Small businesses need customers first and foremost

Small businesses need most

By providing aid predominantly to big business, Congress is destroying the small, family-owned businesses that make this country special.

We need monthly stimulus payments directly to American families, who would then allow that to trickle up the economy through essential purchases. That eases the burden on small businesses to keep paying workers while shuttered. Add rent-relief grants to closed businesses, and we give them the tools to survive after the pandemic.

Congress must stop providing aid predominantly to big business while ignoring the small businesses that need help the most.

- Rita Rice, Weatherford

Faith located in your heart

Knowing that evangelical Christians are a major part of his support, President Donald Trump has demanded that churches be opened. As a Christian who has watched in horror as many of my friends and church leaders have been conned by the greatest con man in history, this latest move goes beneath the belly of a snake.

We can and do pray at home. Putting millions of people in more danger under the guise that we need more prayer is just another political ploy. If money is the problem, churches could easily accept online donations.

- Gary B. Hicks, Fort Worth

The risk demands changes now

To this older voter, the idea of walking into a stuffy polling station with a bunch of people I do not know is just stupid. I was an Army medic for 21 years, and I take this virus seriously. Only a fool attacks an enemy without knowing that enemy’s strengths, weaknesses, location and number of troops.

Mail me my ballot and let me vote in the safety and comfort of my home.

I rolled the dice for this country in the past. Why should I have to risk my health to vote?

- Frederick Gregory, Arlington

Choice of two unwise options

Whoa, let me get this straight: You want me to follow the guidelines of someone who cannot be made to work or get fired. A bureaucrat by definition works to keep the job and not make the boss angry. Our other choice is the guidance of a political appointee.

Being a Depression baby, I can help your readers. Just do as your mother taught you. Be safe and do others no harm. If your mom didn’t teach you the difference between right and wrong, ask someone who knows.

- Michael J. Childs, Aledo

Poor Memorial Day observance

Your Memorial Day front page had a banner at the top that was a perfunctory nod to the holiday. The front page headline and picture were about the opening of tattoo and massage parlors. (May 25, “Tattoo shops, salons take precautions as they start reopening”)

Years ago, I left a church after the pastor mentioned Memorial Day but told us he really wanted to discuss whether Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma terrorist bomber, should be executed or imprisoned for life. That was about as useless as learning on this Memorial Day that tattoo parlors were opening.

As with so many of the Star-Telegram’s editorial and reporting decisions, this choice was absurd beyond belief.

- Frank M. Newman Jr., Fort Worth