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COMPASSIONATE COLUMN

Mr. Anderson, thank you for your compassionate column Saturday morning (Jan. 16. 2021, “Strength through tragedy”) in the Tyler Morning Telegraph about the Starrville tragedies.

In a world seemingly filled with hate these days, it is encouraging to know there are still journalists who have a heart and courage to report stories of love and faith.

Please keep writing!

Sharon Brown

Tyler

THANKS FOR THE EDITORIAL

As a fellow journalist and a regular reader of your newspaper, I wanted to thank you for your Jan. 21 editorial regarding the Jan. 8 photo caption. I want you to know I appreciate your honesty and integrity concerning the matter in your editorial. I’ve been in this business a long time and have made plenty of mistakes on my own, but as long as we can admit it and go forward I feel confident in the process. Thank you for your honesty, it speaks well of us all.

Larry Tucker

Wood County Monitor

Quitman

CRUZ MUST GO

Ted Cruz must be expelled from the Senate. It was Cruz who led the public and other senators to believe there was voter fraud when Joe Biden won the election. Despite 62 courts declaring otherwise, due to lack of proof and the failure of any attorney to swear in court that evidence existed, people believed the lies of Cruz. This led to the attack on our democracy with the rioters at our Capitol in Washington, D.C. Cruz has blood on his hands and needs to be held accountable.

Catherine Sheveland

Forney

TRUMP STILL NEEDS

TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

On Jan. 20, a new President of the United States was sworn in. Most of us want to move forward in peace, regardless of how we voted. But on Jan. 6, Donald Trump incited violence against the U.S. Capitol based on the lie that a landslide victory was “stolen” from him, a claim which was defeated in court over 50 times, in cases presided over by judges appointed by presidents from both parties, including many appointed by Mr. Trump himself. He inspired this violence not just by a speech on that day but by his post-election rhetoric, vowing that he would “never concede,” telling his supporters to “fight like hell” and ultimately asking supporters to come to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and “be wild.” They did and they were.

Donald Trump incited a mob of violent insurrectionists that struck at the heart of American democracy. People were injured and died because of his words and actions.

Even though he is no longer in office, Republicans in the Senate must vote to convict Donald Trump, both because of his culpability and to send a message to future presidents. They must hold him accountable for betraying his oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”. History will judge whether Republicans failed our country by letting Donald Trump escape without consequences or met this moment with the courage necessary to defend our democracy for future generations.

Carol Pianta

Tyler

SUPPORTING GOHMERT AND CRUZ

I would like to say that I totally support both Rep. Louie Gohmert and Sen. Ted Cruz in their actions in support of President Trump. They have been and still are performing a great service for both Texas and the USA. AND I believe that they were correct in defending President Trump by challenging the election results. Any time you allow everyone to mail-in votes, you are setting the stage for fraud. There is no method to certify the voters in such a short time and this doesn’t seem to matter to the other party. No one knows if only citizens or legal residents of the cities are correct; and/or who filled out and mailed the voter envelopes. Everyone has an opinion on this but we should all bite our tongues and not cast aspersions on fine congressmen who are doing what we elected them to do. I hope these two fine congressmen will continue performing their jobs as they see fit.

James Finley

Tyler

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT

Impeaching Trump would be divisive. And we have never been more divided as a nation than we are today. However, we are a nation of laws, or we are not. Not pursuing impeachment against President Trump sends the wrong message. That is: if you are powerful enough, you get a pass. There is little doubt that inciting insurrection and an assault on the seat of the U.S. government is serious enough to merit charges of impeachment. Trump, like every American, is entitled to be heard and, if found guilty, he should receive the severest punishment. That sends the right message: America is strong enough to trust in our system of justice for all and can withstand the severest pressure.

Larry Mayo

Tyler

WILL SENIORS EVER BE ABLE TO

GET THE Time to Back Off

Please rescind any agreement you have with Creator’s Syndicate. Especially Betsy McCaughey. Her words and tone are vitriolic and not helpful. She condemns everything attached to democracy, especially Republicanism. She is overly biased, bigoted and condescending. I bet NYers wish she would go away too.

