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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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Trash Education
To the editor: E.R. Bills’ guest column (“Isle of Blight,” May 21, 2008) was literally food for thought.
Everyone should be concerned about how we contribute and dispose of trash. As Bills pointed out, in Tarrant County alone we produce 1,400 tons of solid waste per day! That’s a lot of trash, considering a large percentage of this garbage ultimately winds its way into our lakes and rivers, which, at this rate, won’t be fit to swim in or enjoy in just a few decades, much less be used for drinking-water purposes.
Since schools teach sex education, why not implement a program to teach our youngsters conservation and ways to avoid polluting our environment? This would serve everyone because we all are in this together, from child to adult — in producing trash!
Amber Watkins
Fort Worth
Landowners First
To the editor: I enjoyed Dan McGraw’s article “Pocketbook Pileup” (June 4, 2008). Private toll roads are just money-makers for the governor’s business constituents. And the quest for all the right-of-way needed for the Trans-Texas Corridor brings to mind the super-collider, another seemingly endless construction fiasco. The private highway owners just want to take people’s land for the business concession rights that they don’t have now on existing rights-of-way. A person’s land bordering the TTC will go down in value because they would not have concession rights and no access to the highway. TxDOT and our legislature need to go back to the way we used to build roads — as freeways. They need to quit diverting money for feel-good projects like bike trails, bus routes, and excessive rest stops and build the highways first. Money left over can do those other feel-good things. The TTC, with its 12-mile distances between exits and entrances, is designed not for local people but for foreign countries like China to transfer their goods across to all the Wal-Marts in the country, bypassing our ports and American truckers, which translates into loss of American jobs. TxDOT and the governor should put Texas landowners first instead of their business buddies. They need to respect people’s property rights. They are not doing that now.
Bob Hill
Wallis
Just a Celluloid Hero
To the editor: I don’t know how to break this to E. R. Bills (“Apocalypse Man,” April 30, 2008), but Charlton Heston wasn’t a prophet — he just played one in the movies. Defending his despicable behavior after the Columbine massacre is like ignoring Michael Richards’ racist tirade because he was a good comedian or Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic rant because he directed The Passion of the Christ.
If Heston had truly been a prophet he would have: stood defiantly in front of Columbine High School using his Moses-like voice while holding an AK-47 overhead and demanding “No more school shootings!”; worked tirelessly to get assault weapons banned; proposed a gun-purchase waiting period; stopped gang members, juveniles, and mental patients from buying unlimited quantities of guns and ammunition at gun shows; exposed the NRA’s fear-mongering; and refused to use the massacre of innocent children as a marketing technique to sell more guns.
If Heston had done all those things after Columbine, another 82 school shootings might have been prevented, and 112 students might not have been wounded or 127 killed. And then, instead of remembering him as a misguided old man, we could revere him today as a true American hero.
Sharon Austry
Fort Worth
“Do-Nothing” Hurts Everyone
To the editor: Gary Hogan’s column “Drilling for Voices” (June 4, 2008) brings an interesting perspective to the gas leases signed by uninformed landowners.
Dollar signs pre-empted common sense, as many of these people were proselytized to sign leases under false pretexts. They weren’t told that taxes would eat into their “profits,” not to mention the noise and road damage trucks will do and that it would be the taxpayers’ burden to fix these roads.
As a member of the gas ordinance task force, Mr. Hogan has his constituents’ interests at heart. Regulations must be implemented to protect the environment and property owners. A “do nothing” policy will have detrimental consequences. I urge property owners to attend the task force meetings and learn more about the pros and cons of gas wells in your neighborhood.
Gary Rogers
Fort Worth
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