Editor:

In regard to the Letter to the Editor on December 7, 2023, I am writing to share some questions and views I have concerning the proposed road access to the El Cosmico property in Antelope Hills.

  1. Way before purchasing the 60 acres for its elite new campground/compound, someone at El Cosmico really should have done their very important homework concerning entry road access. OOPS!
  2. How about naming the Presidio County representatives who explained to you that constructing a public county road would be the ideal option. This information would be very useful to me, and others, when it comes time to vote in future elections.
  3. THE LAND AROUND THE ROPING ARENA/RODEO GROUNDS is now the new proposed alternative route for the entryway road; this is where there are several horse/cattle pens with water troughs. These would have to be relocated or just demolished and not be rebuilt, but that doesn’t seem to matter –– especially if a commissioner has suggested such. If this isn’t enough, El Cosmico is “open to exploring, and may present another route nearby.” This leads me to believe that when this plan doesn’t receive approval, the next target will likely be the area around the Ag Barn. After all, El Cosmico wants what it wants and can’t envision being denied.
  4. I am totally baffled by this one: the claim is made that this specially-created county road will enable Presidio County to support new economic development and business along it. Really? How is that even possible? The land along the majority of this proposed new road is COUNTY LAND and NOT PRIVATE PROPERTY. Does this mean that private businesses are going to be allowed on County land??? Or does this mean that, unbeknownst to the general public, the county plans to “gift” even more of its land to other entitled individuals who can then start their own private businesses???     
  5. Yes, yes, and yes –– Presidio County would be “gifting” land to El Cosmico. What else would you call giving county land to be used for the sole benefit of a private business? What would that be if not a “gift”?
  6. I’ve said this before and I will repeat: if the money El Cosmico proposes to use for the construction and maintenance of its hoped-for county entry road would be redirected toward the improvement of Antelope Hills Road, this would benefit all concerned. Both the residents of Antelope Hills and the county would have a great road as would the guests of El Cosmico.
  7. If El Cosmico does not get county land for the proposed entry road, will that money be used for the upgrade/improvement of Antelope Hills road or will it just be put back into the new development?
  8. Also concerning that October meeting, it seems to me that the December 7 letter leaves the impression that Commissioner Bentley is in favor of the new alternative route proposal. I don’t believe this to be true.

Sincerely,

Dawn Shannon

Marfa

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Dear Editor,

At this time of year, many of us enjoy the company of family and friends to celebrate the holidays. We share special food and drink, give gifts, and many honor the birth of Jesus who –– representing gentleness, love, and acceptance –– is known as the King of Peace. I find it hard to share the sentiments of the season without feeling grief for those who, instead of gathering with loved ones and exchanging greetings of Peace on Earth, are losing family members on a daily basis to the atrocities of war in the Holy Land as well as Ukraine.

As the daughter of an oil company employee, I grew up in the Middle East and was aware of the challenges and ongoing violence associated with the creation by the UN of the nation of Israel in Palestine after World War II. The Jews, after suffering the horrors of Hitler’s war, were given a place to live that was already occupied by Palestinian Arabs.

This arrangement, which was made in 1948, has led to territorial conflicts ever since. In 1967, heightened violence during the Arab-Israeli “Six Day War” prompted the evacuation of American women and children (including me) from Libya. Unfortunately the women and children of 25-mile-long Gaza have no safe place to go, and they are being mercilessly killed by the thousands along with their male family members. Those that survive are left without shelter or access to food or water, with little hope for survival from continued bombing, disease and starvation. It is heartbreaking to think of the daily misery for people there, where over 15,000 people in a land 2/100 the size of Brewster County, half of them children, have been killed over the last two months. Israeli families have suffered as well, in the brutal October 7 attack and attacks that have followed.

There are stories of those who have lost loved ones in the past decades of this conflict who know that the only way forward away from grief is in shared understanding and peace. If you would like to stand up for peace, please join me at Railroad Park on Holland Avenue in Alpine on Saturday, December 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a Peace Vigil at which we can demonstrate our heartfelt connection to women, men and children who are facing the horrors that only peace can end. We can hope that this small act, along with others elsewhere, may encourage policies that increase the chance of Peace on Earth at this time in the Holy Land and elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Helen Snook

Alpine

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Dear Editor,

Citizens should contact the Big Bend Regional Hospital District (BBRHD) Board of Directors to point out that their recent grant of taxpayer monies to the religiously-affiliated Presidio Pregnancy Center (PPC), that will not provide healthcare services, violates the BBRHD mandate to pay for healthcare for indigent residents and insist that the board rescind this grant. What monies the board has the power to grant, the board has the power to take away. 

BBRHD Board members include:

1. Buddy Cavness (Marathon, next election May 2026)

2. James “Cuatro” White IV (Marfa, next election May 2026)

3. Andrea Perez (Presidio, next election May 2024)

4. Reagan Reed (Terlingua, next election May 2024)

5. Angela Juett (Alpine, next election May 2024)  

Better yet, concerned citizens should run for these director positions at the next opportunity to ensure that such a gross violation of BBRHD’s statement of purpose and misuse of taxpayer monies does not take place again.

Kent C. Anschutz

Austin/Marfa