Block court changes

Kansans, if you don’t want Phill Kline to be appointed to the Kansas supreme or appeals court, and I am pretty sure you don’t, tell your representative and senator to leave the procedure alone. Our Legislature won’t get to tax or budget issues until the end of the session.

But they know best how to “fix” the judiciary so they’ll start with that. Don’t think it can’t happen.

It can, and it will. Mr. Kline’s actions have cost Kansas plenty in monetary settlements and credibility, and he is exactly who lawmakers and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback have in mind for the court.

Brian Gerrity

Unincorporated county

Steve Rose column

I was shocked to read Steve Rose’s Jan. 9 defense of Kevin Yoder’s “No” vote on the “fiscal cliff” deal. It starts with the headline, “Yoder’s vote on fiscal cliff was one that really didn’t matter.”

What? Polls indicate the federal debt, budget, spending and taxes constitute the most important issues facing our nation. How can our congressional representative’s vote not matter?

If Mr. Rose is correct that Mr. Yoder voted “no” only out of political considerations — and would have voted “yes” if his vote really counted — his vote reflects an astounding lack of political leadership. We elect our representatives to vote as they see best for our country, not for their political security, and to lead, not to fear political challenge.

We should expect Mr. Yoder to consider the merits of the matter and to vote accordingly. This “no” vote is another indication that Mr. Yoder votes primarily for political expediency; not based on his view of sound policy, thus perpetuating a disconcerting practice of his that dates to his earliest days in the Kansas Legislature.

The Bob Unell cartoon on the next page captured the essence of Mr. Yoder’s vote more accurately — political “cowardice.”

Ken Landau

Overland Park

Chickens roosting

The Overland Park Council had the good sense to deny a permit to keep chickens in the city, stating that farm animals belong on a farm. Our Roeland Park Council was not so wise, succumbing to a wave of green chic and catering to a tiny minority who do not care if property values decline.

It is interesting to note that the applicant in Overland Park had been violating the law for some months and asked for the permit after she got caught. The person who started the whole farm animal mess in Roeland Park was also an ordinance violator who was caught.

The Roeland Park Council ignored the clean hands doctrine: Those seeking equity must approach the court with clean hands.

Scott Gregory

(Former Roeland Park

City Councilman)

Roeland Park

Living without fear

The logic some gun owners give to resist gun controls escapes me. One says people kill, not guns and goes on to give examples of murder weapons, including smothering by a plastic bag.

Tell that one to the parents of the 20 children killed at Newtown, Conn. One says it is because we are the land of the free and home of the brave.

If you have to have a gun to be brave, you are not brave at all. Some say it is to prevent our country from being overthrown or our own government taking our freedoms.

So we are going to defeat the greatest military on the planet with handguns?

We can have reasonable gun control laws that still allow us to hunt and protect our homes without everyone carrying a gun and just shooting it out when we have personal differences as the National Rifle Association suggests. Some of us think we should have the right to live without fear of those carrying guns, including the right to have a meal at a restaurant without someone in the next booth accidentally shooting us.

Donald Moore

Olathe

Guns’ appeal

Guns are quite attractive, mostly to young men. Guns impart a unique feeling of power as one holds them. They are handsome to hold and generate fantasies for their use.

It is that fantasy that does not end with the holding and buying. Fondling, cocking, disassembling, reassembling, oiling, cleaning, aiming and posing before a mirror are all foreplay — and their lies the trouble — the extended vision of power.

The Supreme Court’s meaning of the Second Amendment well beyond the intention of the 1791 framers has created danger beyond rationality, but in the court’s written opinion, it also invited reasonable limitations on guns

In addition to restricting automatic and semi-automatic repeaters and multiple-round magazines; only marked sport ammo, licensed and inspected dealers and ranges, plus taxation on the ammo, powder, gun locks and the weapons themselves should be enacted to pay for these safety measures.

Most importantly, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives certified gun locks made as unbreakable as modern metallurgy and science can concoct should be required to be in place at all times until the gun and its owner are at the range or in the hunting field.

If you want to repel boarders at your home or business, memorize the gun-lock combination or wear the key around your neck like dog tags. Quick draw contests went out of style with Wyatt Earp.

The non-fantasy of 20 gun-mutilated little kids requires strong measures of retribution just to begin the rebalance toward justice for them.

Lloyd Hellman

Leawood

Changes pinch

I have been very disappointed in the Kansas Legislature in Topeka. An example is the new fishing license requirement for those of us who fall in the 65 to 74 age range.

I have enjoyed the last four years of jumping in my vehicle and going to a local lake/pond in Overland Park to fish for an hour or so without the hassle of having to have or now remembering to take my fishing license with me. Also when my grandkids visit I’d do the same.

How much revenue do the folks in Topeka believe they will glean from this recent change of law?

Dave Doerste

Overland Park