Sound Off: Rural Recycling

I just hope that the city's decision to take over the recycling business doesn't mean that 12th and Haskell, Lonnie's, and Walmart get out of the business.

I feel sorry for the private recycling business that picked up recyclables over the years. I assume that the city take-over will put them out of business. Why the government wants to take over the private sector, I don't know.

Were these privately ran recycling companies really greedy large corporations disguising themselves as small local companies?

May 19, 2013 at 12:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Gas prices approach record highs

I don't think local reporters have the funds to spend on regional or national stories. I'm guessing it was a typo to include Wyoming in the list. A similar story in USA today did not mention Wyoming:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2...

It mentioned: "Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have spiked up to 43 cents a gallon the past week alone. Behind the rise: outages and extended maintenance, which have curbed output at refineries in Joliet, Ill., Whiting, Ind; Tulsa, Okla, and Eldorado, Kansas."

May 18, 2013 at 8:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KU student killed in crash on U.S. Highway 59

It is too bad that anybody got killed, especially a young 21 year old. It is too bad they couldn't redo the roads so that all of US-59 south of Lawrence is off-ramps instead of intersections. I'm not sure which road is DG-458, but the name sounds so familiar.

May 18, 2013 at 2:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Mother, son to graduate from KU together Sunday

What an inspiring story.

May 18, 2013 at 12:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City recreation leaders not in favor of lighted tennis court plan near Lawrence High

If you want the sport to be less elite, then stop demanding the luxury of lighting. Until you can show that all these courts are booked during NORMAL daylight hours, you are being elitist to insist on the tax payers to provide expensive lighting at night.

Likewise, it would help to start being honest. The coolest part of the day is NOT after dark, but just before sunrise. So to say it is too hot to play before dark is not telling the whole story. Many people are willing to get up early to do the things they want to do -- such as those that show up for morning Red Dog Days which is 6 am Tue/Thus off season, and Mon-Thurs in season.

What makes you so special that you cannot play tennis in the morning?

If you still insist that you just have to have night tennis, then build your own tennis courts in an area that you would have absolute total control over when you play and how you light it. Nobody is preventing you from doing so.

Personally, I think members of the community would benefit more if instead of putting in lights for tennis they expanded the existing swimming pools hours to be much longer. (Note, I have never swam at the city/school pools -- only the KU pools and that was a few years ago.) However, if I were to propose such a thing to the city, it would be done as a REQUEST which included asking for information as to what the financial affect would be. I would expect the users to pay for such an expansion of hours. I would NOT DEMAND it nor try to insist that the community at large OWE night time swimming access to me or anybody else.

May 17, 2013 at 1:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Would you rather have a lower income tax and higher sales tax, or lower sales tax and higher income tax?

I think taxes should definitely be switched more to consumption. That being said, i think such a tax should be higher for those things that were not made in America. So I guess I would be more for an increase in sales tax than income tax.

I would agree that sales tax should be eliminated but ONLY for basic food products: produce, dairy, meats, maybe throw in spices and baking goods such as flower, spices, etc. However, someone who wants prepared food, or as a coffee addiction, or wants candy, chips, etc, can pay the tax like everybody else. They won't starve without their fix.

The question that wasn't asked but should have been is income versus property tax. I'd rather have sales tax higher than a higher income tax, but then I'd rather have higher income tax than property tax on homes and land. As for PERSONAL property tax such as on cars, I have no problem with it. To the best of my knowledge the only car assembly plant in this whole state is the Fairfax plant in KCK. I suppose one should throw in the Ford plant north of KCMO since while not in Kansas, it affects the region that we are a part of.

May 17, 2013 at 12:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Road work on K-10 bypass begins Friday; downtown and 23rd Street bridges reopen

Actually, there was a miscalculation in the gas tax a year or two ago. As a result, Douglas County got more money? What did they spend it on? Paying a PREMIUM price for land around the Douglas County jail to allow the homeless shelter to go in there, and to have County stuff expand there. The land owner's wife even works for the county. They could have bought land much cheaper elsewhere, but price didn't matter to them, they felt like they had money to burn. Talk about pork. There is nothing worse than wasteful LOCAL politicians.

May 16, 2013 at 4:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City recreation leaders not in favor of lighted tennis court plan near Lawrence High

Well if they go that route, hopefully they will include the Discover Card -- the card that pays you - unless of course that is considered too blue collar.

May 16, 2013 at 3:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Expanded T

You didn't know that the number of rapes plummeted after the empTy came to town? Not only are the buses empTy, they are void of crime!!!

Also note that rapists never target people at a bus stop as that would be like an immortal beheading someone in a church -- it is outside their code of conduct.

May 16, 2013 at 2:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

City recreation leaders not in favor of lighted tennis court plan near Lawrence High

The coolest part of the day ( true for summer as well as winter), is just before sunrise. So if you are really concerned about heat exhaustion in the summer, encourage people to get up before sunrise and be at the courts at the first sign of light.

(Keep in mind that I don't know what kind of outdoor lights are in vogue right now, but many lighting technologies generate heat too.)

May 16, 2013 at 2:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )