Letters from our Readers - August

Leadership roles for doctors 

Is anyone surprised that a medical professional was snubbed by our current MCHD board in favor of a businessman who, for all intents and purposes, was selected before the board ever met? What chance did Dr. Michael Chaplin really have? Were his credentials really reviewed in detail before the meeting, or did they just get a cursory and token glance so that the board could say that it fulfilled its duty? 
I have reviewed both resumes. Both men are good men and have excellent credentials, but they also have very different backgrounds. Thomas was applauded at the board meeting as being a fiscal conservative who wants the best for his community. That may be true, but does that mean that the MCHD board thinks that all doctors and medical professionals are liberal spenders who love to waste taxpayer money, and don't have the communities interests at heart? Their statements and actions smack of cronyism and political agendas. 
By again ignoring medical input, the MCHD board has proven once again that their priorities are based upon reactionary viewpoints rather than logic and sound reasoning. It is amazing and sad to me that the same people who put their trust in their doctors to treat their heart attacks and cancer will not allow them to have leadership roles in our community. 

Steven Farber, MD
Conroe, TX

Humane Society

I guess you can believe anything, nowadays. When I hear of people looking for an cat, dog or kitten and puppy. I had referred them to the SPCA. People also pay money to bring their dogs and cats to be fixed at the shelter. If they treat the exiting dogs/cats like this, no one will want to bring their animals to be fixed. They offer a discount price for this. After hearing what is going on, no one will bring them and this will increase the pet population, of unwanted animals. The people who are hired to run the shelter should be held accounted for the problems. They should also have to go to jail for abuse. Please keep people updated, and stick you nose in every now and then, to make the shelter sit on the edge. Thanks.

Robert Wear

The Road to Morality 

I am a registered independent, and I vote. 
I rarely grab a copy of the Bulletin. I have read it in the past, and I usually get a terrible headache. Today was more of the same. 
I was a little interested about this so-called book banning. After reading your article, a lot of things became more clear to me. 
You and yours are like those ACLU f***heads. Y'all are worse than Democrats, you are like the Green/Communist Party people who want America to turn totally upside down on it's head, when it comes to traditional American Values. I'm sure you support political-correctness. 
I do agree that there are many Republican-types, whom give shame to our great country, but I believe you and your atheist friends are a worse threat to our great country than the fat rich white guy. 
I am neither fat, nor rich, nor a church-going Christian. I am white, though, but abhor the KKK. I am very gay-friendly, I'm married, if it's any business of yours, and I consider myself trying to constantly be non-racist. I wasn't raised to be racist, my parents did a great job. I do listen to both AM conservative talk-radio, and Pacifica-Commie radio, and NPR, etc. I enjoy hearing both sides. 
Sure, there's whackos on the right, there's also whackos on the left, which is what you sound like. 
A lot of people, nationwide, have a big problem with gays sticking their face in their kids education. And I would think that most gay people do not want to be so forceful. I personally, as an Independent, have to swing more toward the people trying to keep a more traditional America. Politics is an ugly bedbug. It's here to stay. I always refer back to the infamous map. When the stupid chad issue was going on in Florida, we were actually shown a map of the USA, which showed in red the Republican counties verses the blue Democrat counties. That map showed that the majority of the land mass of the United States was, what?, 90% Republican? That still didn't convince me, I'm an Independent. 
The only major blue areas was around the large cities. NYNY, Chi-Town, La-La land, and other very small pockets here and there. 
Texas People, the great people from the great state of Texas, still believe in traditional American Values, sorry if there are a handful that think like a baseball bat. I would never. 
When I kick-back, stretch my toes out, just had a plate of Bar-Be-Cue, and got the Grandkids running around, I have got to lean more toward the Conservative viewpoint, except for them whackos, but it's a much better decision to me, if my other choice is whackos on the left. Go ahead, try to "change the world for better", but hopefully one day you will realize that this stupid Socialist State you Lefties are trying to create, would destroy the very Freedom that gave you the right to try to speak out against traditional Americans values, as we know them. 
No, G.W. Bush is not the greatest President we have ever had, that would be an extremist-right viewpoint, but I truly believe he is a better for America President than that Clinton joke. I'm not sure if Bush is truly from Texas, which kind of bothers me. Is he from Maine? 
What also really bothers me is that 90% of Blacks vote Democrat, blindly. That really bugs me, because it reminds me that most people whom vote, are not educated on the issues. 
The system is so screwed-up, but people like you, and the ACLU, et.al., are worse for America than the Republicans, for one main reason only: 
Y'all are trying to change Our America into some kind of extreme-Liberal garbage, and I am happy that more and more People are leaning more toward the Right side, even though the Republicans are not the best answer, the Lefty-Libby's are so whack, you have poison on your side. At least the Righty's have God on their side, and they pray, and they believe in an America when it wasn't so politically insane, what with all the insane Liberal bullcrap, but do have compassion, and passion, about what they think should be. 
Com'on, Mr. Williams, get saved. Throw your soiled towel back into your Left-Liberal crap pile, grow up, and take on some real responsibility. See our great Country for what it was made for. No homosexual teaching in school or libraries, no free library internet porn, let's please not teach our children to be homosexual, let them grow-up as normal kids, then make their own decisions as they become adults. Is that not the way it should be? Leave the kids alone. You and your like are trying to turn American kids into pu**ies, enough. Plenty of people don't want a bunch of pu**y-boys running around. I just believe that most parents out there, do not wish that their children grow-up to be gay. Maybe that doesn't help your pro-gay education cause you are fighting for, Mr. Williams, but I have got to look at America from a different viewpoint from you.
Man, we can work out some other plan, let's work together. Let's say, you stop with the ultra-liberal crap, and I try to reach some of the Rightys, and try to make them be more gay-friendly. 
But you are never going to reach the Right, by being so outrageous. The more extreme you are, the other side will try to be extreme. 
My plan, is just everyone calm down, left and right, and figure out what is best for America. 
Sorry, Mikey, he likes America. 
I do not enjoy the Bulletin, it seems to want to be some kind of anti-America rag. It's like it wants to make fun of real Texans, and true hard-working red-blooded Americans. We are not all bad, I just believe that the majority of God-fearing upstanding True Texans and Americans believe in a much better world to live in, than you Lefty-Liberals, take your garbage back to Berkeley, Cal., or the northeast, or wherever you come from. 
That's just my rest stop on your so-called road to morality, bucky, butch-up, punk, and think back to what really makes America great. It's Our Traditional Values. 
Or have you been poisoned beyond reality? I'm so dog-goned glad to touch your thoughts in such a good way. Our love is all we have. I believe in America, maybe in a different light than you, you Lefty's are gonna have to do a hell of a lot more to convince me. In the meantime, I'll keep a light out for the rightwingers. 

