Letters from our Readers - April

War Prayer

Mark Twain wrote a insightful piece called "The War Prayer." It is appropriate to read at this time because many in America view this war over oil and over "democratic control" (which should be an oxymoron) as some holy crusade or as some battle between "our 'God' vs. their 'god.'" And, as a result, anyone opposing this military action is demonized as "Anti-American." And too often, America is wrongly characterized as a Christian nation, which it is not although--in truth--the Christian religion is the majority. In the pursuit of freedom, many who exercise their freedom of choice and freedom of voice are chastized, because an opposing voice is often viewed as the voice of dissent--which, in truth, it is only the voice of freedom and of opportunity to stand for one's convictions. This is not to say that Anti-war sentiments are the only ideas connected with freedom; there is dignity and integrity in both viewpoints as long as they are not offensive and belligerent. (I am saying that this goes for the protestors as well as the pro-war ralliers! No one has the right to offend, provoke, and beleaguer.) Unfortunately, both sides get carried away to the point of fanaticism. I went to Oklahoma this weekend, and many friends and family were couched around the television set as they would for a Texas-OU football game. Each time a bomb dropped, exploded, and destroyed something and perhaps someone, many cheered as if OU had made an interception or a touchdown. (don't bomby my family because they have anti-LONGHORN or anti-AGGIE ideas. perhaps they aren't so much that as they are pro-OKLAHOMA ideas! LOL) This is not a game. War is terrible. All with whom I have spoken have said so about their Tour of Duty, whether they were career military or former draftees. Admittedly, something must be done to end the grief and suffering at the hands of Sadam Hussein. But, the bombs over Baghdad are just as disturbing to the innocent as the crashing airliners were to us on 9/11. There is a war over there. We shouldn't create one over here. We should foster and harbor the independence of all. Allow all ideas to be explored. The following are exerpts from Mark Twain's "The War Prayer." Please take a moment to read them: 
"[M]erciful and benignant Father of us all . . . . watch over our noble young soldiers and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in [Your] mighty hand, make them strong and confident, incincible in the bolldy onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flad and country imperishable honor and glory . . . . bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag." 
"O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the funs with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wanter unfriended the wasts of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it-for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy thier steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded fee! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love . . . ." 
The point he makes is that to pray for one is to pray for the other. The ideas cannot be separated. It is my hope that we understand fully what it is we want. 

Bulletin Online Reader

An open letter

An open letter to members of the U.S. Senate and House:
All across America there are yellow ribbons tied around trees and doorways to show support for our troops fighting and dying in Iraq. Yellow, a nice clean, crisp color that evokes spring and flowers and life.
The ribbons should be red and black. Red for the human blood that is dripping onto the desert sands and black for the oil that runs beneath. 
If our country really wants to support our troops then we should all raise our voices and demand that our government bring them safely home. 
Parents and families and citizens should be able to discuss this war and examine the reasons behind it. There should be more free speech, not less. Patriotism should not be equated to blind obedience. 
While civilian and military deaths mount up in this war for "Iraqi Freedom" we are losing our freedom of speech in the United States. Critics of the war are being denounced for lack of patriotism and reviled for exposing our country to danger. 
The real danger is a war for profit that can spark untold desolation and destruction in an already smoldering part of the world. 
It is up to elected leaders with a sense of history to speak out against the radical forces that have taken over our government. Respectfully, 

Margaret Moorehead
The Woodlands, TX

Live Music 

Hello, I was wondering about getting an event posted in the Scene and whereever else you might post it. I'm a local Blues singer, who'll be performing with my band, Bobby Sims and the BLUES ROCKERS, Sat. April 12th @ the Aviemore Arms in beautiful Downtown Bend at 9:00 p.m. Thank you very much for your assistance in getting the word out. If there's anything I can do to help, please let me know. 

Bobby 
Bulletin Online Reader

Skinny Dipping?

Love to start a skinny dipping club in the spring/woodlands/conroe area. Not a sex club. Not a club where it's 99% male and 1% female. A one for one club. I don't have a place to go but a group might brainstorm and find one. 

