To the editor:

“Where is the ACLU?” That question, posed by a letter writer in the May 14 Journal-World, dealt with the issue of the demands by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to install foot baths for Muslim cab drivers at Kansas City International Airport for ritual cleansing. The writer is upset that the ACLU has not interceded to maintain the separation of church and state.

It’s always risky to try to change someone’s beliefs with facts, but the facts are that according to KCI spokesman Joe McBride, this controversy was started by a false report on a widely distributed Web site. “As constructed, nothing was built for the use of any ethnic group or culture,” McBride said. There is a wash area and restroom for drivers, but it was built without input from drivers or the Islamic council. It is a nonissue fueled by inaccuracy and misdirected anger.

So, in answer to the writer’s question, the ACLU is doing what it has been doing since 1920: defending the civil liberties of all Americans and fighting to prevent any erosions of our freedoms as outlined in the Bill of Rights.

Phil Minkin, president, Douglas County American Civil Liberties Union,

Lawrence