Ellsworth has great neighbors

I usually write letters to the editor concerning political issues.

This one is to recognize the kindness and generosity of our neighbors.

On one of the stillest evenings of this late summer a huge branch of one of our old elm trees decided to come crashing down. The base of the “branch” was over a foot in diameter. It totally blocked 3rd street by our house.

We called the city to advise them because this was 8 o’clock in the evening and it was getting dark. Our neighbors responded with a chain saw, pick-up and pitch-in labor. It looked like a family of beavers attacked the branch. I am not mentioning any names because I will forget somebody.

It was a great example of why we are so happy to live in Ellsworth.

Thank you all,

Ron and Pat Svaty

Ellsworth

Masks vs. guns

I said recently that the covid pandemic has resulted in reason being thrown out the window. I would like to attempt to restore some reason to the issue of masking with an analogy to the concealed carrying of a gun, understanding full well that any reasoning by analogy has its flaws.

In Kansas it is legal to carry a concealed firearm into a crowded room. It is not legal for a person to take out the weapon and to begin firing it at random. One reason it is not legal is that although some people would not be hurt by the act, others could be injured or even killed.

Now consider a similar scenario. A maskless person unknowingly infected with the delta variant of the covid virus walks into a room. The person is asymptomatic i.e., carrying a deadly concealed weapon if you will. The person talks and interacts at length with others in the room, firing his concealed covid weapon at random. Some people in the room, maybe most, will escape harm. Others may be infected, hospitalized, even killed.

While it is not legal in Kansas to carry a concealed firearm into a crowded room and open fire, it is legal for an asymptomatic covid carrier to enter a crowded room without wearing a mask and to begin firing at will. It is legal in our schools, churches, stores, etc. My greatest concern is for the schools. We want children in classrooms and yet simultaneously we demand that they and school staff be made vulnerable to any asymptomatic covid carrier that enters the school by refusing to require people to wear masks.

While the responsibility for the above threat lies directly with our legislators, SB40 for example, the ultimate responsibility lies with all of us that, for whatever reason, refuse to make clear to our legislators that we strongly oppose their tolerance of behavior that puts our children and all of us at needless risk of illness, hospitalization and even death, a very cruel suffocating death. The above danger could be easily mitigated by requiring people to wear a mask in situations with an elevated risk of spreading the covid virus. The resulting benefits would b be immense at little cost.

Jerry Marsh

Ellsworth

Explaining ‘white rage.’

On June 23 of this year, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley remarked, “I want to understand “white rage”. This was just another futile attempt to make white people feel ashamed to be white. In other words, this was cramming CRT (Critical Race Theory) down our throats.

If you are white, you can cover your whole body with black paint, but that really doesn’t make you black. Or if you are black, you can cover your whole body with white paint, but doing so doesn’t really make you white either.

White people should not be ashamed of their race despite efforts from the radical left Democrats to denigrate them by calling them “white supremacists”. Psalms 139:14 states that we (which means ALL of us) are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Since God “wonderfully” made us, then why should we be ashamed of who we are — regardless of race?

Gen. Milley, I’ll tell you what white rage is. It is Hillary Clinton destroying 33,000 e-mails with NO consequences. It is thousands of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border without having to take the COVID-19 vaccination. It is throwing Trump supporters in jail for the January 6th “armed insurrection” while allowing thousands of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa “peaceful” protesters to damage, destroy, loot, and burn — on more than 500 occasions last year — with very few arrests made or perpetrators being held accountable for their criminal actions.

It is Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot in Chicago and Democrat Speaker of the House in California going to their hair salons to get their hair “styled” while the rest of people in the United States were denied this privilege due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of hair salons. It is Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom throwing a party for some of his friends and family at a fancy restaurant while other restaurants were denied this privilege due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of restaurants.

White people (as well as people from all other races) should be outRAGED at this hypocrisy and double standard of “rules for thee but not for me” enjoyed by our politicians and the “elites”!

RON ETCHISON

Ellsworth