Bulletin Online Reader

Fish Fry Results

We could not have done it without you! Many thanks to the community once again for your outstanding support of The Friendship Center! Our 14th Annual Fish Fry resulted in record net proceeds. 
Enormous credit for the delivery and service of almost 2500 fish dinners goes to our tremendous Volunteer Support Group! Planning meetings began in December with tedious details being hammered out by the devoted committee led by co-chairmen Commissioner Craig Doyal and Jim Fredricks. Other volunteer leadership included Mac Hamilton, Holly Hudler, and Bill Smith. 
Of course, we would not even begin to have Fish Fry without the support of Mary Bowers (Vernon's Kuntry Katfish) and Clint Campbell (Kuntry Katfish Catering). Their invaluable service to The Friendship Center is very much appreciated year after year. We certainly value their friendship and commitment to helping to enrich the lives of the Senior Adults right here in Montgomery County! 
On the day of the event, at two locations (Conroe & The Woodlands) we had even MORE volunteers! Mary and Clint's staff were cooking and preparing meals; “celebrity” volunteers were serving meals; community volunteers packaged meals for delivery with Montgomery County Sheriff Deputies and Constables, as well as Oak Ridge North Police Officers delivering meals. In every aspect of the operation, we had a wonderful cadre of exceptional volunteer support. Many thanks once again to each and everyone that helped to make this event such a success! 
As a non-profit Way agency, The Friendship Center supported in part by Montgomery County United Way and Montgomery County Community Development is dedicated to meeting the needs of Senior Adults throughout Montgomery County. Throughout the last 30 years, The Friendship Center has provided a variety of programs and services that have helped to meet the physical, social, and emotional needs of thousands of Seniors, age 60 and over. Seniors enjoy entertainment, meals and fellowship at several centers, hot meals delivered to their homes, help with household chores, and access to safe and reliable transportation, outings, and more. 
The Friendship Center's main office is located in Conroe at 1202 Callahan, off N. Frazier Street. The Senior Adults Activity Centers are located throughout the Montgomery County area. They are located in The Woodlands at 2235 Lake Robbins Drive, in New Caney at A.V. Sallas County Park at McClesky Road, in Montgomery at FM 149 and Liberty Road, and in Magnolia in the West County Community Development Building at Melton Road.
Come visit us and mark your calendar now for next year's 15th Annual Fish Fry in memory of Vernon Bowers Friday, March 5, 2004! 

Gary A. Louie
Executive Director
The Friendship Center

Is this Communist China?

Yesterday a friend of mine was describing someone that opposed the Iraq war effort as "extremely anti-American," and went on to explain: "He's a Democrat and everything.”

A blanket statement such as this, which applies to at least half of all Americans, exposes the gross ignorance of our populace. Quotes like this, which are commonly expressed every day on talk radio, television, and printed media expose this blind bandwagon effect in a brilliance that simply can't be beat. Their very own statements reveal their idiocy far better than anyone could attempt to describe it! 

This modern-day McCarthyism is resulting in distrust, fear, and total tyranny. The freedom to speak one's mind has been all but removed from us, as is evident in so many recent mind-blowing headlines. 
For example, Former Santa Fe Public Defender Andrew J. O'Connor found himself in Secret Service handcuffs last month for stating in an Internet chat room that Bush is "out of control." 
Stephen Downs and his son Roger were told to leave the Crossgates Mall in Albany, N.Y. or remove T-shirts bearing the slogans: "Peace on earth" and "Give peace a chance." The father refused to remove his shirt and was charged with trespassing. 
And now, in possibly the most profound move to hit our country, the American Registry of Internet Names has removed the domain names "aljazeera.net" and "aljzeera.net" from its database. This also affects the newly opened English-translated "english.aljzeera.net". 
This may seem like no big deal -- but it is a swift and decisive move to protect us from the truth. 
Allow me to back up for a moment. Recent pictures released by Al Jazeera contained graphic, gruesome images of slaughtered Iraqi children, families bunkered in foxholes, dead Iraqis clutching white surrender flags, and many other disturbing results of "Operation Iraqi Freedom". 
You can find links throughout the Internet that point to these images, which were available even within the past day. But suddenly, the domain name has disappeared -- in fact, ARIN's records indicate that the domain never even existed. Remember, the 'A' in ARIN stands for 'American'. 
This is, in my opinion, the most repulsive and revealing effort by the Bush Administration yet. Words cannot express the horror in store for our freedoms and liberties when our own government has begun to censor our Internet access to protect their war-mongering agenda. 
Friends, the end is near.

