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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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The Thrill of Tofurkey, the Agony of Hypocrisy
To the editor: In the spirit of your 2007 Turkey Awards (Nov. 14, 2007), here are the top 10 reasons to skip the turkey this Thanksgiving:
10. You will pardon a turkey — just like President Bush, but for the right reasons.
9. You’ll celebrate life and good fortune, rather than death and misfortune.
8. You won’t suffer nightmares about how the turkey lived and died.
7. You won’t have to call the Poultry Hotline to keep your family alive.
6. You won’t have to sweat the saturated fat and cholesterol.
5. Your vegetarian friends will adore you.
4. Your kids will tell their friends about their cool “tofurkey.”
3. You won’t fall asleep during the football game.
2. You are what you eat. Who wants to be a “butterball?”
And:
1. Commercial turkeys are too fat to have sex. Could happen to you.
This Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health, and happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free feast of vegetables, fruits, and grains. My family’s Thanksgiving dinner menu will include a “tofurkey,” lentil roast, mashed potatoes, corn stuffing, stuffed squash, chestnut soup, candied yams, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and perhaps even carrot cake. An internet search on vegetarian Thanksgiving got us more recipes and other useful information than we could use.
Libby Tilton
Ft Worth
To the editor: Your Turkey Awards last week (Nov. 14, 2007) were entertaining, as usual. I especially appreciated the one to Chuck Silcox, for his hoof-in-mouth homophobia. As a gay man and a Democrat, I certainly have no problem with Joel Burns’ orientation or his politics. However, Silcox was spot-on about at least one thing: the Star-Telegram’s hypocritical double standard.
When Louis McBee was running for the District 4 city council seat, the Star-T dragged his sexual orientation like a red flag before its predictably anti-gay readership. Why? Well, as your paper has pointed out, Louis wasn’t a downtown- power-team player. Wes Turner, then Westover Hills bureau chief for the Star-T, would have had a conniption fit had McBee won. But Joel Burns is definitely a downtown-team type, so now the S-T is shocked — shocked! — that someone would be so crude as to mention his sexual orientation publicly. Silcox may be a bigot himself, but he certainly has nothing on the management of the Star-Telegram.
Roy Treadway
Fort Worth
Gas by Hook or Crook
To the editor: The Oct. 31 Fort Worth Weekly cover story, “Paper Promises,” was superbly written and edited. Peter Gorman really put his journalistic energy and expertise to good use in informing the public of the dangers of dealing with companies that are trolling to get gas leases signed by hook or crook.
I thought fraud and forgery were criminal offenses, but in this day and age, money circumvents prosecution, and of course, the courts do indeed lean toward the industry at the consumer’s expense. This must stop!
With more cases as described by Peter Gorman going to print, I strongly believe that legislation to protect landowners will have to be enacted. The publicity generated by this story will be a guide to those who own mineral rights and who are considering signing leases — get your magnifying glasses out and read the fine print, then consult an attorney or decipher those “clauses” that have double entendres!
Teresa Johnson
Fort Worth
Stop the Ticky-Tacky
To the editor: Dan McGraw’s article (“Seventh Rising,” October 24, 2007) was thorough and fair, so I cannot discredit any part of it. What I would like to discredit are the greedy developers from the East who are trying to “improve” Fort Worth so that it becomes a collection of soulless boxes, “uptown” chic, and traffic jams like Big D. Perhaps we’ll end up with one huge mass of congestion between downtown and west Fort Worth, if these developers have their way. My only hope is that they stay away from the Near South and Hospital District.
Given that Fort Worth used to be one of the top cities in the nation to which the architectural schools sent students to study historic preservation, I’m distraught at what it may become. I came here to get away from the empty flash of Dallas. Surely we can do better than that.
Linda Lee
Fort Worth
Scott’s Fans
To the editor: Eric Griffey’s Piece (“Barton’s Bad Year,” Nov. 7, 2007) was a great chronology of the politics in Mansfield. What really put the “need to read” in perspective was the full-page caricature of Scott on the cover. The illustrator deserves a thank-you.
It is clear that Mayor Scott’s chief disgruntled adversary is Cory Hoffman, who lost the race for mayor. Call it sour grapes, but he’s generating an agenda designed to usurp Scott’s authority. Scott wants to keep Mansfield off the map for sexual predators, and for this he is to be commended. After all, that’s why he was elected — to serve his constituents and keep the city free of crime.
If the city council gives the mayor a chance, they’ll find out he has the interests of his city and residents at heart.
Delbert Cantrell
Fort Worth
To the editor:Thank you for your article on Mansfield Mayor Barton Scott. I can only dream of having such a mayor in Arlington. What a welcome relief it would be to have a mayor who cares about the citizens, instead of one who puts the priority on corporate welfare, TIFs (tax-increment finance districts), Tom Hicks, and Jerry Jones.
What I found extremely ironic was the controversy about the campaign donation. The same Arlington city council member who made a motion for a change order to Arlington’s contract with the firm involved in the Mansfield controversy accepted a large campaign donation the very next day, and of course none of this has ever been reported by the local paper.
Richard Weber
Arlington
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