Letters on turnpike guardrails, zoo funding, Planned Parenthood, assisted suicide, train horns

Install guardrails along turnpike

On July 10 my wife and I were traveling northbound on I-35, just south of Emporia, near mile marker 118. We were moments behind Zachary Clark and his untimely passing (“I-35 motorists helpless as flood swallowed car, driver,” July 17 Eagle).

The rains were torrential, visibility was bad, and water was on the highway. It was dangerous, and short of millions of dollars and design time expended, there is likely no way to keep the water off this low area in the highway.

However, there was, and is, a very cost-effective means by which to save lives: a guardrail. There is no guardrail at the point where Clark perished. Had a guardrail been installed (and there is no reason one shouldn’t have been after the 2003 tragedy), Clark’s vehicle would still have hydroplaned, but it would have stayed on the highway and he likely would be alive today.

I implore the Kansas Turnpike Authority to take action in quickly installing such a guardrail, so such a preventable loss doesn’t occur during the next strong rain.

Broken promises

The Sedgwick County Commission voted recently to support the last year of the subsidy for Southwest Airlines (July 9 Eagle). Commissioner Karl Peterjohn voted for the subsidy, saying, “We made an agreement. I think we need to stand by and complete it.”

So the county is helping a private business, not based in Wichita, to not lose money, but it won’t stand by an agreement to help fund the new elephant exhibit with its own Sedgwick County Zoo (“Less money for zoo, museum,” July 15 Eagle)?

The zoo is the biggest tourist attraction in Kansas, bringing people – and their money – into our metropolitan area. Completing the elephant exhibit will bring more people here with an even bigger economic impact on the area.

Something is terribly wrong with this picture. We should stand by all our agreements. Perhaps it’s time to start a movement to recall one or two or three county commissioners.

Barbaric practice

I have read about Planned Parenthood reportedly selling fetal body parts and organs (July 16 Eagle). I am horrified and enraged that this barbaric practice is allowed to continue in what was once a God-fearing nation.

The doctor on the recently released video was drinking wine and eating, and discussing selling organs of God’s creation as if selling a used car. She freely admitted she adjusted the abortion technique to harvest the organs, not once mentioning the “health” of the woman involved. Planned Parenthood can spin this anyway it wishes, but the health and safety of women are not its primary concern.

I watched the YouTube video of the president of Planned Parenthood trying to explain how what was being done was both legal and safe for women. I would beg to differ. Anyone can look up the website Abortiondocs.org and read about the women who have been injured by abortion. Planned Parenthood may offer other services, but the primary service is abortion, and making money.

I’m sure we can all agree, whether we are pro-choice or pro-life, that this practice is abhorrent.

Individual choice

As more states endorse physician-assisted suicide, society needs to have a frank and open discussion about the concept (July 14 Eagle). A central part of that discussion should concern the wishes of the individual, if those are unambiguous.

The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “The greatest good … which can be done for a being, greater than anything else that one can do for it, is to be truly free.” Depending on your convictions, that could include to be free of the pain and suffering of a terminal condition. Kierkegaard put it another way when he said the quality is in the choosing.

Silence train horns

The city needs to develop a quiet zone program to address train horn noise near neighborhoods.

Quiet zones are segments of railroad lines where train crews are exempt from sounding the horn at grade crossings. The program will enhance crossing safety while improving the quality of life for those neighborhoods adjacent to railroad corridor. This rule came into effect in 2005 through the Federal Railroad Administration.

When Cudahy Packing Co. was one of the top employers in the north end of Wichita, a lot of people chose to live within walking distance to the plant. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church is at 23rd Street North and Market, one block from the tracks. Schools are also in the neighborhood.

For those of you who don’t have to put up with this noise: Just imagine a semi truck going through your neighborhood around midnight, sounding its horn about 10 times, and doing this every hour.

I was at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Nomar International Market, and even then we were interrupted by all the train horns. Help us in developing a quiet zone program so this area can prosper, as the city envisioned.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on turnpike guardrails, zoo funding, Planned Parenthood, assisted suicide, train horns."