Time for leaders to end child care crisis

The pandemic has shown how much our nation is really lagging on access to child care. It’s been heartbreaking to see how many families are struggling without child care and now with the delta variant things are just getting worse again.

Too many families can’t find or afford child care. And on top of it, the early educators caring for kids are being paid poverty-level wages and often struggling to support their own families.

It’s clear to me that it’s not enough to go back to what we used to have. We need our leaders to confront and commit to resolving the child care crisis and build a high-quality affordable child care system that works for babies, kids, families, early educators and our communities.

Making a substantial and sustained investment in America’s child care system is a big step in the right direction and one that should be a top priority for each and every member of Congress. Our elected leaders should do everything in their power to end America’s child care crisis once and for all.

Wayne Tubbs

Crockett

Stand against “gender identity craze”

Smith County has an abundance of medical, educational, financial institutions, and much more to enhance the lives of its citizens. But today I am sad even embarrassed that almost all of them have yielded to political correctness. Yielding to this dictation has a subtle yet dangerous influence on the population. I refer to gender identity.

The first time I read the list on the form as to my sex, I unwittingly succumbed to this insanity. I merely shrugged my shoulders, harrumphed in disgust, and hoped this craziness would go away.

It hasn’t so I am standing counter to the mainstream. Here is why. The day I exited my mother’s womb and entered this world my body parts aligned with “female” NOT cisgender. The Lord God Almighty gave me the external makings of a female and I am overjoyed to say that for 81 years I have been a G-I-R-L and will be until I D-I-E.

Should I think America is a mess now, this stupid gender identity craze will produce devastation beyond imagination. Schools are now implanting notions of dissatisfaction of “who they are” to pre-K and kindergartners. I stand against it! And I ask the institutions to stand for truth also.

Anna L. Russell

Tyler