Letters on Cowley bridges, religion, car lecture

Bridges serve real, aesthetic purposes

Thanks to The Eagle for including pictures and local county contact information in the article about the bridges of Cowley County (“Bridge bill points to political tactics,” Jan. 20 Insight). When reading the article, it would be easy to get lost in the political aspects and lose sight of the value of the bridges, both historical and practical.

The spark that reignited interest in the century-old stone bridges was simply a dad and his young son seeking healing after a terrible traffic accident by traveling the slower and less-populated rural roads of Cowley County. Those travels turned into journeys to and explorations of the stone bridges. After the drives came pen-and-ink drawings of the various bridges and their bucolic surroundings, and interest from community members grew as they viewed these drawings.

This interest and enthusiasm drove consideration of how to best share these local and historic bridges without infringing on surrounding landowner property rights or their goodwill. Thus, the bridge tours sponsored by the Arkansas City Area Arts Council came about. About 2,000 people would tour Cowley County and its bridges those next few years, including stops in Cambridge for Becky and John Conway’s authentic open-air chuckwagon dinners and a dessert stop at the Dexter candy factory. Now Cowley First and the Winfield and Arkansas City chambers of commerce have taken up the torch, along with other interested locals.

In and of themselves, these stone bridges are nonpolitical, and this designation is not just symbolic. These bridges are a treasure for Kansas and Cowley County as they serve real and aesthetic purposes.

Religion to blame

Donald Trump recently attempted to quote the Bible to appease Christian voters. As an atheist, I feel that religion is the cause of most of the suffering on this planet. It is the cause of decapitations in the Middle East and the butchering of homosexuals in Africa. Its teachings make some people believe that contraception is a sin, thus leading to the fast spread of the AIDS virus. It leads to teen pregnancy based on a lack of sex education. Religion also causes some to not believe in global warming.

The list goes on and on. It seems to me that religion is detrimental to the progression of the human species.

Trump said, “Where the spirit of the lord is, there is liberty.” I don’t agree with that statement.

I think bad people are bad people no matter what they believe in. In America we have freedom of religion, and I’m happy to have that freedom, but religion does not meld well with government.

Car lecture was great

I recently attended one of the Lunchtime Lectures at Botanica. Mike Berry, who writes for The Eagle’s Wichita on Wheels section, was the featured speaker.

Berry spoke about the car enthusiasts in and around Wichita. He included a slideshow presentation that contained some very interesting cars and equally interesting stories about the people “related” to the cars.

The lecture was hosted by Mitzie Hall, outreach and tour coordinator at Botanica. She even regaled us with the definition of the term “gearhead.” Back in the 1950s and ’60s – watching my dad do oil changes and chassis lubes, adjust brakes and pack bearings (cars were high maintenance then) – I had no idea that I was a gearhead-to-be.

Hall said that attendance was roughly double that of typical attendance numbers, and crowd participation was exceptionally lively. The slideshow had a car for all, from the Wienermobile to my favorite, the great Bob Cassil’s white ’57 fuel-injected Chevy. It took me back to circa 1964, as a 14-year-old kid hanging on the fence at M-N Raceway (now Kansas International Dragway), watching the ’57s’ high, high rpm launches, then power-shifting the four-speed.

The lecture brought back fond memories and was a great time – a steal for $6 or $7.

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Letters on Cowley bridges, religion, car lecture."