December 11, 2019 222 PM
To the editor:
On Dec. 12, President Trump will revoke food stamps for some of our poorest and most desperate citizens. These people include nearly 1 million veterans and 5000 currently serving members of the armed forces. Many, many children will be further starved by one of the richest nations on earth.
What is the purpose of nativity scenes on the Courthouse lawn if not to provoke our conscience to do as Jesus said: “feed the hungry”? Jesus was born in a manger and he grew up to preach not a gospel of rapacious wealth, but of helping our sisters and brothers on this earth. There isn’t a means test for the help that Jesus commanded.
If you say the govt. does not have the money, I refer you to the recent revelations that the U.S. has been throwing money at war lords in Afghanistan and the government knows that isn’t making things better, only worse. They also know we are in that country under false pretenses and our people and their people have died from this horrible lie.
That money should be feeding the hungry. The prince of peace is not recommending that the USG go to war under false pretense and kill people.
As you drive by the manger scene at the Ft. Davis Courthouse or anywhere else, I plead with you to make a living nativity scene in your heart. Feeding the hungry is not a suggestion, it is a command.
Write the president and tell him to restore food stamps to our people.
Jill Berkana
Ft. Davis, TX
Editor,
The Children’s Advocacy Center of the Big Bend is hosting an 2nd Annual Giving Tree to give Christmas gifts to Presidio low-income children with the support of the community. We invite you to take one of the children’s tags that are at the First Presidio Bank Christmas tree and donate one gift to less fortunate children.
Deadline: Dec 16,2019
Thanks in advance for your generosity
Guadalupe Carrera
Children’s Advocacy Center of the Big Bend
Dear Editor,
The meeting of the Alpine Humane Society (AHS) last week, as reported in The Big Bend Sentinel, provided a welcome relief to those of us who are working to reduce pet overpopulation in Brewster County.
Comments made by both the Humane Society’s treasurer and executive director reinforced that the $1.2 million Helen Cole Trust funds would continue to be used in Brewster County. We were also reassured that the AHS will be transparent in the ways in which these funds are spent. And particularly important to us was the executive director’s commitment to spay and neuter funding and outreach in Alpine, whether feral or family pets.
Since early this fall, our small team of volunteers has been helping Alpine residents control pet overpopulation by trapping “community cats,” transporting them to the Alpine Small Animal Practice for spaying/neutering and rabies vaccinations, and then returning them back to their neighborhood. Community cats, also called feral cats, are unowned cats who live outdoors. These cats are an important part of these citizens’ daily lives; they don’t want the cats trapped and euthanized. After only 3 months of work, our team here in Alpine is on track to trap-neuter-return about 50 cats by the end of year. While we provide the volunteer labor to trap and transport the community cats, the Trust provides the money to pay the veterinarians for these surgeries.
This trap-neuter-return strategy is popular in the U.S. Eighty-four percent of Americans prefer trapping/neutering/returning community cats rather than bringing feral cats to shelters to be killed.
A cat community in balance is the best outcome for everyone.
Patsy Culver
Marlys Hersey
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this letter, below, was run without Mary Bell Lockhart’s address for collection of letters. We apologize for this oversight and are running the letter again with Lockhart’s address included.
Dear Editor,
Sul Ross University is in development of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program that would be approved by the Texas Board of Nursing. Graduates would be Registered Nurses, an excellent and much needed occupation in the West Texas area, providing direct care and health education in clinics, hospitals, schools, and all kinds of health agencies. The application for approval by the Board of Nursing will be submitted January 1 and with it we will provide letters of support from area citizens. If you would like to participate in supporting this vital program, please write a letter of support addressed to:
Dr. Virginia Ayres
Texas Board of Nursing
333 Guadalupe # 3-460
Austin, Texas 78701
Instead of mailing the letter to Dr Ayres, please send it to me and I will see that it gets included in the application.
Mary Bell Lockhart
107 E Lockhart Ave
Alpine, Texas 79830
What the World needs now is more nurses!
Mary Bell Lockhart
Alpine, TX
