Letters on ‘Minnesota Guys,’ booing Brownback, Sheril Logan, NRA lunacy, Shocker front page

Hold City Council accountable

Now that the “Minnesota Guys” are facing felony charges for fraud related to downtown redevelopment (Feb. 24 Eagle), will Wichita City Council members who supported them also be held accountable?

I remember developers Michael Elzufon and David Lundberg speaking at a Wichita Independent Business Association luncheon in 2004. They boasted that they purchased their first building in downtown Wichita for 89 cents per square foot and that after rehabilitation costs they were selling the same space for $200 per square foot.

Like many in the crowd, I was pleased to see a privately driven, market-based solution to downtown redevelopment. I asked them whether they would be asking for taxpayer incentive programs to make these projects work. Their answer was an emphatic “no.”

It didn’t take long for the city of Wichita’s economic development staff to begin working on millions of dollars in incentive programs that a majority of our City Council members and the mayor approved. Citizens who questioned the incentives before the City Council were put in our place and told that we did not understand the need for public incentives for downtown redevelopment to occur, and we were often labeled in newspaper editorials as the usual “anti-tax” group opposed to progress.

It will be interesting to see whether Wichita voters re-elect the City Council members who were in office during this time period, or vote them out of office in the April 7 municipal election.

Booing Brownback

Did Gov. Sam Brownback get booed because of his fashion sense or because of his politics at the NCAA Tournament game in Omaha Sunday (March 24 Eagle)? I submit Brownback was booed because of his fashion choice of politics.

Brownback has chosen to attack those who deviate from long-dead Mayberry stereotype and “Leave It to Beaver” homogeneity. Ask the gay community.

Brownback also has chosen to attack our children’s future by undermining teachers and education.

This session alone, the Legislature is trying to manipulate the judicial system; is endangering farmers, pensions and transportation; and is stymieng Medicaid expansion and the overall economic health of the state.

As a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy, Type 1 diabetes and a tube in my throat to breathe, I spent 2013 tangling with the state just to stay alive. What I learned is that Kansas is being hijacked by hypocrites and bullied by bureaucrats. Let me cite just one example: Medicaid expansion.

Nearly 3 of 4 Kansans support expanding KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Independent studies show that without Medicaid expansion, Kansas loses $2.2 billion in federal funds between 2016 and 2020. And up to 144,000 low-income, elderly and disabled Kansans will be denied health insurance by 2017.

Logan a treasure

Though Wichita mayoral candidates are getting most of the attention, I wish to bring attention to the Wichita school board. I strongly recommend Sheril Logan in the at-large race.

For the past several years I have had the great privilege to work with Logan. I have experienced how capable, knowledgeable and compassionate she is. She has been an educator for more than 40 years. She has been a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent of our school district. Currently, she is the president of the school board.

I feel extremely comfortable in recommending her to those who have not met her and may not be aware of this treasure in our community. I feel that with her on the school board, the best interest of our children and grandchildren are well-represented. She has the type of leadership we need.

NRA lunacy

I have never advanced the notion to ban guns from mentally stable, responsible non-felon citizens. But guns are deadly weapons, and there should be some reasonable restrictions on who owns them, how they are purchased and where they should be taken and used.

In my opinion, examples of places guns should never be taken are: bars, because alcohol tends to reduce impulse control, clouds reasoning and distorts emotions; courthouses; schools and institutions of higher learning; and the workplace, unless it is a gun store or a gun range.

The National Rifle Association has professed that guns not be possessed by felons or mentally ill or unstable people, yet it insists that gun-show sales be excluded from background checks. How would a determination be made as to whether or not a buyer at a gun show falls into these categories without background checks?

There seems to be more value placed on the narcissistic desire for guns than on responsible use of them. This lunacy emanates from the NRA.

It’s my understanding that an overwhelming number of people in this country would like to have this irresponsible trend turned around. If they really feel this way, why don’t they vote? Vote for courageous senators, congressmen and a president who will pledge to make the changes necessary to save lives.

Got it right

The Eagle got it right with Monday’s front page. Any topic (sports included) that brings as much joy, happiness, smiles and pride to our city as the Shockers’ win on Sunday absolutely belongs on the front page.

This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on ‘Minnesota Guys,’ booing Brownback, Sheril Logan, NRA lunacy, Shocker front page."