We need to keep people and things off the West Seventh Street Bridge

Keep them off the bridge

In the last two-and-a-half years, I’ve seen traffic nearly at a standstill on the West Seventh Street Bridge while fire fighters and police officers remove packages or people from the top of the beautiful structural arches holding the roadway. Just a few days ago, two fire trucks, seven police cars and an ambulance were on hand to rescue a person.

The city should put up an attractive barrier at the four start points. It would pay for itself, considering the staff tied up by these incidents.

- Byron Keil, Fort Worth

Fingers in the ears

A May 19 letter to the editor was callous, uninformed and appalling. (10A) The writer states that fewer than 1 percent of Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus and a tiny number have died.

But during the first weeks of the outbreak, testing was sporadic and hard to find. People sometimes died days before the COVID-19 diagnosis came back positive. And I don’t find 95,000-plus deaths in two months tiny.

The writer’s name-calling of the media just because he doesn’t want to hear anything contrary to his belief doesn’t make it go away.

- Betty J. Hinson, Arlington

What about the poll workers?

Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton: If Texas blocks universal mail-in ballots, then please state specifics on what additional funding, resources and protocols will be in place to protect our election officials who handle IDs and have voters sign a book on narrow tables.

- Beth Cusack, Fairview

Trump got it right on COVID

Both parties, the media, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and government in general do the same thing to control us sheep.

It’s good that a lot of people have been careful but not insane over the coronavirus. Most people I’ve met doing grocery shopping, getting gasoline or picking up takeout food have been very decent. I love driving on clear roadways. There have been many good things from all this, as well as the bad.

I think President Donald Trump has been dealing with all this a lot better than those in my first sentence have.

- Peter Stern, Driftwood

Bad call on nursing homes

Why hasn’t anyone in the media asked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo if he has blood on his hands? It’s a harsh question, but the press and Democrats had no problem directing it at President Donald Trump.

In New York, Cuomo ordered that nursing homes accept patients infected with COVID-19, joining the most vulnerable segment of the populace.

Some have defended Cuomo’s decision because it was within Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. But those recommendations called for patients to be isolated. That wasn’t done, and thousands died.

Cuomo had good intentions, but it was a tragically fatal error.

- Randy Weeks, Roanoke

Learn from Forrest Gump

Many self-centered people have refused to take proper precautions to protect themselves, their families, relatives and even total strangers from the coronavirus. They don’t wear masks, and they don’t even attempt to keep the 6-foot suggested separation from others. Many parents are even allowing their children to attend crowded events.

And now, the cities and counties are lifting many restrictions way too soon. COVID-19 will recur, possibly with a new vengeance. These self-centered individuals were well-described in “Forrest Gump”: “Stupid is as stupid does.”

- Larry McGuire, Crowley