Letters to The Tedator
Editors’ Note: In expectation of the strong feelings our July cover story, “Ted or Alive,” would arouse, we provided readers with an easy-to-use template for their letters to the editor. Here is a small portion of the many responses.
Nugent mail accounted for roughly 90 percent of the letters to the editor regarding our July issue. A sampling of the remaining 10 percent can be found here.
Capitol Letters
Could you please explain to me why you consider Wayne Christian’s advocacy of “no scholarships for illegal aliens” such an outlandish idea [“The Best and Worst Legislators of 2009,” July 2009]? After all, if aliens are illegal, they’re eligible for deportation, not scholarships.
Katherine A. Hinckley
Akron, Ohio
You are wrong about Jim Dunnam. That voter ID bill was dreadful. He stood up when someone needed to and used the tools that he had been given.
Maggie Charleten
College Station
Gender Fender
Just wanted to address Mary B.’s question, which was answered by the Texanist in the July issue: “Why do men and men only back into parking spots?”
I’m a woman, and I back into parking spots. This does actually serve a purpose and is, in fact, more than “excessive effort spent planning a speedy egress.” Most notably, it’s safer. My smallish car often ends up parked between two Ford F150 Texas Editions. If I park facing forward, it’s impossible to see around those casts of masculinity when backing out of the space—my whole car is in traffic before I can see if anyone’s coming (or if someone is sitting there, waiting for me to back out suuuuuuper slowly so as not to get hit).
Oh, and not everyone who backs in is oblivious to the traffic around them. If there’s a giant line of cars behind me, I just pull in facing forward.
Beth Krauss
Austin
New Sheriff in Town
The one obvious subject untouched by Mr. Smith in his interview with San Antonio’s new mayor, Julián Castro, was the Alamo City’s alarming crime rate [Texas Monthly Talks, July 2009]. While major-crime rates have been dropping in cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston, they continue to soar in San Antonio. When I watch San Antonio’s evening news, I wonder if authorities there have lost their grip on the gang-related violence that seems to claim a life every other day. While I’m encouraged to learn that the capable young mayor is looking to accept as much as $8 million in stimulus money for new police officers, I’m wondering if that will be near enough to slow the city’s alarming number of shootings, house invasions, rapes, and robberies.
Rob McCorkle
Kerrville
My Library
