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Flickered Out
I’m not sure if Anthony Mariani is a cousin or brother of a band member, but it would explain why Fort Worth Weekly could waste so much ink on such an unoriginal and past-their-prime band as Flickerstick. Not since Pat Boone did a metal album have I seen such a futile press effort to revive the dead. Honestly, these guys are as tired as Hootie and the Blowfish. At a time when new local bands are truly creating fresh, hard-rocking original music, you spend time perpetuating the myth these guys have real talent. Even the over-rated Jibe is seeing some commercial success. Why not profile them?
Listen now to the collective groans of readers who’ve heard Flickerstick play lately ... and it sounds better than their live shows. Their fifteen minutes was up a long time ago.
Mike Mayes
Fort Worth
Poodle Trippin’
To the editor: “Poodle Slain by Archer” was the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s headline sometime in 1990 (Static, Oct. 22, 2003). I remember because I was pregnant with my only child at the time — the headline caught my eye from a stack of newspapers at the grocery store and I thought I was having some sort of hormone-induced hallucination when I read it. I don’t think Kennedy’s assassination garnered any larger type.
Vonciel Baudouin
Asheville, NC
No Fear
To the editor: I want to thank Fort Worth Weekly for demonstrating that good journalism is advocacy in action. Jeff Prince’s timely coverage (“Fear of Flying,” Oct. 22, 2003) of threats made against federal marijuana patients has raised public awareness of the harassment these citizens endure despite their legal status. Perhaps Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Captain Rick Smith was genuinely unaware that federal law trumps state law, but as thousands of attorneys, judges, and police officers will attest, “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” Captain Smith should have checked his facts before he threatened sick and dying citizens with unlawful arrest for using their federally authorized medicine. Perhaps I’m crazy, but it sure seems that international airport police should be focused on counter-terrorism and public safety, not disabled cannabis patients.
Christopher Largen
Denton
Selective Enforcement
To the editor: Nice column in the Fort Worth Weekly (“Bar Food Fight,” Oct. 15, 2003). Same old stuff, different verse.
One issue you don’t address that I have found to be very interesting is there are no law enforcement agencies to investigate these types of crimes. Also, the local D.A. who is charged with prosecuting violators of state law seems reluctant if not down- right resistant to pursuing this type of case. I think it is one of the great injustices in the state. The government (i.e., law enforcement and the district attorneys’ offices) is quick to prosecute the average citizen for DUI, hot checks, etc., but they don’t enforce the law against their own. It’s another case of American “Blind Justice,” as Arlo Guthrie would say.
Ray Thomas
Egan, TX
Panning the Patriot Act
To the editor: It’s clear to me that the more our country is admired internationally, the better it is for our fight against terrorism (“Making the U.S. SAFE from the Patriot Act,” Oct. 29, 2003). That’s why we should increase funding for programs addressing poverty, disease, and hunger abroad.
This is also why we should protect our civil liberties at home. Our freedoms are admired all over the world. If we restrict them, as we did when we passed the Patriot Act, we are not only hurting ourselves but also tarnishing our image abroad as the leader in the fight for freedom.
That’s why I favor the repeal of the Patriot Act and oppose any more laws that whittle away at our basic civil liberties.
Leon Houston
Bulverde, TX
To the editor: Over 190 cities and counties across the country passed resolutions expressing concern about the original Patriot Act. And in Congress, there’s bipartisan support for repealing portions of the Patriot Act.
Instead of fighting these efforts in Congress or proposing further restrictions on our basic civil liberties, the Bush Administration should listen to the people — and to its Republican allies in Congress — and join the reasonable and growing movement to restore freedoms that were too hastily thrown away after the horrific 9/11 attacks.
Elizabeth Helber
Fort Worth
To the editor: The Patriot Act is the most unpatriotic piece of legislation that has ever come from Washington, D.C. It’s un-American for John Ashcroft and the FBI to have the power to conduct secret searches, jail us without charges, and snoop into what we buy or borrow from library. Yet this is what the Patriot Act gives the FBI the power to do.
I applaud the efforts in Congress to repeal the Patriot Act and stop any more laws that would undermine the basic civil liberties that make our country great.
William Tadlock
Houston
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