Kevin Bowdoin
New Caney, Texas 

Road to morality

Hell Yes!
Excellent article in Issue 30. I'm glad that the Bulletin was strong enough to publish it. I'm glad that you were there to say it.

Frank McGregor

Circus Animals

My heart aches for these magnificent animals. This past Sunday Nature had a very illuminating and heartbreaking show. I cried through most of it ... although thanks to the refuge in Tenn. some stories had a happy ending and my tears were for the keeper letting go and the two females who had once known each other being reunited. Too bad humans don't have the same compassion and undying love for both Elephants and each other. (I am)An animal lover. 

Ruth Baldwin 
Caldwell, NJ 

More on ‘The Road’

Thank you for Mark Williams' fine article on the current "conservative," a.k.a. "regressive," political climate in Montgomery County. As founder of Mainstream Montgomery County at the inception of the Internet situation, I am exceedingly pleased with the response our latest petitions have had in raising awareness of the threat to First and Fourteenth Amendment freedoms. Mark Cadwallader (who constitutes a Citizen's Task Force for Family-Friendly Libraries) avers that the U.S. Constitution does not apply to local government. Since passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, however, the Constitution applies to all levels of government. 
As I again collect signatures on petitions, I am concerned that people do not know that our county has filtered Internet access for several years. Adults are restricted to the level of children unless an adult requests that the filter be removed one site at a time by asking permission from a librarian. This "chilling effect" restricts adults who cannot afford Internet access on their own from asking to see sites they should be able to see, not pornography, because of embarrassment.
As yet there is no law in Montgomery County to restrict Internet access in private homes. In Houston public libraries by contrast, adults have access to unfiltered Internet sites, while children are filtered. 
Jim Jenkins and Bill Elmer were unsuccessful in convincing the Montgomery County Community College system to filter all college students to the level of children. By accommodation, the college system provided filtered terminals for children visiting their libraries and for adults who choose filtered Internet access. 
People are unaware that the method of filtering Internet sites, identifying strings of letters, has a substantial loophole--pictures are unfilterable--and about ten per cent of objectionable sites are pictures only. Technology to remove all objectionable sites does not exist and is unlikely to be developed. 
A number of well-meaning men and women have informed me that they believe that the U.S. Constitution can be circumvented by "community standards," the definition of which they would define for the whole county population. Despite their protestations, the term "community standards" is not defined by extremes at either end of the opinion spectrum, but rather by a moderate compromise position. Montgomery County's diverse population holds many views, not just the most puritanical, all of which must be respected. 
Government and public facilities may not be used to persecute any sub-group that self-appointed inquisitors of political and religious correctness choose to target. Some of the people most critical of others are themselves not without faults, with lust affairs, mistresses, and children out of wedlock. Pursuit of political gain at the expense of county residents that Jim Jenkins, Mark Cadwallader, and Tom Lancaster have targeted is a two-edged sword by which all will be injured. 

K.E.S. Palmisano 
The Woodlands, TX

Right On! 

Mark, I don't know you but I certainly do admire you!! You said so much, so well and it all needed to be said. I'm only one of the REAL "silent majority" and want you to know many of us agree with you and are so pleased that you wrote your article. THANK YOU. 

Kyle Harding

Thanks

Thanks to The Bulletin for covering the library issue. People need to wake up and see that their rights are being trampled. 

Name Withheld

Bland(?) Writing

I thought the purpose of "alternative" magazines was to promote the art and understanding of dialectic, so that the unwashed, ignorant public you are attempting to defend, against the evil republicans of Montgomery County I might add, dont get stuck in the quagmire of a pedantic ideology. But who is really stuck? 
I read a few months ago a letter to the editor that complained about the lack of good articles coming from the staff writers at the bulletin. The articles are bland. I don't mean to insult. But apparently I am not the only one who isn't charging into the fray after post 911. If you are looking for something, someway to communicate with the public in this area, I suggest researching the nine act story structure and writing a comparison between it and your basic three acts. If not for the public, but as an exercise for the bulletin writers. Get to know the public. 

Heidi Carter

Inhumane Society 

Yes, it's me, Heather Boggs. 
I would like to take this opportunity to address the letters that have been written to the bulletin about the humane society. I would like to first address the letters that support the ridiculous claim that I staged the tape. WATCH THE TAPE-ALL OF IT. 
Then tell me how I staged it.
Second, go work at the Conroe shelter for two months, if you can last that long. Then tell me all about it. 
Watch the animals get euthanized... hold their mouths shut so the customers don't hear them scream as the needle pierces their heart and they are NOT sedated. I am sorry, I only worked there for about a year and that wasn't long enough for the higher ups to tell me how painful it was to get that shot.....that they ARE supposed to be sedated. 
I could not stand by and lie when I was told to. I would not. I like to think I am a little more respectful of myself than that. 
One thing I am having a hard time understanding is why, if the shelter has nothing to hide, are the slow dwindling list of employees systematically harassing certain people who publicly voiced their issues with the shelter? 
Why do I have to make sure certain counter person's cars aren't parked across the street at the dollar store spouting off at the crater ( mouth) about how she is going to get me in trouble with the proof she has that I faked the whole thing before I shop there? 
Why was another employee taped calling my home from his home just hours after the tape was made to make sure our stories were straight so he could not be implicated....OR....so he knew what I would say so he was prepared to forge a story of his own to keep his part time job? Not to mention the countless calls from the same employee for days until he was told through a well informed "volunteer" that he may be recorded if he calls my house. 
The other thing is that if you are going to have "cosmetic volunteers" try to help with damage control - make sure they don’t write letters to the bulletin explaining why the employees aren’t at fault for the conditions on the tape because they are overwhelmed with too many animals and not enough funding. 
I thought it wasn't their fault because I staged the whole thing to begin with. 
If an employee is going to admit that they let me in to make the tape, don't let the executive dictator tell the news that there was a break-in over the weekend to explain how it was allowed to happen. 
If there aren’t any problems there like they say, where have all the employees gone, including E.D. Leonard Ganther? 
I welcome any reply from actual employees who don't mind going on the record. 

Heather Boggs 

Fred Halpern's Letter 

Fred Halpern said it all so well. However, I don't believe the Courier editor's wife is in favor of the libraries being removed from the ALA. Other than that, all I can do is echo his words and say LET'S ROLL. 