Hermes Rodriguez
Bulletin Online Reader

Going to war is nothing new for American women

Going to war is nothing new for American women, she just never had the chance to know she is under attack. 
For the National Institute of Health to make fatal drug side effect statements over 60 years late, as Corporate America banked billions of dollars while pushing 'her' hormone steroid toxic chemicals is a wicked reality that neither side has the guts to face.
According to 7-9-02, when the NIH reported that female hormone steroid toxic and carcinogenic drugs, as corporately labeled and advertised as a necessary 'replacement therapy', causes invasive cancer, causes heart disease, and causes stroke, stated as fact 6 long decades late, is evidence of an aggressive corporate steroid chemical attack of men? No, millions upon millions of once healthy American women. 
Beginning in 1941, for an unforgivable 62 years past due, millions of healthy women have been the target of a relentless corporate drug army, wiping out countless lives through chemical drug assault. 
Women of the United States did nothing to deserve or invite this threat of corporate carnage on American soil, yet our government holds no one accountable for this tragedy, not the NIH, not the Department of Heath and Human Services, and certainly not the several pharmaceutical corporations who enormously profited. The FDA whose law is to first and foremost approve drugs with 'existing evidence' worthy of drug benefit to risk ratio, identifies devastating deception and cruelty with the magnitude of infecting countless of these several million American women who have been for over 60 years unknowingly pushed into battle, fighting to survive corporate chemical cause of fatal diseases, and either died or who face debilitation. 
Where is the memorial wall for the multitude of once healthy American women who died unnecessarily and prematurely due to the attack of corporate chemical hormone steroid drug extermination during peacetime? 
"All the decades of deceit and cruelty have now reached an end", stated President Bush in his speech about Saddam Hussein. Sounds all to synonymous with American female hormone drug corporations, but in the United Sates our malicious corporate perpetrators walk free. 

Gail Elbek
Santa Barbara, CA

Hey! Someone likes The Bulletin!

I like the bulletin because it has great advertising and is appealing to the eye!!! 

Bulletin Online Reader

Listening to the Blues 

Enjoy your Music column in The Bulletin. A question--What are some places in Montgomery County or North Harris County where a couple of fifty somethings (me and my wife) can go listen to some good blues music and not feel out of place?

Charles Maguire
The Woodlands 


(Check out Mark’s Music Column this week, where he addresses this question.)

