If the debates can’t be conducted by the rules, we don’t need them anymore

Once an Aggie, always an Aggie

You will hear from many Aggies about the headline on Mac Engel’s Thursday column: “Ex-Aggies star Caruso is an unlikely success story for the L.A. Lakers.” (1B)

There are no ex-Aggies. They are former students, but never ex-Aggies. Ask any Aggie anywhere, anytime.

Engel did not use the term “ex-Aggie” in his column. So, whoever wrote this headline is not familiar with Texas A&M traditions.

- Maggie B. Thomas, Fort Worth

Debates aren’t useful

It is time to accept the fact that the so-called “debates” between candidates are not debates. Candidates fail to answer questions, talk over each other and rehash previous speeches. We can and should do better than this.

In the 21st century, perhaps the need to see the candidates live and talking on television at each other is outdated. I hope the next two presidential debates do not take place. If for no other reason, we are in a public health crisis and do not need the candidates, moderator and audience exposed needlessly.

- Deborah Chaney, Bedford

Rules have to be enforced

Can’t anyone turn the ill-mannered Republican candidates off in these debates? Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence went way over their allotted time, not allowing the Democratic candidates time to speak. It’s time for the so-called moderators to have a shut-off for the microphones and use it.

I have never seen anything like it. I wore myself out screaming at Pence to shut up when his time expired, and I finally turned off the TV.

- Kay Fulgham, Fort Worth

Help save the butterflies

Last year, my Monarch butterfly garden was covered with Monarchs, Queens, Gulf Fritillaries and Sulphur butterflies. But this year, with all the mosquito spraying, I’ve seen only two butterflies in the last three weeks.

Sadly, 90% of the Monarch population is gone, mainly because of over-logging and pesticides sprayed on crops in the Midwest. Mayor Betsy Price has dubbed Fort Worth a Monarch-friendly city, so it’s beyond me why she allows aerial spraying during the height of their migration. I’m sickened to think of this critically endangered species traveling 3,000 miles from Canada to Mexico only to be killed in Fort Worth.

If residents were required to eliminate standing water on their property and use their own mosquito repellent, we could save money and, more important, save this magnificent butterfly.

- Sharon Austry, Fort Worth

Socializing is part of education

I live across the street from Oakhurst Elementary School. What a delight it was to see youngsters on the playground, marching in line, holding a long rope that was knotted to separate the students for appropriate distancing. They were obviously happy to be with their fellow students again.

We often forget the social aspects of education. Thanks to all the teachers who work diligently to create a loving environment for learning the “three R’s,” while also teaching social norms, fostering imagination and relaying information to parents.

- Winston Barney, Fort Worth

The parties switched sides

The Oct. 8 letter “Democrats working against African Americans” (9A) is part of the continued Republican attack on the public school system using “school choice” as a defunding mechanism. This attack has been ongoing for decades.

Comparing today’s Democratic Party to that of the Civil War and Reconstruction Democrats is dishonest. Today’s Democratic Party has nothing to do with the Dixiecrats who ensured Jim Crow laws were enacted and enforced in the South. The Dixiecrats became Republicans, and they continue policies such as voter suppression in other ways.

- Robert Terry, Fort Worth

Trump’s judges to set us right

Most of the arguments that Ann McFeatters mentioned against a conservative replacement justice are simply specious. (Sept. 30, 11A, “Tyranny of the minority from Trump-packed Supreme Court”) By “tyranny,” she apparently means anything she opposes. Under President Donald Trump, new judges and justices who are faithful to the country’s foundational document have been confirmed. This may be news to McFeatters, but fidelity to the Constitution is not tyranny.

- Gary Hancock, Arlington