Kyle Harding

Isabella Russell

I came across your article on Isabella because I do a search every day to see what has been written in the lay and scientific press regarding pulmonary hypertension. I suffer from what is called primary pulmonary hypertension and stay on top of the news because this is a disease with much brighter prospects than just 5-10 years ago and several new medications have been developed and I like to keep on top of them. I like to say we're on the verge of becoming a Chronic Disease. I'm hoping that in your article when you talk about nitrous oxide you meant nitric oxide. Nitric Oxide can be quite important for infants who suffer PH at birth. So if you are in touch with the Russell family, it's an important question to ask them -- is it Nitric Oxide.
The reason I'm writing is that it is important for all PH patients to find a PH specialist and not rely on regular cardiologists or pulmonologists. There are less than 100 of these specialists in the U.S. and Houston is very lucky to have two, one of which is at Texas Children's Hospital. If you are in touch with the Russells, you might want to pass along the suggestion of this PH patient that it would be important for them or their doctors to consult with one of these PH specialists. I've listed contact information below.
If they haven't found the following websites as yet, they might prove helpful: 
www.phcentral.org This is the sight I copied the doctors' information out of
www.phassociation.org This is a national organization of patients and medical people involved in PH.
Thanks so much for writing the piece about Isabella. A recent fundraiser held in Pittsburgh was able to raise tens of thousands of dollars so I'll keep my fingers cross for this family. I thank you also for writing the story because this is a rare disease -- less than 2 people in a million -- and we can use all the press we can get -- especially now that there are real treatments that can save peoples lives. Too many cardiologists and pulmonologists think there's still no hope and send people home to get their affairs in order. So every bit of help is wonderful! 

Sharon Murphy
Houston

Beware Insurance Costs

When Senator Williams knocks at your door and offers to sell you or your employer health insurance, you had better look closely at what you are buying. Check out the fine print first before you sign on the dotted line, and ask your employer to do the same. 
It seems that our state senator, who himself is an insurance salesman and has received campaign contributions from the Texas Association of Businesses (TAB), has made it easier both for himself to sell insurance and for us to buy it. But buyer beware! You might be buying a lemon. 
Before you buy health insurance, find out what it covers and does NOT cover. You might be very surprised. You might not be covered for emergency medical care, prescription drugs, pyschiatric illnesses, physical therapy, HIV treatment, preventive medicine, and many forms of treatment if you are sick. Thanks to the new bill that was introduced by Mr. Williams, insurance companies will be able to sell us a motor scooter (and we are not talking about a Harley) instead of a Cadillac. Instead of giving tax credits to employers as an incentive to provide health insurance for their employees and forcing insurance companies to offer products that are held to specifically high standards at the same or lower premiums, the state legislature has decided in its infinite wisdom that it would be easier to allow the entire state to buy inferior products. 
I suppose that riding a motor scooter is better than driving nothing at all, but I pray that all Texans stay healthy after our state legislature and local governments have finished their business. Chances are that you will not be able to afford to be sick any time in the near future if you are poor or middle class, young or old. And there is a good chance that your autistic or disabled child will be left out in the cold. What a sad commentary about the ability of our state to care for its own! And what an incredible conflict of interest for a state senator who sells insurance and should give us the best products available, especially when it comes to our health. We will be paying for our legislators' mistakes for years to come. What seems cheap now will cost us dearly in the future. 

Steven Farber, MD

Stop The Media Ambush of Soldiers / Familys

Only the Democrats and our Liberal media would consider these two situations as having the same"Immoral" equivalence; showing the bodies of Saddams sons , these thugs, murderers, rapists and torturers, as being just as Immoral as the showing on Arab TV the bodies of American soldiers fighting for truth justice and the American way. It is disgusting when these supposedly civilized educated Americans, cannot distinguish between showing the bodies of rapists, murderers etc., to free the Iraqis of fear of them, to the "gratuitous showing of the bodys of soldiers who gave their lives to Liberate the victims of these "terrorists" It is equally disgusting to see the "exploitation" of soldiers and their familys living under great emotional pressure as their loved ones are being ambushed by Saddamites, then also being ambushed and coaxed by the liberal media to naively expose their anguish to a media whose intention is to use these politically unsavy families and soldiers to undermine support for the war. I do not believe any of these families realized the ulterior motives of the media when asked "Do you want your husband home, do the children miss him", the answer is obvious. It certainly isn't going to be "oh' we are doing fine, we hope he/she stays there a long time, the kids don't miss them". Or like wise the politically unsavy soldiers in the field are also easy pickings for the news media. 
“Do you miss your family? how do you like it here? etc." Their response isn't going to be "Oh the 120F weathers great, I love being shot at everyday, and being away from my family for long periods is just great, I hope I can stay here forever". I would like to know how these brave, decent, candid, un-devious, soldiers and their familys would feel if they realized that the devious Liberal media used their statements to try to undermine and demoralize support for their Heroic Iraqi/Afghan victory at home and abroad and de- legitimize their very presence there. I have had one daughter and two sons serve, one still serves in Korea and I am outraged at the undermining of our military, for "political" gain by Dem Pres Candidates who are encouraging an enemy who is emboldened and even morally encouraged to "Kill our sons and daughters by irresponsible even malicious statements by Democrats, in particular Dem-Sen Graham suggesting, (even while our soldiers are being shot at), "the war is illegitimate and the President could be impeached". Sen Graham and his media cronies are the same "ilk" that encouraged the Viet Cong to continue to strive to kill even one American soldier even when it cost them eight to ten men .. In a channel eight interview recently, communist Viet Cong said even though they were losing the war militarily they were encouraged by the liberal media, politicians, the Jane Fondas and demonstrators to pay that terrible price to kill an American because they were winning the "political" war with the help of these so called Americans, who instead of honoring those brave soldiers and their familys, presented their deaths and the war in the media in such a manner designed to demoralize these brave soldiers comrades and their supporters back home. The same suspects are doing the same thing again with Iraq. they are taking a great victory and trying to demean and tarnish it with lopsided and distorted reporting of what amounts in reality, "pathetic" Saddamites resistance. So I am asking these self serving Democrat politicians and their Liberal media cronies to Stop the Interview/Ambushing of our soldiers and their familys, that is giving comfort and encouragement to the Saddamites and Taliban to keep killing our sons and daughters; for your own self serving "polical" gain. Also to consider a biblical piece of advice. "even though we have a right to do some things, some things are not good for us and we shouldn't do them". 
Free speech comes with responsibilities, even though you have a "legal" right to manipulate and use these brave but politically naive soldiers and their families, it is "not good for the safety of our soldiers or our country and you ought not do it. See you at the voting booth. 

Paul Lebedzinski

The Lindsay Foundation

Thank you for forwarding our information to the lady in Clyde TX with the special-needs child. She is having trouble getting what she needs thru Medicaid. We went through the same thing with Lindsay. 
Lindsay passed away in 1999 and The Lindsay Foundation was established in her memory to help families with these problems. We have been in touch with her and are attempting to help her.
The Foundation is only 4 years old and we are having problems finding these families because we can't get our name out to the public or to the medical community. We know the kids are out there and we want to help. 
We can be reached at helpforachild@lindsayfoundation.org or leave a message at 281/399-2937. 
Also, September 26, we are having our 4th annual charity golf tournament and auction and we are looking for teams, sponsors and auction/door prize items. Any help that you can give will be appreciated. 

