Hair Spray

Peace of the action: Bryan Stalder's "I believe we can only achieve peace through military action" statement (Letters, February 27) reminds me of the one timeless line from the play Hair. To wit: "Fighting for peace is like fucking for chastity"!
John C. Lipscomb II
Kansas City, MissouriLetter Imperfect
Bar-B-Q: Regarding the "Missed Q" letter from the February 27 issue of the Pitch: I feel that giving an honest opinion of a show or performance does not warrant an attack on the author of the letter.

When one takes on an endeavor of performing, one should also be prepared that there will be people who will not always have something good to say. Whether the person who wrote these letters knows the performer(s) personally or not, they do have a right to give an honest opinion. And it should not be assumed that it is a personal attack on said performer(s). I read nothing in the letters in the issue for February 13 that made me think that the letter was written toward any specific person(s) but toward the quality of the show itself.

I hope those of the Burly-Q show succeed in their endeavors and will take criticism constructively in the future and use it to improve their art. Thank you for your time.
Lilia Black
Portland, Oregon

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Primary Color
Long division: Race is irrelevant in sports. The recent article by Greg Hall about white players being passed over for Division I scholarships is irritating at best and wrong at worst ("A Rocky Road," February 20). These players should not have been misled by being recruited by the local D-I schools. If a player can play, then he should get that opportunity, no matter what his ethnic group is.

Our society has come so far, yet a lot of us have much further to go as it pertains to our attitudes. If D-I schools want players who are bigger, stronger and faster, as the article indicated, then they should recruit those players, even if they are white.
Rudolph Pieters
Kansas City, Missouri

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Code Warrior
Building complex: Regarding Kendrick Blackwood's "A Fines Mess: A State Court says an owner can let his downtown building rot" (February 20): Sorry, I read the court ruling, and it does not say that.

It did make some commonsense ruling on just what should be considered dangerous and torn down, just because it didn't look pretty to someone. The politics of code enforcement, redevelopment and zoning is a bureaucracy that is something to deal with beyond common sense.

I am rehabbing a warehouse at 33rd and Troost. This building came vacant about ten years ago because a city inspector advised the owners that the building was not zoned for welding and shut them down. So the owners moved their operation to Lee's Summit.

The city lost a business, a tax income and a payroll income and the building drifted into disrepair. Why? Bureaucracy! A city inspector wanted to play god.

The politics of money -- of other entities drawing business to their area with enticing giveaways, the tax-increment financing, the politics of getting a new building -- tore down good, usable buildings, as opposed to using existing buildings.

The feds are broke, the state is broke, the city is broke. Maybe we need to leave some things alone and let the marketplace handle itself.

Maybe if we weren't building new buildings with TIF money and tax credits, this building at 1103 Grand would have been in demand and might have been fixed before now. And our tax bill might be lower.
Charlie Williard
Kansas City, Missouri

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Low Rider
Wheelie dealer: Regarding T.R. Witcher's "Rough Riders" (February 27): So Dan Jackson is the "third best sport bike rider" in the country. Best at what? Impressing a vanload of dickheads? As far as "best" at what a sport bike is designed for -- road racing -- Jackson is probably far enough down the food chain to rate as algae. You want to be a stunter? Fine. Just keep your sorry ass off of public streets. There's a venue for the crowd that thinks wheelies and stoppies are hot shit, as Witcher points out.

Actually, I don't give a flying rat's ass whether Jackson ends up as "best" at anything or a grim statistic. What does piss me off is that the street activities of Jackson and his moron ilk make the law-enforcement community real anxious to jump into the middle of my shit while I'm out on the Sunday morning ride. Not to mention the guy that Jackson enraged in traffic by riding his loud, hammered piece of shit past the guy's open car window on the rear wheel -- that driver will be perfectly happy to run the next sport bike rider he encounters into a ditch. That next rider may be me.

Keep your bullshit off the street, Jackson.
John Eckhardt
Lake Waukomis, Missouri Easy rider: T.R Witcher quoted a stunt-riding motorcyclist in last week's "Rough Riders" as saying, "We pioneered a new sport. It's borderline illegal." How about standing on the side of the road in the presence of a similar stunt-riding team?