Dear Editor,
My husband and I would like to express our deep gratitude to the leadership and staff of The Big Bend Sentinel for the recent reporting series on rural mental health. Each week, the articles have elevated our understanding of various facets of this crisis in our West Texas communities. We take tremendous pride in having been a part of it.
David and I established the Presidio County Community Fund at the Communities Foundation of Texas in 2019 on the event of our wedding. It was the suicide of Greg Enlow, recounted in the initial article in the reporting series, that inspired us to do something, though we did not know exactly what that would be.
In conversations with our friends at The Big Bend Sentinel, we crafted the scope of this project, with the goal of bringing greater definition to the mental health crisis, specific to rural West Texas — as well as identifying resources for those in our communities that are struggling. What we would like to communicate to your readers in this letter is that the project presented us with a bonus opportunity that we found equally compelling — the opportunity to support local journalism.
The Rural Mental Health Series was sponsored through a grant we made for the benefit of The Big Bend Sentinel to the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, its fiscal sponsor, which aims to “build a sustainable future for local journalism that reflects our communities and preserves democracy.” In this online age, polarized and rampant with disinformation, we believe the work being done by local newspapers like The Big Bend Sentinel is an existential necessity to the health of our communities, big and small.
We send our deepest thanks again for the considerable effort put forth by your talented team in the execution of this project as well as for the important work you do every week, and we pledge our continued support.
Sincerely,
Hilary and David Beebe
Marfa
Dear Editor,
In recent issues of the BBS, I have read about the county EMS chief firing, the county clerk facing a criminal complaint and the county sheriff’s issue!
What in the world is going on in such a beautiful part of Texas?
Sounds to me like a bunch of squabbling that needs to be resolved sooner rather than later, if the opposing sides would put egos aside and get together!
Richard L. Stone
Austin, Texas