Letters to the Editor

The oil and gas industry has always been boom and bust and demanded individuals and companies that could cope and adjust to rapidly changing conditions. The exploration part of the industry was used to being a failure on pet prospects that turned out to be dry holes. Likewise the joy and excitement of a big discovery is followed by huge profits.

Outsiders seldom realize that those big profits have to pay for the dry holes, including landmen title work, leases, drilling, completion expense, production equipment like tanks, separators, pumps and many many more related expenses and taxes — county, school, production taxes, and in the past excess profit taxes, plus the payments to landowners and royalty and mineral owners. It has to be a good well to pay for everything and still make a profit. All business ventures have risk. Normally higher risks demand higher profits for a business to survive. Hard work, long hours, experience, good employees and adequate capitalization and good credit insures chances of success of any business.

The oil industry will recover from this oil price collapse just as it has recovered from other crises in between boom periods. I have seen $2 oil and $100 oil and drilled my fair share of dry holes and producers over 40-plus years working in the oil patch.

Harry Bergman

retired independent geologist

Tyler

HEALTH CARE HEROES

While most of the “heroes” of our society are either seen in blue or camouflage, the heroes of this war carry no weapons. They do not drive tanks. They do not pilot fighter jets. They do not have a gold badge on their uniform. They wear scrubs.

Today, our heroes are nurses and doctors. Health care workers around the world are putting their lives on the line every day to save the lives of others and to try to minimize the damage this outbreak will cause. These brave men and women are the ones risking their own lives to protect ours. They are the ones who should be praised, not politicians who are making decisions from afar. While the decisions of politicians are important in guiding the people, they should not be viewed as heroes. The heroes of this war wear scrubs, not suits. As a society, we should remember that.

For without the tireless efforts of health care workers, the decisions of politicians would be little more than glorified suggestions. These scrub-dawning heroes really do have the ability to change the world. Their efforts can make more of an impact than any political ruling ever could. So while the leadership of our political leaders is incredibly important to help control the people they govern, the dedication of health care workers is even more important in times like these. For, at the end of the day, it is health care workers, not politicians, who are saving the lives of our friends and neighbors.

Jeff McCormack

Troup

WHAT ARE THEY LEARNING?

In the midst of all the Chinese coronavirus news these days, sometimes important other news may be missed by many readers. For instance, tucked away at the bottom corner of page 5A (4-24-2020) is an article of grave importance on the deplorable condition of eighth-grade students’ knowledge and comprehension of American history, geography and civics. It starts with the facts that national test scores in 2018 are down from those of 2014 for the first two categories and equal to the previous low score of the third. Further, the lowest scoring students are getting more behind higher scoring students in both public and private schools, and this applies to all three major races/ethnicities of students. Some notable quotes from the article are: “…only 15% of students have a reasonable knowledge of U.S. history;” “(most) cannot discuss the Bill of Rights or point to basic locations on a map;” “…students are struggling to understand and explain the importance of civic participation, how American government functions, the historical significance of events, and the need to grasp and apply core geographic concepts;” “…with the current health crisis, …how important it is to understand historical forces, the role of our civic institutions, and the impact of geographical conditions of our interconnected world.” Wow! If they are not learning much about these subjects, what are they learning? Hopefully, the results for students in Tyler and Smith County are better than this. Are they?

Jack Gibson

Hideaway