To the editor: Good update by Betty Brink on the Tarrant County College portion of the Trinity River (blurred) Vision project (“Taj Mahal on the Trinity,” April 29, 2009). I appreciate the Fort Worth Weekly staff for keeping us informed.
Moncrief, Whitley, and others will soon be raising taxes again for more projects. I see where they are looking at raising taxes on gasoline next – as if the oil executives are not gouging us enough.
On the expenditure side are pork, pork, earmarks, pork, etc. The redistribution of our income is going full speed. It starts on the Potomac and trickles down to the river of no return, the Trinity. If Mayor Goodgrief and others are pushing for taxes for more transportation, they might consider riverboats to ferry people between Dallas and Fort Worth on the Trinity. That makes more sense than TCC’s Taj Mahal.
It’s our own fault because we haven’t elected people like Clyde Picht as leaders. The almighty dollar still reigns, mainly because of voter ignorance. Maybe we deserve what we get.
Jack O. Lewis
Haltom City
Know the Risks
To the editor: Joseph Faust’s April 15 guest column (“Not for Fun and Games”) was an accurate testament to the hazards of challenging the locomotive, which I appreciate. As a child at play during the ’30s and ’40s, I was taught to be careful around trains. Yes, we boarded freight trains in small-town Arizona, but we didn’t do it carelessly, since we knew the risks involved. Nowadays, with neighborhoods built just about in the middle of tracks, some think it cool to see if they can beat the trains at crossings. Then if an accident occurs they want to sue the railroad. Today’s kids are carefree and impulsive, with no show of respect. I hope they’ll develop discipline, responsibility, and respect for one another and for property. Thanks for the wake-up message.
Deanna Cantrell
Fort Worth
Armor Us All
To the editor: Freelance writer Dave McNeely’s “A Bit of Armor” guest column (May 6, 2009) was a welcome bit of information to those who gather and report the news. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press … .”
This shield law is clearly a victory to those in the media, print or otherwise.
Kayla Roth
Fort Worth
Editor’s note: See Static column on page 6 for more news on the shield law.
Unite for Care
To the editor: Eric Griffey’s “Nurses Unite” (May 6, 2009) illustrates the need for a change at the JPS hospital triage center. Nurse Joe Snow is to be commended for being in the vanguard of the movement to unionize the nurses. He and all the others who signed petitions have taken the right steps so that nurses will have better access to patients in the triage area and better working conditions for themselves and for treating patients.
Robert Earley, the newly minted CEO at JPS hospital, has been receptive to change and has advocated some himself. The former administration, under ex-CEO David Cecero, intimidated nurses and anyone else who spoke out against the deplorable conditions.
Griffey and Fort Worth Weekly have been consummate watchdogs for the public, particularly when it comes to how our taxes are spent (or not spent) to ensure that the taxpayers get what they are paying for. Superlative journalism, Mr. Griffey!
Dee Taylor
Fort Worth
Secede Himself
To the editor: The Weekly‘s cover story of May 13, “Seven Flags Over Texas,” by an all-star cast of journalists, provided both history and humor to give us a colorful “Please Read Me” article. I obliged.
Gov. Rick Perry’s secession rhetoric is for political purposes only. He has U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to reckon with, and this nonsense of his gives reason to do a mental evaluation of our governor. Maybe he ought to secede from office!
Perry already knows that Hutchison is a formidable contender for his throne. So the governor created a diversion to get himself in the limelight and put himself in the forefront of a movement (secession) that is going to fizzle out before the re-election campaign takes off.
Texas is a great state with abundant resources, and we’re sticking with the Union. Period. Viva Texas!
Elizabeth Sprague
Fort Worth
