Letters: Readers discuss KC’s Auschwitz exhibit, support for Garrett, tolls on US 69
Learn from this
As the exhibit “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” opens in Kansas City, memories haunt this Holocaust survivor. (June 13, 20A, “Auschwitz exhibit can cure you of dumb and deeply hurtful Nazi comparisons”) Its debut in June was a timely reminder.
I traveled to Auschwitz in June 1979 with fellow members of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust. I remember the infamous entrance with the sign reading, “Arbeit macht frei,” to deceive the prisoners that they were entering a work camp.
Although people must go to Auschwitz, Auschwitz must go to the people. Kansas City’s Elizabeth Nussbaum survived Auschwitz, the world’s largest cemetery where there are no tombstones. She is right that the exhibit or traveling to Auschwitz could never impart the day-to-day horror of a Nazi concentration camp. People did nothing to oppose the hell of the gas chambers sending millions of souls up in smoke. Elie Wiesel said this was the end of humanity.
It wasn’t long ago, and now that the exhibit is in Kansas City, it is definitely not far away. America is plagued by hatred, so this serves as a warning: Don’t let it happen again.
- Steven A. Ludsin, East Hampton, New York
Add it all up
Something is wrong with somebody’s math. Federal and Kansas gas tax rates come to 42.4 cents per gallon. If your car gets 21 miles per gallon, the cost per mile is 2 cents. Our leaders are recommending we build toll lanes on U.S. 69, where we would pay between 25 cents and 32 cents per mile, because it is more cost effective. (June 16, 6A, “Overland Park business leaders push for new highway toll lanes”) The gas tax pays for most of the roads, so there is no reason toll lanes should cost 10 to 20 times more.
The Kansas Legislature needs to repay the $2 billion it has transferred from the highway fund and forget the toll road.
- William Klinkenberg, Lenexa
Stand by Garrett
The Star’s June 17 editorial, “Police board departure is a chance for KC’s community” (8A) could not be more inaccurate and ill-informed. I have known and worked with Nathan Garrett for 11 years. He is a former police officer, former FBI agent and former U.S. attorney who has done pro bono legal work for individuals who could not afford a defense.
During his time on the police board, he spent countless uncompensated hours devoted to helping Kansas City. Moreover, Garrett spent many sleepless nights in June 2020 trying to achieve one objective: to minimize the violence and injuries occurring in our city.
To say that “Garrett will not be missed” is inaccurate. To state that “Kansas City set a record for homicides during Garrett’s tenure” creates an inference that demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of data, cause and effect. Almost every urban area in the United States set homicide records during the same period. Was Nathan Garrett on the police boards of all those cities?
No, just one, and Kansas City has lost one of its greatest resources and advocates with Garrett’s resignation.
- Steve Browne, Leawood
Invest in US
President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan is an investment in this country and its people. Donald Trump’s tax cut was a giveaway that mostly benefited the wealthiest Americans.
We have busied ourselves with petty politics, allowing important pieces of a great society to decay. The world has caught up and now is passing us. Congress must support the future economic health and welfare of the country and all its citizens by voting for a comprehensive infrastructure plan.
- Edward Stine, Prairie Village
