Print edition: 
Property taxes are reasonable
What a coincidence that The Eagle ran a piece about how reasonable our property taxes are ("Sedgwick Co. property taxes among lowest," Sept. 28 Eagle). The subject of property taxes came up recently while I was sitting at a picnic table with some relatives at a family reunion in my home state of New Jersey.
After we figured out that most of us lived in 1,500- to 1,800-square-foot homes built within the past 45 years, the game began. A brother in Matawan, N.J., had $5,680-a-year property tax. A cousin in Warren, N.J., paid $6,200 a year. A cousin in Pennsylvania, $3,920.
When I told them I paid $1,320 a year on my 1,800-square-foot house, someone at the next table said, "You mean a per month, right?" No, I said, per year. They all wanted to throw me in the pool.
When I first moved to Kansas in 1978, I hated the personal property taxes, and the fact that Kansas taxed food and clothing, things New Jersey does not tax. But after living in Kansas for a while, I realized taxes here are collected in a more equitable way, pulling revenue from everyone, not just from the hapless homeowner, as in my home state.
So The Eagle article was right, folks. Our taxes, compared with other places, aren't as bad as you think.
KATHLEEN BUTLER
Wichita
Re-enacting killings
I agreed with the recent Opinion Line comment about the playing of the song "I Shot the Sheriff" by a local radio station. The song and the timing couldn't have been worse. But I assume it was in a lineup of music with hundreds of songs playing without a human actually seeing what was coming next.
That also brings to mind how perplexed I am by the ongoing entertainment at Old Cowtown Museum. I do want Cowtown to succeed. But it is ironic that the re-enactments include pretend shootings and killings, when we are often hearing of real shootings and killings taking place in and around our community. Eighty years from now, will we have people re-enacting those shootings and murders for paid entertainment as well?
SHIRLEY FISHER-LANGLOYS
Wichita
Miss crossword
While eating breakfast on Sunday morning, and before going to church services, I always set my kitchen timer and worked The Eagle's Sunday crossword puzzle. My average time was usually between 43 and 47 minutes most weeks.
I read the notice awhile back that The Eagle was going to publish the New York Times puzzle, but I had forgotten about it until I opened TV Week on Sunday.
I had almost no luck with it, let alone setting the timer and having a bit of fun. The fellow who writes this lives in a whole different world.
I have been working puzzles since my teens, so I am no novice. I am college-educated and a voracious reader of newspapers, books, magazines and whatever else crosses my path.
I can live with this. But please don't change the daily puzzle, as that would really ruin my day.
DORIS CLARK
Madison
*
I was disappointed to find that the New York Times puzzle was in the Sunday Eagle. I knew this was coming, but thought The Eagle also would include the puzzle that we have become used to. I have worked this puzzle for the entire time it has run and look forward to my morning entertainment. The New York Times puzzle is more difficult, and the printing was so small I was unable to read it.
AUDREY J. BURDINE
Wichita
