Correspondence

KRTS 93.5 FM thanks the community for helping it reach its fall fundraising goal of $40,000.

We have the best listeners in public radio.

Tom Michael, General Manager

Marfa Public Radio

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Here are my concerns about turning the art class, administration building, and technology office into housing: Marfa has turned into an “art community.” The art class should be getting bigger not smaller. If you turn those three buildings into housing for teachers, you get three units.

Who is going to pay the utilities, and who is going to pay for the $200,000 renovation? I am a contractor, and I know it will at least cost that much if not more. I pay enough taxes.

You need to specify to the voters what you want to do. Don’t take things into your own hands until we can vote on it. We are not communists. The school board needs to stay in communication with the locals.

Mr. Peters, you need to get to know the poor in the community before you try to use any of our funds. We work hard for it.

Joe Naegele

Marfa

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Thank you for the interesting and informative article on Dr. Paul Ou, Chief Medical Officer, at the Marfa Community Health Clinic.  While I was pleased to learn more about the new doctor, I was particularly pleased to read his remarks on what he believes is the key to good public health.  He points out the importance of “community public healthcare awareness.”

“What doctors do is important, but what is completely understated is that the real secret to healthcare is through the community.”  He believes the key elements are a lack of pollution and crime as well as close social networks, and good dietary and lifestyle habits.  Those are what will “make for a much healthier community.”

I was quite excited to see all the elements of good healthcare brought together.  Yes, we need to go to doctors for help, but we need to recognize the role we can play.  We must become personally involved in working within our communities for improving healthcare.  We all have roles to play.  I am deeply grateful to Dr. Ou for stating his beliefs and I hope we can all commit or recommit to good healthcare, starting with the communities we live in.

Sincerely,

Fran Sage

Alpine

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Heartfelt thanks to our incredible community for making “Taste of the Triangle” a fun and successful evening to benefit ROMP’s spay/neuter programs.

It couldn’t have happened without the wonderful restaurant/business owners who contributed their time, energy and food: Boyz 2 Men, Fat Lyle’s, Jett’s Grill, Mando’s, Marfa Burrito, Marfa Maid Dairy, Padre’s, Planet Marfa, Q Café & Wine Bar, Rocky Barnette, Stone Village Market and Tacos del Norte.

Special thanks to our sponsors Marfa National Bank,  Diane and Steve Parker, squeeze marfa, and Holly and Mike Turk;  in-kind donations from Big Bend Coffee Roasters, Ben E. Keith, Buns n’ Roses, Burt Compton, Marfa Volunteer Fire Dept., Pueblo Market, Tumbleweed Laundry, Village Farms and musicians Primo Carrasco, Ray Freese, Paul Graybeal, Gary Oliver, and Andy Schneider; our gracious volunteers who worked tirelessly and made it all  come together: Burt Compton, Ann and Dan Dunlap, Genie Gonzalez, Linda and Ken Jones, Ketzia Menkhus, Joe Lapinski, Minerva and Delfin Lopez, Scott May, Elizabeth Redding and Holly and Mike Turk.

Space won’t allow us to list the dozens and dozens of individuals and businesses who donated items for the Silent Auction, but we are our gratitude goes out to each of you.

Last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to our guests.  We hope you all had a fun (and tasty) time.

Kathie Compton

Responsible Ownership of Marfa Pets

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Kathie Compton, President

Minerva Lopez, Vice President

Joni Marginot, Secretary/Treasurer

Malinda Beeman

Rose Anderson Lewis

Marcy Mitchell

Marfa

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I and my wife and three other citizens recently worked as poll clerks and judges in the July 31 primary run off election for precinct 6 & 7 in Study Butte/Terlingua. As the pay is rather low and the workday is long -14+ hours – due to a lack of people willing to work shifts, this is more of a civic duty, voluntary type of work than regular work for hire.

We are all willing workers, and do actually enjoy meeting our friends and neighbors and doing very important civic work for Brewster County.

As of today, October 21, 2012, we have yet to be paid our meager salary for the work done on July 31.  We have talked to the County Clerk and were promised to have checks cut on Sept. 28, 2012.  These checks did not arrive.  We were then told that the checks would be cut and mailed out on October 15, 2012.  These checks never appeared.

On Wednesday, October 17, I called the County Treasurer and was told that the checks were made out but were still lying around the office to give us a chance to pick them up in person.  After my reply, I was told that they would be mailed out on that day, Wednesday the 17^th, and that we should have them some time that week.  We did not receive those checks as of Sunday, October 21. Will we receive them?  I don’t know.

I do know that the County Treasurer’s office did not express concern or seem to really care much about the issue. I am very disappointed in the county that civic-minded citizens doing important work for little pay should be treated in such a manner. This is no way for citizens to be inspired to volunteer to make our election system function as it should and as every citizen deserves it to function.

