Sacred Vow

Couple off: I must take a bit of exception with the letter written by David Montgomery in your August 26 issue. While he may be right that marriage is a religious institution, and there are very few religions that condone homosexuality, those few are protected by the laws of our land.

Let's take a quick peek at the first clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Very nice words indeed -- clear and concise. What it says is that if a federal law were to be made that defined marriage (again, something that's a religious institution, according to Mr. Montgomery), the government would either be respecting an establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof or more than likely both in that case.

Marriage, from a government's standpoint, should be a contract between two individuals and should have no business in the gender of each. If your church doesn't support same-sex marriage, then either don't get married or change your church. Simple. Without ranting too much, I still haven't seen one shred of evidence that two men or two women getting married destroys the institution.

I am a happily married heterosexual male and can't see why people care about others' private lives so much.

Jesse Slicer
Olathe

The Frying Game
Dine-in:Regarding C.J. Janovy's " Order Up!" (August 26): Yes! Eggs, hash browns, meat loaf, a fabulous cup of coffee, comfy booths, wonderful family-sized tables, back in Union Station! YES -- a hundred times.

Eating out has become a prime activity for us in KC. It gives everyone a chance to kick back and relax, talk to family or friends and not have to worry about food prep or cleanup.

I know there is Pierpont's for those with deep pockets and Union Café for those who like food prepared badly. Neither place is appropriate for families. The food at Pierpont's is great, but it is too smoky for my grandchildren and too pricy for my pocketbook. Union Café is just plain terrible. The other food-court selections are awful-- I'd rather eat a Happy Meal box.

There used to be this great place called Sidney's where you could roll in for "Poor Man's Eggs" and a great cup of coffee. Both the Broadway and Plaza locations are long gone, but the memory of the affordable meals, good service and welcoming atmosphere will live on.

Bring back Harvey House, please!

Jill DauBresse
Kansas City, Missouri

Grilling questions:I was just reading C.J. Janovy's piece about Union Station, and I couldn't agree with her more. I currently live in Quality Hill. I often go for long walks, and I make it a point to walk through Union Station because I really love being in the space. However, every time I walk through it, I wish I had a reason to stay longer. This town needs a place to get great comfort food at an affordable price, and Union Station needs to draw people on a regular basis. I'll go to the train museum once.

The Daily Grill might be that place. Saveur magazine called the Daily Grill the "Chain Restaurant We Wish We Had in Our Town ... a neat, friendly place where you can get crab cakes or a burger, shrimp Louie or a T-bone, along with martinis, single malts, microbrews and good bottles of wine.... It was coffee shop fare for the New American Diner." Another place I love is Ann Sather in Chicago. Of course, I don't know if either of these restaurants would be an option, but a boy can dream.

Scott Johnson
Kansas City, Missouri

Color Coded
Truth or Dare: This letter is concerning Tony Ortega's " Johnny on the Spot" (August 5).

I have been sitting here trying to find a civil and unbiased way to respond to this. Then I realized that Mr. Ortega didn't put that effort into his own article, so why should I put it into my response? Mr. Ortega is acting like a bigot -- bigger than any Westport merchant. He sees a new establishment open up in Westport, and because it does not cater to illegal minors and appeals to working-class people regardless of their race, he automatically assumes that it is an establishment set up solely to chase off black youth.

Is he insane? Has he ever owned a business? People do not open a place of business to scare people away -- they open a place of business to make money. Period. As far as kids loitering around drinking establishments after dark ... well, he should complain to the city, not complain about the bars.

In the future, Mr. Ortega should consider the ramifications of what he is doing a story on as well as the basis of that story in reality, because what he wrote is obviously a story -- a grand work of fiction. He takes a few things that he claims are obvious bias, backs nothing up with any facts, and uses these fabricated racial profiling or discrimination charges and twists them to suit his own little self-important race issue.