Sometimes, leaders do the right thing even when it’s difficult

We can’t wish COVID-19 away

As an opinion piece, Ryan J. Rusak’s column Sunday was another display of hopeful personal assumption. (5B, “Abbott’s reopening plan balances coronavirus, economy”) Potential suicides aren’t the problem? Armed militias, driven by careless White House rhetoric, and storming statehouses are.

This virus shows the potential to kill huge segments of our population. Gov. Greg Abbott has opened Texas back up without meeting a single scientific criteria for doing so. We are breaking records for deaths and new cases as we speak. We cannot test adequately, and contact tracing is far from being ready.

- Robert Moore, Fort Worth

Defining desperation down

The Thirsty Armadillo in the Stockyards opened for two weekend nights, going against Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders to keep bars closed until further notice. (May 5, 3A, “Stockyards bar closed, cited after opening, report says”) The bar’s owner said people are desperate to get out and socialize.

Desperate? Really? People caught by surprise by the Galveston hurricane of 1900 were desperate. People forced into concentration camps during World War II were desperate. People running down the dark stairs of the damaged Word Trade Centers on Sept. 11, 2001, were desperate.

People tired of staying home for several weeks for the good of all of us are certainly not “desperate.”

- Linda Carlow, Alvarado

When the right thing is hard

I was happy to open Sunday’s paper and see Bud Kennedy’s column, “Black leaders are Fort Worth’s best on coronavirus.” (1B) Although I am an Arlington resident, it gives me hope when leaders from a major adjacent community speak up and do what’s right for people’s safety, regardless of the consequences. It’s an unpopular stand to take right now, so I applaud Roy Brooks, Kelly Allen Gray and Rep. Marc Veasey, as well as several pastors of predominantly African American churches.

- Emily Fairbanks, Arlington

I’d pay more for health

Are there grocery stores in the Fort Worth area that require both customers and employees to wear masks? Because of the health conditions of members of my household, I would greatly prefer to shop at a store with this policy, even if prices are higher and I have to drive across town to get there.

I’m willing to vote with my pocketbook for a store willing to help protect my loved ones. I can’t be alone in this, can I?

- W.B. West, Aledo

No more Biden, Warren for me

I was thoroughly disgusted when I opened the Sunday paper and found a third of a page taken up by Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s column. (5B, “Trump doesn’t want vital oversight of COVID-19 relief”) It was so full of lies, I couldn’t get through it.

The Democrats are the ones who stalled the first bill intended to provide relief to the American people, trying to get money for the Kennedy Center, the National Endowment of the Arts and other liberal goodies.

When is the Star-Telegram going to give equal opportunity to President Donald Trump?

- Donna Bierd, Keller

Always, woe is poor Trump

Poor President Donald Trump. I watched a news clip in which he said he was treated worse than any other president in history, including Abraham Lincoln. We are in the midst of the worst pandemic in our lifetime, and he is worried about how he is treated. He thinks he should be praised every day when tens of thousands are dying and millions are out of work.

It would be nice to have a president who cares more about the people of this country than himself.

- Paul D. Vassar, Fort Worth