Ted Cruz; Weatherford school bonds; guns on campus

No perfect candidate

I took offense at a Thursday letter stating: “If Ted Cruz ever became president, it would be the biggest disaster to happen to the United States since the Twin Towers fell on 9-11.”

There is no perfect candidate. But it is ludicrous to characterize Cruz, or any of the candidates, as being a disaster equal to that caused by a group of radicals who took thousands of innocent lives.

One good thing about having an long presidential race is that we can educate ourselves on all the candidates. If you don’t like a candidate, don’t resort to fearmongering. How about promoting the positives of the candidate you don’t think will cause an apocalyptic disaster?

How can we get rid of all these political attack ads if the electorate is doing the same thing?

— Michael Coleman, Fort Worth

The Weatherford school board and the district administration show a total lack of concern for the feedback they themselves asked for and received.

Fifty-six 56 percent of respondents in a telephone survey told the district that they would not vote for a bond if it totaled $75 million or more.

Yet here we are with a bond proposal of that exact amount! If I am told I will not be supported if I do something and I control taxpayer money, why would I ignore everyone’s statements and simply do that very thing?

The board and administration should be asking important questions about the exorbitant construction costs in these proposed projects.

We must send the district a resounding message that it must investigate these costs before bringing them to the taxpayers!

I urge everyone to vote against the Weatherford school bond issue.

— Bill Moylan, Weatherford

I’ve been asked many times by many people: “Why would you vote against the schools and our children?”

Well, I’m not. We cannot and should not leave this huge debt to our children, their children and their children while our teachers are underpaid and administrators are overpaid.

According to United Educators Association, our teachers average 23rd out of 31 in salaries compared to other school districts in the western Metroplex.

The Weatherford school district’s marketing materials claim it wants “world-class facilities,” but obviously it doesn’t care enough about the teachers to provide them “world-class” salaries. Weatherford teachers’ salaries are below average, both within Region 11 and statewide.

Superintendent Jeffrey Hanks’ salary ranks 15th out of 91 in Region 11 and he is in the top 10 percent throughout the entire state, according to the Texas Education Agency. His salary is above average at both levels!

Vote against the Weatherford school district bonds.

— Drew Maynard, Weatherford

Guns on campus

Jack Nipp wrote in an April 5 letter that he opposes open carry of firearms on college campuses.

There’s no such proposal. There is a bill that would allow concealed carry of handguns inside college buildings, but not open carry.

Concealed carry would mean that only holders of concealed-handgun licenses would be allowed to carry. That means anyone carrying a gun would have to be 21 or older and would have met all of the qualifications required to obtain a CHL.

Nipp ended his letter: “Giving these kids guns is not responsible.”

I know of no proposal to “give” anyone a firearm. It’s not like someone will be handing out Glocks as students register for class!

Finally, referring to them as “kids” is ridiculous. These folks are 21 or older. They’re legally adults in every sense of the word.

— Michael Baggott, Burleson

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Ted Cruz; Weatherford school bonds; guns on campus."