By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
The private sector has come up with enough money to keep the fake "eternal" flame atop the Liberty Memorial lit. Thank goodness public money won't be wasted on this low priority any longer.
The cost is around $45,000 a year, and that expense now will be covered thanks to the success of the “Save the Flame” campaign.
When Mayor Mark Funkhouser and the City Council correctly cut the Liberty Memorial budget earlier this year, memorial officials switched off the flame, hoping to grab attention to their cause.
They succeeded, and private companies and individuals stepped forward.
It's yet another example of how the private sector is stepping forward to finance projects that taxpayers once covered.
Do you have something against honoring people who sacrificed their lives in order to protect Americans and their rights? Or is your animosity just because it is a WWI memorial? Or would you prefer that there are no memorials any where in the world?
Funding of public works is always scarce. This is nothing new. Would you support cutting funding to city parks and recreational spots too? Or better yet, lets just cut funding straight across the board by 10%. That should make a city budget workable. Would that solution be palatable to you?
What do you have against this memorial to be so vehement in your opinion against it?
As we celebrate a day honoring this country you come up with a column that is so anti-American it is disgusting.
Thank God (or the higher power of your choice) that the money was raised, and this memorial will continue on without your efforts against it.
I thank God that your column is just what it is...an opinion. And you know what people say about opinions. I will leave it at that.