Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to mail@austinchronicle.com. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    I wanted to offer a heartfelt recommendation for a small business here in Austin creating beautiful photos of our family pets.
    During a contest photo session at the opening of the Furr Factor on South First, I inquired about purchasing the contest photo taken of my dog. The photographer, Shelley Godfrey of WhozURDoggie, replied that the photos taken are for the contest only and go directly to the Furr Factor who had hired her. While chatting, I mentioned that my dog Lani-Girl was 17, means the world to me, and is sick with lymphoma so I wanted to have a nice keepsake photo of her. She then offered a complimentary photo session the next business day to ensure I would have something beautiful of Lani-Girl to keep.
    Besides having great compassion and understanding for the relationship many of us have with our pets, she took the most beautiful photos of Lani-Girl, capturing her spirit and personality.
    I have been sick for three years now, lost my business, ran through all of my savings for health care, and am unable to work. Lani-Girl was by my side through this and more. Upon looking at the WhozURDoggie website, while being reasonable for most people, I realized I could never have afforded the photo session myself. Shelley Godfrey knew none of this but offered her services out of kindness and understanding. While Shelly has come to Austin fairly recently, I was happy to see the "old school" Austin ethic alive and continuing.
    I wholeheartedly recommend Shelley Godfrey of WhozURDoggie.com as a talented and thoughtful artist to create a timeless keepsake of your own family pet. My Lani-Girl was buried out in the country on Thanksgiving weekend. I will be forever grateful for Shelley’s amazing gift to a complete stranger.

Dear Editor,
    Michael King's "Point Austin" last week [News, Dec. 7] about retiring Round Rock state Rep. Mike Krusee describes him as "a forceful local mass-transit advocate." While the article acknowledges that Krusee is "the legislative face of Texas toll roads," King portrays Krusee as a "convert" to New Urbanism.
    Krusee's legacy will be that of the highway builders' lapdog, eagerly fetching new funding schemes to build hundreds of acres of new highway lanes. Krusee orchestrated passage of the biggest boom for highway construction in Texas history (House Bill 3588 in 2003), helped the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization approve billions of tax dollars for local toll road construction, and admitted to King that building more roads subsidizes suburban commuters. Maybe Krusee did push for some additional rail lines – after the big money was secured for wasteful highway expansions that won't deliver on their promise of "reducing congestion" but will line the pockets of road builders and developers.
    New and expanded toll roads make mass transit and walkable communities less viable because they encourage sprawling, low-density development outside city limits. Spending literally billions of public dollars on new and expanded highways – tolled or untolled – is fiscally irresponsible in a future without cheap oil and environmentally irresponsible in a present with global warming.
    Which brings me to Katherine Gregor's update on Mayor Wynn's Climate Protection Plan [“The Austin Climate Protection Plan,” News, Dec. 7], in which there is no mention of two big areas where Mayor Wynn makes public decisions that affect greenhouse gas emissions that heat our home planet: transportation and land use. The much-heralded Climate Protection Plan is silent on both; the Chronicle should not be.
    Mayor Wynn subscribes to the "growth at all costs" dogma. He voted with Krusee's crowd this year to spend $1.45 billion expanding local highways into toll roads. He votes not just for Downtown condos but for every imaginable subdivision that needs city approval to convert farm and ranch land into auto-dependent development on the outskirts of town, new houses in the suburbs whose owners will be stuck driving cars – perhaps on Krusee's toll roads – to get everywhere, increasing our greenhouse gas emissions!
    Please stop letting local politicians spin their way out of accountability for their actions. Krusee and Wynn talk "New Urbanist" and "green" but their actions as elected representatives support the growth machine of sprawl that keeps us addicted to cars.
    I'm glad Mike Krusee is now supporting mass transit. I'm glad Will Wynn is talking about global warming. But we need the press to hold politicians accountable for their actions that contradict their sound bites.

