Dear editor,

As a concerned citizen of Humboldt, I ask this question: Why do we exclude the people who have businesses in Humboldt but reside in rural Humboldt from voting on the sales tax issue. Humboldt business owners who live outside the city limits charge and pay sales taxes same as the residents of Humboldt. As an option, why not consider anyone who pays utilities to the City of Humboldt would have a vote on the sales tax issue.

To the citizens who care about this sales tax increase, you might take notice that you have to be a registered voter to vote on the half-cent sales tax increase. If you are not registered, you have until Aug. 28 to do so.

Don Mohler,

Humboldt, Kan.

Editor’s note: Those who live in rural townships have their own taxing entities. Every registered voter in Humboldt is eligible to participate in this special election to raise money to repair the city’s streets. Ballots will be mailed mid-August and are due Sept. 11, when they will be counted.

To the editor,

This letter is to endorse Ed Bideau for representative, Kansas House, 9th District. There are two other Republican candidates for this position so this race will be decided in the August Republican primary. The other two candidates may be honorable people; I don’t know them but do want to share with you what I do know to be true about candidate Ed Bideau.

 My first memory of Ed is when he would occasionally come into a grocery store where I worked. He would have been in his early teens. I went into the Army (Vietnam) and Ed went on into high school. I was hired by the Chanute Police Department in 1968; Ed came on board as assistant county attorney in 1974. His first case, as prosecuting attorney, was one I was very much involved in and he pursued it to a successful conclusion. In 1976 he was elected Neosho County attorney and again in 1980.

 Keep in mind, in those days respect and trust were earned, not given. Ed has both trust and respect of those around him. He worked closely with the Chanute police, the Neosho County sheriff and other surrounding county/city law enforcement. We put a lot of bad guys (and some not quite as bad) behind bars. Ed went on to be elected twice as our representative to the Kansas House, all while building a successful private law practice. He has always been devoted to his family, his church, his community and for many years was chair of the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Commission. He is also my family’s attorney when legal representation or opinion is needed.

 About Ed Bideau the man: honest, trustworthy, loyal, ethical and honorable. Ed has the ability to analyze an issue from many different angles before reaching a conclusion. He has a strong moral sense of right and wrong, of justice. Having served as representative before gives him a definite advantage going in. Can he solve all the problems in Topeka? No. Can he give the best representation of the people of Allen/Neosho counties in the Kansas House, 9th District? Yes, no one better! 

Respectfully, 

Vernon A. Shultz, 

Chanute chief of police, 

Chanute, Kan.

Wichita is the fourth-largest city in the United States without fluoride in its water. A group of health-minded citizens there, calling themselves “Wichitans for Healthy Teeth,” has collected more than 2,500 signatures supporting fluoridation and continues to work. When they have at least 6,300 signatures they will take their petition to the city council.

Dr. Sara Meng, a Wichita dentist, told an AP reporter that nearly 500 Wichita dentists and health providers and about 50 state and local organizations are backing the effort. 

Given the propensity for folks on the fringe to question health science, it is not surprising that two groups, Wichitans for Pure Water and Fluoride Free Kansas, materialized to fight fluoridation there.

The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said that “everyone is entitled to his own opinions — but no one is entitled to his own set of facts.”

The fact is that fluoride in public water supplies reduces cavities in teeth and is particularly effective in reducing the cavity rate in the teeth of growing children. This is not a theory. It is a well-demonstrated fact. 

Fluoridation causes no harm to people. Many U.S. communities have fluoridated their water supplies for decades — as Iola has — and their history demonstrates that the rate of tooth decay has declined in those towns and cities without any offsetting health effects. The cost of providing the protection is too small to calculate for the amount of water a typical family consumes daily.

Some arguments exist in which there are not two sides. The value of fluoridation to dental health is one of them. Wichita should join the 21st century and give its citizens — especially its children — the benefit of modern dental science. 

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

Mitt Romney says his experience in business best qualifies him to be president. He made himself very, very rich by creating and operating Bain Capital, a company that specialized in taking over ailing businesses and nursing them back to life or allowing them to die natural, but profitable, deaths. 

The Obama campaign has focused on that claim, as it should, since it is the bedrock of Romney’s own case.

Obama has said Bain sent thousands of well-paying American jobs to China in 2000 and 2001. Romney said his name was on the Bain masthead while those jobs were shipped abroad but he was turning the company over to his partners at the time and was not responsible for the decisions made. 

Rather than dwell on the particulars of Bain Capital and its machinations, a more pertinent question is whether experience in business is the best qualification for the presidency. U.S. history doesn’t give that theory much credibility.

Herbert Hoover, whose one-term presidency in 1928-32 doomed the Republican Party for decades, may have been the most successful businessman ever to hold the office. 

For whatever combination of reasons, most of the outstanding presidents in our nation’s history gained their expertise in governing by serving in lesser governmental positions such as governorships. Others, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, gained the public fame that propelled them into the presidency in other public fields. 

Fundamental to the art of governing in a democracy is the ability to accommodate the views and convictions of others. Equally important is the ability to choose outstanding men and women to serve in the cabinet and then to work with those co-administrators in harmony. 

Captains of industry, in contrast, are by nature autocrats. They are accustomed to having their decisions carried out. They are not natural compromisers. They tend not to appoint co-workers who might become competitors for authority. When they are right, their companies succeed. When they are wrong, they are replaced and disappear, a process which happens much more abruptly in industry than can occur in the elected offices of our government.

The point is that the United States of America is not a giant corporation that can be administered as though it were IBM or Google. The skills and personal attributes that lead to business success are not transferable to the presidency. That isn’t to say that a good business man cannot become a capable governor or president. But it is to argue that making a ton of money by reorganizing sick corporations is just as likely to give a man a false sense of his ability to solve America’s problems as it is to turn him into the next Abraham Lincoln — who, incidentally, never was much of a business success.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

By any measure, Friday night’s Charley Melvin Mad Bomber Run for Your Life was a success.

More than 1,000 runners and walkers packed the Iola square at 12:26 Saturday morning to participate in its cornerstone event. 

It was a mad house. A wonderful, crazy, fun-filled night that brought families, out-of-towners and multi-generations together in good healthy fun. 

The event met its goal of surpassing the 1,000 mark of walkers and runners. Up from 800 in 2011, and 600 in 2010. If organizers keep it up, the Charley Melvin will become a significant tourism draw for southeast Kansas.

Thanks go to Thrive Allen County and Allen County Crime Stoppers for their efforts for coordinating the fourth annual Charley Melvin.

From what began as an infamous act of single-handed terrorism on Iola in 1905 has turned into a charming celebration which capitalized on the name of Charley Melvin. 

Besides the multiple venues of entertainment and activities, the biggest reward of the night was the chance to mingle with hundreds of people from throughout the county. A light breeze helped sweep away remnants of the day’s heat, leaving a beautiful night for camaraderie.

Business-wise, restaurants and bars around the square were brimming with crowds. A peek into Sidelines around 11:30 p.m. showed it packed with runners and walkers, by evidence of their race numbers affixed to their shirts.

Are their improvements to be made? Always. But not without your help. Remember, many hands make light work.

— Susan Lynn