Do we have to pick apart Indiana coach’s magic college football run? | Opinion
Enjoy Curt Cignetti’s success
Leave it to Mac Engel to have a different point of view on Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti. (Jan. 23, 1B, “Cignetti is curve-killing coach who ruined it for everyone”) I’m a University of Texas guy who hated 1974 to 1977, when UT’s only challenges were playing A&M and a bowl game opponent.
Like many Americans, I followed Indiana’s success and rejoiced. Leave it to Mac to spoil our post-championship glow by feeling sorry for the overpaid football staffs of Southern colleges.
- Chuck Noteboom, Fort Worth
The real reason Trump wants Greenland
We already have a base in Greenland, and Denmark is happy to let us increase the personal and equipment there. Minerals are the real reason President Donald Trump wants to grab Greenland.
We should buy the minerals, not steal them. I’m sure Greenlanders would welcome the added income from that and from increased spending on our military personnel there, too. We need to quit threatening our neighbors and allies.
- June Hoffman, Fort Worth
Proud of these lawyers
Emily Holshouser’s Sunday article on an immigration lawyer moved me from anger to admiration and back again. (Jan. 25, 3A, “A typical day at ‘the tent’ by Dallas’ ICE office”) I am so angry about ICE’s transformation into an organization whose cruel tactics are inimical to American values, and I’m so proud of the authentic Jesus followers who are trying to give whatever aid they can to the immigrants.
Thanks, Star-Telegram, for an effective antidote to Fox News.
- Paul W. Hartman, Fort Worth
Gun arguments fall apart
With the Border Patrol shooting in Minnesota, we finally see the fallacy that the gun crowd has failed to recognize. When asked why they buy guns, they say it’s to protect their freedoms, to resist an oppressive government and to keep their families safe. But by the time you’re pointing a gun at “the government,” all the freedoms and safety you were trying to protect will have been stripped away.
Instead, it’ll just be you aiming a gun at a cop — or maybe not even doing that. They shoot you down, call you a domestic terrorist and perhaps plant evidence to support their claims of restoring order to the community. Then what? Another guy reaches his limit, picks up his gun and the cycle repeats.
Guns don’t save lives. Cameras do.
- Tom Kelly, Arlington
We need accountability, not assumption
Three far-right Tarrant County commissioners voted to hand $75,289 of taxpayer money to the Virginia-based Public Interest Legal Foundation in the county’s redistricting lawsuit — even though Republican leaders didn’t know exactly why the lawyers racked up the bill. (Jan. 18, 10A, “Tarrant County approves $75,000 for final invoice in redistricting lawsuit”)
The foundation was hired to create and defend a precinct map pushed by county Judge Tim O’Hare — one criticized for packing voters of color into one precinct. The contract to defend the map in court was “not to exceed $250,000.”
Several county officials confirmed: No one worked with the foundation or knew why the additional bill was necessary, and no one approved it. That’s not governing. That’s negligence.
O’Hare said he “assumed” foundation lawyers worked beyond the initial hours covered by the contract. Taxpayers shouldn’t fund government-by-assumption.
- Harriet Briscoe Harral, Fort Worth
Ag commissioner struggles with the truth
Bud Kennedy’s column on Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller speaks highly of what Miller represents: himself. He doesn’t know the truth about anything as far as I can tell. (Jan. 25, 1B, “Texas Republican loses Greg Abbott’s support over ‘criminality’ ”)
On his Facebook page, arguing for the takeover of Greenland, Miller posted about how the United States acquired Alaska, Florida and other possessions. The difference was that those were for sale, not taken.
I did not vote for Miller in the past two elections, and I won’t this time, either. I’m looking forward to having a new agriculture commissioner.
- Cathy C. Seifert, Haltom City