Letters to the Editor

On Feb. 27, in the article “Man found dead in Tyler hours after jail release,” it says that “the deceased my have been homeless.” Jimmy Lee Ball was not homeless. He had a home here in Tyler where his 101-year-old mother still lives. He was one of us: a son, a brother, a neighbor. He struggled with mental illness and should have been sent to a facility that could have given him the help he desperately needed and which his family had been trying to get for him for many years. If it’s true that a city or county’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members, then we need to do better. While it is a complicated situation, one thing for sure is that the jail is NOT a mental health facility and warehousing the mentally ill there (especially those who are chronic) is ineffective and immoral. Jimmy’s death may not have been in vain if it leads to reevaluating every mentally ill person in the jail NOW and getting those who are not a danger to themselves or others to a safe place where they can receive treatment.

Don Davidson,

Tyler

BLAMING TRUMP

When will Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts stop blaming President Trump for the country’s problems?

If Nancy develops a barnacle on her derriere, is it Trump and Putin’s fault?

I’ll soon be 87 years old and I can still remember a photo on Life magazine’s cover. Location was Yalta and in the picture were FDR, Churchill and Stalin planning a way to defeat the Nazis.

FDR was a Democrat and he won four terms for the presidency. I’m glad Nancy wasn’t House speaker then.

And “global warming?” God has a plan in place. Read Genesis 19:24, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ann Mitchell,

Tyler

PRO-LIFE

We should praise and be thankful for pro-life cities and abhor the fact our tax dollars are used to support the murder of innocent children. The ACLU, while using the Constitution to support the right to kill, overlooks the first right it innumerates — the right to “life.” More and more scientific evidence support an early beginning of life and laws should be changed.

Herd Snider

Tyler

GREAT JOB ON ELECTION

Thank you to the Smith County election judges and clerks. This election was, by and large, a success because each of you showed up and did the work to serve the voters of Smith County. Many of us have heard about the voters in Houston who waited in line for up to seven hours to cast their vote. I applaud their determination to participate in the democratic process, but I also wonder why they did not or were unable to take advantage of early voting. We in Smith County have the advantage of voting centers that allow us to vote at any one of the 35 locations in the county. I hope that Harris County leaders will give serious consideration to adopting this method as soon as possible. I believe the decision of the Texas Legislature majority to eliminate straight-ticket voting will lead to chaos in November in many of the urban areas if their procedures remain as they are. We in Smith County must take a look at each of the challenges that we faced in this primary election and make further adjustments to ensure success in future elections.Thank you to our Democratic primary administrator, Ms. Fairbanks, the Smith County Commissioners Court and our Smith County elections administrator for your commitment to secure an accurate, friendly and efficient election.

Michael Tolbert,

Smith County Democratic Party chairman,

Tyler