Category: Opinions

Restaurant, bar owners plead for help

Views

Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

Melissa Nead said it best.


“My back is against the wall and a knife is at my throat.”


Nead, the co-owner of The Dotte Spot Bar and Grill, explained her desperate situation to the Legislative Committee of the Kansas City, Kansas, Area Chamber of Commerce Friday, Jan. 8, as it met via Zoom.


Nead said the 10 p.m. closing in Wyandotte County has cost her business when bars and restaurants in neighboring counties, such as Johnson County, can stay open until midnight.


Nead said she has been very careful to follow all of the mandates that the Health Department has required during the coronavirus pandemic such as keeping the capacity to 50 percent and wiping down tables.


Other bar and restaurant owners made the same pleas. Similar complaints also were heard at a meeting of the Economic Development Committee of the Unified Government Commission Monday night, Jan. 4.


The chamber issued a news release stating that it supports extending the hour of operations “to align with neighboring counties.”


Mayor David Alvey said he hopes that, working with the Health Department, a way can be found for restaurants and bars to extend their hours.


In other action, the chamber’s Legislative Committee presented its 2021 Legislative Agenda. Many of the items were those carried over from previous years.


The chamber supports a business and residential property tax system that phases in radical increases. A multi-year floating average, similar to that used by agriculture, has been suggested.


The chamber supports a “comprehensive pipeline” of high-quality education from early learning to post-secondary.


The chamber opposes any increase of the state sales tax rate and lowering the food sales tax.


The chamber supports the expansion of Medicaid to serve an estimated 120,000 low income Kansans. This would leverage federal funds.


The chamber supports federal legislation that would streamline the forgiveness process for amounts of $150,000 or less in the Paycheck Protection Program.


Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is executive director of Business West.

To see an earlier story about restaurant and bar owners, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/restaurant-and-bar-owners-say-theyre-on-the-ropes-because-of-early-closing-times/

Disappointed by riots in Washington, D.C.

Window on the West
Opinion column

by Mary Rupert

The events of Wednesday in Washington, D.C., were alarming, even evil.

Rampaging through the U.S. Capitol building, terrorizing everyone inside, defying the police – how can any of this be good for America?

Our leaders, starting at the top, need to be more responsible and understand that their words can incite actions in their followers. There are ex-Presidents in both parties who could give them some good advice on how to handle their words to their followers.

I’m disappointed, too, in the votes of Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas and Sen. Joshua Hawley of Missouri in supporting this nonsensical effort to overturn an election. They were part of a group of six that objected to the Electoral College certification of the election results. Congress returned to work last night and certified Joe Biden’s election.

“Sore losers” are the first thought that comes to my mind. The actions Wednesday remind me of people who think it’s all right to trash an apartment after they have been evicted, or people who think it’s all right to take revenge on others when they feel they have been slighted. Well, it’s not all right to take the law into their own hands.

It is OK to seek lawful means and go to court if you feel you’ve been slighted, or to write letters or to march in a peaceful protest. But huge protests sometimes invite fringe elements that can take a crowd into violence quickly.

I’m all for free speech, too, but in my field, I learned early that “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater” because of the risk of people getting trampled.

In the little league, we learned how to shake hands and say congratulations after losing a game. Something was missed in the education and training of these Americans who are not doing the same thing.

Any of our leaders who encouraged these groups in the past are responsible for the actions Wednesday, in my opinion.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].

Column: Mourning the loss of my niece to COVID-19

Window on the West

Opinion column

by Mary Rupert

Today was one of the saddest days in my recent memory, as I heard that my niece, JoEllen, has died from COVID-19 and complications.

Only 32 years old, JoEllen Flanagan Engelbart, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jackson County, Missouri, had COVID-19 and went into a hospital in Missouri a few days before Christmas. We first heard that news on Christmas morning. She and Matt were expecting their first child, a son, Ross, who was delivered prematurely by C-section on Dec. 29. The baby went to the neonatal intensive care unit of another Missouri hospital.

JoEllen Engelbart

We were all heartbroken when we heard the news from the family that she died about 3:10 p.m. today. We heard from the family that her asthma and other complications made it a difficult struggle.

JoEllen was a talented young attorney who had received many awards. She served on the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section Council. She received the Up and Coming Public Service Award from the Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 2017. She was active in the Association of Women Lawyers, Kansas City Chapter. She was honored as an outstanding law student while attending the University of Missouri at Kansas City. During her undergraduate years at Truman State, she was the recipient of the President’s Medallion.

JoEllen was passionate about helping victims, and she also volunteered at the Rose Brooks Center.

We hadn’t seen her during the past year, as everyone is staying home, and with her extremely busy life, we didn’t see her very often at all. She wasn’t able to attend our Christmas dinner in December 2019, but we saw her two brothers that day. We didn’t invite people over for Christmas 2020 because of the pandemic. Probably the last time we saw her was at her brother’s wedding and related events in May 2019. She organized a bridal shower, and did a wonderful job with it, as she did with everything. She had an extremely demanding career.

Today I wondered if JoEllen knew that her late paternal grandfather, Thomas Flanagan Sr., also my father, had survived a bout with the flu in the pandemic of 1919, the year he was born.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, JoEllen moved when she was a child with her family to Missouri, which also was where she and her husband later made their home. The oldest of three children, as a youngster she was always keeping her little brothers in line, and was very responsible. She also had a great sense of humor, and was very intelligent.

One thing that impressed me about JoEllen was what she said as a child when she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be President. I certainly think that she would have been a great President.

A Go Fund Me page for expenses for Ross and Matt and the family has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-the-engelbart-family?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR31Ecdnwi95Hf1izF-D6alsxIj5coyBurLkVgb9GqHslFE45p-znKW2OvA.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].