Taking fun out of track meet\n<\/p>\n
This week my ninth grader competed in the DISD district track championships,\u00a0but we did not have a good time.\u00a0
\u00a0
The problem begins with the event organization and goes down to the policing of people. Athletes and parents are separated in the parking lot, with athletes allowed on one side of the stadium and parents confined to the other side. Despite my\u00a014-year old\u00a0being unfamiliar with the grounds and not knowing where to find her team, I was not allowed into the athletes\u2019\u00a0side to help her navigate. Parents are sent to the other side and forced to\u00a0purchase\u00a0a ticket.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nor were athletes\u00a0permitted\u00a0to even approach their parents on the other side. After my daughter won her race and ran over to share her joy, she was yelled at by officials and threatened with disqualification.<\/p>\n
Overall,\u00a0this was not a happy afternoon\u00a0picnicking\u00a0with family and friends while we watched our children engage in activities they love.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goal of the sport and the competition should not be efficiency and organization, but rather community involvement. The district could\u00a0facilitate\u00a0this with less policing and more openness.<\/p>\n
Macabe\u00a0Keliher, Old East Dallas<\/p>\n
\nGirls falling behind\n<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cWhy are Texas girls falling behind?\u201d by Janet Bartkowski, Monday Opinion.<\/p>\n
The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas report highlights an urgent reality:\u00a0Too many girls in Texas are being left behind.\u00a0Behind these outcomes are systemic gaps we cannot ignore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Texas continues to face teen birth rates well above the national average, 47% higher, placing it among the highest in the country. In Dallas, the challenge is even greater with one of the highest rates among major U.S. cities. At the same time, rising\u00a0sexually transmitted infection\u00a0rates point to a growing gap in access to information and care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These challenges are compounded by broader barriers. In Texas, one in five girls lives in poverty, and many young people lack access to health insurance, limiting their ability to receive care and make informed decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The good news is that solutions exist. Most Texas parents support school-based sexual health education that includes information on healthy relationships,\u00a0prevention\u00a0and care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If we are serious about helping girls succeed, we must ensure they have access to healthcare and the knowledge to navigate it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Terry Greenberg, North Dallas<\/p>\n
\nTen Commandments of Success\n<\/p>\n
In looking through some old family items, I found a 1933 high\u00a0school report card of my\u00a0mom\u2019s\u00a0with an educational Ten Commandments of Success printed on the back. I believe they would be\u00a0appropriate today\u00a0rather than what is currently being pursued.\u00a0
1. Thou shalt be honest.\u00a0
2. Thou shalt be fair.\u00a0
3. Thou shalt work.\u00a0
4. Thou shalt have ambition.\u00a0
5. Thou shalt have will power.\u00a0
6. Thou shalt be clean – both mentally and physically.\u00a0
7. Thou shalt be kind.\u00a0
8. Thou shalt have service as thy motto in this life.\u00a0
9. Thou shalt have culture.\u00a0
10. Thou shalt develop the spirit of love.<\/p>\n
James A.\u00a0Camey, Carrollton<\/p>\n
\nLet\u2019s\u00a0vote on City Hall\n<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cCity Hall has lost its ability to self-govern,\u201d by Tom Leppert, March\u00a022\u00a0Opinion.<\/p>\n
Although I agree with the former mayor that our current absentee\u00a0and\u00a0party-changing mayor was asleep at the\u00a0wheel\u00a0losing AT&T and Bank of America, I wholeheartedly disagree with his criticism against\u00a0City\u00a0Council members\u00a0proceeding\u00a0with caution and questioning numbers that clearly defy logic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A recent analysis of outstanding items from a more thorough\u00a0three-year 2018 study came to only $25.4\u00a0million to\u00a0$31.4 million after adjustments for inflation\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a far cry from\u00a0the\u00a0$1\u00a0billion\u00a0price\u00a0tag\u00a0currently being used as a scare tactic.<\/p>\n
Think about it: That is more than the cost of restoring Notre Dame\u00a0Cathedral,\u00a0which was nearly burned to the ground and required precious materials and highly skilled artisans and engineers\u00a0to restore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leppert suggests the loss of AT&T and Bank of America justifies handing the keys of the\u00a0city\u00a0to a billionaire family\u00a0that’s\u00a0clearly used to getting what they want whether it makes sense or not. They traded away a once-in-a-generation talent in Luka\u00a0Doncic. They have run off\u00a0the Dallas\u00a0Stars. They expect us to demolish\u00a0City\u00a0Hall for\u00a0one\u00a0sports team\u00a0and\u00a0half the revenue we were getting from the city-funded American Airlines Center, which is barely 25 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our City Hall,\u00a0designed by one of the world\u2019s greatest architects,\u00a0is a symbol of Dallas\u2019 innovation and vision to be\u00a0reborn after the Kennedy assassination.\u00a0Put it on the\u00a0ballot and\u00a0let the citizens decide if we want to demolish the icon of\u00a0an architectural talent and end up with a demand for a new arena 25 years from now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rachel Rose,\u00a0Dallas<\/p>\n
\nWanting utopia\n<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cServe the\u00a0people,\u201d by Kay Lynn Viney,\u201d Monday Letters.<\/p>\n
Some people want a type of utopia,\u00a0but\u00a0I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think\u00a0they\u00a0understand the problem. What does affordable housing mean? Does it mean the taxpayers should pay part of the rent so folks can live in a house they cannot afford? How many people even have a budget?\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I was young, I did not want to live in the house I could afford, so I teamed up with two others to rent a nice house.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Immigration?\u00a0Let\u2019s\u00a0enforce the\u00a0immigration\u00a0laws we have now. World conflicts? Congress has not declared war since 1941; how many conflicts have we had since then? I was in Vietnam for\u00a019 months\u00a0with\u00a0no declaration of war by Congress.\u00a0By our\u00a0Constitution, Congress\u00a0is not tasked with keeping us safe. The\u00a0president\u00a0has that job.\u00a0<\/p>\n
IDs to vote? The\u00a0SAVE\u00a0Act creates no barriers to voting. I am leery of a party that insists on no ID to vote because unless they can cheat, they fear they will not win. Some people would like\u00a0to\u00a0vote by phone\u00a0\u2014\u00a0this is the way\u00a0American Idol\u00a0picks a winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taking fun out of track meet This week my ninth grader competed in the DISD district track championships,\u00a0but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,90649],"class_list":["post-246128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-letters-to-the-editor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}