Letters to the editor

Zoo needs public's supportHave you been to the Topeka Zoo lately? Last year 193,000 visitors went through the gate. That's 117 percent of the Shawnee County population, one of the best attendance ratios for any zoo in the country. In fact, many rank Topeka Zoo as one of the best small zoos in America.

It also has one of the largest support organizations in proportion to the size of the area: Friends of the Topeka Zoo has a membership of 4,986 households representing 8 percent of county residents. If you haven't been to the zoo in a while, it's worth a look.

It's the constancy of the zoo that helps make it such a valuable resource. It's open every day of the year, and its core collection of animals has remained relatively stable for years. Visitors can rely on following many of their favorite animals through annual and life cycles, while witnessing changes. The zoo does change, as anyone visiting regularly over the last year alone knows. Not only does the animal collection change, but so do the landscaping and the exhibits. We've had considerable improvement over the past two years in many areas. It's fun simply to watch how these changes affect the ambiance of the zoo: the larger giraffe and elephant yards, Black Bear Woods, the event pavilion and a wide array of new plantings, among other, perhaps less obvious but important improvements. People visit the zoo for a variety of reasons. The zoo community itself stresses education and conservation as high priority services, but zoo-goers often just like the chance to take a leisurely stroll through the 30 acres of park with interesting interludes along the way among exotic and familiar animals. The zoo is also a rarity. Of the 105 counties in Kansas, only seven are blessed with accredited zoos. In fact, there are only 184 accredited zoos in the country. Next to Sedgwick County's, ours is the largest in the state. It is one of the top five tourist attractions of any kind in Kansas. Having and maintaining a high quality resource like the Topeka Zoo has taken longterm commitments from the city, the zoo staff and the community. We realize that although problems can and do arise in running a zoo, some of them serious, they are nothing compared to the alternative of not having a zoo at all. To keep operating and improving the way the community wants, the zoo needs the support of all of us. Businesses gain from the boost to tourism and improved quality of life the zoo offers employees. Residents benefit from educational and recreational opportunities offered by the zoo. But the zoo does require substantial resources. Not only does it need adequate annual operating support to care for the animals and facilities, but it needs improvements and additions to keep it current with modern requirements of the visitors and the wider zoological community. In the near future we will be looking to improve or replace some of the oldest buildings and facilities, expand the Discovering Apes exhibit, add new exhibits and refurbish the front of the zoo to improve efficiency, provide educational and other facilities and enhance visitor services. We will need the community to get behind this effort in a big way. Community support comes in many forms. FOTZ will be involved in the improvement process through fund-raising, educational programming, public information and special events. In the coming year, we will need membership to grow and more volunteers to help with fund-raising, special events, education and community outreach activities. We will need dollars to support the education program and to fund zoo improvements that are not paid for with tax revenues or gate receipts. (Admission charges are still below the national average.) This will be an exciting time for the zoo, and for Topeka and Shawnee County. But only if there is broad-based support. Visit the zoo. Talk to the staff and to the FOTZ staff in the Leopard Spot gift shop. See how many changes you notice from your last visit. See also what needs improvement, and understand that we know it does, and that such improvements will happen as the community supports them. There's no other way. -- JOHN ROSENBERG, president, Friends of the Topeka Zoo. Get different jobThis statement is by Tim Shallenburger: "The truth is, you lose money the first day you are in the Legislature and you lose money everyday thereafter until you get out of here." He went on to say, "The only people who will serve in the Legislature if you keep going down this course are the rich, the wealthy, the retired or those with other income." If legislators agree with Shallenburger's statement, they are more interested in the compensation than they are of the people of Kansas. A legislator receives about $19,085 a year in pay and expenses but if Senate Bill 55 passes there would be a 32 percent increase in compensation. The Legislature is only part-time work, so pay them for the days they work. Legislators get more money for three months than people on Social Security get all year. If you don't think your pay is enough, think about the people who are raising families on less than your legislative pay. The legislators should not get pension benefits from the state, because they are like subcontractors who should pay their own retirement. I don't