Name Withheld

Commissioners’ Court Speech, July 28, 2003

Honorable Commissioners of Montgomery County, Texas: 
Commissioner Meador, Commissioner Doyal, Judge Sadler, Commissioner Chance, Commissioner Rinehart:
Today I come to your courtroom to express my concern for the conduct of most of the citizens of Montgomery County who addressed the court on July 14. Ministers and laity proclaiming Christianity attacked homosexuality. They blamed public libraries for creating homosexuality in people who read books that state that homosexuality exists. They have committed themselves to being God’s henchmen to destroy homosexuality, even if it means destroying human rights and civil rights. They have convinced themselves that various documents founding our federal government bestow that destructive power on them as God’s surrogates. 
My previous experience with people from Cut & Shoot was quite favorable. One wintry day when I took my baby to Sadler Clinic in Conroe to treat her pneumonia, my car ran out of fuel. We were rescued along Interstate 45 by four men from Cut & Shoot, who were on their way to work in Houston. One of the men had driven his son to M. D. Anderson for daily cancer treatments. They drove us to our door in The Woodlands and would not take any money for their trouble. Ever since that day, I have held a deep affection for people from Cut & Shoot. 
I would like to repay that kindness of twenty years ago by helping prepare a private place where they can leave their children while they work. Since these folks do not acknowledge the legal definitions of obscenity or pornography that govern public libraries, the only secure place for their children is in a private environment controlled by people who share their opinions. Let’s apply for a faith-based grant for that purpose.
Public libraries, by virtue of being public, cannot meet the personal standards of extreme opinions, from anything-goes to nothing-goes. The legal definition of community standards is not determined by extremes, but rather by a reasonable and moderate middle ground. Clearly, the people we heard from on July 14 represent puritanical views of a group that fears human sexuality of any type; therefore, they do not in any way constitute a community standard.
Mark Cadwallader advised three commissioners that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution does not apply to local governments. That is not true. Since passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, federal laws have applied to state, county, and city governments. 
Make no mistake, if our county government infringes on freedoms ensured by the First Amendment, there will be an expensive lawsuit that may harm our county government. 
Loudoun County, Virginia, replaced their public library policies with one similar to that proposed by Jim Jenkins, Mark Cadwallader, Tom Lancaster, and their sympathizers. 
After more than five years of public uproar and hundreds of thousands of dollars, Loudoun County’s public libraries returned to membership in the national and state library associations. 
No reasonable person would intentionally impoverish our county government only to return to the place we started. That would be political suicide. 
I stood before the library in The Woodlands for several hours each day last week asking people to sign petitions protesting county government interference with library business. My friends in Mainstream Montgomery County stood at each of the libraries in the county last week collecting signatures. In one week, we collected 1500 signatures in support of remaining with the American and Texas Library Associations and retaining the current library policy and review panel. 
In The Woodlands, one in ten library patrons—hardly a majority—refused to sign for religious reasons. Most of them said they thought our library had unfiltered Internet access and that the proposed library policy would remedy that. People thought that our public libraries are controlled by the American Library Association, which they accused of imposing pornography and obscenity on our library. When I said that pornography and obscenity are not in public libraries, that such accusations must meet a legal definition, they challenged that definition.
Some said that the current library policy was dictated by the American Library Association. They doubted me when I told them that the current policy was approved by our commissioners in 1996. Clearly, from the similarity of remarks, their source of misinformation was the same. Their phrases echoed remarks that Jim Jenkins used on the television Channel 8 program, The View. 
Though I had three clipboards with petitions, people sometimes stood in line to sign. Other people drove to The Woodlands from other parts of the county to be assured of adding their names to the petition. Some referred to this new library policy proposal derisively as Montgomery County’s Patriot Act, of which they highly disapprove. 

K.E.S. Palmisano
Mainstream Montgomery County
www.MainstreamMC.org 

Librarian Speaks Out

I have been a librarian and branch manager with Montgomery County for fifteen years. Until the Republican Leadership Council began its assault on the Republican Party, the library system, and most recently the six school boards, we never had much of a ripple of controversy. What I have observed is crowds of people with children checking out books, going to storytimes or summer programs, looking through the new books, the large print books, searching for the newest books on tape and videos, and using the computers. The only problems I see are crowded parking, long lines at checkout, too few copies of items that are in demand, and crowded shelves. These are problems we addressed in our bond election in November. Now we look forward with anticipation to the opening of the three new facilities we voted for.
I think it is time that someone praised the library's accomplishments since the advent five years ago of Director Jerilynn Williams. During that time the people of Montgomery County checked out 5,090,780 items from all branches; 1,643,002 were children's books. The system has received grants from the Technology Infrastructure Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that enabled the libraries to provide a high speed internet connection and catalog searching to 130 computers with access to many useful research databases both at the library and online at patrons' homes. In the past five years patrons in the library have used 430,276 hours of computer time. The citizens of Montgomery County gave their library system 58,095 hours of volunteer time. There were 13,064 programs presented with a total of 351,925 people present. The library has 25 degreed librarians and a total of 90 employees. Their salaries are lower than those in Harris and Fort Bend counties and lower than library employees in CISD and Montgomery College, but they would all tell you that they stay in their jobs because they love libraries and enjoy helping the library's patrons. 
Library staff works six days per week, including nights and weekends. They work twelve months a year with only limited county holidays. Recently a study was conducted involving a sampling of public opinion about the value of library service, and it was determined that here in Montgomery County, for every dollar spent on libraries, $1.30 was returned in service. Jerilynn Williams is a model of professional behavior, and has earned acclaim in both state and national library associations. 
Without her expertise, none of these accomplishments would have come to pass.

Bonnie Boorman

Road to Morality

Just read your article 'the road to morality'. Keep up the good work. Tell it like it is. Sadler & the rlc are so far from the majority opinion in Mont County its almost silly. Regarding the book ban/reversal, cant they just get a life. Its like perfectly normal ya know.

Allan Taylor 
Online Reader

My Letter 

Mark, you sorry-ass wanna-be Houston Press slap-bitch, 
At least the Houston Press will contact me via e-mail, to get my okay on printing my letter. 
You sorry SOB's didn't even take time to ask me. 
I did not prefer my letter be printed in your sorry loser-rag. I wouldn't even wrap used crawfish heads in your sorry-ass "paper". 
Step-up to a new level of professionalism, and get the OK to go with the peoples editorials. 
You people suck. If I do happen to need a paper to start a campfire, I would be more than ecstatic to throw a "bull"-etin in amongst the kindling. 
You need to pray, for your mis-guided self, that God will help you understand better. 
Get a haircut, do something better with your wardrobe, and try more to understand that most people in Montgomery County do not want the gay sh** so prevalent in their lives. 
Move inside the loop, please. 
I don't like those guys who wear sheets neither, but you liberals ain't helping yourselves either. 
Please grow-up, and get a better outlook about America. It's not all bad. 
The mexicans are taking over, butch-up, stop with your commie-sh**. 
And do not print this, you do not have my permission. 