Republican Excess in a Time of Belt Tightening

Let's take a short quiz.
Suppose you were the Governor of a major state - i.e., Texas - and your state government faced a budget deficit of nearly $10 billion.
You would:
A) To set an example, cut your own budget to help critical programs avoid devastating cuts.
B) Hire a total of 3 chefs to cook your meals at the Governor's Mansion.
Suppose you were the Speaker of the House of this same major state, and preliminary budget plans called for denying health insurance to 250,000 children from working families.
You would:
A) Call for shared sacrifice and delay expenditures on luxury items.
B) Spend $3,700 of taxpayer money on a mattress and boxsprings, place mats, napkins, candles and other tableware, as well as $6,600 to repaint the Speaker's apartment. 
And suppose you were the Lt. Governor of this great state, and a plan was presented that would reduce school funding for 85% of the school districts in Texas.
You would:
A) Hold down staff salaries and hirings to show you are willing to make sacrifices like all other state agencies.
B) Double the staff salaries from just two years before.
If you're like most Texans, you answered "A" to these three questions. If you're Governor Rick Perry, Speaker Tom Craddick or Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, you probably answered "B."
That's right, Rick Perry has not one, not two, but three chefs. I understand the need for one chef at the Governor's mansion, but three? With three chefs cooking for him, how does Perry stay so thin?
Speaker Craddick blew our money on tea cups, bowls, frying pans, place mats, an iron, re-painting and a new bed at the Speaker's apartment. Who knew Tom Craddick was a secret Martha Stewart fan?
And then there's Lt. Governor Dewhurst, who doubled his office's salaries. His chief of staff gets paid like a celebrity - $221,000 a year. I'd wager there are more people getting pink slips in Texas right now than raises.
However, it's not that each of these Republicans is throwing money around. It's that they are spending it at a time when there are proposals on the table to slash education and health care funding and deny hundreds of thousands of Texans services they are presently receiving.
What we need is shared sacrifice. If the children, teachers, and senior citizens of Texas are forced to sacrifice, don't you think the leaders should sacrifice too? We need a little less Marie Antoinette and a lot more Joan of Arc around here. It seems to me Perry, Craddick and Dewhurst could do without a few luxuries.
It might make a difference if they did. If Rick Perry had to survive with just one chef, Tom Craddick had to make-do without new dishes, and David Dewhurst had to get by without a staff paid like corporate CEO's, maybe, just maybe, they would understand better what they're about to do to the rest of Texas.

Molly Beth Malcolm
Texas Democratic Party Chairwoman 

Free Weddings

October 27, 2002, Sunday on page 100 of the "Houston Chronicle" my ministry and service of "FREE Marriage Ceremonies Performed" was featured because of your altruistic benevolent service of the Community Service Announcements and free advertising you provide. If it wasn't for Newspapers like yours willingness to be involved in our community we could not have helped as many couples as we have enjoy the rites of Holy Matrimony! I mentioned "The Bulletin" to "The Houston Chronicle," and your name was published for all to see your caring heart. I want to encourage your Newspaper to continue in well doing. Please continue to help our community, and keep this service before our great County, and community. Couples can reach me at my toll free number at 1-877-305-0226. or at the Christian Tabernacle Church 281-681-2255. Godspeed in the good that you do, 

Reverend Carl Ray Marshall, Sr.
Conroe, TX

TDCJ has little concern for the fairness of its employees

There has been discussion about the budget cuts within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the deadly critical Shortage of Correctional Officers. Based upon on some recent events, I have some suggestions. I think that TDCJ should delete departments which were designed to afford fairness to employees; because despite written policy, TDCJ has little concern for the fairness of its employees. For example, official record will reveal that in the past few years, TDCJ has altered its grievance and disciplinary procedures to afford less fairness to employees and more leverage for abuse of authority by administrators.
Official record will reveal that TDCJ/Internal Affairs Division has been accused of intimidating coercing and threatening officers with false disciplinary charges when they fail to alter official statements .
Official record will also reveal that TDCJ/Open Records Department is failing to comply with its own policy and the law that governs open records.
Official record will also reveal that TDCJ/EEO Department serves only as a buffer for damage control and in house cover ups for TDCJ and not to afford fairness and complaints.
If the Department is designed to afford employees fairness; but intentionally, routinely fails to meet its own objectives...shouldn't someone be considering the money to be saved in deleting these ineffective departments which fail to serve their intended purpose? Or should tax payers continue to pay for TDCJ to employ departmental personnel for the purpose of engagement of unlawful, in house cover ups.

Tammy M. Malone
Willis, TX

Thanks!

I had a wonderful time at the Montgomery County Fair Senior Citizen’s Day last Tuesday, April 1. The lunch was delicious. The entertainment was wonderful. The door prizes were lovely. Thank you to all the sponsors, people who donated, and the volunteers.

