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Monday, September 3, 2001
Letters to the editor

   Pump lake to lake
   In response to J.W. Johnson's letter, Sunday, Aug. 26. The pipeline should have been laid from Lake Corpus Christi to Choke Canyon at Three Rivers. Then all that water that floods downstream from the dam could be piped to Choke Canyon. Then when Lake Corpus Christi is low, it could be pumped back into that lake. Not only saving millions of dollars the Mary Rhodes Pipeline cost, but also the $200,000 a month it cost just for the Lake Texana water.
   Doesn't it seem funny that the city has not one but two lakes, and a pipeline from Lake Texana, and we're still under water restrictions? If you call this mess, a good job, please don't ever run for public office.
   Dale Taylor
   (Robstown)

   Spay and neuter
   I am saddened to hear of the terrible conditions at the Corpus Christi Animal Control Center. I would like more money spent on these old buildings and on the care of the animals. I do not believe we have to wait until the new building is finished to relieve the suffering of these poor animals.
   We must keep in mind that the main reason these inhumane conditions exist is that people do not spay or neuter their pets. I have been told that there are programs where spaying and neutering is done less expensively for people who cannot afford the usual expense. If you are interested, be sure to call and ask.
   The heroes of this sad story are the Coastal Bend Pest Control Association and the people who gave the extra strength tick collars.
   Rilla Roots

   Gun facts
   Michael A. Townsend's harangue that the Second Amendment assures only state militia rights, not individual gun ownership rights (Letters, Aug. 15), demands refutation.
   The facts:
   1. Every revolutionary leader urged private gun ownership to assure that the people would have guns with which to serve in local militias. The Second Amendment was intended to achieve this goal. The founders specifically opposed a government-armed standing army, which the National Guard (our present "militia") has become.
   2. State and federal courts have not "consistently" read the Second Amendment as a collective rather than an individual right. In fact, the Supreme Court has refused to consider and has never ruled on the meaning of the Second Amendment, although it has said that "the people" mentioned in several Bill of Rights amendments, including the Second, refer to individual rights. A Texas court recently specifically ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right.
   3. To state that the militia was a "slave control" mechanism for the South is outlandish.
   4. Where state-wide elections have been held on the issue, in all cases that I am aware of, about 75 percent of voters opposed gun control, hardly Townsend's "tiny minority of gun fetishists."
   C.W. Carpenter

   Water over the dam
   Since January of 1998, 352,000 acre feet (or 112 billion gallons) of water has been released into Nueces Bay. This is water that was not directly used by any citizen of Corpus or of the surrounding areas. If this water could be recovered then the combined capacity of the reservoirs would be near 60 percent and we might not need an additional supply.
   The latest proposal from the city is to build a pipeline from Lake Texana to the Colorado River to bring an additional 30,000 acre feet of water at a cost of approximately $100 million. (Remember, more than 10 times that was released since 1998). We could save a lot of money (tax dollars) by storing water instead of releasing such large quantities.
   The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission is forcing the city to make these releases, and from my understanding. The TNRCC says they own the water. Maybe Lake Corpus Christi should be renamed Lake TNRCC.
   It is time to support the city and their fight against the TNRCC with the mandatory releases. Call your council member and ask how you can help. We now have proof that the reservoirs cannot support both the city and large releases simultaneously.
   Eric Moller

   Smoke on smoking
   Secondhand smoke is not invisible, nor is it "deadly" in any normal sense of the word. Even if you accept the EPA type reports as correct, they indicate a risk of less than one in a thousand of contracting cancer from secondary smoke after forty years of daily exposure. And don't forget that even that figure has been ruled to be a gross exaggeration by a normally anti-tobacco federal judge who vacated the report for having violated normal scientific standards in reaching that conclusion.
   The "53,000 deaths from heart disease" figure mentioned by another letter writer comes from a study that was so poorly done even the EPA refused to include it in their report! That figure has never been validated by any additional study and exists purely as a propaganda statement thrown about by antismoking advocacy groups: such a claim has no place in a proper newspaper.
   You may disagree with my point of view, but I think you should feel at least some responsibility to share the above information with your readers.
   Michael J. McFadden
   (Philadelphia, Penn.)

   Forget the shrimp
   In response to Fred Robinson's pity for the shrimp's habitat (Letters, Aug. 22), I have come up with a solution. Mr. Robinson can have his water meter removed by the city, cap his water line, and donate his share of water to the bay. It is obvious that he has found a mystical way to survive without water.
   I am all for conserving the environment. However, in my opinion releasing water into the bays at this particular time is idiotic. Mr. Robinson also probably feels that the tigers and bears should roam the city as well.
   John Cochran
   (Riviera)

   Missed Milburn
   I am a science teacher at Richard Milburn Academy, which is a charter school in Corpus Christi for at-risk school students. I was very disappointed that the Caller-Times, which recently printed the Texas Education Agency ratings from area schools, did not even mention Richard Milburn Academy and our acceptable rating.
   This achievement rating, based on TAAS scores, attendance, and dropout rates, equaled that of CCISD. Yet, our student population is 100 percent at-risk students. I believe achieving an "acceptable" status speaks highly of the turn-around our students make at Richard Milburn Academy with our small classes, dedicated teachers and staff, and attention to the basics.
   Shouldn't the Caller-Times print the rankings of all public schools, including charter schools, especially when they have something to be proud of?
   Ceatriss Haviland

   Easy on ticks
   I wonder if P.E.T.A., People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are squirming in their non-leather boots at the thought of ticks being killed at the City Pound? If it were up to them, we would be expected to pick each tick up, not harming them of course, and releasing them to the wild; which would be an impossible task.
   Personally, hat's off to the city manager and all those who are volunteering their time and service to rid stray dogs and cats of such misery.
   Rick Hayley

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