Letters to the Editor: College endowments, testing praise, no benefits

College endowments

A recent op-ed suggested that colleges and universities use their endowments to tide them over during the pandemic because tax free endowment earnings can be used 100% by the schools to defray their costs. That used to be true but not since Sen. Mitch McConnell thought it would be fun to impose an excise tax on college endowments as part of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts. He wants college endowments to help pay for his massive tax giveaway to the richest Americans rather than provide scholarships to the middle class. McConnell rammed through an exemption for Berea College’s endowment.

He did this to punish colleges like Harvard University for teaching their students to be liberals. Like Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch, special advisor to the president Jared Kushner, and conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly. All former Harvard students.

How about instead ending the Trump tax cuts for the rich which have not paid for themselves. That will bring trillions of dollars into the treasury. This will hurt the sales of luxury yachts and homes and Mitch McConnell’s fundraising, but it’s time for the American middle class to stop subsidizing the richest Americans.

Kevin Kline, Lexington

Testing praise

I just want to give a big public “thank you” to Bluewater Diagnostic Laboratory which runs the COVID-19 testing place at Southland Christian Church on Richmond Road, near Home Depot. We had some special needs and they were absolutely wonderful at making sure we got our results and the entities that required our results got them speedily. It was such a load off of our minds that they really helped us jump through some hoops. So go over there and get tested. It is only three seconds of discomfort versus a lot of uncertainty.

Judy Harvey, Lexington

No benefits

I lost my job on June 5 and haven’t received any benefits. It’s been 18 weeks and no money. They haven’t called or emailed me and they won’t answer their phones. What are we supposed to do? How do we talk to them? They demand we pay them taxes and I do, but they don’t provide services. Something is wrong with Kentucky government. Help.

Lannie Greg Canada, Vevay, Indiana

Gun rights

Have people heard any debate on gun laws or the Second Amendment giving law-abiding Americans the right to keep and bear arms? I wonder if people are going to vote for someone who plans to take away their right to self defense and legally own a gun, or are going to allow the federal government to mandate that guns are registered with them. Defunding our police is worse than shooting yourself in the foot.

We have to control the officials we voted into office. Anti-gun politicians will leave people defenseless. I cherish our freedom. I am a member of the National Rifle Association and we need to fight like hell to keep our Second Amendment right that was given to us so many years ago viable.

Gail Burton, Lexington

Science survey

The United States has prospered in part due to science and the technology brought about by science-based research. Several of our founders were active researchers. Benjamin Franklin was internationally known for his research and inventions. Thomas Jefferson published research on fossils of a giant ground sloth while in office as vice-president, directed the excavation of mammoths and mastodons at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, and made scientific discovery an important part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Then there are the local explorers and scientists who are not as often noted, such as Stephen Bishop, who explored Mammoth Cave, and Ms. Elmer Lucille Allen, the first black chemist at Brown-Forman.

Since World War II, the United States has led the world in scientific research and technological advancement.

But scientific advancement is partially dependent upon our elected officials supporting these efforts. That’s why the Kentucky Academy of Science (KAS), along with nine other science organizations, prepared a science policy survey. In August, this survey was sent to all candidates for the Kentucky House and Senate and the U.S House and Senate. The responses can be found on KAS’s homepage under “recent news

We hope you will read the candidates’ responses and consider them when voting.

Dr. Trent Garrison, president-Elect, Kentucky Academy of Science, and Daniel Phelps, president, Kentucky Paleontological Society, Lexington