Texas medical examiners, Fort Worth crime tax, Gov. Rick Perry

Peerwani’s rebuttal

I was relieved to read Dr. Nizam Peerwani’s guest column in the Oct. 4 Star-Telegram that addressed the obvious inconsistencies in the five-part series on medical examiners in Texas. Did the series’ author think that its many contradictions would go unnoticed and unchallenged? Did she experience delusions of being a neo-Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein with this misleading and sensationalized exposé?

I can’t believe that the Star-Telegram editors allowed the series to run as written, but I am very pleased that the paper promptly printed Peerwani’s excellent rebuttal. Our readers now know the facts.

— Richard D. Toth, Haltom City

Pass crime tax renewal

Every voter in Fort Worth should vote yes for the half-cent crime tax in the Nov. 3 election. I well remember the gang activity in the 1980s and early 1990s. They ruled the city. We don’t want that to happen again. The tax in part pays for police to be in schools and for after-school programs.

We cannot go back to gangs ruling the city. The city has cut swimming pools and many other gang deterrent pastimes. Please do your part to keep the half-cent tax.

— Betty Ward, chairwoman, North Side Neighborhood Association, Fort Worth

Support Prop 10

I was sorry to read of the Star-Telegram’s Oct. 12 editorial opposition to Proposition 10 on the Nov. 3 ballot.

It said that "there’s no good reason" for elected emergency services district (ESD) commissioners to serve longer terms than House members. Let me try and give you one.

With two-year terms, an ESD has to run an election every year. It can cost thousands of dollars. With four-year terms, it’s every other year. Many grassroots jurisdictions across the state — counties, municipal utility districts, hospital districts — have four-year terms precisely because they have limited resources to spend on elections that often are uncontested.

With ESDs, the tax money saved from not having an election every year is better spent providing better fire protection and emergency medical service. A lot of people think that’s a good reason to vote for Proposition 10.

— Cliff Avery, executive director, State Association of Fire and Emergency Districts (SAFE-D), Austin

Perry must go

Now is clearly the time for Gov. Rick Perry to resign and for Texans to acknowledge that Perry pushed forward the case that led to the execution by the state of a Texan who was very possibly an innocent man.

Perry was governor in February 2004 when Cameron Todd Willingham was executed for allegedly starting a Dec. 23, 1991, fire that killed his three children in their Corsicana home. In the Oct. 12 issue of the Star-Telegram, a Chicago Tribune story stated that there were "fundamental flaws in the arson theories used to convict Willingham."

A lengthy analysis of Willingham’s story, headlined "Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?", appeared in the Sept. 7 issue of The New Yorker magazine. Included was a photo of the Willingham family, all five appearing very happy in front of a Christmas tree, taken days before the horrific tragedy.

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