Manage Delivery
Ending Toy Run is disappointing
It was disappointing to learn that the motorcycle parade of the Wichita Toy Run is going away (July 10 Eagle).
Since I first learned about the Toy Run, I have attended as an observer and supporter, and I have family, friends and professional acquaintances who ride in the run. I’m sorry there was a death or any injuries; but in those types of activities, accidents do occur.
I know a lot of bikers who have been talking about how disappointed they are. There are toy runs in other towns, even small ones, so maybe the bikers can get together and go to another city. Children anywhere can use the toys, but they should stay in the area.
N.R. WILLIAMS
Haysville
Trauma ignored
“Andover teen killed in two-car crash” (July 6 Eagle) carefully reported on the tragic accident at Butler County Road and K-254 but only expanded on one aspect – the death of the teenager.
Missed was the horror the octogenarian couple experienced in being involved in the unavoidable death of a young person. They not only were injured themselves but may feel some sense of responsibility, however wrongly, in such a tragic death.
Senior citizens are constantly under fire because some of our fellow seniors are involved in driving errors, suffer ineptness in public situations and, as an age group, deplete the economy through costly medical care.
This couple did not invite this trauma, nor were they responsible for it, but their trauma has been ignored.
BOB SIMISON
Newton
Didn’t disrespect
“Show respect” (July 8 Letters to the Editor) said that Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Wichita, needed to stop using “code words” and to stop disrespecting the president. I reread Pompeo’s commentary regarding Obamacare (July 1 Opinion). If only President Obama would be so respectful of Congress as Pompeo was of Obama.
There was not a single personal attack in the entire commentary critiquing the president’s health care law. There was not a single slight against the president personally, nor any disrespect to the office he holds.
Not only was all of Pompeo’s commentary civil, it offered more than just criticism. Pompeo offered a clear alternative vision for health care in America. Pompeo respectfully cited options to the president’s health care plan, commonly known as Obamacare.
EVELYN WEDEL
Wichita
Distorted claims
Rep. Mike Pompeo. R-Wichita, distorted a number of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Repeal, replace health care law,” July 1 Opinion).
One example: He stated that the health care law (which he referred to using the pejorative term “Obamacare”) “places huge and burdensome mandates on employers, raising the cost of new employees significantly, effectively stopping employers from hiring, and dragging down the rest of our economy.” To begin with, employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempted. Furthermore, according to a Department of Health and Human Services estimate, fewer than 2 percent of large American employers will be subject to assessments for not complying with the act.
Also, Pompeo said that the act took $500 billion from Medicare. Most of that is stopping overpayments to the private Medicare Advantage plans, which currently cost about 13 percent more than the original Medicare plan.
I suggest that anyone who is interested in undistorted information check with one or more of the government websites on the Affordable Care Act or simply call the office of Sandy Praeger, Kansas insurance commissioner.
CAROL M. WEBB
Wichita
No fluoridation
If some people believe that fluoride improves teeth, let them get it in toothpaste. Don’t make us all suffer by putting more in the drinking water than what is already there naturally.
CHARLES W. McCONNELL
Rose Hill
Don’t condemn all
As an ordained minister in the Christian Church, I have to respond to a letter that condemned all Christians for the actions of some (“Group’s actions,” June 28 Letters to the Editor). The Kansas Family Policy Council does not represent me in my belief and practice of the Christian faith. Its efforts to repeal city ordinances outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation are completely repugnant to me.
As a practicing Christian, I attempt to live not only by the Golden Rule that the letter writer mentioned but also by the greatest commandments shared by Jesus: loving God with all your heart, soul and mind, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Because of this instruction and the loving and compassionate witness of Jesus, I am 100 percent supportive of the equality ordinances passed by a few cities around Kansas extending to gay people protection from housing and job discrimination.
I urge people not to judge all of Christianity by the actions of some. Not all people claiming the Christian faith think and behave this way.
I would like to affirm the letter writer in the statement that “actions speak much louder than words.” The many Christians who believe in equality are remiss in not banding together to work to pass and keep city ordinances affirming equal rights for gay people. Believing in equality for all people and stating it are not enough.
LEIGH CARLSON BURGESS
Wichita