Name Withheld
New Caney 

Opinion

Newspaper writers often face confrontation when they walk into conflict; however, they should maintain their objectivity. Your last issue shows Mark lost his. 
He may have been threatened and treated rudely by people at the recent meeting over library issues in the county office. I have been a newspaper writer/reporter since the 70's and found myself in a hot situation many times. But, I always remember that my journalism teachers always told me to never editorialize in news stories. 
Unfortunately, reporters who try and pass their opinions off as fact lose their credibility in the public eye. Mark's comments may be valid; however, they should have been found on an opinion page or labeled as political comment.

Jim Becka
Splendora, TX

Controversy interests differing sides

Today, out of the ordinary, I picked up a copy of The Bulletin. Like Kevin Bowdoin for New Caney, TX, I found myself interested in the advertisement of controversy with the Public Library on the front page (Issue 31).
I found myself at the section of The Bulletin titled “Letters.” This was where I found the irritatingly hypocritical letter of response from another “non-reader.”
My biggest problem right now is trying to imagine or understand how this man... Kevin Bowdoin, can be so “Ultimate American” if you will, as he so promotes himself. Yet, he has to :constantly try to be NON-RACIST.” Why should you have to try, especially if your parents did such a job of teaching you ad raising you without prejudice?!
I come from a family who did NOT promote different nationalities in a positive way, but I taught myself not to be racist toward anyone, eve if they are overcome with ignorance. Haven’t we “Americans” always said, “We stand united?” Does that mean anything anymore? “people are people, so why should it be, that you and I should get along so awfully?” “What makes a man, makes another man.” Think about it. Anyway, although I respect Kevin’s opinion, I do NOT completely agree with him! Especially where in his letter, he makes the comment, “pussy boys.” What is that shit? I’m a homosexual male born and raised in the country, and by NO MEANS am I a “pussy boy!” Yes! Make NO mistakes, I’m gay and have the balls to admit it. I will also admit that I have some feminine qualities, but that’s all men, to one extent or the other. And if you’re secure enough of your own sexuality, that shouldn’t bother you one bit!
Anyway, on to my next objective, politics. I wouldn’t consider myself Democrat nor Republican, but as for someone who is into politics... just because they’re Democrat means they don’t believe in God? I don’t think so! Nor do I think by after reading Kevin’s letter that he’s “very gay friendly,” as he so boldly stated.
I don’t know for sure, but I think Kevin went way off topic. Maybe that’s a good thing, because he certainly caught my eye and sparked my interest! Kevin told someone in his letter they needed to grow up, but how old is he, mind-wise?
In age, I’m only 23, but I feel much more mature than Kevin after reading a lot of the BS he wrote.
Thanks for your time, and I will continue to read The Bulletin and input my opinion!

Eric Hancock
Conroe, TX

Out of work

I am writing on behalf of my close friend who has worked in the trucking industry for 30 years; for several years as a driver, and in recent years as a dispatcher. In June of this year, his doctor suggested he be admitted to the hospital for some tests. He hadn't been feeling well for several months, but wanted the tests done on an outpatient basis because he didn't want to be out of work. That day he was diagnosed with diabetes. The doctor insisted that he be admitted to the hospital where he remained for four days. 
He was concerned about losing his job if he had to stay out of work, but the doctor didn't think he had anything to worry about. At the time, I didn't either, but I was proven wrong. While in the hospital, he was seen by a cardiologist and placed on medication to slow his heart rate, as well as medication for uncontrolled high blood pressure. His boss visited him in the hospital, but the conversation was general, and no company issues were discussed. He was discharged on June 14th, and saw his doctor on June 16th. He was home for a week to get his blood sugar stabilized and rest up before returning to work. In spite of the fact that the doctor sent a letter to the company stating when he could return, and he called to let them know he was coming back the following Monday, he lost his job. 
The Friday before he was to return to work, I went to the office to pick up his paycheck. The terminal manager refused to issue it to me without a signed authorization. This had never been an issue before. My friend had called the home office to let them know that there had been a problem and to inform them that he would be back Monday, and they told him to stay at home on Monday, and they'd call him. This was strange since he had already told them he was ready to return to the job. After waiting for word from them all day, he called the home office and was told they had just received the paperwork about his resignation. That was news to us, because he planned to go back to the office the next day, and even more strange, there's no letter of resignation. The company is basing this on a cell phone conversation, in which he told his boss "at some time in the future he may think about leaving the company." There's nothing more valid than that. It was never discussed again. The people in the unemployment office don't want to hear about it. His benefits were denied based on what they were told by the company. They claim he didn't make a reasonable effort to work with his employer, which was not the case. In an attempt to alleviate some of the workload that the other employees in the office were dealing with, he had offered to work nights from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. After they lost the person who was working that shift. No one would have had to do a week of 24/7, they would all only have to work one weekend a month, and they all would have gotten some rest, but his boss refused. It worked well when he did the same thing in another office the company runs. 
Since this isn't a high profile case, the lawyers he's talked to won't touch it. One of them, a specialist in Employment Law, said it was too complicated. Isn't that what law school is for? The list of lawyers and paralegals that's he's talked to is endless, but most often it's the same thing...sorry, but we can't help you. People are shocked when they hear what happened, because they can't believe a company would do that to someone who had been with them for so long. 
This man is 57 years old, has no other source of income, no insurance, and no job because someone in management claims he resigned. Considering all the facts, it wouldn't make sense for someone to do that. It's sad that a person would devote so much of his life to working for a company and be treated that way, especially with the good reputation he had in the industry. 
A few short months ago, he was commended for the work he was doing, but he got a disease he had no control over, and the company let him go. The system that's supposed to take care of its people isn't working in this case. The people in the government who have been hired to help people at times like this, aren't doing anything. This case is based on the hearsay of the management of this company. 
I've heard it said that the wheels of justice grind slowly, but in this case, they've come to a complete halt.

N J Demers
Houston, Texas

Bad guys don’t always wear black

Thank you for the insightful article, "The Road to Morality," in your July 25 edition. 
Citizens, beware of morality judgements in simplistic terms. No one person or group holds the license on righteousness. Everyone loses when lazy citizens buy into myth of the "straight ticket" to honesty, integrity and morality. The bad guys don't always wear black hats. 
That's why it is essential that we not let our rights to free speech be denied or access to information be eroded. Our public libraries are an underutilized, unappreciated treasure. These institutions allow us to research the facts rather than make assumptions or be bulldozed by glib, dogmatic or entrenched authority figures. When we have access to a wide range of information and views, we individually can do critical analysis and make informed decisions. 
Constant vigilance! 
Fair representation! 
Protect the exploited! 
Question authority! 
Educate yourself! 
This is the legacy of our true U.S. patriots. Our library professionals should not be demonized and victimized. They provide valuable service, and yes, are underpaid and over-worked. Ask and you will see that they are working 6-day weeks to provide such service. 
They are grossly underpaid for their educational training. More and more they are putting their lives on the line for our constitutional rights. More power to them and those who stop bigotry and narrow-mindedness in their tracks. 