Gerri Wood
The Woodlands

Medical Malpractice Monument

According to a National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine report, between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as a result of medical mistakes, more than those who die of car accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS. I suggest that we build a Malpractice Memorial modeled after the Vietnam Memorial. Family members of malpractice victims could go to that wall to mourn, to touch the name of someone they loved, to place flowers of remembrance, to shed tears of loss, of anger, of despair for someone who sought to be healed, but met death instead. That would be a long, long wall. 
Speaking of walls, people speak of the blue wall that policemen construct when one of their own is found wanting. There is a white wall that is constructed by doctors when one of their own is found wanting, a wall that must be demolished in order to protect patients who blindly place their trust and their lives in the hands of doctors who are known by other doctors not to be trustworthy. 
5% of the doctors are responsible for over half of the malpractice incidents in this country. The medical profession needs to set its house in order by evicting repeat offenders. 

Jane Marshall
Clarksville, Tennessee

SUV's 

Donald "Lefty" Kaul may abhor the SUV and those who drive them, but as an owner of a number of SUV’s since the 1980’s, I can say in all honesty that the SUV has not only saved my life and others’ but has made my life easier and less stressful. I guess I am another one of those “high and mighty” fascists who enjoy blitzkrieging around the countryside thumbing my high and mighty nose at the peasants in smaller sized cars, but then again, why not – it’s fun! I enjoy the extra height the SUV gives me allowing me to actually see what is coming up ahead on the roadways. The roominess allows me and others in my family to stretch our long beautiful American legs while we gaze (from a height) at the fascinating scenery going by. Finally and most important, I can get to work on time without having to shovel 4 feet of snow off the driveway at 6 in the morning. All good reasons to own one. 
As for Mr. Kaul and Mr. Bradsher, their right not to purchase an SUV is guaranteed by the democratic capitalist system in our nation, however limited it may be. I reserve my right to own, enjoy, stretch out in, give rides to the envious, and forge my way through the weather in the almighty SUV.
Mr. Kaul, if I see you standing by the side of a road somewhere, I will temporarily suspend my self centeredness and self absorption to give you a ride. You need not fear me: SUV drivers have the cleanest criminal records around. It’s those sedan and mini van car drivers that hitchhikers have to worry about.

Ellene Phufas

Patience and Character 

Our current administration displayed little patience with the Iraqi government leading up to the invasion of Iraq. It chose confrontation over negotiation; it chose chastisement and exasperation over a tougher inspection process. Now that our soldiers are dying, innocent mothers and fathers, sons and daughters are dying horrific deaths from cluster bombs; our president is willing to be patient. What does this say about the character of the person sending our sons to battle?

Denise Reilly
The Woodlands, TX

The Stealth Crusade

I read the article titled "The Stealth Crusade" on "thebulletin.com".

I was amazed how much secrecy, deception and explotation is needed in order to convert people to Christianity from Islam. Why don't these missionaries try and convert educated people for once. It's extremely easy to influence the poor and the uneducated. After all, the spread of the Christian doctrine was spread by keeping the masses uninformed and uneducated.
Please issue my challenge to Rick Love or anyone else interested to see if they can convert me to Christianity. Like all the other christians I have talked to, they will run away with their tails between their legs.
Thanks. A devout, thinking, educated Muslim.

Bulletin Online Reader

I would like Change

I'd like to see more interesting stories. I am not sure if my browser is broken or what. It seems like every time I go to thebulletin.com it's the same stories. Almost like all the bulletin is anymore is advertisements for garage bands, poetry, drama and restaurants. Redundantly writing about the same subjects. I would love to read an article about the scams of our local Salvation Army, or the shunned homeless people who have been told to stay under the bridges by our Police Department. Those two suggestions have the same ideas but in themselves are two different stories. Or stories and surveys about Conroe's particular opinion on "touchy subjects" about religion, war and our President. Maybe even an interview or two with School Principles, Religious Leaders, City Counsel members. I am not sure who The Bulletin is directed to, but I would hope it is intended to reach the people of Montgomery County. I know the first time I picked it up, the stories intrigued me, reached me on a personal level. It seemed The Bulletin was outspoken and courageous. I liked that. I am bored with the stories I have half way been reading. 
Please get a little more courageous. Get interesting again, get stories other newspapers dare to tread. Find information commonly unknown and reveal it.
Hoping for the Best Yet to Come,

Valerie

Torture under the Big Top

Props to Mark Williams for his article "Torture Under the Big Top." I am proud to see my local paper print a compassionate and truthful piece regarding animal rights.
Circus animals are subjected to life-long, unnessecary exploitation, despite the innocent front for the sake of mindless entertainment. I commend the Bulletin for printing such an article, and hope the paper will continue to report such injustices.

