Unfettered Letters

Missouri legislature can’t create money

The criticism in the editorial “Vacationing legislators should give us a break” (3/13, Opinion) was misplaced, and the attack on my anti-terrorism resolution missed the mark.

First, the Missouri legislature doesn’t have some magic money-printing machine to pay for the massive government expansion that Gov. Jay Nixon and The Star support. When the private sector does well, state revenue increases. Our job is to encourage growth and create an economic climate that helps create jobs while ensuring state government lives within its means in good times and bad.

For Washington liberals, the solution is printing more money with a so-called “stimulus.” Nixon’s answer is spending all the money and leaving the debt for our “kids and grandkids,” as he told C-SPAN. For House Republicans, the solution is fiscal discipline. We understand this isn’t our money. It belongs to taxpayers.

Second, Democrats and Republicans supported my resolution urging the U.S. not to bring suspected terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to Missouri. The Star criticized this action, but the fact the U.S. rushed to shut down Guantanamo Bay without a clear plan for where the detainees will be sent should be taken very seriously. I believe Missourians who care about public safety do not share The Star’s view.

Missouri Rep. Clint Tracy
158th District
Cape Girardeau

Four-day school week bad idea

The Missouri House of Representatives granted approval to give Missouri school districts the option of going to a four-day school week (2/25, Local). The bill now moves forward to the Senate for approval. The reasoning behind this bill is to help our Missouri schools save valuable dollars.

I am a firm proponent of our school districts saving taxpayer money. However, is this idea the best that our legislators could come up with? Did they consider the financial stress that this option would put on the families of millions of Missouri children?

Most working parents have a five-day workweek with no option of moving to four days without losing salary. Those parents will then have to make care provisions for their children who are unable to stay home by themselves. This is an expensive proposition, as anyone with young children can attest.

Further, what about the thousands of hourly school employees who could lose a significant amount of income as a result of this option?

We are all struggling in this economy, but the ramifications of this bill reach much further than our legislators have taken into account.

William Crouse
Liberty

Gifted students need support

As an educator and parent of gifted children, I would like to recognize Missouri’s Gifted Education Week, March 1-7, by sharing some of the challenges our brightest students and their families face, and by dispelling the myth that smart kids don’t need support. It is harmful and incorrect to assume gifted students can make it on their own. Unfortunately, this assumption has led to an inadequate investment in gifted programs and teacher training, which often results in an inferior education for this student population.

Gifted students throughout the nation are, as a whole, underserved and overlooked, with high-achieving students from high-poverty communities hit the hardest. While low-performing students from disadvantaged backgrounds have made encouraging academic progress in recent years, the learning progress of their classmates who were initially high performers has stagnated. Recently, we’ve learned that U.S. student performance has remained flat in science and is only middle-of-the-pack compared with students around the world.

To regain our position as a world leader in education, lawmakers must focus now on getting these students what they need and deserve — an opportunity to do their best.

Sue Winter
Past president, Gifted Association of Missouri
Columbia, Mo.

Cold-medicine bill

Requiring prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine is a bad idea (2/17, Local, “Measure aimed at meth producers”). The fee to see a doctor here is $80. Most people can’t afford that just to get cold medicine.

There has to be a better way to control this.

Terry Baker
Nevada, Mo.

Missouri budget decisions

The budget of Missouri is not just numbers. It is a moral document that reflects our core values. With Missouri and our nation in the midst of an economic crisis, there is much danger that some of our most vulnerable neighbors will be left out.

But Missouri does have other alternatives. We have founded a coalition to promote in-depth dialogue about the 2009 budget process and invite your involvement in three ways:

Call, write or visit your elected officials. Let them know about people who are hurting in your community — those jobless, homeless or uninsured.

Join our coalition to speak out together with people of faith and citizens of good will. Read our principles at the link labeled “Join Coalition” at www.moimpact.org/issues. Or request an informational packet by phoning 573-635-2689.

Visit the Missourians for Tax Justice Web site at www.missouriansfortaxjustice.org to learn more about our current unfair, inadequate, and outdated tax system and changes that need to be made. Then speak out with us in support of Tax Justice for a Healthy Missouri (HB 567).

The time to act is now, while there’s still time to influence the state budget decisions that become final in May.

The Rev. John Bennett
Outreach Coordinator, Missouri IMPACT
Jefferson City

Rabbi Susan Talve
St. Louis

Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford
Missouri House District 59
St. Louis

Leave KCPD under state control

When I joined the Kansas City Police Department in March of 1964, one of the things that was often repeated during our three-month Police Academy training period was how fortunate we were to be under the control of the state of Missouri instead of the city of Kansas City. That change happened due to the rampant corruption during the Pendergast era. Most other cities control their police departments, and many are corrupt.

