Letters to the Editor – Dallas spending, Obama, Fiji, veterans

Re: “Johnson rebuked for remarks,” Wednesday Metro Business story.   

Mayor Eric Johnson is right to criticize the council’s reckless spending. In recent years, they’ve paid a former employee long after he left employment, then paid legal expenses to get the money back.  

They’ve approved millions of dollars in lawsuits against the city without even discussing those lawsuits in meetings. They support corporate welfare for very profitable companies like Goldman Sachs without good evidence that this type of funding produces enough economic returns. 

Now they are spending city dollars on the World Cup when a Dallas Morning News-cited economist said it will provide little benefit to the city. 

Bill Strickland, Dallas 

What do Dallas City Hall and Fair Park have in common? Deferred maintenance. 

Sue Owens, Dallas 

I watched President Barack Obama on Stephen Colbert’s show Tuesday night.  Be you Democrat or MAGA, wasn’t it refreshing to hear a person from the Oval Office speak in clear, sane and understandable sentences?  He wasn’t spouting hatred and contradicting himself in the next breath. 

Kurt Wolfenbarger, East Dallas 

This past March, while traveling in New Zealand, we heard President Trump launched his war with Iran. The ensuing chaos in the Middle East negatively impacted many of the travelers we met down there. Some were able to make alternative arrangements that cost them more. Others on limited budgets found themselves stranded.  

Prior to our New Zealand trip, we had paid a five-figure non-refundable deposit and bought flights for a fall trip to Fiji. The other night, we received an email from Fiji Air advising that “due to ongoing developments in the Middle East and the associated operational impacts, including fuel cost challenges…” our flights had been cancelled. 

Then we found out all flights to/from Fiji for our required dates (almost all airlines use Fiji as a hub and not a destination) are sold out. So, thank you very much, Donald Trump, for flushing thousands of our (and pretty much the rest of the world’s) hard-earned dollars down the toilet. 

Matthew Brady, Carrollton 

I don’t believe building a billion-dollar bunker and calling it a ballroom is the solution to stop political violence. The answer is to stop spreading hate and to treat people with respect. 

Paul Sokal, Dallas 

Why is the U.S. denying support to some of our most injured veterans who have made extraordinary sacrifices for our country? 

More than 59,000 veterans — including more than 7,200 in Texas, including myself — saw our military careers cut short because of injuries so severe that we were forced to medically retire. 

But despite our sacrifices, we each lose hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars, every month. Why? Because the government reduces our retirement pay, dollar-for-dollar, by our disability pay because we didn’t serve 20 years. This doesn’t make sense.  

Disability compensation addresses the lifelong impact of service-connected injuries. Retirement pay is earned through years of honorable service. They’re two different things. Essentially, we’re being taxed because we were injured serving our country. That is fundamentally unjust. 

The Major Richard Star Act would give soldiers forced to medically retire their full benefits. But despite more than 400 cosponsors in Congress, the bill has yet to receive a vote. 

It’s time to end this wounded veteran tax and pass the Major Richard Star Act. Call your senators and representative and demand that they pass the bill today. 

Shawn Morgan, Keller 

Since water is a finite resource, we should treat it as one and use it more efficiently. Some advice:

1. Lawn Irrigation — we are using precious drinking water to water Bermuda grass and St. Augustine lawns. We fertilize it, mow it and throw away the clippings. What a waste! If folks want to water their lawn, price water the same as a gallon of gasoline. That will encourage change. Plant native trees and shrubs and go lawnless. It may require officials to make difficult short-term decisions for long-term benefits. 

2. New community housing developments should implement graywater irrigation systems. Use this water for community greenscapes, yards, parks and golf courses. It should be written into the building/development code.

3. Raise the price of water. Use or enhance a sliding scale — the more water you use, the more it costs. It seems we only change our habits when it hurts our pocketbook. 

Debra Lankenau, Carrollton 

As summer reading season begins, many families take for granted that their children can open a book and understand it. Yet, for millions of children worldwide, that simple joy remains out of reach. 

Despite progress, over 270 million children are still out of school, and about 70% of 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a basic story. This learning crisis limits opportunity and costs the global economy trillions each year in lost productivity. 

The good news is we know what works. U.S. leadership and investments in basic education, including support for the Global Partnership for Education, have helped millions of children gain foundational reading and math skills and can reach hundreds of millions more. 

Congress should act now to sustain and strengthen funding for international basic education, so every child has the opportunity to learn, read, and build a brighter future. 

Marie Tilden, Dallas 

I have noticed the awarding of kudos in published letters and decided to look the word up. It turns out that Kudo Kudo is a chain of crispy fried chicken restaurants in the Muslim world (Libya, Iraq, Qatar and more) and is based in Istanbul, Turkey. 

If more than one kudo is awarded, there could be a misunderstanding. 

Philip Mendershausen, Dallas/Casa Linda