Teresa J. Allen 
Spring, TX

Library Review Board Expansion is No Excuse for Commissioners

Some of the Commissioners seem to think that their "tweaking" of library policy has solved the library selection problem. But clearly the previous minor modification of the library policy to include a few more people on the challenged-book review committee has not rectified the situation. The moral slide in material selection and unbalance in the library collection continues.
Why? Because library policy relies on American Library Association (ALA) policy that is atheist-based (no moral principles allowed in their use of the First Amendment) pornography-defending, and homosexual agenda-promoting. Parental book challenges from concerned Montgomery County parents continue to be routinely and summarily rejected, eg the rejections earlier this year of my book challenges to the young people's books “Weetzie Bat” and “Desire Lines”. I discovered there is no point challenging the many corrupting books in our libraries under the current ALA framed policy, because there is no weight given to morality complaints.
As an example consider “Weetzie Bat”, by F. Block, an 89 pg book of double spaced large print for youngsters which sympathetically glorifies the life of its main protagonist, a young teenage girl who gets out of her mind drunk, engages in “rough” sex, consumes sex enhancing drugs and aphrodisiacs (the identities of which are detailed to the reader), engages in group sex, and decides to have a baby out of wedlock by sleeping regularly with her two male homosexual roommates in group sex so that her regular boyfriend won’t have to be responsible knowing he is the father, since it could be any one of the three boys.
The ALA-friendly book review sent back in support of the rejection of the “Weetzie Bat” book challenge, along with the boiler-plate ALA morality-free and no-age-restriction policy statements, said something to the effect, “This is a wonderful creative study of the punk rock sub-culture of Los Angeles.” No comments at all were made about the glorification of gross immorality to minors, because morality is not part of the ALA equation. 
What was mentioned is that the book is an “Award Winning Book”. This is the pot calling the kettle black. The ALA solicits books which push the envelope of society, then gives "awards" to the most creative ones, and then uses
their award system to help place their books in libraries. The rejection comments also said that one must consider the "whole" book. I would point out that it takes only one explicit sex scene to turn a PG movie into an X-Rated movie, and that sex scenes are cut when movies are run on prime time T.V.
The ALA wants us to believe in the absence of moral values. But the true Mainstream America does not believe in such moral chaos. On the contrary, moral principles govern our lives. And moral principles govern how children are raised. No parent, repeat, NO PARENT, wants their child to rebel, to go off into a rejection of moral and civil authority, into drugs, and promiscuity, and irresponsibility, and crime. 
The ALA makes statements like, “whose morals are you going to enforce? …, therefore you can’t enforce any morals”. That’s a lie. 
Someone’s morals are always going to be enforced, whether it is the atheist, anything-goes ideas of the ALA, or the values of Montgomery County parents for God, country, and the protection of children from immoral behavior. 
As Americans we say “In God we trust”. We say “God Bless America”. What does that mean, if it doesn’t mean that we can stand for moral principles? Actions speak louder than words. And God will bless or judge our actions. 
Shame on Ed Chance, shame on Mike Meador, and shame on Ed Rinehart for collaborating together to sabotage Judge Sadler’s efforts to initiate library policy change. They and the local media have conspired to paint this whole issue as a “fringe” RLC effort, when in fact it goes to the very core and health of our community. The liberals are fond of threatening lawsuits for abridging First Amendment rights. 
But community values are completely Constitutional. What is against the law in this state is the “endangerment of children” and “contributing to the delinquency of a minor”.
Would any conservative lawyers like to help us sue the three irresponsible commissioners for their deaf ears and hardened hearts and politicizing in regard to the health of the children of this county?

Mark Cadwallader
Conroe, TX

Seabiscuit

I definitely liked the movie, and I also your review of it. I too was disappointed by the missed opportunity to film the race scenes. But I know of two other films where they nailed that. 
One was "The Man from Snowy River", when those horses were running down the hill in slow motion.
The other, and probably the best ever filmed, was a 1971 Steve McQueen movie called "The Reivers" (Faulkner book). There were scenes in that one of horses racing around a track where you could see every muscle move. 
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it on VHS or on DVD. 
So I guess Gary Ross never saw those, but he did a darn good job nonetheless.

Jim F. Moore
Baytown, TX

Host an exchange student

I am writing to implore Texans to open their homes to the experience of a lifetime and host an AFS exchange student. After the September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq, it is important, now more than ever, to participate in foreign exchange. 
Foreign exchange involvement has given me a global perspective and reiterated what I have always known is true. The world desperately needs peacemakers. Some Americans feel apprehensive and alone concerning the war on terrorism, but despite recent disagreements between the U.S. and other allies, I know that for me the avenue of communication is always open. 
I have an open dialogue with other nations because my family was and is willing to share our home with a foreign exchange student. Thanks to the American Field Service (AFS) Intercultural Exchange Programs, I have numerous children in all parts of the world, including Germany, Brazil and Colombia. My family has both learned from and celebrated the relationship with all of our students. 
Students arriving in August for the 2003-2004 school year need host families and schools now. Make a real contribution toward world peace. 
Please contact me, or your Regional Coordinator Mary Perrin toll-free at 1(866) 237-0892 for more information about AFS and foreign exchange. 

Terry Duckett 
Volunteer TX Hosting Coordinator and Host Dad 
Houston, TX

Volunteers Needed for Bike Cruise

The 5th Annual Midnight Bike Cruise in The Woodlands will be held on Saturday, August 23 at (of course) midnight. 
We desperately need volunteers to serve as Ride Marshals. Ride Marshals are critically important, in that they are stationed at a particular point on the route and required to direct the riders in the correct direction, so they don't get lost. Safety is a critically important issue, naturally. We are doing this to raise money for the Food Bank, but we must also be sure to do everything we can to assure the well-being of the riders.
Please feel free to forward this to all who might be interested in helping. If you would like to serve as Ride Marshal but did not attend the meeting on August 14th, please call me at 936.856.0901 or 936.203.4161, or email me at nmcoy@aol.com, and I will give you the particulars.
As for general information on the event, there will be 8 and 20 mile routes, and the ride begins and ends at Panther Creek Shopping Center. The shopping center is located at the intersection of W. Panther Creek Drive and Woodlands Parkway.
The entry fee for pre-registered riders is $15. The cost for those registering at the door will be $20. Riders get a free t-shirt, while supplies last. (We have never actually run out of t-shirts before. We just have to say that, in case.)
As always, the event is completely underwritten by sponsors, so 100% of the entry fees go to the bottom line of the Montgomery County Food Bank.
Or, you can just send $15 to the Montgomery County Food Bank, P.O. Box 2691, Conroe, TX, 77305, and I'll swear to anybody you want me to that I actually saw you ride a bicycle for 20 miles.
Montgomery County, and assists nearly 11,000 needy citizens every month. Many of these are children, seniors, and families suffering short term adversity, who just need a little help to get back on their feet. We distributed nearly a half a million pounds of food last year, shattering all previous records. The need is increasing, and this is why we are asking for your help.
Please let me know if I can answer any questions.
Thanks so much for anything you can do!

