Letters to the Editor (Nov. 16)

Legislature’s sad state of affairs

I was appalled to read in Tuesday’s Eagle about our Kansas Legislature’s devious methods of passing legislation through the “Gut and Go” practice. This not only circumvents due process of our voters’ visibility and our voice in pending legislation, but is out and out fraud. It also shows that our elected legislators are not representing us but are independently promoting self-interests. As inferred in the article, the legislators are more interested in the easy way out and more interested in getting away from Topeka on time than on living up to their responsibility of representing their constituents.

In addition, the article about tax breaks that the state is not required to disclose is another travesty to Kansas residents. This allows tax breaks that are given for corporations or other entities are never given follow-up scrutiny about whether they actually benefit Kansas residents and may only benefit the pockets of the recipients of the tax breaks.

Both practices illustrate how far Kansas has come from being a quality place to live and a state with legislative integrity.

Black Storytellers Conference was wonderful

A fabulous event took place in Wichita last week and I feel honored to have attended. The Wichita Griots hosted the 35th annual National Association of Black Storytellers Conference at the Wichita Marriott from Wednesday through Sunday. More than 500 attended the opening reception on Wednesday, with 250 members registered for workshops throughout the five-day conference.

During the opening reception, there were stories shared, poems read, songs sung, music played, and drums beaten – and the youth of our community were present and involved. I find it difficult to describe the emotions I experienced while watching all age groups come together and present something so wonderful.

Thank you to the Wichita Griots, who spent the past year planning and organizing this conference – and thanks for bringing art, culture, and beauty to our city. It was amazing.

Think of residents, Tyson

My grandparents live in a possible Tyson Foods building area of 79th Street South and Tyler Road. They built their little farm up from scratch almost 50 years ago. They are now in their late 80s and are terrified that their home will be taken from them and everything they have worked for all these years will be gone.

I grew up on that farm, and I truly believe I am the man I am today because of the hard work and values we were taught and were used to maintain it. To lose this piece of my family’s history and the values they share would be absolutely devastating not only to me, but to my grandparents who have been a part of this community for decades.

I implore you to stop Tyson from building in this area.

Tyson traffic would be troublesome

The proposal for Tyson to come to Sedgwick County is of paramount interest to me because my family will be directly impacted if the site is at 71st Street South and Tyler Road. This area is within five miles of the property we purchased less than two years ago.

We have worked extremely hard to afford a property where we can step away from the city and enjoy the quiet of country living on our five-acre property. This issue directly impacts my children, our safety and our property value.

I am primarily concerned about the impacts on our health and safety. The amount of traffic from the plant not only in the 1,600 employees, but all of the trucks transporting live chickens, processed chickens and feed for the birds will impact the safety on the roads, specifically for my teenage children that will be sharing the roads. The distance for my children to drive to school was a small concern when we moved, but the roads to our home have little traffic. If Tyson comes to the proposed site, this will no longer be the case.

Fuller served school district well

Sad to see the news about Barb Fuller having to resign from the Wichita school board because she moved out of her current district. She was a wonderful advocate for education and a longtime school board member.

I will never forget all she has done for the children and teachers of Wichita. I know that even though she is not on the school board anymore, she will continue to be an advocate for children and teachers.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 4:04 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Nov. 16)."