Back environmental candidate
I’m a registered independent. I don’t look for the R or D after a candidate’s name. I look at the issues the candidates prioritize.
My biggest issue is the role Texas is playing in ongoing global warming. Texas is experiencing more extreme heat waves, flooding and drought — including facing a water crisis. Our state’s future depends on leaders who will act now to promote clean energy, reduce carbon emissions and build resilient infrastructure.
There is a special election Nov. 4 to fill the District 9 Texas Senate seat. I encourage my neighbors in this district to vote for the only candidate who listed the environment as an issue — Taylor Rehmet. He has pledged to prioritize clean air and water throughout Texas.
We can’t afford to elect someone who denies or delays action on climate change. Our livelihoods, public health and children’s future depend on leadership willing to act.
Opinion
Please join me in voting for a candidate who commits to protecting Texas from the worsening impacts of climate change.
Andrea Christgau, Keller
Make amends to South Dallas
The city of Dallas, state of Texas and U.S. government should have made amends to South Dallas residents decades ago and should continue decades from now without gentrification. Gentrification often occurs without awarding Black and poor people, who are victims of displacement, their rightful dues.
Piecemeal actions are not enough. Along with the piecemeal actions, new mortgage-free and rent-free homes, jobs, businesses, investments, insurance, etc., should be given to the residents and their families for the same 139-plus years that the State Fair of Texas has been in existence.
Jackie Ford, Denton
Freedoms discarded
Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as saying, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
It pains me that my father sacrificed his youth to fight in World War II to give all of us freedoms that are so easily being discarded to purchase perceived temporary safety. We must demand better or we don’t deserve the freedoms bought with the blood of our forefathers.
Gregory Wadley, Arlington
Hard-liners ensure no peace
Re: “Will Middle East peace last? Readers weigh in,” Oct. 19 Letters.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a peace agreement, only a ceasefire, prisoner swap and 20-point plan proposal. The elusive Palestinian state continues (understood by world leaders since 1948) and is the linchpin toward achieving peace.
Hard-liners on both sides are the problem. Hopefully, ordinary citizens (on both sides) will place peace and coexistence front and center.
James S. Roberts, Dallas
Vote by grocery prices
I went to the supermarket and noticed that the price of a store-brand tin of ground coffee had risen in the past several weeks from $9.99 to $13.99, a 40% increase, because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
This is from a president who promised to lower inflation and said he got elected because of the rising prices of groceries.
I will remember the prices of groceries in the next election and vote accordingly.
Bernard Diemer, Saginaw
Check DART tickets
I’m a DART train commuter. I appreciate seeing DART police and DART enforcement officers on the trains. I am stunned, however, and greatly disappointed, to have observed no times when a citation has been given to a passenger who had not paid the fare.
Not citing those who don’t pay results in three disservices: 1. creates an undue burden on the entire DART system (including city support), 2. adds a burden to those paying fare and 3. encourages stealing and disrespect for law.
To show mercy to the thief is to endanger and threaten those who obey the law.
In a time when DART is facing many threats to its existence, shouldn’t DART officers and employees be upholding the system? To all employed by DART: Enforcing fare helps assure your continued employment and allows DART to continue to serve paying customers.
Lara Vaughan, Garland
Stop using drugs
Re: “Our fault, not Colombia’s,” by Joseph Hunter Betts, Sunday Letters.
America’s drug problem is a demand issue, not a supply problem. Americans need to stop using drugs. Think how many problems would just go away.
Mark Austill, Plano
Republicans need ACA, too
Re: “Democrats do GOP’s work,” by Calvin J. Haneline, Oct. 15 Letters.
This letter from Haneline expressed his surprise over the Democrats push to keep the income caps removed from the Affordable Care Act. In negotiations, many have shown a willingness to cap it at a reasonable level.
The scenario he paints where we would see “wealthy families receive five-figure bonus checks each year” is a stretch beyond reality. The ACA coverage is not free. High deductibles and out-of-pocket costs are a challenge.
Even with the subsidies, inflation has made it difficult for even middle-class families to afford it. The objective is to reduce the uninsured.
I can’t fathom why the GOP has been trying for years to dismantle the ACA. Because of this program, over 20 million Americans gained coverage, cutting the uninsured rate to a historic low of 8% in 2023. Forty states were able to expand Medicaid to cover more low-income adults.
Why would the GOP work directly against their constituents who use the ACA? The top nine states with the highest per capita participation are bright red Republican states, with Texas as the second most popular.
They are shutting down the government to win an argument; the impact to their own supporters doesn’t seem to matter.
John R. Dorgan, Flower Mound