Nancy McCoy
President, Montgomery County Food Bank

RLC and the Library in Mont. County 

I attended the Aug 7th meeting the RLC had at the South County Library and you are right, they do not intend to let the library issue drop. Mark Cadwallader has been assigned by Mr. Jenkins to spearhead the next attack. Mark handed out copies of the Libraries book review complaint form at the meeting. Their plan is to have RLC members file repeated review complaints to the Review Committee. The reason for this tactic is because every complaint has to be answered and a letter sent back to the person who filed the complaint explaining the reason for why the book will not be removed from the library and a copy of each must go to the Commissioners Court. Their idea is to overload the Review Committee with work. Their hopes are to show a record of no book removals from the library and the commissioners will also think that there is whole mob of different people filing complaints. They think that this will make the commissioners change their minds on the library book policy. RLC's intent is to intimidate the other Commissioners into changing their vote on the library book policy. They want the Commissioners to think that there is a tidal wave of voters who are going to vote them out in the next election. 
On a different topic they are already planning their election plans for the precinct chairs in the Republican Party Primary. They believe the Party should openly endorse certain republicans over other republicans in primary races. Anyone who does not fill out a Republican Party platform questionnaire and affirm the agreement with the platform’s stance on every question is not worthy to be a republican candidate as a Republican. They call people that don't fall absolutely in step with the platform RINOS (republicans in name only). 
With control of the county executive committee with the majority on precinct chairs in their control they plan to run through new bylaws for the county party. They wish to give the Candidates Committee of the County Party the say all and do all of who can be a Republican Candidate in Montgomery County. They want to take that decision out of the Primary Voter and in the hands of a select few. Mr. Jenkins said the Primary has become nothing more the a high school popularity contest, and that might to some degree be right. At least the voters decide, not a committee decides like they would want. 

Name Withheld

More on the RLC

I attended an RLC, Inc. meeting the other night and promised myself to be open-minded. I concluded that this pathetic little group should be called the “Radical Legalistic Cult, Idiots.” The Republican Leadership Council, Inc. is in no way affiliated with the county Republican Party or the state Republican Party. If anyone attends one of these meetings you will quickly surmise that Jim Jenkins, their leader, really loves to hear himself talk and pontificate in front of a bunch of Bobble Heads who worship him. This is truly the most pathetic little group. Maybe their intentions are good, but their method of attempting to make change gives Christians a bad name. Instead of drawing people to Christ, they do just the opposite. They are a bunch of Pharisees who truly enjoy looking for sin everywhere they turn. Surprisingly they search and search for the specs in other people's eyes completely oblivious that they are blinded by ignorance and stupidity and the HUGE log that is in their own eyes. 
I am sure that there are some questionable books in the library. But all their efforts to remove these books only makes people want to go out and buy or check out the books. RLC members are now encouraged to do book reports and write letters about these questionable books. I really believe they enjoy reading pornographic material and they get their kicks from it and simply call it research! They fill their minds with filth. They talk about how they don't want children looking at or reading such material when they are more than eager to engage in that activity willingly themselves!
These Bobble Heads give new meaning to the word hypocrite. They show no love in any of their actions. They criticize everyone and consider him or her an enemy if they disagree with them. They blindly accept anything that Jim Jenkins says as the gospel. Jenkins actually believes that when these Radically Legalistic Cult Idiots receive negative publicity that it somehow really benefits them. He tells his followers, “We are winning the war.” On the other hand Jenkins says that The Bulletin's sole purpose for existence is to put down the RLC and that it is a homosexual newspaper. The RLC is obsessed with homosexuality. Jenkins contradicts himself constantly and twists what people really say to somehow benefit him. What is truly amazing is how these Bobble Heads don't put two and two together, but that would require them to do their own thinking. 
They ask for prayer for the people in our county to repent of their sins, while they never see their own sin or accept responsibility for their actions. They are so self-righteous. They do not know how to speak with love and in fact they are encouraged to act poorly at other meetings and to cause disturbances, in an effort to make a change. 
Jenkins refuses to help ANY woman run for Precinct Chair because he believes that women are inferior human beings. To get past this blatant disregard for the Republican Party Platform that states there should be no discrimination against gender, he claims they are running families for precinct chair. I recall the time they wanted my husband to run for Precinct Chair and when I told them that he declined, they continued to call and harass us because they thought I was too stupid to pass on a message correctly being a woman. And let's face it people, most men are the ones who forget to give their wives a phone message. 
In reference to this group the verse that comes to mind is Psalms 1:1 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.”
I would not encourage anyone to be a part of this cult.
I am sure that Jenkins will give his followers a homework assignment to write nasty responses to this letter and use lots of scripture to back them up. These replies will probably be Jenkins's reply with someone else's name attached to it, except for Tom Lancaster who also loves to here himself pontificate. Get ready folks for their “Godly” replies.

Lori King
Spring, TX 

Death camp permit?

I'm a white male gentile heterosexual conservative Republican Silicon Valley dropout Vietnam veteran middle age motorhome vagabond Crescent City California South Beach surf bum. You might know me by my official cultural identifier though: Nazi. So anyway, the reason I wrote is to ask if anybody might know what municipal or county bureaucracy it would be, where a fellow would go to apply for a death camp building permit?
I scoured the phone book green pages but couldn't find a death camp building permit office to save my life, and then the five people at the county offices I did call just hung up in my face, or first they said Asshole! and then they hung up in my face.
I finally called Sally at information, whom I didn't know when I called, but we got to know each other pretty well because we were on the phone together like....forever! Did you know her mother wrote the original Brylcream jingle? Yea! Anyway, Sally finally got exasperated and referred me to Happy Camp, California, information because that's the closest thing she had to "death camp". No dice there either.
I'm just trying to save time is all, and get my ducks lined up in advance because I have the opportunity to view a screening of Mel Gibson's film, and I understand from the ADL that I'll be overcome with passion (that'll be nice for a change), and that I'm going to leave the screening all glassy-Nazi eyed, drooling spittle down my chin, my knuckles dragging the pavement, and proceed immediately to build death camps on Humboldt Bay, in Yreka, and ummmm....in Fresno too probably. 
So the thing is, I gotta get this done quickly, and I need a paper trail to cover my ass, because if I'm out of town too long, my Jewish girlfriend Stephanie, whom I love dearly but who can be the six bitches from hell at the slightest provocation, especially if she thinks I've been screwing around on her, is going to make my life miserable if I can't assuage her suspicions to a T. I mean, if I have my death camp building permits to show her when I get back, she'll scrutinize them like an Antwerp diamond cutter, and then when she's satisfied they aren't clever forgeries, will break into a huge smile and say, "Hooooonnnney! You were only building death camps! And here I thought you were doing something naughty that was going to upset me. Ummmm....what are these death camps for anyway?" 
"Damned if I know baby. Has something to do with my genetic predisposition to react to a Grade B movie from yet one more actor who thinks he's a director, according to a Grade D mind at the ADL." 
"Ohhhhh....," she'll say.
Then, if I have some of that passion left over from being in the Nazi trance and stuff, maybe I can finally convince her to take a look at that 486-page rubber novelty item catalog I ordered from Taiwan last month. 
Thanking you in advance for any help,

