Unfettered Letters

Cut public funding for sports

I have a solution that will save billions of federal, state and local tax dollars and allow the hiring of additional police, fireman, teachers and fund much-needed highway repairs. Cut the purse strings between the taxpayers and professional sports.

As we all listen to the struggles our governments are having finding money to fund the things we all depend on, funding around the country of stadiums, arenas and racetracks go on unfettered. The public is up in arms over executives giving themselves huge bonuses at firms like American International Group while being bailed out by the taxpayers. But the silence is frightening over the owners and players who are pulling down multimillion-dollar salaries and contracts, while the taxpayers are handing over billions of dollars to build them bigger and more lavish places for them to entertain.

Professional sports is a multibillion dollar industry that certainly does not need our tax money to survive. The notion that the taxpayers are really getting a return on investments being made on these structures is one of the biggest hoaxes that has ever been pulled off on the American public.

John Simonds
Lee’s Summit

Pedaling for fitness

Following retirement 15 years ago, I created an exercise plan to keep me healthy until age 85 if possible.

First, I had cataracts removed in both eyes. Now I can read the newspaper without glasses!

Next I bought an exercise bike. My plan lets me exercise one half-hour daily with variations for weather. I bike for 15 minutes. In bad weather I bike for 30 minutes.

Now I’m 85 years old but can walk as easily as when only 70, so I’ll continue.

Roy Ekberg
Ottawa, Kan.

Teen’s football injury

The recent $3 million settlement between Lafayette County C-1 School District and the Frith family stemming from brain injuries suffered by their son Zach highlights the need for education about concussions (3/22, A-1, “Teen’s football injury reshapes future, family; Zach Frith was allowed to keep practicing after a concussion. Now he suffers permanent brain damage”). A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). It cannot be trivialized as a ding. Understanding this is the beginning of long-overdue serious discussions of this common injury.

MTBI is characterized by alterations in brain chemistry that often cause headache, dizziness and difficulty concentrating with potential long-term effects. Athletes must not play at all until fully recovered. Otherwise, they risk permanent brain damage or death from a second, even mild, impact.

If there had been greater understanding of the consequences of MTBI, Zach’s outcome most certainly would have been different. Education is the key. MTBI education for coaches and athletes should be mandatory.

We applaud Zach and his family for their courage in coming forward with their story.

David D. Dyck Jr., D.O.
Lori A. Boyajian-O’Neill, D.O.
Center for Concussion Management, Mid America Sports Medicine and Wellness at Centerpoint
Independence

How sad that a child’s future is jeopardized by continuing to play football before recovering from concussion. But where is the wisdom in giving this child a Cadillac “because he’s suffered so much?”

This is a child with no impulse control. He may be good at the mechanical aspects of driving, but he puts his fist through the living room wall, assaults his father and rages so violently that his parents lock their other children in their bedrooms for safety. His response to people who “piss (him) off” is, “Well, I’ll fight them, dude.”

Giving this child a two-ton automobile is as irresponsible as his returning to football practice. Both decisions are heedless of the consequences. What if this child becomes enraged and, instead of hitting the wall, jumps in his Caddie? What if someone cuts him off on the highway?

Please. We already have one sadly and irreparably damaged child. Where is the sense in allowing this child to act out his rage with a large automobile and damage other mothers’ sons and daughters?

Linda Brown
Leavenworth

Stadiums benefit all area residents

Bob Call (3/13, Voices) says, “When nonsports fans probably outnumber sports fans several hundred to one, why should we have to subsidize their pastime?”
Mayor Funkhouser also suggested there weren’t enough people benefiting from the sports stadiums. I submit that this is the wrong attitude.
I don’t go to many Royals games. I don’t attend too many Kansas City Symphony performances. I’ve only been to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art once. I have never attended a race at Kansas Speedway. I haven’t been to Worlds of Fun for years.
Yet, I would fight tooth and nail to keep all of those attractions. We need them to make Kansas City a well-rounded, first class city. It’s what makes this area such a great place to live.
Few attractions bring in as much revenue for Kansas City and surrounding cities as the Kansas City Chiefs — motels, meals and shopping. It’s a pretty darn good source of revenue for area businesses.
We’ll get though these tough times as soon as people stop listening to the media-induced recession. In the meantime, let’s not dump the things that make Kansas City and surrounding area a great place.
W.R. Ernie Vietze
Raytown

Stadiums aren't money makers

When the powers that be were trying to get the voters of Jackson County to approve bonds for the construction of the stadiums, the pitch was that they could be built with revenue bonds. That is, the bonds would be paid off from income from the stadiums and would cost the taxpayers nothing. As icing on the cake, once the bonds were retired, the county taxpayers could expect a tax cut, since the stadiums would then be a source of income for the county.

