To the editor:

My wife, Ann Marshall-Levine, was superintendent of Kansas Neurological Institute for about eight years some time in the 1980s when the facility was larger than it is today. In her memory and on behalf of the remaining severely impacted residents, I urge Gov. Brownback to reconsider his budget proposal to close the facility.

On KNI’s 50th birthday, Ann and I revisited the remaining residents in their rooms in each of the remaining open buildings. Before any further action is taken, the governor ought to do the same. Speak with each resident. Tell them they will have to leave the protection of their room, the only home they know, tell them you can no longer feed them, protect them and can no longer allow them to work in the job programs that KNI has worked hard to provide for them. Tell them that the caring and loving KNI staff can no longer be with them to offer love and caring.

Gov. Parkinson had a different proposal that would leave KNI in place for at least three years. Perhaps that is an intermediate solution.

If, after talking with each of the residents, Gov. Brownback decides to close KNI he will at least be aware of what he does.