Letters to the Editor: Readers talk court staff, chickens and budgets
Published 4:40 pm Tuesday, June 1, 2021
GIVING CREDIT TO MUNICIPAL COURT STAFF
I was one of 300 people who were summoned for municipal court jury duty recently. It was their first jury trials in over a year. Unfortunately, of those 300, less than 50 people showed up. It is a sad commentary on our society when so many people disregard their civic duty.
I want to compliment the municipal court staff, including the presiding judge (I did not write his name down). They were very friendly and engaging, and they showed a great respect for all the people summoned for jury duty. While I have never had any problems when called for county jury service, I can say the municipal court staff were the friendliest I have encountered (I don’t want to leave the impression I’m disparaging the county staff — I am not). I just want to give credit where credit is due. My guess is the municipal court is rarely acknowledged. If this is the normal level of service they provide, all I can say is that it’s impressive.
Robert Ferguson
Tyler
CONCERNED BY CHICKEN ORDINANCE
It was with concern that we read “Tyler updates distance rules for keeping chickens,” on May 13. Council members decreased the property setback requirements from 50 to 15 feet from the side and rear property lines. According to the article, the reason for this was to “make it more accessible to a lot more people who want to have access to farm fresh eggs.”
The change was in response to a petition by Ms. Nikki Aubuchon. Ms. Aubuchon lives in the historic Azalea District of Tyler. She was surprised to learn that her property lot was too narrow to be in compliance with the prior city ordinance for keeping backyard chickens.
However, chickens and other poultry are classified as livestock and not pets. Keeping them within city limits increases certain serious risks. Chickens are also reservoir animals for bird flu and salmonella.
Chickens and other livestock also come with manure, lots of flies and noise. As homeowners within the historic Azalea District for 43 years, we want to see the prior 50-foot requirement reinstated. We feel that ordinances should protect and benefit everyone.
If you live within the Tyler city limits and are concerned about this change in restrictions, contact the City Council at: https://www.cityoftyler.org/government/government/mayor-and-council OR https://www.cityoftyler.org/government/government/contact-the-city-council .
Jane and Vince Brach, PhD
Tyler
BIDEN, CONGRESS FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
Rumor is Republicans are going to cave on the Biden infrastructure plan and offer a compromise of nearly $1 trillion. Have all these people in Congress lost their minds? Do these congressmen forget what big numbers are when they go to D.C.? One trillion is 1,000 billion. It is 1,000,000 million. If an average middle income family pays $15,000 in income tax to the IRS per year, it will take 67,000,000 average tax paying families to fund it. For reference, there are about 6,200,000 families in Texas according to Census data. So it will take 10 Texas-sized, middle-class states to fund all of this infrastructure.
To make matters worse, this is just to fund the incremental spend. Congress has another $4 trillion in federal budget to cover for everything else. There are simply not enough people to cover this grotesque spending extravaganza.
So how about we just tax the rich? According to the Institute for Policy Studies, the collective wealth of all U.S. billionaires is $4.1T. That means everything these 660 families own could not pay the federal budget for ONE YEAR!
The president and Congress are steering our country to the brink of financial disaster. If we need $1T in infrastructure, then find $1T to cut somewhere else. Continuing to print money to pay for this irresponsible spending and taxing every American into the ground will surely kill the growth and economic vitality that gives our country prosperity.
Get back to financial responsibility. Now.
Douglas Towns
Tyler