At present, we are signed up to work the General Election on Nov. 6, 2012 and we will do as we agreed. After that, I am not sure we will be interested in any further volunteer work for Brewster County.

Terry & Suzy Ervin

Terlingua

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West Texas voters can take advantage of the open and secret ballot to vote, without regard to political party, for the better man in both our US Senate and Congressional elections. In both races, the essential choice is between experienced statesmen – Senate candidate Paul Sadler and Congressional District 23 candidate Pete Gallego – and two tin-pan, Tea Party politicians, Ted Cruz and Quico Canseco.

It’s sad that our Texas media so poorly informs voters of the choices.  But we in West Texas know about Pete Gallego and those in East Texas know about Paul Sadler.  We know both are statesmen, experienced veterans of the Texas legislature who have set aside partisanship and ideology to focus on the greater good, not the next election. Both have put themselves on the line to protect our health and safety and the environment in which we live.  Both have worked to improve our educational system.  Both have been repeatedly recognized for making your Texas government better serve you. They represent the best in American statesmanship – honesty, truth, and a commitment to justice, equality, freedom and peace.

Listen to Senate candidate Ted Cruz and District 23 candidate Quico Canseco for 2 minutes and you find that they’re not running FOR Texans but against President Obama. Someone should inform them of the office for which they’re running.  Oh, the never-ending lies they’ve told!  House obstruction to every effort to recover our economy, in which Canseco participated fully, is the main reason this Congress has a historically low approval rating.  Ted Cruz would further obstruct in the Senate.  Both men champion tax cuts for the rich and deregulation of polluters and Wall Street (not surprising when you look at who’s backing their campaigns).  Common sense tells that tax cuts for the rich don’t create jobs – if they did we’d have no unemployment now.  And government regulations create jobs, contrary to their claims.  They support intolerant and unequal laws restricting immigrants and women’s privacy, health and religious freedom.  They would take away affordable health care from millions of Texans.  The rigid ideology of the tea party has worn out its welcome with knowledgeable Texans who now see its fundamentally anti-American slant.  Been there, done that.  Now we can vote for real statesmen to represent Texas, in the US Senate race Paul Sadler and in the Congressional District 23 race Pete Gallego.

Mary Bell Lockhart

Alpine

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It was disturbing but not surprising to see the latest vicious and extremist attack by yet another Republican politician against his Democratic challenger.  This time it was Francisco Canseco accusing Pete Gallego of being anti-Jesus.

As anybody who knows anything about Pete’s Catholic faith will attest, this attack is both ludicrous and unconscionable.  But not surprising, given the recent bent of the Republican Party under Tea Party control.  A review of recent behavior by extremist members of the Republican Party reveals a disturbing and unchecked trend of hatefulness and frankly, just plain meanness, never before found in partisan politics.  To review some examples:

Michele Bachmann virtually calling President Obama a Muslim.

Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute for simply wanting to testify before congress about the importance of insurance companies covering birth control for women.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer sticking a finger in the face of the President of The United States less than 10 seconds after he got off a plane in Arizona.

Todd Akin letting us all know (especially women) that women have a built in defense against becoming pregnant when raped.

Scott Brown accusing real victims of asbestos poisoning and their families of being paid actors.

Joe Walsh accusing Tammy Duckworth of using her severe injuries received in war for political gains, and then following that up by most recently declaring that abortion is never necessary to save the life of the mother.

Virtually all of these examples have at least three things in common.  They are blatantly false, extremist in nature, and just plain mean.  Look folks, I’m obviously a Democrat and proud of it.  And the undisputed fact of the matter is that these kinds of extremist attacks and beliefs are flowing solely from the Republican Party.  If you are a Republican or vote Republican, you are lending tacit support to these extreme views and attacks.  And if you are a moderate Republican who believes in reaching across the aisle and reasonable forms of compromise to keep government running smoothly, then you better take some serious steps to bring your party back into the mainstream.  The first step would be to refuse to sanction or support the extremist members of your party, no matter how tough that may be for you in the short term.

Lee Scarborough

Fort Davis

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Here’s what Bill Keller said in the October 21 issue of The New York Times:

“In the closing weeks of debates, rallies and advertising, Mitt Romney has reinvented himself, or re-re-reinvented himself, as a technocrat with a heart. Gone from the stage is the ideologue he portrayed in his quest for the nomination. Some see the current rendering as the authentic Mitt. Others see a soulless opportunist. My own suspicion is that Romney has the instincts of a center-right pragmatist, but that if elected he will be hostage to the same far-right forces he kowtowed to in the primaries.”

I share a similar view of Mr. Romney.

Ken Whitley

Marfa

Keller joined the Times in 1984 as a reporter, in Washington, DC, bureau chief in Moscow, and Johannesburg, and was also foreign editor, managing editor, op-ed columnist and senior writer and was executive editor from 2003-2011. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his reporting on the breakup of the former Soviet Union (USSR). – the editor.