The bright minds of The Star’s editorial staff strongly recommended that control be returned to the city (2/9, Opinion, “End budget battles: Unite city, police”). Do you people have your heads in the sand? Do you not read your own newspaper? Returning control of the Police Department to that bunch of clowns that you call City Council, mayor, and especially city manager is about the stupidest idea you’ve ever come up with. Why, they’re almost as bad as the school board.

Don’t mess with something that has worked well for many years and still does.

Michael Fopeano
Parkville

Why was lawmaker left off committee?

I am greatly concerned about the reason Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard gave for replacing Jeannette Mott Oxford with Michael Corcoran on the Special Standing Committee on Children and Families (2/6, Local, “Gay lawmaker questions being left off committee”). Oxford has many years of experience working with children and families and had served on committees concerning children and families since entering the legislature in 2005. Why would Oxford be rejected and her experience discarded?

And how is being “one of my favorite guys” (a quote from Richard) a qualification for appointment to any committee?

Shirley Godt
Wright City, Mo.

Mental health care in Missouri

As the editorial “Options dwindle for Missouri’s mentally ill” (2/1, Opinion) aptly explains, truly protecting the welfare of our fellow Missouri citizens requires access to mental health care.

Studies show that a combination of talk therapy and medication can be the most effective strategy for addressing some mental health conditions. Recognizing this, psychologists — who already are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders — view prescriptive authority as a key component of a holistic approach to care that provides the greatest variety of treatment choices.

Senate Bill 204, sponsored by Sen. Jack Goodman, and companion House Bill 536, sponsored by Rep. Bob Dixon, would ensure that patients have access to the safe, affordable, high quality care they need and deserve by creating a new classification for a highly trained doctoral level psychologist who can prescribe certain psychotropic medications, such as antidepressants. Eighty-five state representatives have co-signed this bill.

Psychologists aren’t looking to replace physicians or psychiatrists. In fact, psychologists who meet the stringent qualifications for prescription privileges would be required to maintain collaborative treatment relationships with medical colleagues.

This legislation will result in affordable comprehensive care for patients, with one provider combining appropriate psychotherapy and, if necessary, medication.

Renee Stucky
President, Missouri Psychological Association
Columbia, Mo.

I was disheartened when reading about the lack of resources for the severely mentally ill. I have bipolar disorder and have found it difficult to find resources beyond support groups and educational programs.

The support I have experienced for my mental illness pales in comparison to what I experienced after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was entitled to three professional massages. I was introduced to an amazing facility called Turning Point that offers a variety of services at no charge. Within days of having my name submitted to the American Cancer Society, a volunteer who had a cancer similar to mine came to my home with a bag full of information, including a pillow designed to fit under my arm after my mastectomy.

What would the world be like if the mentally ill were treated the same way as those with cancer?

Cathy Bogart
Kansas City

Missouri must provide for its mentally ill

Recent articles have indicated that Missouri’s governor recommends cutting $20 million from the mental health budget and that much of the money the state receives from the federal government for mental health hospitals are added to the general fund (2/4, Opinion, “Steps toward a better mental health system”). If these are facts, then we, as a state, are making a serious error.

We need to provide as much as possible for our fellow citizens for mental health services. The folks with mental health issues are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. It is incumbent upon us to care for these people. It is the right and the moral thing to do. Too often they are forgotten and left to waste away in group homes or on the streets.

The old adage holds true: “There but for the grace of God go I.”

Bill Kampbell
Kansas City

Missouri must consider tax hikes

I was pleased to see a spirit of bipartisanship in response to Gov. Nixon’s State of the State message (1/28, A-1, “Cuts and bailout help to balance Nixon’s budget”). Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats in the legislature could agree only on a promise of no new taxes.

If, in fact, Missouri is facing a fiscal crisis, which all appear to acknowledge, everything needs to be on the table. Tax increases in tight times may be ill-advised, but carefully constructed fee increases or eliminating tax breaks and loopholes for individuals and companies that cut jobs or send them out of state may be worth considering.

Sadly, Democrats have adopted the Republican mantra that all taxes are evil, when, in reality, promises of no new taxes merely pander to an ill-informed electorate that believes that it can enjoy state services without paying for them.

“Something for nothing” doesn’t work in real life and shouldn’t be government policy.

Robert Powell
Independence