<strong><span class="subhead">Military families</span></strong></p><p>Laurie Callan of Overland Park (Letters, 6/19) knows nothing about military families.</p><p>The military family has always been under pressure because of separations, but the military families are not now disintegrating because of the Iraq war.</p><p>Of course, soldiers want to be with their families, but they are doing their job and serving their country.</p><p>Her comments about Sen. Sam Brownback&#8217;s support for the war in Iraq and the &#8220;faithful fathers&#8221; in the military is just a red herring. I am a former military wife.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Genevieve M. Wolff</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Olathe</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Inflation</span></strong></p><p>The Labor Department, which determines the inflation factor, leaves out gasoline and groceries, as they claim these two items fluctuate from season to season, up and down. Unfortunately now they just fluctuate up and up.</p><p>When the department announces the percentage of increase in payments to Social Security next November, it will be based on an inflation rate of 1 to 2 percent, when in reality it&#8217;s more like 10 percent or more. This entire business should be adjusted as quickly as possible.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Richard Mollentine Sr.</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Overland Park</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Sharp for sheriff</span></strong></p><p>I support Mike Sharp for sheriff of Jackson County. Jackson County needs new leadership and Mike has the experience needed to do the job.</p><p>Mike knows how to work together to build a better community. Mike is willing to work with all sides. He seeks solutions that benefit all citizens and not just a vocal few.</p><p>As sheriff, he can provide a new outlook for the many law enforcement issues that Jackson County must deal with in the future.</p><p>Mike is a lifetime resident of Jackson County with more than 20 years of law enforcement experience in the Kansas City area.</p><p>Mike is dedicated to family values and law and order. He will work tirelessly to effectively manage and improve the Jackson County sheriff&#8217;s office.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Vince Seif</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Lee&#8217;s Summit</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Phill Kline</span></strong></p><p>The antics of the Johnson County district attorney&#8217;s office, while amusing to those of us who live outside of the county, continue to stretch the limits of absurdity.</p><p>On the one hand, District Attorney Phill Kline persists in his quixotic attempt to obtain records from Planned Parenthood so he can confirm his long-held belief that illegal abortions occurred. While wasting time and money chasing Planned Parenthood documents, the prosecutor continues to refuse to turn over documents that the defense attorneys for Edwin R. Hall, the suspect in the death of Kelsey Smith, have been seeking for months.</p><p>One would think the right-to-life prosecutor would bend over backwards to ensure that Hall, who has been charged with capital murder, would get a fair trial so that, if convicted, Mr. Kline can send him to his death with a clear conscience.</p><p>Either way, this tragic comedy will continue for a while longer. Primary election day isn&#8217;t until August 5.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Thomas A. Grimaldi</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Guantanamo series</span></strong></p><p>Your three-day front-page in-depth article about the terrorists being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sounded like it was written by our enemies. The wording, referring to &#8220;the Americans&#8221; as though the writer and the reader were not Americans, was appalling.</p><p>The Geneva Convention protections have been given to these detainees all along, when they are not applicable to terrorists. Now, they are to be given the same legal rights as a U.S. citizen? How absurd that you seem to applaud this move, which erodes further the powers we have against those who plot to kill us.