No single answer on pregnancies
I am shocked at Cynthia M. Allen’s intent in criticizing Paxton Smith’s valedictorian speech. (June 19, 13A, “Dear Paxton Smith: Abortion isn’t as vital to your dreams as your grad speech suggests”) Calling it the “folly of a young, white, educated female” is just demeaning.
The new Texas abortion law is repressive. At 18, an unwanted pregnancy would be devastating no matter your race or level of education.
The pro-life perspective seems to rely on the scenario of a supportive family and a pregnancy born of love, not rape, and assumes that sexual encounters are planned, even by teenagers. Allen suggested that the media are to blame, but I suspect she knows better.
– Catherine Wells, Fort Worth
We can work to repair damage
In the June 2 front-page story, “Stretch of rainy days in Dallas-Fort Worth reflects climate trend,” Haley Samsel mentioned how an increase in extreme weather is leading to dangerous flash floods and extended periods of droughts that in turn lead to wildfires. This is caused by global climate change resulting from human impact on our environment.
We could fight to slow, stop and even reverse this change with effective climate action such as the Energy Innovation Act, supported by leading economists and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
By halting climate change, we could keep the “100-year storms” to once a century.
– Stockton Schipul, McKinney
Get on the electric bus
I live across from an elementary school and enjoy watching the kids file off the bus, excited about friends, classes and new backpacks. What I can’t see are the fumes those buses emit. The vast majority of school buses run on diesel, and diesel exhaust is proven to contribute to climate change and to cause increased rates of respiratory illness.
School districts need to transition to cleaner, healthier, electric buses to safeguard both the environment and children’s health. Environment Texas is calling for school board members to ask Congress to pass federal funding for electric school buses.
Our schools should be the reason kids learn and grow, not the cause of their asthma. Here’s their chance to step up.
– Alessandra Papa, Fort Worth
By any other name
I’m glad to see TCU is finally going with gender-neutral terms. (June 10, 1A, “TCU follows growing trend by going with gender-neutral terms”) When I was struggling through college, I would have preferred to be called a fourth-year student rather than a freshman.
– Hugh Savage, Fort Worth
Strange priorities in Austin
So, the Legislature wants to make it easier for folks to carry guns — like the woman in Houston who tried to shoot at a loose puppy and hit her own son instead — but it also wants to make it harder for people to vote.
The Texas Legislature is stupid on steroids.
– Walter Slaven, Arlington
Open season on Fort Worth trees
Fort Worth’s Urban Forestry Management Section should be renamed the Urban Deforestation Department, when you consider it allows developers to clear-cut old-growth forests while ignoring the city’s ban on removing significant trees more than 27 inches in diameter.
Developers apparently don’t care that a canopy from old-growth trees lowers the temperature from record-breaking heat waves caused by climate change, or that the decrease in trees contributes significantly to the loss of U.S. songbirds.
And since developers apparently aren’t deterred by a few measly fines, the only solution is to increase the fine to $1 million per tree or to revoke building permits after multiple violations.
– Sharon Austry, Fort Worth
Harris, Granger have it right
Vice President Kamala Harris is doing exactly the right thing regarding would-be immigrants from Guatemala and other Central American countries: telling them to “stay home.” (June 9, 8A, “Border issues top agenda for Harris, Mexican president”)
The U.S. is working with those governments and providing financial and other aid to calm concerns and enhance the lives of their citizens. This strategy is similar to one developed by Fort Worth Republican Rep. Kay Granger: We cannot take in the whole world, so let’s give Central American people a reason to stay home.
– Owen Daniel, Fort Worth