Tom Sweetnam
Crescent City, CA

Senators Speak Out:

Republicans without a quorum have passed further acts of official oppression against us. As a result of our refusal to pay their poll tax, they've added measures which will make it difficult for our legislative staff back in Austin to continue to serve our constituents.
It is unconscionable that these white Republicans would attempt to hurt our constituents, even while we are making our stand to defend Texans.
Governor Perry's multiple special sessions on redistricting continue to cost taxpayers millions while he ignores real issues. Led by Karl Rove and Tom DeLay, he and Lt. Governor Dewhurst continue to hijack the Texas Legislature for their partisan gain, while Texans continue to wait…and wait…and wait…for their government to address issues of importance to mainstream Texas families.
And now the Senate, once again without a quorum, debates more sanctions-another incidence of changing the rules in the middle of the game to win. They want to keep our staff out of the Capitol. They want to pull our postage. They want to limit telephone usage. They want to suspend our newspaper subscriptions to make it difficult to know what's on our constituents' minds. They want to eliminate our ability to serve our constituents, or even communicate with them.
But that's what they've been doing all along. We came here to make our stand in order to defend our constituents, as well as 1.4 million minority Texans and countless rural Texans-all of whom would lose their electoral voice as a result of this untimely and discriminatory Republican redistricting scheme.
Instead of investing in fixing our schools or improving health care, Senate Republicans instead spent the morning debating the denial of parking spaces and phone service to Senate staff. This is an incredible abuse of power, and a vivid example of the misplaced priorities of the Republican leadership. If the abuse wasn't so petty it would be laughable.
Our Senate seats belong to the people. The Senate staff does not work for Rick Perry. They don't work for David Dewhurst. They don't work for Karl Rove or Tom DeLay. In fact, the staff doesn't work for us either. The Senate staff works for the people-our constituents. And we will not be deterred by the Republican efforts to stop them from working for the people.

Senator Leticia Van de Putte

These same elected officials are willing to shortchange our children.
They are willing to shortchange our schools.
They are willing to shortchange our veterans.
They are willing to shortchange our health care. 
They are willing to shortchange our constituents' representation.
The Republican leadership of this state is willing to do anything to get their way for Tom DeLay, but they have done nothing to address our real priorities.
They will do anything for partisan politics, even if that means doing nothing for the people.
This summer, another school year is starting, and there has been no call for a special session to change a school finance system that shortchanges our children and overcharges property taxpayers.
Enough is enough. By their actions, our top state elected officials are saying they are Republicans first and Texans second. Their priorities are out of step - and it's time for that to change. Real leaders would stop redistricting and start dealing with the real priorities of Texas voters.

Senator Gonzalo Barrientos

Our top state elected officials have changed what it means to be a leader. They are no longer representing the interests of Texas voters.
They want to change a fair and legal redistricting map just because they don't like who the voters elected.
They changed the rules because they couldn't get the votes to change the map.
They want to change the election dates because they couldn't change the map even after they changed the rules.
And now they would change Senate operations, denying fair and equal representation for over 7 million Texans that are provided by our Senate offices.

Senator Eddie Lucio

The fines levied against the Texas 11 and the proposed punishment of our staff are a sad milestone in the history of Texas. The fines that started yesterday against the Texas 11 signal the beginning of partisan politics-Washington style. 
Sixteen of our Republican colleagues were unwilling or afraid to do what Senators Tejada, Zaffirini, and Lucio did in 1991, and what Senators Sims, Lucio, and I did in 1993-cast our votes with our Republican colleagues against our own Party, in the best interest of our constituents, on the issue of redistricting.
I find it difficult to accent that not one-not one-of the 16 Republican Senators who voted this week for this poll tax stood up to Tom DeLay and Karl Rove.
Now that we've done away with the two-thirds rule, we know who runs this legislature-Tom DeLay and George Bush's political director.
Thank God the sixteen Republican Senators were not defending the Alamo.

Senator Frank Madla

Vote "Yes" on Proposition 12 

To all patients: 
All across Texas, the healthcare liability insurance crisis is threatening patient's access to their doctors and hospitals. Your access to medical care is now at risk. Skyrocketing medical liability insurance premiums are forcing many physicians to leave Texas, quit medicine early, or cut back on their medical practices. As a result, 152 counties in Texas now have no obstetrician. Wide swaths of Texas have no neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon. In just two years, the number of medical liability insurance companies in Texas has dropped from 17 to only 3 today. Without insurance, doctors cannot maintain a hospital practice. 
The primary culprit for this crisis is an explosion in awards for noneconomic(pain and suffering) damages in liability lawsuits. In response to this crisis, the Texas Legislature has just passed landmark reforms that provide fair and reasonable caps on noneconomic damages but also ensure unlimited compensation for any and all medical expenses and lost wages. 
I strongly believe injured patients should be justly and fairly compensated. These legislative reforms fully achieve this goal. Importantly, the reforms will keep doctors in Texas and secure access to medical care when you need it most. 
On Saturday, September 13, 2003, you will have the opportunity to approve an amendment to the Texas Constitution securing these reforms. The amendment will ensure that doctors and hospitals can continue to do what we do best-take care of our patients. I ask for you to please vote "Yes!" on Proposition 12. Please help preserve access to healthcare for you, for your loved ones, and for all Texans, 
Thank you, 

Steven Farber, MD 
President of HEART

NOTE: You can respond to any of these letters by going to www.thebulletin.com and posting a message on our Bulletin Board.

Editor's Note: We encourage you to send in your Letters to the Editor, but please remember to give your name and town. `Anonymous' letters will no longer be accepted. Direct confidential questions by calling (936)539-2200 or e-mail editor@thebulletin.com.

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