Letters to the editor (Nov. 2, 2018)

Vote matters

Your vote is your voice! Democracy depends on citizens engaging in the process. Complaining or not voting as a “protest” doesn’t work. If you think politicians don’t listen, remember that when you vote is when they do hear you.

Learn about the candidates. Read the newspaper. Find your polling place and information about candidates at kansas.com/politics or VOTE411.org.

You can can go to any early voting site. For locations, check kansas.com, lwvwichita.org or call the election office for info. On Election Day, November 6, you should go to your assigned polling place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Take a government issued photo ID to the polls. Persons age 65 or older may use an expired photo ID. Students may use their school ID.

Provisional ballots: if you have trouble at the polls, ask for a provisional ballot, submit an updated voter registration form, and follow up with your County Election Office to solve the problem within three days.

Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 6 or hand carried by the voter to the election office or polling place — the ballot must be in the sealed, signed envelope.

Your vote matters.

Milestone

As executive director of Project Access, I want to publicly thank the Wichita medical community for helping Project Access reach a major milestone: $200 million in donated care since our program began 19 years ago.

Local physicians, hospitals, laboratories, dentists and others generously donate care to uninsured Sedgwick County residents, which Project Access coordinates. This care is for medical conditions beyond the scope of community clinics or a single provider’s office, including cancer, diabetes, injury and heart disease.

The $200 million milestone is a testament to how much they care about our community.

I also want to thank the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County and United Way of the Plains, as well as several foundations and individual donors, for their ongoing support of Project Access.

Drug problems

Getting addicts to treatment is just a first step. Today it is meth, yesterday it was crack, tomorrow it will be something else. We can not solve by going after the dealers. This is a capitalist society, where there is demand there will always be a supply. Getting addicts into treatment, helps clean up the mess, but will not stop the mess from being created. We must find what is the hole in these people's lives that they are trying to fill with drugs. What as a society we are failing to do. It means we must exam our own behaviors, and how we contribute to that hole. It is our failure to do so that allows the drug problem to continue.

Sports and life

Statistics prove that the upper divisions of volleyball championships go to schools whose students spend more time and money on developing their skills. These schools are either private or suburban.

Look at the facts since 2000. Through the 4A DII (for five years), 4A, 5A and 6A classifications, private schools have won twenty-nine state championships, suburban schools have won twenty-three, and schools outside urban areas have won ten. Some of those ten include Clay Center, Wamego, Eudora, McPherson and Goodland — and Manhattan and Santa Fe Trail with two championships each.

Northeast Kansas has dominated, with the Kansas City and Topeka area winning 44 of the 62 possible championships. Furthermore, if you add all suburbs and private schools, the number runs to 52 of the 62. Parents in private and suburban schools have the ability to provide their children with plenty of opportunity to develop their skills, and although the hallways of Wichita’s North, South, East, West and Southeast certainly have the athletes to compete and win at the state level, many of their parents can’t afford to provide that opportunity. In conclusion, once again, sport imitates life.