Melissa Stringfellow
Cleveland, Texas

Puppy Love

Hi, I'm only 5 weeks old and was not ready to leave my Mom yet. But because my owners didn't want me, even though they did nothing to prevent my Mom from having me, I was dumped on the side of the highway with no house in site, no food, no water,was I ever scared! It was so hot and I was so thirsty but what could I do I'm just a baby. But, don't worry about me. Some very nice people saw me before I got hit by a car and they took me home with them. They told me that they could not keep me because they find sl many that need help. But I was promised that they would care for me until a good home could be found. I was one of the lucky one's. Some of my kin were out a lot longer than me before they were found. Slowly, painfully they starved and had no water. They told me a bullet to the head would be less cruel than enduring that kind of slow torture. After a while they got so weak they couldn't even get up and try to find food and water. So they just gave up and waited for death to take them. Lucky for them someone took the time to help. Don't worry about me, I'm okay but I do fear for the rest of my kind that may suffer this same fate. I beg you to reconsider dumping them. There isn't always someone nice around to take over your responsibility. Even if they are found by someone caring sometimes its late to save them. Please, if you drive by and see one of us in need won't you please stop and help. Even if you can't keep a puppy or dog, get us some place safe until a home can be found. Think of lessons you are teaching your children in kindness and compassion by doing so. If you have helped those like me God Bless You! Even though the sheer number of abandoned animals seem endless you are making a difference. In memory of Flower and all those like her who were found to late. Those who no longer had the strength or heart to continue the fight for life. 

Name Withheld
Willis, TX

"War Drums" article 

This was a very well written article...so timely. I enjoyed the writer's personal touch. 

Bulletin Online Reader

MCHD

The Montgomery County Hospital District always seems to attract controversy, which is usually the case when tax dollars are involved. The ongoing controversy over tax dollars, however, has branched out into a political attack against Nicol Huff, one of the more outspoken members of the Board of Directors.
Nicol has been indicted as being the only person who conspired to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act. 
This attack should not go unanswered. 
Nicol has always been an advocate for the indigent population in Montgomery County. Every vote she casts at a Board meeting is aimed at getting the best treatment for people who need emergency care but have no health insurance. 
When the district comes under attack in the press Nicol always has the courage to speak out even though she knows it will make her a target by those who have a different view of public assistance. 
I know Nicol through working with her on the Board of the League of Women Voters. Here, too, she is active in working for the benefit of our community by volunteering her time and organizational skills. 
Controversy always strikes the people who have the courage to stand up for what they believe is right, who let their views be known, who are not afraid to take on the opposition. 
I am proud of my friend, and I know that many, many others who know Nicol feel the same. 

