Published: September 16, 2007 04:25 pm            

9/16/2007 Letters to the Editor

Attend meetings and make a difference

Dear Editor:



This past Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007, was not only the first 9/11 anniversary that occurred on the same day of the week since that tragic day, but it was also the second Tuesday of the month, which is the evening of the Cleburne City Council meeting.

Just as the last time I attended, there were only four citizens, including myself, who addressed His Honor the Mayor and the Honorable City Council with our cares and concerns that should also be yours.

I had asked three people if they would attend. All three said the same thing: “I got better things to do,” and “Why go? It’s a waste of my time because ‘they’ are going to do whatever ‘they’ want to do anyway!”

Channel 5, KXAS, made a 10 second “promotional ad” relating that Cleburne was growing in population, and that Cleburne was a wonderful place to live. I was impressed, since I was getting dressed to attend the council meeting.

The old post office building has been rebuilt at 10 Robinson St., and I can tell you that the chambers rival any big city’s.

What bothers me the most is the total lack of citizen attendance. Only four people out of over 29,000 reflected the entirety of caring citizens in a growing small town that is being transformed into a growing small city.

The council meeting was a well-conducted gathering, with new microphones, a visual-aid wide screen, and a reverence that you would be proud of, if only you had been there.

When you see your local taxes going up, when you see your property taxes going up, when you see your city services being done away with or added to with your tax money that you have no say so about, you can only blame yourself for not trying to make a difference.

Remember the Revolutionary War cry of, “No taxation without representation”?

We cannot sit back and not care what goes on in Cleburne. Does a town the size of Cleburne really need more than $74 million as a newly proposed budget? As you may or may not know, the budget was voted at a tie, which means that it did not pass. The city budget now reverts back to the city manager, Honorable Chester Nolen’s, earlier draft, as reported in the Times-Review by Matt Smith.

We see the same names of board members being reinstated because no one else wants to take the trouble of offering their support. And most people in Cleburne say that city government is run by “the good-ol’-boys network,” which I refuse to accept, although it does seem apparent when no new names are to be found in the roles.

When I went through the Leadership Cleburne program more than 10 years ago, I quickly realized that in terms of “citizen participation” in their city and county government, the voters of Cleburne always have something better to do.

I plead with you all to attend and to make a difference. Please be there.

Sincerely,



Jason “Greywolf” Leigh

Cleburne



Thanks from hippology team

Dear Editor:



The Johnson County 4-H hippology senior team would like to thank Mann Ag for recently donating western shirts for the team’s state contest in Kaufman County. We also would like to thank Texas Farrier Supply of Kennedale and McDaniel’s Saddlery of Alvarado for helping us prepare for this contest. We truly appreciate all of your support and donation in helping us achieve our goal at the state lever.

Sincerely,



Wimberly Coder

Kristen Ringler

Ame Mitchell

Lydia Hogan

The Johnson County 2007-08 senior hippology team



Be alert about allergies

Dear Editor:



Every year more and more American children are having to cope with severe food allergies. During the five-year period from 1997 to 2002, the number of kids known to be allergic to peanuts more than doubled.

Because no treatment or suppressant exists, a child’s only remedy is to avoid allergenic foods — which is a whole lot easier said than done, particularly with the number of imported foods on our grocery shelves.

Parents of food-allergic children have to always be on alert and teachers and other guardians have to be trained and prepared to deal with an anaphylactic reaction emergency.

We can help alter this situation, our understanding, and successful treatments of other ailments put us in reach of better solutions, but we need more than the current $10 million nationally dedicated for research.

I recently had the opportunity to visit with U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards about increased funding for food allergy research. The congressman was both up on the issue and willing to help. I applaud his dedication to helping our kids.

Sincerely,



Irene Smith



Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it

Dear Editor:



Two weeks ago in Cannes, France, Dr. Kurt Richebacher, probably one of the greatest economists ever born, died at the age of 88. His guidance led Germany from the total disaster of World War II to become one of the economic giants of the world. He rose to become the chief economist for the Dresdner bank. In the 1970s the world began to turn away from the classic economics, known today as the Austrian School.

Using their new tools, econometrics and statistical analysis, the economists in England and America believed they could manage an economy and ignore certain unyielding truths. Kurt saw the new trends in his profession as dangerous and considered their proponents as quacks. He stated, “All this emphasis on statistics and calculations without a proper theory is nonsense ... they think they can manipulate the system and get whatever outcome they want. They think economic growth comes from consumer spending and that they can control consumer spending by adjusting lending rates. It is unbelievable that anyone takes this seriously. It is capital formation that really matters.

“A rich society is one with a great stock of capital ... one that builds capital and puts it to work to build more capital. A rich society is not one where people consume. Just the opposite. It is not what is consumed that creates wealth; it is what is not consumed. Yet all the Anglo-Saxons focus on motivating consumers to consume. And now they are consuming more than they make. It is the duty of each generation to leave the next one a little better off. That means that each generation has to consume less than it produces. It has to leave a little something extra. The problem you see is not an economic one ... what we are doing to our children with this use [of] credit and debt is deeply immoral. It is wrong to burden future generations with our mistakes, our conceits and our ambitions. This is what we are doing and it is shameful.”

In one of his final letters, he concluded, “The recklessness of both borrowers and lenders has vastly exceeded our imagination. These bubbles will implode in the future plunging the U.S. economy into a deep and protracted recession.”

Remember those who do not know history are bound to repeat it. There is no free lunch. And while the Americans’ savings rate is virtually nil, the Chinese save 40 percent of their income. Therefore, according to history, we will go down.



W.V. Bonds

Cleburne



Questioning police officers’ actions

Dear Editor:



Why do most of the Cleburne police officers treat kids as if they are criminals? They receive no respect, and I know this for a fact, for I have seen first hand and not only that they have treated my kids very badly and my kids were behaving correctly. Yet these officers are grown men, and they aren’t behaving correctly. Yelling at kids when they don’t get the answer that they want to hear. Handcuffing children for no reason at all, and I know this, for a young teenager was handcuffed right in front of my house for no apparent reason. I thought CPD was here to protect and serve. What about treating all people with respect, including children? That is something that is rarely done here in Cleburne, Texas!



Brenda Marshall

Cleburne

        

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