Print edition: 
Should Wichita comply or not?
Recent comments by Wichita City Council member Michael O’Donnell on government compliance make no sense.
In regard to clean water in the city, O’Donnell stated that the Environmental Protection Agency should “stay out of our business” and the city should make the EPA as inconsequential as possible (“City tries to scrape past on clean water,” Nov. 23 Eagle). “We need to do absolutely the most minimum amount of work we can,” he said.
However, when it comes to allowing guns in most city-owned buildings, O’Donnell stated: “Some people wanted to be out of compliance with the state and U.S. Constitution. That’s not my style” (Dec. 21 Eagle).
What is his style? Conformity or nonconformity?
So to stay in style and compliance with O’Donnell, we shall, from this day forward, secure the borders of A. Price Woodard Park with a well-regulated militia on the shores of the minimally monitored Arkansas River.
JOE RENFRO
Wichita
Open invitation
Rather than make a business safer, which I am sure was the intent, a “no-guns” sign is an open invitation for a criminal (who by definition does not care about the sign). Also, if there is a nut job with a lust for blood, glory or headlines, he will want a guaranteed gun-free environment to do his evil deed.
Businesses should advertise for and welcome the legally armed conceal-carry citizen in their establishments. These citizens are more law-abiding than the police and less likely to commit a crime than the average American.
I am not trigger-happy, and I pray I never have to touch my gun except to put it on the nightstand. The odds may be a million to one against ever needing a weapon. But as the old adage states, it is so much better to have it and not need it than vice versa.
The Eagle’s “crime in your neighborhood” page tells me it’s good to be prepared, because there are some bad guys about.
JIM KEENE
Wichita
Wrong worry
The thesis of “Schools worry as more parents opt out of vaccinations for kids” (Dec. 6 Eagle) was not supported by the references provided, and the sources were more contradictory than supportive.
For example, Kansas epidemiologist Charlie Hunt said that the Kansas data on vaccination simply was not “reliable enough to assess a trend.” He also said that vaccination rates in Kansas schools remain high overall – between 85 and 90 percent after the first month of school. It sure didn’t sound like he was worried.
Kathy Hubka, coordinator of health services for USD 259, said the primary concern of school nurses isn’t families that opt out of vaccinations but the hundreds, often thousands, each year that just don’t get their children to a clinic for the required shots. So if the Wichita schools aren’t worried about exemptions, which schools are?
The article said that only 119 Wichita students had opted out of vaccinations this year. If state trends are similar for Wichita, 5,000 to 7,500 students in Wichita are likely not up-to-date on vaccinations.
Rather than worrying about the one student out of 500 who has an exemption, the far more significant problem is the more than one out 10 students who simply are not fully vaccinated.
FRED DOPPS
Wichita
See exhibit
If a picture says 1,000 words, then the “A Child’s View From Gaza” art exhibit at the Peace and Social Justice Center, 1407 N. Topeka, has more than 20,000 words to say about how the Israeli occupation of Gaza affects children imprisoned in this tiny, congested strip of land.
One drawing says volumes about who is behind the horrific destruction. It shows a rocket with the red, white and blue of the American flag on its frame and Israeli stars of David on its fins exploding in front of a home, leaving blood and a dismembered body in plain sight of a mother and her child.
U.S. tax money supports this war on Palestinians in Gaza, the land that Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus must have traveled through to escape King Herod’s wrath more than 2,000 years ago. I urge you to join me in asking Congress to stop aiding Israel in its inhumane occupation of Palestinian lands.
I also encourage everyone to call 316-263-5886 to make an appointment for your family or group to see the art exhibit before its final day here on Friday.
SUSAN I. MILLER
Hesston
