January 10, 2002 Columns » Letters

Letters from the week of January 10, 2001
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Letters from the week of January 10, 2001

That was then, this is pow! Charles Ferruzza has a glimmer of a gem of a gritty gemutlich gallery, but gums it up at the get-go with his suggestion of a ghastly, giddy gimcrack for Science City (Kansas City Strip, December 20).

May I suggest his idea is a tad over the top?

But it still might be saved if he'd direct its focus from smut to skullduggery. Instead of hands-on sex for fifty bucks, how 'bout sticking with the crime-scene history of Kansas City? Chicago has its Mafia tours. We could do them one better with our own corrupt history.

Sure, have tourist buses and jitneys taking folks to the old River Quay area, to Pendergast's office, to scenes where bodies were found; but inside Science City, your initial suggestion is truly ga-ga, not a gaffe: old gangster films on the screen; interviews with Clarence Kelly, our old FBI boss from Kansas City; actual artifacts from organized crime in the city; interactive shooting practice; and, looming over everything, a huge photo of Nick Civella and the piped-in sound effects of tommy guns burping over the whole gimmicky gridiron.

Each visiting kid hopping off the school bus could be fingerprinted, then outfitted with a microchip in the neck for later identification purposes. Combine crime with pseudoscience, and we'd really be up to date.
Larry Rochelle
Overland Park

Strip Cheese
Dancers in the dark: Casey Logan's "Prancers and Vixens" (December 20) makes me think that the Pitch is desperate for human-interest stories.

Speaking from personal experience, exotic dancers are some of the most shallow and screwed-up people around. They are not heroes or public benefactors simply because they donate from their tips to the poor.

There are many worthy individuals and organizations who deserve publicity for their humanitarian efforts. Evidently, they are not weird or hip enough for the Pitch to mention.
David D. Youmans
Merriam

Mental Wealth
Well wishes: This is regarding the article about the KCMO public-health department (T.R. Witcher's "Communicable Unease," December 13). The University of Kansas has a graduate program in public health. You can get a master's at night in public health and still work your day job.

Education is something no one can take away from you.
Amanda Maltby
Winfield, Kansas

New Jacked City
Brother's keeper: I work with Bernie Standiford's brother. He shared with me the outstanding article Allie Johnson wrote ("All Alone in Lone Jack," December 6). She did a wonderful job of sharing all the pertinent facts and information the public has had no knowledge of. Even though Michael's uncle had shared with me information about the case, I was still amazed by the information she brought to light.

Great article, fantastic job, well-written. Thank you for your fabulous work.
Warren Brown
Lee's Summit

Music Notes
Song of praise: Thanks for the "Best of Music 2001" (December 27). You guys seem to always dig up a lost gem or two from the giant heap of music CDs released each year.

Let me add one more to the 2001 album list: Mother Twilight, by Faun Fables. It's a ghostly treasure of worldly magic brought to life by West Coast wonders Dawn McCarthy and Nils Frykdahl.
Rob Brooks
Kansas City, Missouri

Joker's Wild
Rich bitch: To the author of the "Laugh Riot" letter (November 8): You are obviously either a comic or a close friend of one. Your attacks on the Pitch were unwarranted. I have worked with many of the comics you named, and indeed they are talented. But for you to diminish another comic's work, armed only with jaded opinions, is sad. The simple truth is, SOMEONE voted for me! Don't be bitter, be better.

To the author of "Scarlet Letters" (November 15): Nathaniel Hawthorne did not intend for his classic title to be used for idiotic diatribe. If your concerns are the socio/political issues of our city, then please stick to that. Your ignorance was truly highlighted with your comment about the KC School Board. What adult in their right mind thinks that it's funny that our children -- our future -- are suffering?

For either of you to write something, yet be afraid to put your name behind it, shows cowardice. Grow up or shut up; that's for the both of you.
Barton Richardson (B-Rich)
Kansas City, Kansas

Paper Buoy
A tale of two cities: Sometimes places that aren't home (Kansas City) feel more like home than ... well, home.

I recently moved to Wisconsin but often check in on KC and the Pitch. Thank you, Pitch, for your e-mail newsletter and for your wonderful reporting, which evokes not only images of favorite KC places, but favorite memories: of KC debates and issues and, best of all, picking up a fresh Pitch every Thursday. I might miss Kansas City, but I never miss out.
Name Withheld Upon Request
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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