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Letters to the Editor
September 16, 2005
It’s Time To Spruce Up The Post Office
The Shabbiest Post Office Award goes to the U.S. Post Office in Galveston on Broadway, just as one enters the island from Interstate 45.
What a first impression it must make.
Aside from the high weeds and unkempt landscaping, those in charge completely forget about their duty in flying the flag of the United States of America.
I have complained in the past about the flag being torn and tattered — and then not flying at all.
Now, they are showing no respect in not having the flag at half-staff in honor of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Who runs that place anyway?
Maybe they also don’t notice all the faded signs like the “stop” sign at the exit driveway. I guess it’s a stop sign; it is faded beyond being legible.
It is sad to say that our post office is a disgrace to the community.
Patty Peacock
Hitchcock
Barratt Was A Wonder
Ernie Barratt’s obituary (The Daily News, Aug. 31) told of the many accomplishments he had made in the world of neuroscience and psychology. Papers he had written, academic talks he had given. He helped and taught many.
My admitted personal selfishness makes me believe that his greatest gift to others was his guidance as a member of the Galveston Independent School District school board for 18 years, a time when public school education in Galveston desperately needed someone of his intellect, organized and gentle prodding and ability to persuade the unpersuadable. Ernie was unquestionably Galveston school kids’ boy wonder.
Bill Cherry
Dallas
Readers sound off on the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast region.
This Is Not A Time To Think About Money
This is in regard to some of the non-compassionate opinions toward the victims of Katrina.
I don’t understand how people can be worried about money and the evacuees coming to Texas who seek help and assistance.
This is America. We are one nation, not individuals.
During Sept. 11, would it have been right for only New York to fend for its state? No.
We as people of this nation need to do whatever we can to provide money and a place to live — be it anywhere in this country.
I would hope if there ever were a storm that caused that much destruction in this area, our fellow states would give my family and me a place to live, as we have given Louisianans.
It’s a shame that people are out there worried about money and how it’s wrong to house these people in our own county.
Shame on you for having thoughts like that.
I would hope a storm doesn’t come here and burden us at this tragic time as we help these individuals start over.
But if it does, I’ll stand as one and help anyone I can, because I believe this is a great country to live in, and we should all come together when crisis emerges.
Brandi Osborne
La Marque
Galveston Might Suffer The Same Fate
I am extremely concerned in regard to Galveston’s safety if by chance we are hit with a hurricane. Over the years, sand has been placed on our beaches, and I have watched the height of our Seawall reduced.
The Seawall was built to help protect us from the storm surge, and now I worry that it will be of no help to us now.
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with no mercy, and I am afraid that Galveston may suffer the same fate as other cities in the past weeks.
What if anything will the city and state do to keep us safe? I have lived here for many years and love our town, but for the safety of our children and families something should be done.
Samantha Atkin
Galveston
Sooner Or Later It Will Be Us
In regard to the story, “Today is 105th anniversary of the 1900 storm” (The Daily News, Sept. 8): We all can relate to what is happening in New Orleans and what happened here on Sept. 8, 1900.
We who were born on the island and who have ancestors that survived the great 1900 Storm feel a great connection with the loss of life and home.
So much sorrow in these modern times as in the times 105 years ago!
As we all see, a serious breakdown in communication made the survivors even more miserable, and suffering was viewed firsthand by so many of us that have never experienced such a disaster.
A desperate cry for help. Helplessness. Hopeless situations — until the word was out and help arrived.
The island rebuilt and so will our sister city, New Orleans. These are times in our world to come together for the betterment of one another and to help and to pray.
We can predict, but we cannot determine what Mother Nature will finally do.
Let us take this time to pray for our blessings and do all we can for our neighbors because, dear people, sooner or later it will be us.
I learned so much from these brave people. Let us continue to learn and never forget.
Norma Jean Nelson
Galveston
There Was No Consideration Before The Disaster
Other countries look at the United States and see an overindulgent, spoiled society with no moral character, no religion in our schools and a love for the almighty dollar.
