Letters
Tarrant water board
After listening to a “tele-town hall” by candidates for the Tarrant Regional Water District board, I feel compelled to express my disgust with how this election has degenerated into half-truths, exaggerations and baseless charges that were disproved in the last election.
Eagle Mountain Lake would be almost empty if the current board had not built a pipeline from Richland-Chambers and Benbrook lakes. Planning for the future, in partnership with Dallas, they are building the Integrated Pipeline (IPL) that will provide water to both Fort Worth and Dallas for a projected 10 million people in 2060.
This could not have been accomplished with a highly politicized board or one controlled by three people heavily financed by a Dallas millionaire with a personal agenda.
I will be voting for Marty Leonard and Jim Lane after researching claims by their opponents that are not factual.
— Val Cayce, Azle
Please join me in supporting Jim Lane and Keith Annis for the board of the Tarrant Regional Water District. Both have demonstrated progressive values needed on the board that protects our water supply.
Lane brings experience that led to creation of a contracting policy that opened the process to women and minorities. Annis brings a fresh perspective that will allow the board to try new approaches.
Vote to elect Jim Lane and Keith Annis to the board of the Tarrant Regional Water District.
— Jason C.N. Smith, Fort Worth
A Star-Telegram article listing candidate contributions raises a question. Literature mailed out by Monty Bennett’s two candidates for the Tarrant Regional Water Board states that 98 percent of their support comes from Tarrant County.
Craig Bickley reported $60,602.74 in campaign contributions from Bennett. This is more than 94 percent from Bennett. Neither Bennett nor Bickley lives in the water district.
The other Bennett candidate, Michele Von Luckner, reported $38,102.74 contributed by Bennett of her total $39,472.74, or more than 96 percent of her contributions. Where do these candidates get the claim that 98 percent of their support comes from Tarrant County? They need to apply their transparency to this claim.
If these two are elected, we can assume that they will vote under Bennett’s direction. For example: Stop the water line through Bennett’s farm.
This is a trainwreck ready to happen if we don’t vote.
— Jim Beckman, Fort Worth
If Monty Bennett is funding Michele Von Luckner and Craig Bickley, who’s funding Marty Leonard and Jim Lane, the primary proponents of the $1 billion Trinity River Vision Project?
This project is being funded by public dollars. Who is benefiting? As a taxpayer and water consumer I expect to see zero return from my money, but you can bet someone will!
I’d rather know who is behind the curtain. I believe this is called transparency.
— Irene Kjornes, Fort Worth
The current board of the Tarrant Regional Water District has been spending twice as much money for projects other than for water improvement.
Meanwhile, they keep raising our rates. Bad boys!
— Ed Lindsay, Fort Worth
Letters
Letters should be no longer than 200 words and must have a full name, home street address, city of residence and both a home and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters about the May 9 elections should be no longer than 150 words and must be received no later than 5 p.m. Wednesday.
E-mail (preferred): letters@star-telegram.com; Fax: 817-390-7688
Regular mail: Letters to the Editor, Box 1870, Fort Worth TX 76101
This story was originally published April 24, 2015 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Letters."