Letters to the Editor (Jan. 7)

Change restaurant’s theme

I was disheartened to see that another “Hooters-type” restaurant is going up in Wichita, this one located where the former Granite City Brewery was at NewMarket Square. The two men doing so are holding a contest on Facebook to choose a name for it, with some of the suggestions including crude references to women’s body parts. I’m glad that the owners recognize that the Millennial generation is “much more sensitive to sexual nuances” than those in the past. I only wish that they would be as sensitive.

Women are finally speaking up against the sexual harassment that has plagued them for too many years. They’re tired of being referred to as objects, and restaurants such as these only encourage it. While men are being told not to treat women this way at work, when they go to “Hooters-type” restaurants, all that talk is rendered meaningless.

I ask not only these two men, but all owners of restaurants like these in town to consider the damage their businesses are doing to women as a whole, and either change their “formula” to something that creates an atmosphere of respect, or shut their doors.

Not in this environment

Nick Nichols, Abdul Arif and their partners need to take their nasty restaurant idea and leave town. Good grief, we are in the midst of men finally being called out when they behave like goons and gropers. Where have these two been? “Local brews with views” my foot.

Schools becoming a scapegoat

The letter writer of “The real crisis in Education” said only 29 percent of Kansas students taking the 2017 ACT were considered college ready. Over a century ago, the high school graduation rate was only about 3 percent and didn’t reach 50 percent until 1950.

Until the GI Bill was implemented, only 20 percent of the high school graduates went on to college. No education was provided for those with disabilities. African Americans were required to attend substandard schools. Programs that are now common in schools were nonexistent in “the good old days.”

Today, the call for more accountability and less spending is driving teachers out of the profession. The often unfair attitudes toward our schools is discouraging to those who might potentially be good teachers. Schools are a reflection of the greater society. Perhaps it’s time to quit using our schools as a collective scapegoat for what ails our country today.

Sadness all over in shooting

I am grief-filled and compassionate for the Finch family, and heart-torn for the officer whose shot killed young Andrew. I’m distressed and disturbed for our local police force and leaders, first responders and 911 personnel.

Technology seems to have trumped reason and the ability of our laws and policies put into place to preserve and protect us. A convenient possible scapegoat will soon arrive for ultimate scrutiny that hopes to provide justice while the real perpetrator seems to be as gone as drifting fog by the sea shore.

Blame, shame at every turn, more than enough to go around. Why shoot to kill? I may be naive, but surely every gun holder could be under restraint to use the least force possible, to do the least harm. Why shoot to kill?

I grieve for us all, near and far, while God weeps.

Shooting was preventable

How many times does this have to happen? To prevent being shot by police, put your hands up and leave them up until told otherwise. It’s the law and to break it risks getting shot.

Choosing obedience over defiance is called self-defense by all involved. Choose life.

Get nomination going again

The approval of Gov. Sam Brownback as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom should be expedited. His approval will serve as recognition of his long public service. It will also create very favorable kinetics.

Challenging the good of cultural diversity

The notion that cultural diversity necessarily makes us stronger or better is simply not true. In general, the more homogeneous a society, the better things tend to work.

Like socialism, cultural diversity is a talking point of the progressive left.

If you want proof, take a look at what this failed concept has done to western Europe.

By contrast, Japan and eastern Europe have taken the best of western culture and discarded the liberal baggage to produced more stable, citizen-friendly societies.

Executing the order

Imagine that you are a B-52 crewman — pilot, co-pilot, bombardier-navigator or gunner. Tasked to climb into that darkened ship, full of sharp aluminum angles and stiff blast curtains and dimly lit instrument arrays, to carry out your commander’s orders: to deliver Armageddon onto the guilty and the innocent, soldiers and civilians, all alike. At great peril of your life — and your immortal soul as well.

Now imagine that your commander is bragging, via tweets, about the size of his button.

This story was originally published January 7, 2018 at 5:11 AM with the headline "Letters to the Editor (Jan. 7)."