The parents are not allowed to discipline the children for they are taught, from kindergarten up, that if a parent even looks like there is to be any kind of punishment to call Child Protective Service.
We have had two generations and are working on a third where there is no respect for what is not ours, for other people or for the lives of others.
We wonder why other countries look at us the way they do.
Look at the looting, shooting and the way we handled this disaster to our own people.
The military, our president and other agencies had at least four days to get things ready. But did this happen? No.
With a Category 4 storm coming and knowing about where it was going to go, there was no forethought.
It was, oh, my God, we have thousands of people in trouble, now is the time to act. That should have been four days before the storm, not four days after.
Ena Holley
Dickinson
News On Tourism Was Appalling
Galveston had a great summer tourist season, and tax appraisals and rates continue to skyrocket.
In this time of incomprehensible suffering for the Katrina victims, I find it appalling that for two days it was front page news that tourism was down for the Labor Day weekend due to Katrina and high gas prices.
Perhaps a little gratitude for the good times and the fact that the businesses are still operating may have been more appropriate.
May God bless all of the selfless volunteers who are helping in this desperate time.
Gwen Megale
La Marque
It’s A Picture Of What’s To Come
Now that officials have declared New Orleans uninhabitable and have ordered a complete evacuation because of flooding from broken levees, diseases, power dangers and dangerous animals, we have a perfect scenario of what would happen if terrorists set off a nuclear device in some American city.
The city would be uninhabitable for years, perhaps decades, whole populations would have to be moved and relocated and massive numbers of people would die not from disease but from radiation.
All those anti-war protesters will then see for themselves what their weakening of America’s resolve abroad shall have wrought.
But then it shall have been too late.
Let New Orleans stand, as a paradigmatic example of what future terrorist attacks on America will mean.
New Orleans today is the face of terrorist attacks tomorrow. It is a snapshot of what is to come.
Peter J. Riga
Houston
‘Refugee’ Is The Wrong Term
Refugee — “A person who flees from home or country to seek refuge elsewhere, as in time of war or of political or religious persecution.”
Our brothers and sisters from the Katrina disaster are being labeled this. This is wrong, because they are not refugees, and it certainly was not their decision to relocate.
What happened to them could very well happen to me or anyone.
Personally speaking, I do not want to be called or considered a refugee. The correct term is evacuee and not refugee.
Betty Davis Perkins
Galveston
A public hearing on proposed priority boarding rules for the Bolivar ferry is set for 6 p.m. Sept. 21 at Ball High School, 4115 Ave. O in Galveston.
Boarding Passes Shouldn’t Be Just For The Rich
I am responding to the article on priority ferry boarding passes that I read recently.
I am a 10-month resident of Crystal Beach, although I have wintered here since 2000.
The first information I received about the passes was at a recent AARP meeting when County Commissioner Patrick Doyle made a presentation to the group.
I understood him to say that the intent of the original request for the law was to give priority boarding to the residents of Bolivar Peninsula. Then I heard him say that the law can’t favor a certain group of people, and so all the residents of Galveston County have to be included in those who were eligible for passes.
Although he didn’t say what the fee would be for an annual pass, he indicated it would be low and perhaps even lower for senior citizens.
Now I read that the transportation commission wants to replace the law that was passed in 2003 with a new one that would charge exorbitant rates for priority boarding.
By creating such outrageous fees for priority boarding, you are, in effect, creating a special group of people who can use priority boarding — the upper-middle class and the wealthy.
In creating such an elite group, you will exclude many, if not most, of the residents of the peninsula.
My understanding from Mr. Doyle was that no group could be singled out for preferential boarding. If that were the case, the fees have to be very low so that all income levels have an opportunity to participate.
If priority boarding cannot be accomplished without charging such high fees, I recommend that there be no priority boarding. At least then, the poor and the rich will wait for the ferry together.
As for holding the hearing in Galveston, it is an example of politicians at their worst.
People in government should know that on such an important issue to the residents of Bolivar Peninsula, one meeting should be on the peninsula.
Dr. H.G. Straatmeyer
Crystal Beach
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