To the editor:

In his excellent Saturday Column (Journal-World, June 2) the editor muses “: who and where are Kansas’ leaders?” Mr. Editor, they are not gone, at least not all of them yet. A better question might be, where are the troops?

Any military, business or political strategist knows full well that a general or leader will not lead to advance a cause lacking adequate support. Judging by recent election results, the majority of Kansas voters stay away from the polls on any given election day. Where is the support for the leaders?

Let’s start at home. In the last major election for City Commission and school board, the people who lead the city, only 19 percent of qualified voters went to the polls. That is only one in five. That’s like, who cares! Where are the voters (troops)? No voters, no leaders.

Lawrence residents, as a whole, must decide whether we will survive or just be an ideological village with a quaint downtown. We can’t have a new library with a million-dollar shortfall in the budget. We can’t realize our wants if we run off the likes of Wal-Mart and the distribution center that went to Ottawa, because they create jobs. Work, in turn, creates revenue to fuel the “want list.”

Get real Lawrence. Stop letting the 19 percent vocal minority run the city. With your support, more leaders will emerge. Then there will be more than the lone one on our current City Commission.

William G. Sublette,

Lawrence