want to see anybody lose money, and if that's the case you should give up your 90 day part-time job and let somebody else see if they can do the job without losing money. I hope the voters will do their duty and vote out of office anyone who votes for the pay raise. -- PHIL DAVISON, Topeka. Disgrace to citizenryOur elected officials have made a mockery of our country and its laws. This country was set up to a government of the people, by the people and for the people, not of politicians, by politicians and for politicians. This is a disgrace to the United States of America and citizens. -- MARVIN RICHARDSON, Topeka. Change this channelI can't believe I did such a thing! I can't believe I spent 15 minutes of my precious time in such a way. From 7 to 8 p.m. I watched public television remind me of how it was when I was a youngster in the 1940s. How we used to listen to music you could sing along with. How we used to dance in such a way that we could sing the words of a love song in our sweetheart's ear. How we could play outside in the neighborhood without worrying about being shot or mugged or pressured by a pusher. Then at 8 p.m. I switched channels, as did millions of Americans, and began to watch Monica. I watched a pretty young woman tell the nation how she flirted with and had sex with our president. How tender he treated her and how sorry she was to cause his family grief. Then it came to me. How could I let myself sit and watch such a thing? How could it compare to what I was just seeing, about when our feelings and morals were honest and truthful? How could this compare to the real traditions of our beloved country? How could such an event even happen, much less cause dozens of our country's businessmen to spend millions of dollars on commercials, counting on me to be watching such an event?It took only a second to go back to watching about the kind of country I remember and love as a loyal America. Things were not perfect, but we were working on trying to make it so, rather than "just trying to make it" regardless of others. We learned what "to the stars through difficulty" really meant and we were taught it was the best way to be. And it was -- and is. I am glad I switched back. -- DALE E. VAUGHN, Topeka. TWHS needs workRecently I attended parent-teacher conferences at Topeka West High School and was appalled that it was in such a run- down condition. I can compare it to the condition of military bases before closing them down. The students and teachers have to battle the negative effect it has on learning and loss of school spirit. These kids are put in this facility for four years, day after day, and I can't see how this conveys any message but "you are just warehoused here." I would imagine that legislators who can justify spending $3 million to repair the governor's mansion could find it in their hearts to spare a few dollars to help this school . Is Dr. Wagstaff doing anything about it? He sounded like his hands are tied by the eight-year rotation schedule the painting crew is on. It's not TW's turn until someday down the road. Topeka West alumni and the Booster Club need to work on this, he says. -- KAREN HUFFMAN, Topeka. More taxes not answerSen. Robert Tyson wants to raise our taxes on gasoline because of some dangerous highways in his district. How many times are they going to slap a nickel tax on gasoline? You can tell he doesn't drive to work very far. I thought I heard them say something about real estate tax, or was it sales tax on groceries? You notice how far any tax cuts got. They feel the price of gas is too low and now is the time to slip in some sort of tax in on us and maybe we won't care, or won't notice a nickel. It's not the roads that are so dangerous, Mr. Tyson, it's drivers behind the wheel, either talking on a cellular phone, putting on makeup or reading a map while driving, or under the influence of alcohol and drugs!If you need money for roads, why not bring back state inspection and have a lot of these cars checked to see if they are road-worthy?-- STANLEY LLOYD, Quenemo. Remember the pastI was visiting friends in Topeka and happened to read the column written March 2 by former Congressman Bill Roy, "Sometimes we have to go where the events take us." It brought back memories. It was touching and had a certain 1960s quality to it that brought back memories of my early days in the Kansas Legislature and also my acquaintance, through Democratic politics, of Bill and Jane Roy. I remember Bill's friendship with African-Americans who were active in both local and national politics. I recall the gut-wrenching defeat by Bob Dole in his first bid for the U.S. Senate, when most African Americans supported his candidacy. My letter to The Topeka Capital-Journal is to let Bill Roy know that there are others who remember and cherished his position and stand during a critical era of growth and understanding among African-Americans and whites in Kansas that not quite duplicated itself since. In my judgment, Bill Roy was among those who helped to cause this decade of learning, though often torn by turmoil. Somehow, in his March 2 comments, Dr. Roy was able to bring together a lot of worthwhile memories in a short column. My thanks to The Capital- Journal for sharing this "blip" on history's