Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2008

Unions help U.S. workers

Letter writer Pat Nolan (5/8) asks, “When will unions learn that they, and they alone, are responsible for ruining the American economy over the past 40 years?” I had to wonder what version of history he has been witnessing. My recollection of eight years of Reaganomics and eight years of George Bush make me think maybe they had more than a little to do with it.

Heaven forbid that the GM workers might be concerned with the fact that GM management wants to alter work rules that they and the union negotiated in previous contracts. It’s not called extortion. It’s called good faith bargaining, Mr. Nolan.

I sure hope that you have never gotten extra pay for overtime, sick days or a paid vacation, or been subject to a 40-hour workweek. I hope you haven’t been covered by a company-sponsored health plan or had to work in a safer work environment.

These are just a few of the things those evil, pesky unions have done for me.

S.A. Kirk

Basehor

Leave it to the uninformed such as Pat Nolan to write wishing ill to the GM Fairfax employees currently on strike. We are just trying to keep what little we haven’t previously given up. No employee is getting rich at GM, and it’s hard to believe how many in the area wish for our demise.

Each of our jobs has a direct influence on approximately 12 other jobs in the KC area. If GM were to close the plant, it would be just a matter of time before even Mr. Nolan might realize that he knows or cares about somebody affected.

I invite Mr. Nolan to journey to Oklahoma City and see how that community is doing since the closing of its GM plant.

Mike Thomas

Lawson, Mo.

What unions are responsible for:

•A 40-hour workweek.

•Safety rules in the workplace.

•Time-and-a-half wages for more than a 40-hour workweek.

•Child labor laws.

The list is endless.

Guyen Morrison

Kansas City

Trash service cutbacks in KC

It’s a shame we’re losing regularly scheduled bulky item pick-up in Kansas City.

My neighborhood spent a recent weekend hauling large items to the curb because the next Monday was the last scheduled pickup date.

Immediately after the unwanted items were placed on the curb, people started driving by to collect and recycle them. Trucks canvassed the neighborhood collecting steel. College students drove by picking up furniture. People stopped their cars to get garden pots, baby strollers, even my rusty grill.

Most trucks driving by were full to overflowing. Some even hauled trailers. Large piles of trash quickly reduced in size. Everyone seemed happy, and we saved precious landfill space in the process.

Now we have to call to arrange a pickup. The neighborhood will no longer haul everything to the curb on the same date, more trash will be taken to the dump, and the onslaught of free-cyclers will come to a pause (at least I hope it’s a pause).

David A. Young

Kansas City

I recently received a letter from Kansas City regarding the decades-old trash-rebate program the city provided to apartment owners to pay for the trash-collection costs for people who rent in the city.

Over the years, as the price of trash collection has increased, the amount of rebate slowly fell behind the actual cost of collection to the point that it covered less than half the cost. Now the city, due to budget constraints, is dropping the program altogether.

This is yet another example of the city discriminating against apartment dwellers who pay the 1 percent earnings tax as well as property taxes via their rent payments to property owners.

It seems as though the city leaders can give themselves a raise yet can’t give tax-paying citizens a fair shake when it comes to providing and paying for a basic service. If single-family homeowners had been asked to pay extra to get their trash removed, there would be hell to pay. How sad is this?

Jim Birt

Kansas City

Rising utility bills

Please be wise and save your economic stimulus check to pay for your summer electric bills. My family has worked hard to reduce our use of electricity and lessen our carbon footprint, and we have been successful.

Last year, our April usage was 1304 kilowatt-hours; this year it was 1012 kwh — a reduction of nearly 10 kwh per day or, in other words, a 23 percent reduction in usage. Imagine my surprise when the amount due on this year’s April bill was $94.09, and the April 2007 bill was $95.73. My family has used 23 percent less electricity, yet our bill was reduced by only $1.64.

The Missouri Public Service Commission claims that what amounts to more than a 20 percent rate increase is supposed to cover increasing costs of acquiring electricity. However, I can’t help but feel it is mostly used to cover Aquila’s payouts to the Green brothers, bad investments and legal fees for building an illegal power plant in Cass County.

Mandy Quinn

Lee’s Summit

Don’t celebrate gas-tax holiday

K. A. Parker blames “liberals” for asking John McCain how he would pay for the temporary gas-tax suspension (Letters, 5/6). Parker suggests the government should swallow the revenue loss and simply “spend less.”

If the government spends less for infrastructure maintenance than it does now, the country will fall apart, literally. The 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis was a warning.

No one likes taxes, but we pay them so we can maintain our roads and bridges, and because we value other tax-supported amenities such as parks, schools, museums and libraries; police, firefighters, streetlights and sewers; clean air and water; safe food, medicines, buildings and products; and much, much more.

We must maintain our roads, now or later (at a higher cost). Collectively is how we have to do it. “Spend less” is often a good idea. But like so many things, it is easier said than done.

