To the editor,

Does Rush County (all frontier counties) live in an “Illusion of Inclusion?”

The governor, for the entire state of Kansas, Laura Kelley, a “moderate democrat” who “seeks to include Republicans” or any one else whom “we” pay their salary, help me understand the below.

On June 10, 2022, I received a “Highlights From the Dome to Home” stating the 2022 Legislature allocated “A total of nearly $100 million will be invested to housing in Kansas especially in our rural areas”.

1. Please identify which counties, on a state map, the dollars they will receive. I was informed Saline County (pop. 54,309) is rural. No county in Western Kansas (geographically Barton county) is this populated. I live in Rush County (pop. 2,953). Saline county is approximately 18x larger. Please review the website re: Population Density classifications by county 2020, www.Ipsy.KU.edu/ksah/population/popden2.pdf, to assist all Kansas in their understanding which frontier counties will be excluded.

2. Would your administration compare Saline County to a county of 977,454 people, 18x larger? Why is it okay for “us”? Which agency or committee determined Saline County is rural?

3. Did your administration consider the accessibility and availability to goods and services and distance to access “these” when considering funding? I worked with “youth offenders” and those with severe mental health diagnoses (includes dual diagnoses which includes the developmentally disabled). Housing needs for these populations are not an abstraction. Were these populations considered? What was the criteria for funding and developed by whom?

4. Recently the only grocery store in Rush County was closed. Please advise how your administration would compare “rural” Rush to “rural” Saline County if one grocery store closed.

5. Do you believe the 80.5% who voted “MAGA’’ in Rush County in 2020 a “threat to our nation” as per the Leader of your Democratic Party and the leader of the Free World? If you do not, why remain silent? The response or lack thereof will reflect if our reality is an “illusion of Inclusion”.

Lee Flamik

Rush Center