Wednesday, January 28, 1998

Towers in conflict

Well, it looks like the ivory tower and the cell phone tower are in a nasty little tiff. And true to form, the boys at City Hall seem all too anxious to quell the impending imbroglio before anyone gets bent out of shape or calls an attorney.

The issue is one unsightly cellular phone tower that has single-handedly violated the aesthetics of the Lytle Shores area. By the way people are reacting to this issue, you'd think Abilene Christian University had a keg party at chapel.

Fortunately, City Hall is hot on the case, which makes sense. Any idiot can cross-reference the list of contributors to City Council campaigns with the people affected by this tower and see why it's good business, on the part of City Hall, to act quickly.

However, this fiasco certainly beckons some serious questions.

What if the tower had gone up in Pasadena Heights instead of Lytle Shores? Why does this tower become a pressing issue after a few months, while flooding has languished on the table for years? Why is it all right to disrupt the traffic flow of elderly residents on Highland Street but completely egregious to obstruct the view of the wealthy?

It seems these are all questions that can be pondered by the good folks of the Carver neighborhood while they swim through their living room the next time we get a half-inch of rain.

BRIAN FERGUSON

Austin

Via e-mail

D.A.'s office effective

I would like to commend James Eidson and the prosecutors at the Taylor County District Attorney's office. The quantity of cases that the District Attorney's office handles is massive, and only a few get media attention.

But even though the public only sees a fraction of what actually goes on, it is apparent that the office is very effective at seeing that the guilty are put away for long periods of time.

Under Eidson's direction, the District Attorney's office has helped to make Abilene a safe community. Thank you, James, for your continued service to the taxpayers of Taylor County.

LISA PHILLIPS

Abilene

Better tipping

Your Jan. 20 article on tipping service people was way out of date -- about 20 years, I would say.

Nothing was said about tipping rules at food bar restaurants and for drive-in curb service. I have asked many people what the rules are for such service, and no one seems to know the answer.

Some people, I have observed, leave no tip at all in either case. This may be due to the lack of well-known rules to cover such situations. I have never been a waiter and am not acquainted with any. Most of these people are on low-paying jobs and badly need the tip money. The 15 percent rule should apply to them, in my opinion.

When we make the decision to eat out, as you stated, we should be willing to pay for all the service. Let's give these people a break.

W.M. DRESSLER

Midland

Via e-mail

Saving the Earth

The Earth is important to every single one of us because it gives us a place to live. Everyone can help save it.

My class helps save it by recycling plastic bags, using most pieces of paper twice and using construction paper over and over again.

All people can help save the Earth by not leaving the faucet water running while you are not using it, not filling the bath all the way and trying not to use as much electricity.

We should all try to save the Earth.

KATHLEEN MUCKENHIRN

Abilene

Defending the office

I am writing in defense of the president of the United States, not in defense of Bill Clinton. There is a major difference.

The president is our chief executive and voted into office by us. That office is one that demands respect, regardless of the person filling that position.

When our president is questioned about his sexual indiscretions on television, in the company of other world leaders like Arafat, this not only brings disgrace upon him, it also brings disgrace upon the office of the president and those who elected him to that office.

I do not know if Clinton is guilty of all or even some of the allegations brought against him; however, I do know a great deal of dishonor and disgrace is being leveled at the office of the president.

I also believe many of the charges brought against him, whether true or not, are being made by people who hope to gain financially by making television appearances and book and movie deals. This is a disgrace, and I have just as much disrespect for those who hope to gain financially from making public these charges as I do for the person who is guilty of committing them.

Stop the media circus atmosphere. If Clinton is guilty of the charges, then follow due process of law and act upon the results of those findings.

We must preserve the dignity of the office if we are to preserve our own dignity, here and everywhere else in the world.

RAYMOND COURVILLE

Abilene

Clinton irrelevant

Like many others, I'm tired of reading and hearing about Clinton. I don't care about the state of his union (or should I say unions?).

The man has become a caricature of himself and is rendering himself irrelevant. I only hope that he doesn't render our country irrelevant in the process.

MARTIN SLOAN

Abilene

Via e-mail

Beehive hairstyles

I like your newspaper. However, printing a three-column-wide drawing falsely showing Paula Jones as an ugly, corkscrew-haired tub (Jan. 24) is far from the truth. In contrast, you had a recent photo of her that was postage stamp-size which showed her as an attractive, well-groomed woman, though the accompanying story sneered at her for looking attractive!

