Greg Abbott cares about the personal responsibility of just Texans who agree with him
Vaccines the only way to end this
The coronavirus requires a fertile field to replicate, and it has one, compliments of tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans. To prevent more mutations like the delta variant, we must stop the virus’s breeding. Mutations only occur if there is replication.
Do not wait for herd immunity. Unimagined numbers of Americans will get sick, choke up our hospitals and intensive care units, exhaust our health care personnel and kill many more people. Get vaccinated and stop this pandemic in its tracks.
- Bruce K. Jacobson, Fort Worth
White Settlement’s name meaningless
Bud Kennedy’s Aug. 15 column included the most convoluted attempt at logic that I can imagine for a reason to change the name of White Settlement Road. (1C, “Lynchings, slavery in White Settlement Road’s past”)
Lynchings? Resident slavers? These are facts of history that have absolutely nothing to do with the road’s name, which doesn’t indicate them or commemorate them. Those facts will stay just as remembered or forgotten, whatever we call it.
Would the people pushing for a name change be pushing as hard to change Mosier Valley, the historically Black Tarrant County community, if it had been named Black Settlement?
- Glenn Conner, Fort Worth
Personally done with stoplights
The governors of Texas and Florida and their Republican henchmen have clearly decided that earning Trumper credits is more important than protecting their constituents and our children. Their complete denial of science and common sense shouldn’t surprise anyone. They say we should have choice and personal responsibility, but that’s apparently only if you agree with them.
Why do we stop at stoplights? Should that be a personal choice? Freedom comes with responsibility.
- Don Kinard, Arlington
Talk about making people afraid
Cynthia M. Allen decries the lack of “data and honest discussion” about masking children and denounces arguments “steeped in fear and dishonest tropes.” (Aug. 15, 5C, “Mask mandates in school come with downsides for kids”) Yet she has no problem claiming masked kids suffer psychological harm because “they are taught that they are both in danger and dangerous.”
The online version of the column links to a piece by Michael Brendan Dougherty, who is a conservative pundit, not a psychologist or a pediatrician. He also cites no data to back up the claim that children can suffer psychological damage by masks.
If Allen really is concerned about “data and honest discussion” and “dishonest tropes,” she should start by using data rather than fear.
- Tom Hanson, Grapevine
They aren’t going anywhere
Cynthia M. Allen’s column Aug. 8 on migrants crossing our border was excellent. (5C, “Stop pretending that crush of immigrants at Texas border isn’t driving COVID cases”) Some immigrants aren’t sent back to their home countries. Many are housed in facilities until ready to board buses and head elsewhere in the U.S. They are here to stay.
- Lucille Bida, Arlington
It’s been hot in Texas before
I hope the proposed study on the effects of summer heat will include a look back to the early 1950s. (Aug. 6, 1A, “New study focuses on impact of extreme heat on Texans’ lives”) People lived in truly brutal, scorching heat, record drought — and, oh yeah, polio stalked the land. Even the newest homes did not have air conditioning, nor did cars. In those long-ago summers, public swimming pools were closed because of polio, and water was severely rationed.
We made it.
- R.H. Gruy, Fort Worth
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Greg Abbott cares about the personal responsibility of just Texans who agree with him."