computer screen of life in Kansas. -- BILLY Q. McCRAY, Kansas senator retired, Wichita. Not very RepublicanSo the Indians of Kansas have found a way to make money on those bastions of America's much criticized history -- the reservation. Now the speaker of the House, Robin Jennison, a Republican wants some of that money. Well, Mr. Speaker, as one Republican to another: Leave the Indians alone. For years (more than 100 now) the Indians of Kansas (and America) have had to live on these playgrounds of poverty we put them on. Once you see they've become self-sufficient and don't need the occasional bone you throw at them, your eyebrows raise and you wonder, what's up. The speaker's statement quoted in the March 6 issue of The Topeka Capital-Journal, "...we just as well get some revenue from it," is very Democratic indeed. I thought we, the Republicans, were the party of fewer taxes and less government. It seems the speaker has taken the Democratic approach that if someone prospers Uncle Sam should somehow prosper with them. I read with interest in the same article how the Kansas Supreme Court made the facts plain, that Indian casinos could not be taxed and, that if it wanted to, the state could establish its own casino. On the issue of increased law enforcement in and around the casino areas I say, false argument. Have the taxes to any local taverns, strip joints or adult bookstores been raised to help with the cost of enforcement in those areas? Do we raise the taxes specifically for the enforcement of laws on all the businesses on Topeka Boulevard where teenagers spend endless hours driving back and forth, squealing tires and loitering in parking lots?I have watched the progress of the casinos since their inception, and to me it's a good thing. They've brought many jobs to northeast Kansas, which in turn produces revenue, which in turn produces taxes and taxpayers, which by the way the Indians of Kansas also are. I see Indians (read again, taxpayers) going into car dealerships and buying new cars, which they have to pay high Kansas taxes on. The Indians of Kansas do pay taxes, Mr. Speaker, equal to mine, and this should remain the norm. Don't become a tax and spend Republican, or I'll have to find myself a new party and then I will tell everyone in the beautifully stated words of my Republican hero, Ronald Reagan, "I didn't leave the party, the party left me." -- ROBERT M. TYLER, Ozawkie. Be fair on issuesReference: "Speaker: Indian casinos should pay taxes," by Roger Myers in March 6 Topeka Capital-Journal. I was surprised to find out the state of Kansas was not getting a penny off the casinos. Where have our legislators been? And they want a raise in pay. I believe the Legislature should put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would repeal the authority of the state to operate a lottery. It is about to vote on gaming devices at dog tracks. Why favor them? Why not every business that desires to operate them? Be fair. -- DUANE WOHLER, Kingman. Kill all the catsWhat important issues would the city council have to face if it didn't have the anti-cat ordinance to consume its time?I appreciate the clarity of the ordinance as it speaks to "cats at large." I really like the way "cats at large" sounds just like criminals. When I see a cat, unleashed, unchained, basking in the sun on a front porch, the first thing I think of is that the cat is "at large." I'm in favor of killing any cat that leaves footprints on a car twice. I don't care that they are poor dumb creatures trying to live their lives as fate has doled out to them. Gas 'em. This is an excellent community-building tool. Neighbors will find have to find new reasons to not get along with each other. There is real unity in deciding what to squabble over. The proposed ordinance requires that cats at all times be under the "direct physical control of some person by use of a chain, leash or similar device." This is an excellent idea. There'd be tax money saved for lethal gas when cats hang themselves from trees and shrubbery by their chains. The best thing about this proposed ordinance is that it ignores the historic role of domestic cats in vermin control. The city rats would vote strongly for the city council members who advocate this ordinance. I think it's a good idea to punish a dumb animal for the ignorance, and perhaps poverty, of the responsible humans. It's better just to kill the cats and ignore the real problem of human education about neutering. It would be stupid to establish a low-cost or free neutering clinic in Topeka. Topeka doesn't want to imitate other communities that have taken more humane approaches. I'll register my applause in the ballot box.. -- PAIGE KAHLE, Topeka. Dumping KG&E a startFolks in Wichita want a change in electric rates. I say let's give 'em one. Let's all urge the board of directors of Western Resources to sell KG&E. That would definitely change electric rates in Wichita and northeast Kansas: KP&L customers would no longer have to subsidize KG&E and its high operational costs associated with Wolf Creek. Who knows -- selling KG&E might actually help the price of Western Resources stock too or at least help stem the downward price trend. -- LARRY RIAT, Abilene.

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