Talking Heads

Talking Heads KC at the bat:
Regarding C.J. Janovy' s "GI Boys and Bondage" (April 15): I found myself at Union Station on Sunday, taking my mom to the Easter brunch. (She was in town visiting me; she's another "visiting Nebraskan," actually. I'm among the throngs of Cornhusker transplants invading KC as of late, but at least I'm here to go to school.) Though the impressive food array drew the largest crowd I've yet to see at Union Station, I think my mom, too, was at least a little surprised by the unexpected sight of the talking humanoid mannequins. I think our curiosity was first piqued after seeing the awkwardly frozen silhouettes up in the balcony from our table, and wondering how they got up there. Eventually, we made our way up the catacombs and saw it for ourselves. At least we had already eaten by that point.

As far as the zoo goes (Kendrick Blackwood's Bear Market," April 1), KC could have a world-class zoo if only it got the business support from local companies that made the Omaha zoo what it is today. Henry Doorly was a great source of pride for our state. If it weren't for the Lied Foundation, Mutual of Omaha and First National Bank ponying up the dough, things would have been a lot different. Where are H&R Block and Hallmark? Sprint? Their corporate support is needed before KC can compete with Omaha. Public, tax-generated support will never be enough.

Kent Schuster
Kansas City, Missouri

Spam I Am
A nose is a nose is a nose:
Dear Ms. Janovy: As editor of the Pitch, do you actually "edit," or is that job left for others? Or perhaps there is no editing at the Pitch? Whichever. I would like you to know that the size of Scott Lynn's nose is really unimportant in the scheme of things. I mean, there's Iraq, a two-game Royals losing streak, a presidential election this fall -- not to mention that my SBC DSL goes down about as often as the sun. These are important, newsworthy events.

David Martin's article on Virtumundo (The Spammer Next Door," April 8) -- the one Janovy obviously chose not to edit -- has to be one of the more ridiculous things ever written in the Kansas City press. On one hand, Mr. Martin mentions (briefly) that Virtumundo does not send e-mails to anyone who has not agreed to receive them. He then proceeds to hammer the company for having the nerve to make money helping their clients (advertisers) reach their prospective customers. Hmmm ... so, let me get this straight. Mr. Martin must think it's OK for a firm like mine to send thousands of letters through the mail to prospective customers describing our products, offering discounts, etc., but it would be a mortal sin for us to send the same number of e-mails with the same message as our letter? That would be spamming, and that's a horrible way for a company to make money, correct?

Oh, and not only do I get a great description of Mr. Lynn's nose in that article, but an actual photograph of his Ward Parkway home graces page 14. Now THAT really gets me excited! I get to see a picture of where this horrible person lives -- er, is trying to live. Mr. Martin lets us know another sin of Mr. Lynn's is that this enormous residence isn't renovated yet. Isn't that atrocious?

I have never done business with Virtumundo, but thanks to Mr. Martin, I will. I'm intrigued by Mr. Lynn's nose, his home and his incredible lack of scruples. Imagine the nerve of this guy. He sends e-mails to people who want them.

Thanks, Ms. Janovy. Without your superior "editing," I might still be doing all my marketing through the United States Postal Service!

P.S.: My house IS renovated, and my nose is NOT pronounced. Large, but not pronounced. I guess Mr. Martin won't be doing a story on me, will he?

John Shuchart, President
Simplified Concepts
Roeland Park

Cut Rate
Internal affairs:
I just wanted to thank Allie Johnson for her article concerning Dr. Timothy Sifers and really what is happening ("The Deepest Cut," February 26).

First of all, the reason I have such an interest in this is that my wife, Cindy, passed away on December 20, 2003, due to liver failure 14 months after having this surgery. Besides myself, she left behind our two sons, ages two and nine. While life has not been easy dealing with everything that comes from a sudden death, I think the world should know that Sifers is in this for the money and nothing more.

My wife had numerous things that should have excluded her from having the surgery, but Sifers still pressed the insurance company to go ahead and pay for it. I have retained a law firm from New Orleans to press this issue. The only two things I really want out of all of this are to have Sifers reviewed by the Kansas Board of Healing Arts and for the federal government to rethink the positive outcomes of this procedure.