This all seems too much like the bad old days, when victims of sexual predators feared to testify about any crimes from violent rape to workplace harassment because character assassination always followed. An old but truthful saying then was that the woman always pays.

If there was any real dirt on Jones, it would have made the media by now, along with the rotten jokes quoted there about "Drag a $100 bill through a trailer camp and what do you catch? One hundred like Paula Jones." But does a particular hairstyle that was popular when this story hit the headlines, or living in a mobile home, make anyone a bad person?

Because Clinton's home is the White House and he sports a sort of modified beehive hairstyle, does that make him pure as the proverbial driven snow?

In this country, we have equal rights, wherever we live, whatever we look like, however we make an honest living and to our good name if we deserve it. Sometimes we have to go to court to secure them, which appears to be what Jones is doing now.

PAT JOHNSON

Anson

Morales no help

I'm just really impressed with Attorney General Morales. He really got off his rear and made a decision on shutting the video casinos down. And to think I have been dealing with the attorney general's office for 12 years trying to get my child support.

Every month it comes at a different time, usually later than the month before. Today is Jan. 26, and my check has not been posted to my account. Yeah, he really jumped on the casino issue, but he certainly can't do anything for child support.

It's a good thing he's not running for attorney general again. He would probably be laughed right out of Texas. I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher for the city of Tye.

There could be a lot of things more serious than the casinos. We have X-rated bookstores and topless bars, but then they pay state taxes on these, right?

SHEILA KEMP

Tye

Never get a response

I have been reading the letters on deadbeat parents and just wondering how many there must be.

I too have become extremely frustrated with the attorney general's office. It has been three years since I asked for help from them. I have repeatedly called and written to the office and never get a response of any kind.

I know of some people who have gotten help, who receive some sort of public assistance. People making it on their own should not be penalized by not getting any help from the system. When you file with the attorney general's office, the first question is whether you receive any public assistance. I'm not against public assistance, but feel that everyone should receive the same help.

I am ready to let a child support collection agency work on my case. If it collects, it keeps one-third. I should not be forced to have to pay for this service when others don't.

In October, when the attorney general's office went on its new computer system, my caseworker told me more would be happening with my case now because this system would prompt her to respond every few weeks. I called back in January. Not one more thing had been done since the last time I had called.

I am fed up with dealing with them. You can never speak with a real person, only get voice mail and never a return call. Our system stinks and should be redone so everyone that needs help can really get it.

DONNA TAYLOR

Abilene

Via e-mail

Karla should live

In reference to Karla Faye Tucker's Feb. 3 execution date in Texas: God said, "Thou shalt not kill," though the killing seems to be justifiable.

Capital punishment is the law in Texas. If such law is carried out, who will in the end of such procedure be guilty of murder? Whether by a firing squad, hanging, electric chair or lethal injection, isn't it true all killing is murder?

The jury, judge and attorneys should be very careful of how they sentence or make a decision concerning the fate of human life, as they did not give or make life.

Execution does not solve the crime. It only satisfies the avenger. How can we justify a crime by killing? Do we cover up by saying it is the law? Laws, though we must have them, are many times brutal and without mercy. Of course, it depends on who is in charge.

Could it be that a law to kill has become a household word? With no care or affection, we have lowered the standards of righteous living all the way from "Little House on the Prairie" to the big White House on Capitol Hill. I say if you are willing to execute this woman or any other man, you are a murderer, a killer.

Columnist Cal Thomas (Opinion Page, Jan. 20) seems to think religion has nothing to do with a change on one's own life from bad to good. But being born again with true repentance brings forth a new creature.

Karla Faye Tucker has made a new start. Let's help her to live.

CLINTON GREEN

Anson

Value of human life

On TV recently, abortion rights advocates were complaining about anti-abortion activists "manipulating" women and influencing them to keep their babies by using ultrasound pictures.

One rights activist claimed this kind of manipulation prevented women who might want or "need" an abortion from getting one.

In the same news segment, the cattlemen of Texas were complaining because Oprah Winfrey (while, incidentally, exercising her right to freedom of speech) "cost" them millions of dollars, but that's another story. If we explained to these cattle owners that because of some circumstance or other, the calves of their pregnant cows were going to be aborted, they would really be upset!

These are valuable beings with worth and a future and are of use to the world. But our babies are not? What a twisted society that values the rights of animals and things over humans. And what a sad commentary of our time and a decline of human decency.

I am praying for all abortion rights believers to have a change of heart. God does not intend for us to kill babies.

DEBBIE STRICKLAND

Abilene