Margaret Moorehead
The Woodlands, TX

MCHD 

Dear Editor: I would like to clarify issues that have been discussed recently regarding the MCHD controversies and their effects on doctors and their patients. I cannot speak for the entire medical community, nor will I try, but I would like to address my patients and fellow physicians regarding what I see as the important issues regarding recent MCHD board decisions. 
Bill Leigh and the MCHD have the right to review cases that are subsidized by tax dollars. I have no argument with that, and that is what I thought had been happening from the very beginning. To control the costs of medical care, it is not unreasonable to want to get a handle on the legitimacy of the way that money is being spent. But the problems that I have with Mr. Leigh's approach is that it leaves many questions unanswered as to how this process will be accomplished. For example, will it be done in HMO fashion which is to deny as many health care claims as humanly possible, or will it be done in a fashion that exhibits integrity and humanitarianism? Will the process be done by a fair reviewer or one that is paid to just save tax dollars at any cost to human life? 
These questions still go unanswered by Mr. Leigh and the board members who voted in favor of the proposition. 
Doctors do not want to harm their patients, but they do want to be treated fairly. I cannot blame physicians who cancelled routine elective procedures until clarification is obtained by Mr. Leigh and the MCHD board as to how the process should proceed. Right now, there are alot of confused doctors out there in the community and even more confused patients. But no doctor that I know will refuse to take care of emergencies because they are worried about being paid. 
The way that Mr. Leigh singled out fifteen of the top physicians in the community for unfair scrutiny, punishes these doctors and groups of doctors (such as the Sadler Clinic) simply because they are the best physicians around and receive the majority of referrals for doing their jobs well. All physicians should be treated equally if a review process is to be done in a fair manner. 
Don't single out just the best, or in Dr. Hutton's case, the only physician in town until recently, who does open heart surgery, just because they are providing care to the best of their abilities and trying to save lives.
It is unfair to punish people because they are good at what they do.
Some board members feel that doctors are consulted by the family practice program unnnecessarily. That is totally inaccurate and has been misrepresented repeatedly by Mr. Leigh. No family practice doctor can perform brain surgery or open heart surgery. 
Are we going to punish the family practice program because they are consulting doctors to perform procedures that they are not capable of doing? Yes, they are learning from us, but they are asking us to help them do things that only specialists are trained to do. Mr. Leigh is using the issue of speciality physician care as a back door method of undermining the funding to the program.
Cutting the funding to this program puts this program in jeopardy and the community as a whole at risk because we stand to lose the very valuable services that they provide to this community, many of which go unappreciated, except of course by their patients and the physicians who work closely with them. These patients would have no where else to go if this program were to be terminated. Many would be forced to use the emergency room as a primary care facility and the costs of health care would skyrocket as a result. Many would be forced to seek care in other counties. 
Mr. Leigh's motion puts this program in grave jeopardy and subsequently the care of the entire community. It is very fair to state that the family practice program gives the most efficient and cost effective medical care to our county's indigent patients and that this program has been undermined by Mr. Leigh's overzealousness to cut costs and tax dollars. 
Perhaps what bothers me the most is the fact that overnight, without warning or notification to the community, the mobile care clinics were told to stop operating. The reason: apparently they were not making enough money to satisfy Mr. Leigh, David Witt, Eric Yollick, and Mr. Bourgeois. They were meant to provide an invaluable service to people who have no where else to go or don't have transportation to clinics. These people were left out in the cold overnight. In my view, that was unethical and could be considered abandonment of patient care. At least these board members should have had the decency to notify the public that this issue was going to be discussed, and to allow them at least thirty days to find an alternative to their care. There were lines of people waiting for a clinic that never showed up. That was not only unethical and possibly illegal, but also showed a lack of humanitarianism to the needs of these patients that the board is supposed to serve and represent to the best of their sworn abilities. Mr. Witt had the audacity to state that these people "could get to the malls and should be able to get to the clinics." 
That comment shows how out of touch he is with what poor people live with or live without on a daily basis. I haven't seen too many poor patients at the mall recently, have you? Maybe what Mr. Witt meant to say was "Let them eat cake" as was stated by the queen of France to the masses during the French Revolution. 
What the board did was to be "penny wise and pound foolish" in their efforts: in this case we are talking about pounds of human flesh. Unfortunately these four board members put the entire community at risk in order to save tax dollars. Yes, as a citizen I would love to see taxes decrease, however I do not want to kill or hurt innocent people in the process and that is what these board members are doing. They took a meat clever to the budget when a scalpel and surgical precision were indicated. 
Mr. Yollick, I applaud your efforts to help trim the fat. However, the fat is not in physician payments or in mobile care clinics or in a residency program that Ruben Hope has himself called "a plum for the community" in a recent legislative session. The reason costs have increased and have exceeded your proposed budget is that you didn't take into account the fact that the community has an increasing number of indigent people who are out of work and have no health insurance. Our poor economy has dictated that, as has an increasing population in a growing county with a growing hospital. 
For Mr. Yollick to blame doctors for placing the community in a panic mode is the "pot calling the kettle black." By its indiscretions and lack of communication with doctors and patients, the board has created an atmosphere which at best is uncertain, and at worst, may lead to catastrophic results if we continue on the course that this current board has embarked upon. 
Next time, I would ask these four board members to show some compassion for their community and look at what is right. That sometimes goes beyond looking at the bottom line. Fairness is not always cheap, but the board owes it to the people that they are sworn to protect. Thanks, 