Joan Hancock

Raytown

Call me an elitist, but I must agree with Barack Obama that the gas tax-suspension plan Hillary Clinton is backing is no plan at all. It is nothing more than a cheap trick to get votes from those who are not familiar with the economic forces that set gas prices.

Gas supply is somewhat fixed right now, and if we lower the price people will buy more gas, causing the price to go back up. The tax break will disappear and then, after three months, the tax will be reapplied, making gas prices even higher than before. Sound good?

I have been reluctant to tell anyone which candidate to support so far, but I must point out blatant dirty tactics and lies. This is utter desperation on Clinton’s part, and it lets me see her true colors under pressure.

Tommy Burnett

St. Joseph

President’s powers limited

Unfortunately, the grandiose promises from Sens. John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can become reality only after the approval of 535 U.S. Congress members and 40,000 lobbyists.

Do not let them insult your intelligence as to what they can and will do when becoming president.

Donald G. Siedenburg

Shawnee

Downside of preschool

The Star’s article “Preschool funding plan advances” (5/2, Local) did not take into consideration the various downsides of pre-kindergarten schooling. Not mentioned were the greater percentage of young children expelled from preschool than older children from school, the fading of academic gains in later grades, and the increase in antisocial behaviors of young children.

The expansion of institutional schooling of young children will increase the cost because of the need for credentialed teachers, will punch a hole in the private preschool business and will increase the spread of communicable diseases.

Alternative methods to benefit children could be to educate parents about at-home activities such as coloring books for fine-motor practice, simple board games to teach rules, sequences of activities and taking turns, and reading books aloud to children.

In the original German, kindergarten means “children’s garden.” Let’s keep it that way.

Valerie Bonham Moon

Belton

Troop deaths front-page news

I have a complaint with The Star’s coverage of the deceased soldiers’ names and addresses. Why is this list placed in the far back page of the paper? Sometimes it is hard to find. It should be on the front page every day.

I am 91 years old, and during World War II I spent time in Red Cross work. One of my tasks was to notify families of the death or capture of a loved one.

I do hope to see a change.

Helen Aufranc

Dearborn, Mo.

Eminent domain

Regarding The Star’s article “Eminent domain battle is civil rights issue” (4/28, Opinion): Property rights are not just a civil rights issue. Property rights issues affect everyone. There are many examples in the Kansas City area.

Loch Lloyd annexed an area that voted against the annexation. Belton took a privately owned farm so a home improvement store could be built. A neighborhood was blighted so that the Kansas Speedway could be built. Without a vote, Overland Park annexed a large area. Stilwell does not have a say about its future.

Individual property rights must be strengthened. Nature is not blight. Contact your elected officials about these issues.

George Fowler

Kansas City

Another ‘march of folly’?

The Star reported that an Iraqi government spokesman told reporters “We don’t want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran” (5/5, A-7, “Iraq seeks ‘tangible information’ ”). He referred to “the eight years of war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died.”

I worry that “the decider,” George Bush, will order an attack on Iran before he leaves office, thus compounding the human and financial disaster of the Iraq war.

In 1984, historian Barbara Tuchman wrote a book titled The March of Folly, which she described as “a perverse persistence in a policy demonstrably unworkable or counter-productive.”

Without much public discussion, we could be taken on another “march of folly.” The American people, as well as the Iraqis, do not want to be pushed into another so-called “preventive war.”

Jean M. Green

Kansas City

ROTC members pick up praise

We seem to hear only of the negative behavior of our teenagers. Yet, on a recent Saturday, I observed two young men picking up litter on Old Santa Fe Road. Very impressed, I stopped. One of the young men stopped and seemed to be surprised when I applauded.

Returning, I saw two different young men picking up litter. Realizing all four were in uniform, I inquired what group was performing this much-needed volunteer effort to maintain this bit of wooded “country,” which can be beautiful. I learned they are members of Hickman Mills ROTC.

Kudos and a great, huge “thank you” from this member of our community. You are doing something that this 87-year-old great-grandmother is no longer physically able to do.

May the littering jerks who read this (assuming they can read) feel some shame!

Jacqueline McCoy Tyler

Kansas City

Euthanasia of racehorses

I have been an avid horse ran fan for more than 60 years. Unfortunately, over this span of time I have seen more horses than I would have liked to see put down. On a few times when I visited Prescott, Ariz., I was up close enough to see the vet open his bag of needles and drugs to put down a young horse withering in pain. It is not a pretty sight.

Name the sport and I am certain you’ll find injuries of various types occurring most every day. Some might be career-threatening, but not life-threatening.

Let’s face it. Horse racing, like every sport, is a business, and a big business at that. The owners and trainers certainly do not want to lose their breadwinners. But horses’ legs being what they are, we can expect more stories like Eight Belles’, unfortunately.

R.C. Napper

Raymore

---