<strong><span class="subhead">KC School District budget</span></strong></p><p>Arthur Benson II labeled The Kansas City School District&#8217;s $449,000,000 budget a &#8220;placeholder&#8221; (6/26, Local, &#8220;Teachers call for more talks; KC School District contract talks must go on despite threatened deadline, they say&#8221;).</p><p>Let&#8217;s examine that $449,000,000 budget. It breaks down to about $19,000 per student, $112 per school day or $18.70 per school hour &#8212; much money spent for little return.</p><p>I would change Benson&#8217;s description of &#8220;placeholder&#8221; budget to &#8220;screw the taxpayer again&#8221; budget.</p><p>Perhaps we should send the students to Pembroke Hill and save the taxpayers $4,000 per student.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>George J. McLiney Jr.</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Dress-code discrimination</span></strong></p><p>I think many are missing the point on the Power &amp; Light District dress code article (6/20, A-1, &#8220;A dressing-down over dress code; As complaints mount, council members want answers from Cordish Co., which denies bias&#8221;). It&#8217;s not whether the entertainment district needs or deserves some special dress regulations.</p><p><em>The Star </em>article revealed a trend of complaints that enforcement of the dress code was being applied unevenly. City Council members and city leaders should dig deeper into the racial allegations and the sheer magnitude of complaints to the city.</p><p>Let&#8217;s look at the facts and decide whether this dress code is a good thing or a bad thing. How many complaints are there, and how do they compare to other city entertainment venues?</p><p>In the meantime, I suppose men young and old can decide to pick up an outfit from a department store or spend their money elsewhere.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Phil Swayne</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Kansas City</em></p> One of the advertising slogans posted in the Power &amp; Light District reads something like, &#8220;Leave your inhibitions in the minivan.&#8221; Tee-hee, how exciting and daring it is to come to the inner city!</p><p>But what if we encounter a black man wearing a very long necklace and perhaps other ostentatious jewelry? What if he has his hat turned sideways at a 45-degree angle?</p><p>Being daring is one thing. Putting ourselves in danger is something else. &#8220;But I&#8217;m sure they won&#8217;t let people like <em>that</em> in here!&#8221;</p><p>I love Kansas City, but we are so backward, so square and so segregated.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Richard Schapker</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Merriam</em></p> I am usually diametrically opposed to whatever view Lee Judge is trying to convey in his opinion cartoons. However, to the one of June 26 depicting racism covered in camouflage, I say, right on, bro!</p><p>The Power &amp; Light District dress code is discrimination, no ifs ands or buts about it. Don&#8217;t pay any attention to what you wear as long as it is clean and you don&#8217;t cause any trouble. If you do, out you go.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Michael Douglas</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Smithville</em></p> <strong><span class="subhead">Handgun hypocrisy</span></strong></p><p>The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the District of Columbia acted unconstitutionally 32 years ago by enacting a ban on all handguns within the district. It was, they said, far too sweeping.</p><p>Yet, they issued this opinion from a building in which no private citizen may carry a handgun for any purpose. There are metal detectors at the doors and armed guards preventing each one of us from exercising the &#8220;right&#8221; the majority of justices claim we possess in every other part of the district. This is the height of hypocrisy.</p><p>In effect, they are saying, &#8220;You can all fight it out with guns out there. We&#8217;ll stay behind these stone walls where your guns are prohibited. If you try to bring one in, we&#8217;ll kill you.&#8221;