Steven Farber, MD
The Woodlands, TX

An Objection

To Whom It May Concern: The motivations and behavior of the "coalition" have been highly objectionable for years. And never so much as last week when they succeeded in the outrageous jailing of MCHD Board Member Nicol Huff last week. When I served on the MCHD board with her, she was an obsessive regarding process and strict compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. It is unbelievable that she would violate this sacrosanct rule that was openly flaunted by former board member and their gang of coalition cronies. The activities of the coalition have been very worrisome for abandonment of ethics and a pathologic focus on personal vendettas. 
There is a huge leadership vacuum in Montgomery County. Perhaps if the District is dissolved we should also dissolve all County offices and begin anew. This way we could create solutions that work for the community. Because the community has been left behind while untalented local political forces pursue personal agendas. 

Respectfully,
Gregory J. Hall

Question 

How do you only accuse one person of having a secret meeting? In order to have a secret meeting you have to have a quorum present. If you have seven people on a board, you then need at least four people to form a quorum to conduct a secret meeting. 

Bulletin Online Reader

An Open Letter to the Taxpayers, Parents, and Students of CISD 

It is time for a change on the CISD School Board. 
I am running as a Candidate for Position 3, CISD School Board. My vision for the CISD is that it should produce the best educated children in the world. A part of that education is teaching children what is right and having leaders that can make the hard choices. 
Based on information released to the public by the CISD, the unanimous board decision make Tuesday to "payoff" DR Lusk was not a decision I would have supported. Who on the board is looking for the truth? Who on the board is willing to set an example for the taxpayers, parents, and students of CISD they represent? Who has the integrity to says they you don't get a "reward" for bad behavior. The board needs a voice for what is right and just. 
This vote is just like every other one that I examined over the last 18 months. Unanimous. Who is looking out for the students, parents and taxpayers?
I am a Proven Leader! I retired from the US Army with the rank of Colonel in 1998. I have been a resident of Conroe ISD since 1993. I am an experienced senior manager in the Department of Defense and private business and a veteran of Desert Storm and the Viet Nam War.
I respectfully ask for you vote. Early voting starts today.

John Carr
Col, USA (Ret)
Candidate for Position 3 CISD Board of Trustees

Anger Management Review

I recently read your review on the new Adam Sandler movie, Anger Management. 
Although I agree that the film was in some respects sub par, I feel I'm justified in my opinion because I at least WATCHED the movie! Did you even see it? I am assuming not because of the numerous mistakes in your review... let me count the ways.
First, the big picture... let me answer your question, "How could a guy who is so basically... let's say it... insane, be the court appointed anger management specialist?" Because it was all a farce set up by Buznik's girlfriend, played by Marisa Tomei, to get him to stop being such a door mat. The judge, the flight attendant, everything was a set up. 
Second, Dr. Rydell (Nicholson) didn't take a bat to his client's car (Sandler). He bashed in a complete stranger's car (and left his insurance info to pay for it.) Third, and I may be mistaken on this (though I doubt it), but Giuliani was simply playing himself. If, in fact, they did call him "mayor", when did it specify the year in which the film was set? (and by the way, in that scene he didn't break up another "tiresome squabble" he was just rooting Buznik on to get his girl back.) 
Fourth, Heather Graham didn't PLAY a Brownie she ATE a brownie! While I appreciate reviews and opinions, no matter the stance... at least WATCH the movie so may better enforce your journalistic opinion. 
Respectfully,

Danielle LaBorde

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