Letters: KC readers discuss Union Cemetery dogs, US 69 toll, Jerry Moran’s good work

Basic respect

While on a recent visit to the historic Union Cemetery here in Kansas City, I had a chance to observe a blatant disrespect for the people who are buried there and for the people who have loved ones there and visit them.

Numerous people were letting their dogs run loose in the cemetery and use it as if it were a dog park and a toilet. I also noticed a few who actually had their dogs on leashes but were basically allowing the same behavior.

I realize it is an outdoor area and all, but in the short time I was there I was beginning to wonder if these people were aware of where they were. The purpose of the cemetery can be a lot of different things to different people. It is foremost a final resting place for our loved ones and a place to pay our respects to them and their memory. At Union, it can also be a history lesson about our great city.

Two things it is not: It is not a dog park. It is not a doggy toilet.

Show some respect. Please.

- Kelly Tuttle, Kansas City

Share the cost

As a Leawood resident, I travel U.S. 69 often. I would be happy to pay a toll for express lanes. (June 16, 6A, “Overland Park business leaders push for new highway toll lanes”)

When traveling with my wife in the car, we try to spot trucks, service vans and tradesmen on this highway. We exit at the 135th Street exit and try to follow trucks with Missouri plates east. More than half of these vehicles continue past State Line Road and into Missouri. We don’t know where they go from there as we turn to head to our residence.

I’m sure the Kansas Department of Transportation has, would or should make a study of these traffic patterns. Let Missourians help Overland Park and Kansas pay for this improvement.

- David McIntyre, Leawood

In his honor

Kansas has recommended that tolls pay for a lane to be added to U.S. 69 to relieve congestion. The Star noted that some people have nicknamed these “Lexus lanes.” Shouldn’t they be called “Brownback lanes,” since former Gov. Sam Brownback looted the state’s highway fund to pay for his tax cuts?

- John S. Savella Jr., Overland Park

School math

I spoke at the recent Independence School District Board of Education meeting to ask the board to be more accessible, transparent and accountable to our community.

In looking to speak to the board back in February regarding what my family believes was a lack of district support for its virtual learning program, I learned that the ISD policies for public participation and accessibility are arduous at best.

To determine whether this was out of the norm, I looked at the policies for 20 other Kansas City-area school districts. According to my calculations:

▪ Ninety percent have deadlines to request to speak the day before or the day of the meeting.

▪ Eight-five percent have deadlines the day of the meeting.

▪ Seventy-five percent have clearly listed public participation policies on direct web pages or using online board governance services.

▪ Sixty percent record their meetings.

▪ Fifty percent broadcast their meetings.

The Independence School District does none of these things. You can view the comparison chart I compiled at bit.ly/boespeakers.

This is our local, publicly elected school board. We need easy-to-find board policies that encourage public comments and engagement. We need both recorded and broadcast meetings. We need a board that is accessible, open and willing to hear from our community.

- Wendy Baird, Independence

Kudos, Sen. Moran

Thank you, Sen. Jerry Moran, for joining the bipartisan Senate group working on an infrastructure bill. (June 17, KansasCity.com, “Bipartisan infrastructure group swells to 21 senators”)

This is the way government is supposed to work.

- Lisa Benge, Leawood

Jesus’ message

As a teacher, I spent 31 years of my life looking into the faces of children. When immigrant children were intentionally separated from their parents at the U.S. Mexico border starting in 2017 and the church I was attending never mentioned them in a sermon or prayed for them at the altar, I left.

Jesus points us to the poor.

- Thomas R. Krause, Kansas City

Out of date

Well, Jackson County has done it again. As if 2019’s property reassessment fiasco wasn’t bad enough, now comes our 2021 reassessment notice with a deadline to request an informal review on or before May 31, which we received on (you guessed it) June 1.

What a way to run a government.

- David Peterson, Lee’s Summit

Make us all count

The National Popular Vote bill in the Missouri House would make every vote equal in presidential elections, guarantee the presidency to the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide and give candidates reason to campaign in all 50 states.

It would ensure that every voter, in every state, will be politically relevant in every presidential election.

- Kelley Keisch, Troy, Missouri