I knew at the time that this was a lie, and I am not a bit surprised that the stadiums are such a burden to taxpayers. But what does surprise me is the way the taxpayers are suckered in by the politicians time and again.

Way back then, some of my coworkers were telling me how the stadiums would be money makers. I told them that if such projects made money, private investors would build them and would reap the profits. They wouldn't cut lowly taxpayers in on a money-making deal.

Vernon Hales
Merriam

Royals opener on Good Friday

Is it me that's nuts or Major League Baseball? The Royals' home opener is at 3:10 p.m. Friday, April 10. Not just any Friday - Good Friday. Now, I realize that there are a lot of people who wouldn't think twice about that, but, then again, there are millions of people for whom that is a special day, and a baseball game probably isn't in their plans.

Shouldn't Major League Baseball take special circumstances like this into consideration when it is forming the schedules?

Jim Fitzpatrick
Kansas City

Let players pay for stadium upkeep

Maybe the Royals and Chiefs players, coaches and staff could take a 10 percent pay cut, and that would give them the $2 million that Mayor Funkhouser wants to cut for stadium upkeep (3/6, A-1, “More layoffs suggested.”).

Isn’t it time for everyone to step up to the plate and give back some of their riches so that the city, county, state and nation gets back into the black? People out here are cutting back, so it is time for the millionaire ball players and owners to bear some of the burden and cut back.

Threatening to move to another city is ludicrous. Who wants losing teams?

Dorothy Thiel
Overland Park

Stop stadium subsidies

City Manager Wayne Cauthen’s desire to continue shoveling money into the sports complex in the hope that neither the Chiefs nor the Royals will leave has left me thinking Cauthen is clearly not in touch with the current fiscal reality of Kansas City and its residents (3/6, A-1, “More layoffs suggested; Funkhouser also advises ending stadium subsidies while avoiding increases in property taxes and police cutbacks”).

Nor has Cauthen learned anything from sports history about some teams being as greedy as some of the worst robber barons of the 19th century — their goal being one of seeing how loud they can cry “poverty” and how far they can dip their hands into taxpayers’ wallets — even as they pay themselves and their players hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars annually.

Mr. Cauthen, the Kansas City taxpayers who pay your salary — people who are losing incomes and jobs — can’t afford these “giveaways” you so dearly like. Please stop giving taxpayer-provided charity to these wealthy sports franchises.

Lew Hughes
Kansas City, Kan.

Baseball: Our American game

In these times of “doom and gloom” we look toward the future with great reservation, always looking for the next nightmare to become reality. Many Americans, myself included, think of simpler times when this time of year meant the return of spring — and baseball.

One constant through the years has been baseball: 162 games of trials and tribulations, wins and losses, falling at the last or ending as the last team standing. No matter how we fare, the game has always awaited us to embrace her, every spring through late fall.

As we stand on the cusp of a new season, not only as players and fans but as Americans, fighting to survive for that final game in the chilly night air of the fall or the dawn of a new hope without fear in this country, we should reflect on the words of one American who defined this hope for us and our game:

“I see great things in baseball. It’s our game — the American game.” — Walt Whitman

Danny Holmes
Overland Park

Cutting bus service to stadiums

Who turns away more than 18,000 customers? Why the ATA, of course. With the announcement that they are cutting the Chiefs and Royals express service (2/19, Local), that is exactly what is happening.

With a little effort, the routes could be reconfigured. Maybe try a rate increase to make it self-sufficient. There are ways to streamline the routes without doing away with them altogether. I proposed two years ago to the ATA that they have a park-and-ride at Union Station. They could eliminate the downtown Crown Center route and maybe combine the Plaza route. I thought this could be a plus for Union Station also, getting people there before and after the games. It would increase riders on the Max, as that route pretty well covers both areas and could funnel them into Union Station.

I got some answer about how they didn’t want to inconvenience any customers. I would say cutting everything is an inconvenience to everyone now.

Besides the growing downtown population, many hotel guests used the express service. What a great way to tell visitors how out of date Kansas City is when it comes to public transportation.

Conrad Knab
Kansas City