Letters to the Editor (Nov. 20)

Reasons to not want Tyson

I would like to strongly oppose the placement of a Tyson chicken plant in Sedgwick County.

I am very proud of the Clearwater City Council, which on Tuesday, after listening to the voices of the people, agreed to draft a resolution against locating Tyson in Sedgwick County. Arguments included water usage, pollution both of our air and groundwater, Tyson’s repeated disregard of environmental, employment discrimination and safety violation laws, and others.

These are all good reasons to oppose the placement of a Tyson plant in Sedgwick County, but I’d like to add my own reason.

I have been the lone physician in Clearwater for the past 38 years. I am a lifelong asthmatic and after relocating from New Jersey in 1979, away from the air pollution, my asthma has stabilized with the use of daily medications. I am allergic to feathers and unable to sleep on a feather pillow without an asthma attack. If this plant is built in my neighborhood, I will be forced to move from the community I have loved and cared for, leaving Clearwater without a physician.

Go non-partisan with tax reform

Rep. Ron Estes mailed us a card with options for tax reform. Unfortunately, his options are too simplistic. Although some of us pull out our hair trying to understand how to complete our income tax forms, we understand that tax reform calls for more attention to the entire taxing formulas.

Here in Kansas, we saw that reducing or eliminating income tax from certain businesses caused a drastic decrease in the state budget. At the same time, we had tax increases on property and sales, which actually drove up the amount paid by lower-income people.

Just looking a reforming income tax is only part of the puzzle. And asking people to make generalized choices in that column only obscures the need to look at the whole picture. Although I would hope Congress would provide leadership in balancing the entire tax structure, I think we are more likely to get some reasonable alternatives by choosing a non-partisan group of accountants to examine our fiscal history and study other countries who have a stable tax/service ratio.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 4:38 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Nov. 20)."