February 21, 2019 600 AM
Dear editor,
I read the article about the proposed towers in the February 7th issue. I would like to point out two errors:
1. Big Bend Ranch State Park is a Dark Sky Park, not Sanctuary. It’s not that big of a deal, but they do mean different things.
2. Big Bend National Park is also a Dark Sky Park, both designated by the International Dark Sky Association. BBNP was designated several years ago.
This is very important because together the two parks represent the largest contiguous area of protected dark sky in North America. That is part of why fighting these types of towers is really important.
Terlingua is a gateway community for both parks and needs to develop with caution as to not damage the night sky quality and other resources.
Thanks for reporting on this.
Amber Harrison
Alpine
Dear editor,
With the constant barrage of lies and misrepresentations coming from the current administration and its media enablers regarding asylum seekers and other migrants from south of the U.S. border I have found it necessary to question the source and truthfulness of virtually everything said about immigration.
So, when reading your article titled “Asylum seekers flood southern New Mexico” in last week’s Sentinel, frankly I was dismayed by the overall tone of the article. Specifically, the use of the following words and phrases: detained by, arrested, detained, picked up, detainees, took them into custody, taken into custody. Conversely, only once was the clarifying point stated that “most of the detainees are surrendering” to the Border Patrol and seeking asylum.
Adding to that tone was the use of “smugglers” (twice), “criminal organizations” (three times), and “smuggling large groups” with the obvious intent of inferring that there really is some sort of “emergency” on the southern border. However, as usual in anti-immigration posts, there was no evidence offering proof of any significant smuggler or criminal organization involvement now or in the recent past.
It is not at all surprising or even unusual that a few administration lackeys would make comments or produce press releases that are not clear and honest representations of the actual events occurring of the border. But for a paper with an excellent history of neutral-tone articles…well, sorry, but this article bombed.
Fred Gossien
Terlingua
Dear editor,
The Answer
Boomers bear witness to the inconceivable. My 1950/60’s generation couldn’t have imagined Evil in the White House with partisan Complicity a timid servant.
The America we knew was exceptional! Great Depression-Dust Bowl hardships brought New Deal financial regulations and social reforms. Democracy defeated Aryan racial supremacy and aggressive militarism. However, returning black GIs experienced the contradictions between principles and practices. “Separate, but equal” was ruled unconstitutional, but television bore witness to segregation’s on-going brutality until Great Society civil rights legislation made Jim Crow illegal.
Interstate highways connected regions of the country. Travel and commerce flourished. Economic expansion produced a vibrant middle-class. Government backed student loans made state college and junior college tuitions affordable. We had blue and white collar jobs with benefits to support our families.
Medicare, Medicaid were enacted. Nixon’s Administration created the EPA. America won the space race!
There were problems – the Cold War, Vietnam, Nixon’s Watergate scandal. But things have definitely gone off the rails.
This is the first generation unlikely to have things better than their parents. A dysfunctional Trump presidency, the cruelty of “Zero Tolerance” and specious ‘national emergency’ make the inconceivable unbelievable.
Ask Reagan’s presidential debate question: “Are you/we better off than you/we were 37+ years ago – before Reagan began dismantling the New Deal with conservative deregulation and “Supply Side (trickle-down) economic policies?”
We, who lived those years, know the answer: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Rev. Barry Abraham Zavah
Alpine
