Letters to the Editor (Nov. 15)

Listen to those against Tyson

Tyson is a company with a long history of air and groundwater pollution, animal cruelty, and low-wage jobs with dangerous working conditions.

To put it bluntly, I do not want this plant to come here.

I see no real benefit to our population. Tyson will, of course, try to put a positive spin on this plant, but we would be naive to think that our community will avoid the overwhelmingly negative effects.

There is a large and determined movement in this area of the state, and we say no to Tyson.

Tyson would be boost to economy

I read with interest your Sunday article on the prospective Tyson chicken processing plant in Sedgwick County. It is my hope that Tyson will find our county an excellent site to bring 1,600 jobs and a payroll of more than $50 million.

I spent 30 years in a variety of sales and operations management rolls for Tyson’s competitor, Cargill, one of our county’s largest private employers. While managing a beef processing plant for Cargill 70 miles south of Amarillo, Texas, I saw first hand the impact of a similar investment on the region’s economy.

The Eagle touched on a few examples of the variety of jobs that would be included in a Tyson plant. Management jobs in accounting, human resources, engineering, and project management are natural needs. Food processing plants constantly look at process improvement. Supervisory roles that could initially bring professionals to the area, would also create steps of growth for workers who start in the processing areas.

A healthy economy offers a variety of job types. I hope that Sedgwick County is selected for the Tyson investment. Our community would be healthier for it.

Tyson creates many concerns

It is incomprehensible that a county as large and as stable as Sedgwick County would consider the downfalls that a Tyson chicken plant would bring as needed change. As a long-term resident of Clearwater, the introduction of this plant or any similar plant is not acceptable. You are all aware of the facts that show this would be a tremendous detriment to the health and well-being of this community.

We want to know, who is going to pay to:

▪ Annex the surrounding cities into a public water supply when the wells run dry and offset our cost of water. Wells have already run dry in Clearwater. City water is not preferred.

▪ Monitor my well for signs of contamination while it does produce water?

▪ Offset the market value of our home when the value decreases substantially.

Why would you even consider an entity that comes with such negative impact? Tyson has a record of breaching government regulations, and then easily paying minimal fines. That means the fines are not harsh enough. These fines should be extreme and then double every time there is such an event with a large portion being distributed throughout the community dealing with the fallout.

Rich get richer under GOP plan

The current condition of income inequality, with a small percentage of individuals and corporations controlling a majority our country’s wealth, has had a corrosive effect on our democratic process.

The Republican tax proposal, crafted in secret without any moderating consultations with Democrats, will only serve to make the rich richer at the expense of the majority of Americans, and will balloon the national deficit astronomically, increasing this concentration of wealth.

The irony is that it is being initiated by a party claiming to focus on physical responsibility, whose economic “trickle down theory” has failed in the past to produce more jobs and stimulate economic growth. Like in Kansas, due to lack of income, the result will be an assault on social programs: Education, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, among others, will be on the chopping block. An untrustworthy president will tell us, in 4-year-old terms, that the results will be wonderful when they will be horrible.

As exemplified by the recent discovery of offshore havens, corporations and the super rich are already paying less or no taxes than the average working American, yet their voices will be heard at the expense of the rest of we Americans who will become more impoverished along with our democracy.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 4:27 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Nov. 15)."