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This week, Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa addressed controversy in La Joya, Louise Butler complained about public vulgarity and a local music teacher suggested summer is a good time to learn a new skill. Other offerings include comments about big government, a local veterinary hospital and letter writers in general.
As always, we welcome contributions to our public forum and thank those who do so.
Migrant voting
In his letter to the editor on April 19, Jake Longoria tells us about a paratrooper friend who served in the military like Jake’s father did. He tells us this friend asked him how he felt about the surge of migrants who have entered our country.
Jake replied, so he says, “That the damage was done.” That the humanitarian crisis was created by the current president because he wants to fulfill his “need” to import more poverty.
Let’s see now: If we import more poor people who will rely on government aid, then we have more poor people voting for Democrats because Democrats help poor people. Therefore, Democrats need to keep these poor people rolling in! Wow! This is absolutely brilliant!
Italo J. Zarate
Brownsville
Animal hospital spurs complaint
On April 17 at about 10:30 p.m. my husband and I took our 5-year-old dog, Rafael, to a local veterinary hospital. Rafael was having severe respiratory distress. It came on suddenly and we didn’t know why.
We entered the hospital and we were asked what our problem was and when I told them they handed me a paper and explained that for a $500 deposit they could have a doctor see him and have the testing done right away. Unfortunately we did not have the funds available, so we were told that we would have to wait until the vet was available.
After waiting almost 30 minutes, my husband inquired how much longer we would be waiting and he was told that three patients were ahead of us.
Rafael was, at this point, gasping for breath and very scared and anxious.
Finally, at about 11:30, we were taken to a room where we waited for another 15 minutes before a tech came in to see Rafael. She then stated that we could still pay the $500 to be seen right away. We were so surprised at this that I said, “Could you lend me the money?” She replied, “Oh, I can’t do that.” So I said, “We still don’t have the money.” She left the room after telling us that she would check to see how long the doctor would be. After waiting another 15 minutes my husband and I decided enough was enough so I went through the employee entrance to the back and saw three employees chatting at the end of the hall. I announced, very loudly, that we needed the doctor in here now to put this dog to sleep because he’d suffered enough.
Finally, the doctor came in and asked us if we were sure that we wanted to “humanely euthanize” our dog. We said yes.
When Rafael came back with his IV, the doctor put him to sleep in my arms.
I don’t know if Rafael could have been saved if we had the $500 or not, but as a nurse with more than 20 years of ER experience, I didn’t think so.
At some vet clinics, after hours you are automatically charged an additional fee as an “emergency visit,” but to be blatantly disregarded because we didn’t have the money was inhumane to Rafael. There was absolutely no triage system in place to check severity of illness. Only a $500 fee could guarantee you a quicker visit from the vet.
We were told while in the waiting room that we could always go to a vet in Corpus Christi if we didn’t want to wait. Many people like me feel that their dogs are family. Some places only see dollar signs.
This is not the first time that a loved dog of ours was euthanized by them. The first time was an even worse tragedy. But that is a whole different story.
Dorothea Dayle Chollett
Edinburg
Government ownership
When society demands more from the government to improve their wellbeing, they are giving power and control to the government over their lives. Instead of doing something to improve their lives, they want the government to do it for them. This more dangerous than you think.
Karl Marx created this new ideology in his Communist Manifesto in 1848 and he is considered to be the father of communism; he became accepted worldwide as an answer to a better living condition where everyone would be equal in society. Everyone would have a place to live, food would be provided, everyone worked and taken care of 100% by the government. It became appealing to the world population to have a paradise-type of living condition. It appealed to people in many nations. Communist parties began to sprout in many nations, including the United States, and it gave a glimpse of a future society with better living conditions. It was a dream and people wanted to make it become a reality.
That dream turned out to be a nightmare for the Russian population when politicians used Marx’s view and politicized it for their own gain to win approval by the masses.
In 1917 the communist drive began with a political figure by the name of Vladimir Lenin. He offered off the cuff, with nothing to back it up, all Marx had written. The Russian population, desperate for a better life, was hooked and was open to anything that would better their lives.
Lenin needed money, so he stole it from the people by taking all their crops and selling them to have money for the promise he made. The Russian population was starving. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson donated food and Lenin took advantage of it to increase his popularity.
Bottom line is that the government cannot be trusted to own us. We the people own the government. We need to keep that in mind when we go to vote this November.
Rafael A. Madrigal
Pharr
Improve the port
The Port of Brownsville just received funding of about $1.1 million. This is a perfect opportunity for them to make improvements to and around the port.
The first improvement that should be made is to make the port more safer for those who work at the site. It’s better to prevent an accident than to have many occur.
Another improvement that can be made is to deepen the channels. This allows bigger vessels to port, accommodating more types of ships. This allows a bit more competition to be had between other ports since ships are being made bigger almost every year. It makes sense to deepen the channel to allow them to come in, making more room for imports and exports of goods.
With the improvements there come some drawbacks, like having to shut down for renovations. But a bigger problem that should be mentioned is the chance of flooding because of the deepening of the channels. It does put the port workers in a bit of a risk should there be a flood. That’s why i propose spending a bit more money on the safety of workers as I mentioned earlier.
Ultimately, this is not up to me to decide. However i do believe that overall the money shall be put to good use.
Anthony Rivera
San Juan
Editor’s note: We welcome your letters and commentary. Submissions must include the writer’s full name, address and daytime telephone number for verification. Letters of 200 words or fewer will be given preference. Submissions may be edited for length, grammar and clarity. Letters may be mailed to P.O Box 3267, McAllen, Texas 78502-3267, or emailed to [email protected].
