WEATHERFORD —
I just returned from a short trip to West Texas to visit my mother and two elderly aunts. That’s right this old man’s mother and aunts are still spitting grit in Midland and Odessa, “Longlivers”.
I really can’t’ tell where West Texas begins, but I can usually know I’m there, when I must hold one side of the steering wheel way down to offset the force of a thirty mile per hour West Texas breeze. Midland hasn’t changed too much except apparently every resident has decided they must own a six thousand pound SUV or pickup to ferry their darlings to and from soccer or dance practice. And I also noticed that almost all these monster drivers never drive at or below the posted speed limit. Speed limit and stop signs must be considered suggestions in Midland and compliance is voluntary.
After a short stay in Midland, my mother and I took off to visit my aunt in Odessa. Odessa hasn’t changed much since I graduated from Odessa High, except apparently Odessa has decided to see just how many 7-11’s, liquor stores and Mexican restraints they can squeeze onto one city block. Years ago it was rumored that Odessa’s mascot and city flag was a tattered Wal-Mart bag hung in a mesquite bush. The only thing that has changed is there are now more bags and fewer mesquite bushes.
Upon our return to Midland I happened upon a copy of the local Midland paper. I couldn’t help but notice that although there were revolutions in the Middle East, floods, earthquakes, and the start of a national election in this country, there was not one national or international news story on the front page. I was beginning to wonder if West Texas knew we won the Korean War, lost the one in Viet Nam, and finally got Bin Laden. I would have expected that at least they would have reported that their favorite son’s endless war to liberate Iraq is finally coming to an end. They could have mentioned that it only cost $800 billion, four thousand-five hundred American lives, and only thirty thousand men and women seriously wounded. And if they did run that story they should also report that his replacement had just helped liberate three other Middle East countries in less than a year, at a combined cost of two billion dollars, with no American deaths or wounded. They might even run a small note that since their guy had run the DOW industrial average down to seven thousand, that the failed economic policies of President Obama had only raised it back to twelve thousand. I know that’s not good enough but he still has five years to go.
I guess they could report one local rumor that President Obama’s youngest daughter will be coming to Midland soon to conduct a class in fundamental finance and foreign affairs at Midland College. Attendance by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld will be mandatory. But what the heck, all’s well in West Texas; crude oil is back up to nearly a hundred dollars a barrel.
On my way back home I knew exactly when I had left West Texas behind me and was close to home when I picked up Abilene NPR on my car radio. You know National Public Radio; it’s a station people listen to when they want to learn something while driving.
Respectfully,
Dennis Tilly
Weatherford
Letters to the Editor
On the road to learning
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Letters to the editor: May 21,2013
Hope is not a plan
Dear Editor,
I have noticed that the city is pumping water into Lake Weatherford on a regular basis. It makes me wonder if anyone has done the math comparison on digging a deeper lake, maybe putting in a new one somewhere, or at the very least dredging out the one we have.
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Letters to the editor: May 14,2013
Writer takes issue with Roman history lesson
Dear Editor,
It is more than a bit curious that someone would produce 685 words of erroneous history, cheap sermonizing and unwarranted conclusions all for the purpose of telling the neighbors they’re ungrateful barbarians for being unwilling to swallow the medicine being shoved down their throats by an overbearing government. It is impossible to address all of the errors and falsehoods on display in this screed, but there are some particularly egregious points that need be addressed.
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Letters to the editor: May 7, 2013
Vote yes to bond
Dear Editor,
I’m 50 now and ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a social worker. My mom and dad subscribed to National Geographic and I read it from front to back every month. The stories taught me how across the world people needed help in a variety of ways. From that point forward, I knew I wanted to be a helper of society as a whole. So, I got my degree and eventually was a social worker for the Texas Department of Human Services where I served hundreds of people in need.
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Letters to the editor: March 5, 2013
$131,000 spent on Dragon Robots for preschoolers to teach language skills. Interaction with humans inadequate, evidently. $25,000 spent on virtual mummies. $100 to $150 million paid to deceased Government workers.
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Letters to the editor: Feb. 26, 2013
Dear Editor,
Do liberals ever think about what will take place in the future? Environmentalist want to stop the pipeline from Canada.
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Letters to the editor: Feb. 19, 2013
Dear Editor,
Since 1995 there have been a group of guys and some women who have played tennis on a regular basis here in town. They sometimes refer to themselves as the (unofficial) PCTA.
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Letters to the Editor: Jan. 8, 2013
Dear Editor,
I had a dream last night.
There sat the dog-faced John Kerry before the Senate confirmation hearings for his appointment to Secretary of State. After the chair had praised his vast “diplomatic experience” followed by praise for his integrity, honorable service, etc., he finally turns the hearing over to the rest of the panel for questioning – and here is where my dream turned to fantasy. For in my dream the first Republican Senator to ask a question starts like this:
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Letters to the editor: May 21,2013
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