Heart of Gold
To the editor: I wanted to say thank you for Andrew McLemore’s story on Nathan and Judy Obregon (“Bait for Cruelty,” May 16, 2012). Judy has a heart of gold, and her heart often outweighs her head! Judy takes no rescues to any shelter. She hangs onto them. She pleads to find foster homes or boards the animals at vets or other facilities or takes them to doggy day care, no matter how long it takes. You can imagine what she spends out of her own pocket for these helpless animals. People call her to come and rescue animals they find, and she just can’t turn them away. It would be wonderful if she could get some funding for her work.
Again, thank you for sharing the story of Nathan.
Marsha Rahn
Fort Worth
Hasty Judgment
To the editor: Andrew McLemore’s feature story (“Price Line,” April 25, 2012) was a fine piece devoted to our mayor, fully exploring the pros and cons of her performance.
Mayor Betsy Price has been in office only a year, and no individual or group should wolfpack her and her policies until they do their research into whatever crusade they want to champion. The campaign of negative rhetoric is always on the horizon, no matter who is in office. So far, Price isn’t capitulating to anyone — and she will give an audience to Fort Worth Weekly while her predecessor, Mike Moncrief ignored the paper for eight years.
As Wanda Conlin, publisher of the Greater Meadowbrook News, said, “She is the most open mayor we’ve had.” Conlin also wrote that Price will give you answers to your questions. Our mayor will do the dais proud. As she herself says, “It’s your Fort Worth. Tell us what you want.”
Ted Lee
Fort Worth
Dream Big
To the editor: In his recent article (“Fort Rock,” May 9, 2012), Anthony Mariani succinctly states a problem: Fort Worth needs a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of rock clubs like Deep Ellum.
Now … close your eyes, and let’s dream for a moment. Imagine a street with lots of large, empty commercial buildings all located within walking distance of one another or a few short minutes away by car or shuttle bus. Imagine that this location is centrally located amid three universities. Imagine a unique, eclectic neighborhood (like Deep Ellum or Greenville Avenue), with tons of parking, cheap rent, and low taxes. Imagine local residents who eagerly want entertainment, restaurant, and shopping venues. Imagine lots of smaller vacant retail spaces just waiting for funky shops and boutiques.
Ready? Three words for you: East Lancaster Avenue. Now, I know what you’re thinking: homeless people, too dangerous. Well, think again. Meadowbrook crime statistics are as good (and sometimes better) than the rest of Fort Worth, and the homeless people know to stay down by the shelters. We might even get rid of the sidewalk squatters altogether if we could rein in the well-meaning but misguided do-gooders who believe that throwing out more free food will solve the homeless problem.
But, hey, Deep Ellum had a colorful cast of characters, and so do we. Where else will you see a guy in white shorts and red cowboy boots pushing a blue shopping cart down the street? Imagine that.
Brooke Cooper
Fort Worth
Corrections
• In a May 9 story, “Polluters’ Paradise?” the Natural Resources Defense Council was erroneously referred to as the National Resources Defense Council.
• Judy Obregon’s activities as a dog rescuer were described incorrectly in the May 16 story “Bait for Cruelty.” When Obregon finds a stray dog, and the city’s animal control employees don’t respond, she said, she tries to find a foster home for the animal but does not take it to the city shelter.
