Smith is wrong on need for speed building border fence
To the editor:
Congressman Lamar Smith’s increasing penchant for political expediency exceeds my tolerance for politcal folly.
He is quoted in today’s Herald-Zeitung as saying the “...expeditious construction of the border fence is a victory for the American people.” Far, far from it Congressman Smith.
Please name me one fence that worked: the Berlin Wall? the Great Wall of China? the Maginot Line? the Iron Curtain? the walls of Jericho?
Did he see the pictures of people climbing over the new border fence? Can we really afford to pour more millions of dollars down a hole to pretend that now we will be “safe?”
I spent 28 years in service to the United States of America as an Army officer. I will not sit by and watch self-serving politicians like Mr. Smith prey on the fears of Americans.
LTC Robert A. Strange, US Army-Ret.,
New Braunfels
Town is not like it ‘Used-To-Be’
To the editor:
The children of Used-to-Be Town are no longer young. Only they can find the remnants of the town that used-to-be. Only they know where to look for the small metal plaque in the pavement signifying the used-to-be artesian well and gazebo in the middle of a destroyed square. In the name of progress and modernization the entire center of town was leveled to make space for wide stretches of asphalt, aggressive beige brick and glass civic buildings, and the elimination of trees. This area is still called Arlington, Texas, a space in the Dallas-fort Worth metroplex. It is a used-to-be town that only a few can see.
Now in New Braunfels, here’s what we can see:
With fine fingers, the jeweler at dawn sets the beautiful beads along the neckline of his window mannequin. He hopes for strolling shoppers to stop in today. The delivery truck backed up to the dry cleaners is unloading the sparkling fresh clothes for customers who wish for wardrobes that will support their hopes. The restaurants and diners are opening with hope for the hungry. The lights are coming on. The citizens of New Braunfels are up at dawn driving to their daily destinations while sustaining their hopes with caffeine. Everyday, we will be looking for splinters, snippets, blinks of hope in each other’s eyes, cherishing the future we hold in trust.
So, hope you have a day in which your zipper holds, your fan belt survives, your lunch satisfies, your technology functions, and even your own sincere hopes are never just a dream of a town that used-to-be.
