|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
|
|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
Crybabies
To the editor: Peter Gorman’s article in Fort Worth Weekly on Oct. 11 (“The Voltage Toll”) shows that those who support the criminal element are once again complaining about police officers’ use of the Taser.
According to Gorman, Noah Lopez jumped into the back of a pickup, kicked out the rear window, and stole the truck when the driver ran away. Lopez caused a two-car accident, severely injuring two people, then tried to commandeer two other vehicles without success. When emergency workers were helping him, he started kicking police officers and EMTs. He was then tasered by police officers. What were they supposed to do, kiss his butt?
The story continues with a report of the poor man’s Jesse Jackson, failed politician Domingo Garcia, attempting to make the use of Tasers a racial issue. When common sense doesn’t please the malcontents, they always cry out “racist.”
I doubt that any police officer in Texas prepares to go to work and thinks, “I sure hope I get to use my Taser today.” Those people who get tasered are out of control. A police officer does not have the time to psychoanalyze people nor guess why they are out of control. Would that all the police-haters had to live a week in a world without police protection. The police officers are the best friends we have, and the sooner these crybabies realize that, the better off they will be.
Wayne Pricer
Edgecliff Village
Editor’s note: In Texas, the crybabies who have been tasered have included a man who was committing the heinous crime of playing guitar on a public sidewalk, a man who wouldn’t spit something out when ordered by police, a man who died after being tasered more than 25 times, and numerous people on whom the Taser was used as a form of discipline rather than as a potentially lethal weapon — a use that TASER International itself says is improper. Nationwide, police have used Tasers on pregnant women, a woman who wouldn’t stop honking her horn, and a man lying in a hospital bed who wouldn’t pee on command. More than 170 people have died in this country after being tasered, and several medical examiners have listed Tasers as contributing factors in deaths — more than enough reason to justify the current investigations and questions about the ways in which Tasers are being used.
Not-So-Good Neighbor
To the editor: As a resident of unincorporated Tarrant County, I must agree with many forced annexation opponents quoted in your article (“Annexing Trouble,” Sept. 27, 2006). The City of Fort Worth cannot keep up with services.
A friend who is a longtime resident of Lake Country said that, since her neighborhood was annexed, garbage problems, speeding cars, etc. have increased, and so have emergency service response times. The quality of life at Lake Country has certainly diminished.
We at Ranchette Estates, surrounded by Keller and Fort Worth, are very happy with Tarrant County services. Our volunteer fire department has a good response time. Our neighborhood association sends the fire department a donation each year with a detailed map of our subdivision. We encourage all residents to donate. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department is excellent. They come out quickly when called and patrol regularly. We have an active crime watch committee.
Tarrant County has kept our streets in good repair, placed new road signs where needed, and helped us petition Fort Worth to have a crosswalk placed on a busy road to help our kids get to Freedom Elementary. The county also paid for a sidewalk on Wall Price when funding from the state, Keller, and Fort Worth all fell through.
There are also huge problems living within Fort Worth extraterritorial jurisdiction. When Fort Worth approves a housing division, you may give your opinion, but you have no voice if a project goes wrong. I live next door to Kingridge development, whose runoff drains into my property every time it rains. I told Fort Worth in the beginning that I feared this would happen. They assured me they had a plan; now they assure me the plan works for Kingridge, but water flowing my direction is my problem.
I hired an attorney, but he said water laws are mostly written to protect municipalities. Hired a water engineer to evaluate the property for a possible lawsuit but mostly to suggest how to keep the water from ruining my property. When I called after five weeks to find out how the evaluation was going, a secretary told me the firm decided not to complete it because they didn’t want to be involved in a lawsuit.
Thanks for the great article.
Gabrielle Gordon
Keller
Correction, Clarification
To the editor: In last week’s story about the Tarrant County district attorney’s race, a sentence could have been construed to say that District Attorney Tim Curry is not a member of the Tarrant County Bar Association. Curry is a member of the bar, but not a member of its charitable arm, the Bar Foundation.
Attorney Chuck Noteboom also noted that when he said in the article that judges help raise money for the foundation, he meant that they did so through appearing and speaking at fund-raisers, not through direct solicitation, which is unethical for judges.
In that same edition, in a cutline on page 42, the first name of Jennifer Chandler, co-owner of Fred’s Texas Café, was misspelled.
Fort Worth Weekly regrets the errors.
Email this Article...
