush’s gag rule order, which blocked basic women’s health care here and abroad by any federally funded group that even discussed birth control.

Outside of government anti-abortion groups are entitled to convince as many adherents as they can, and they’re pretty good at it, but invading government with remote religious ideas is now on the way out, thank God.

Lloyd Hellman
Leawood

Charging inmates has other costs

So, I just read this article in The Star (4/24, “Some inmates pay for crimes and jail stays”) about Sheriff Jimmie Russell in Taney County, Mo. planning to charge inmates for their incarceration. This has to be the dumbest idea I have ever heard in my entire life.

Think about this: I get out of jail, heavily indebted, and with no real marketable skills. How much do you want to bet that I am going to go out and commit more crimes to pay it back or declare bankruptcy? This type of action will just reinforce the vicious cycle of crime and poverty.

I certainly agree that the taxpayer should not shoulder that burden, but maybe police and municipalities should focus more on locking up more violent offenders and not just people who have broken minor laws. It’s true that the U.S. has 25 percent of the world’s prison populations, yet crime is still off the charts compared to other countries.

Prison budgets are bleeding state coffers dry, and we need to evaluate our obsession with incarceration. This idea may be good for votes, but horrible for the community. Maybe instead we should prioritize who we jail and not let politicians pander to our darkest fears and desires.

Shaun Peterson
Overland Park

Stellar role model

Thank you for the article about Teresa Blickhan on April 21 (“Influence of KC teacher extends over the decades; Instructor’s pupil and daughter meet at local elementary school in order to share their memories”).

She also influenced me to be a teacher. I taught for 37 years. I loved telling my students I could recite all of the states in less than 30 seconds. Of course I had to add Alaska and Hawaii.

Thank you, Mrs. Blickhan.

Gloria Goodrich
Kansas City

Better transit plan

I am a teenager in Kansas City, wondering when Kansas City will finally get better transit. After years of debate about light rail, I think it will be beneficial to have some kind of subway transit.

In these uncertain economic times, cheap and efficient ways of travel throughout the city are needed. In addition, there is the issue of never finding a parking space downtown or on the Plaza.

While I am enjoying all of the projects to revive downtown Kansas City, - better transit is essential.

Rachel Craddolph
Kansas City

Burning planet

Last Wednesday, the Kansas State Legislature went into extra session. At the top of its list was whether or not to uphold the governor’s veto of HB 2014, which would allow the building by Sunflower of two coal-fired plants in western Kansas.

On Sunday I watched “60 minutes.” It interviewed Jim Rogers of Duke Energy, who admits global warming is real.

He also admits that Duke puts over 100 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air yearly. He further says we need to do something now.

Then he goes on to admit his company is putting up two more coal-fired plants, which will add more carbon dioxide to what Duke is emitting. Why? For the company’s bottom line.

MSNBC showed the NBC production “Journey to the End of the World.” It gave graphic evidence of how humans are messing up the air and planet.

The sad thing is that we have answers. There are other ways we can behave and clean ways to provide energy.

After watching these productions, I can only say, “Humans are going to be the cause of their own destruction.” We can have no quality of life on a burning planet. Talk about Armageddon.

Dorothy Buchholz
Overland Park