I continue to be ashamed of Ted Cruz. I am ashamed of retiring and telling people I live in Texas. While Ted is suing the Biden Administration over rejoining the Paris Agreement over greenhouse-gasses, he and supporters fail to recognize simply that petroleum products and that economic support will not cease in the next 100+ years. Look at all the cars, trucks, railroads and plastics fueled by petroleum products. Cruz and others are reactionary and fail to look upon science to see how fossil fuel and renewable resources can best serve mankind and our planet. We are already experiencing increased sea-water levels. If greenhouses gasses and emissions are left unchecked, our great and great-great grandchildren will not be able to live on this planet or breathe somewhat clean air. Yes, one nation cannot save the world. We can set an example and others will hopefully follow.

The Keystone pipeline should also be rerouted for safety of water resources. Why isn’t Cruz talking about that? The API president says messing with oil production on federal grounds will make us more dependent of foreign oil. Not true.

An intelligent transition and harmony needs to be found between oil and renewable resources.

Bob Taliaferro

Tyler

COVID-19 VACCINE?

They tell us that the risk of dying from COVID-19 goes up exponentially with age. And yet, the Tyler medical community has set up procedures for getting vaccinated that almost guarantee that the oldest of us will be the last to receive immunity.

There is nowhere to go to receive the vaccination where all one needs is ID establishing age. Such a site could be advertised as requiring a minimum age, say 90, to start with. The minimum age should be high enough to ensure that those seeking vaccination will match the vaccine supply. When the demand becomes less than the supply, the age should be lowered, say to 85, and so on down to age 65.

The present setup requires skill with smartphones and websites beyond that of most eighty-year-olds. It seems designed to suit the convenience of the health providers, rather than their compassion.

I’m 89 and my wife is 88, and it looks like our grandchildren will be vaccinated before we will.

Charles Hayes

Tyler

THANKS FOR MORE LETTERS

I would like to applaud this paper for printing more letters to the editor. This often allows people of the majority opinion to express their views. During the ‘60s and ‘70s we were known as the silent majority. Today we can be called the silenced majority since only minority views are seemingly printed. Thank you!

Steven Harrell

Tyler

COVID-19 VACCINE

Admittedly it is a remarkable accomplishment that persons have received a newly formulated vaccine for the Coronavirus within a year of first detection of the virus. However, folks need to know that this is going to be a very long, hard process to contain the virus. Smith County has been blessed with nearly 29,000 doses or 123 per thousand residents (which, for comparison, is over 9 times the rate for Rusk County and over 3 times that of Gregg County). Yet all appointments are filled by the time they are opened. Presently Phases 1a and 1b are open, the latter including persons over 65. At the present rate of vaccination in Texas, it will take some 29 weeks just to vaccinate the over 65 population of some 3.7 million, roughly 1/8 the population of Texas. So at the present rate, we are looking at some 146 weeks or 2.8 years to complete the task. And that is just for the first shot.

Upshot of it is that social constraints are with us for the foreseeable future.

T H Shelby

Tyler

CRUZ SHOULD RESIGN

There must be accountability and there must be consequences for Sen. Ted Cruz’s role in the insurrection and his cynical, self-serving sedition which inspired the terrorists and coup plotters who stormed the halls of our nation’s government. He needs to resign.

Cruz sacrificed our elections and Capitol on the altar of his ambition — with only one purpose in mind: making himself the Republican nominee for president in 2024.

Our response at this moment defines our country’s future. We either satisfy ourselves with the cold comfort that the immediate attempt to overturn the election won’t succeed, maybe shrug off this seditious ploy as more “Cruz being Cruz,” or we decide that we’ll stand up to it and go on the offense to save our democracy.

Sen. Ted Cruz is guilty of trying to overturn a lawfully decided election, of helping to incite a violent insurrection that resulted in the deaths of five people including a police officer, and of pursuing sedition for his own political gain.

Cruz’s violent rhetoric and attacks on our democracy do not represent Texas. He does not represent Texas. He needs to resign!

Kathleen Hinson

Grand Saline