   [News Editor Michael King responds: The Chronicle actively and regularly covers issues related to urban density, sustainable land use, and transportation. This is silence? As Katherine Gregor's coverage of Mayor Wynn's recent call for a passenger rail voter referendum in November 2008 reported, that initiative represents a major mayoral transportation-and-land-use effort aligned with the Austin Climate Protection Plan. That said, we're glad that Colin Clark (and by extension Save Our Springs Alliance) is at last ready to declare his forthright opposition "to new and expanded highways – tolled or untolled," and presumably drop the hypocritical alliance of convenience with anti-tollers, who just want a free ride. Next thing you know, he'll admit to adhering privately to the "dogma" of "no growth at all." That would make it impossible to address in common real community solutions and allow fewer outlets for opportunism – but it would restore SOS to its designated island of purity, whence it can condescendingly lecture everyone else in Austin on "accountability."]

Dear Editor,
    I am a life-long Austinite … Yes, I am only 27, but I have been reading the Chronicle for years. I bartend at a North Austin haunt (the Shining Moon), and a local artist that I know came in and saw me reading the Chronicle. We chatted for a bit and he left … Five minutes later, he came back in and said he had a gift. It was the first edition of the Chronicle with Stevie Ray Vaughan on the cover. It blew me away that the true spirit of Austin does still live. We are a town of so much great character and history, and it was amazing that an almost total stranger gave that awesome gift back to me.

Dear Editor,
    Re: “The Terrible Thing” article [“Page Two,” Dec. 7]: Excellent. Being an East Round Rock conservative for 37 years, it is even more appropriate how inspired I was reading this article. Why must everything be a war of people? I love Austin, and one of the best aspects is its "mix" of people and ideas. I love the concept of expression over evangelism, discernment over judgment, respect over hate. We all seek something true, and the trip is much better when we work together as a whole for the whole. I try to share this idea with my friends, co-workers, church, family, and neighbors. The New Testament Bible even says to debate vigorously but not divisively. I look forward to the rest of the article. On this Thursday of a dull week in a Baja Fresh in Oakhill, my brain is racing, thanks.

Dear Editor,
    The recent article on Johnston High School [“The Slow Dying of Johnston High,” News, Nov. 30] talked about Austin Interfaith’s relationship with Johnston High through the Alliance School Initiative. Austin Interfaith worked in partnership with Johnston High School for three years under four separate principals to organize staff, parents, and the community to improve the school. During that time parent-involvement hours increased fourfold, parents and teachers organized afterschool programs and a summer youth employment program, and the initiative brought in more than $50,000 in additional state grant funding. Johnston was rated “acceptable” in all academic areas in 2001-03, the last year of intensive organizing. Johnston’s participation in the Alliance School Initiative ended for two reasons: 1) After repeated turnover of principals, the new administration, unfamiliar with the initiative, lost interest and support for the relationship; and 2) The district’s increasing directive to campuses to focus primarily on standardized test preparation squeezed out the public space necessary to build a strong collaboration among staff, parents, and community. Overall, this was an informative article on recent history at Johnston. But we do want to clarify: Austin Interfaith did not “pull out” of Johnston. The relationship was not supported by the administration.

Dear Editor,
    Louis Black’s response to Dave Shapiro’s letter to the editor, Dec. 7 [“Postmarks”], is backward when he wrote “one of the primary jobs of government is to mediate and regulate that conflict.” Actually, “regulation” must come first and then “mediation” can follow. The first and most important job of government is to enforce the ordinances and codes, which are the laws of the land. How can public interest sit at the same mediation table with special interests when not on equal footing?
    First, there is need for regulation. An example is City Ordinance No. 030320-23, in part three of the Neighborhood Plan Amendment Process, which is the city’s conflict of interest law. It states, “If a member of a neighborhood planning team has a [financial] interest in a development that requires a plan amendment, the member … cannot participate in any decision concerning the project, including the decision of the planning team to submit an application for a plan amendment, nor the decision to support or not support the project.”
    In the past, planning team members with a financial conflict of interest have led the discussions concerning the plan amendment at neighborhood meetings and have been the only speakers for the plan amendment at Planning Commission meetings. They have participated in discussions to submit an application for a plan amendment and then submitted the application for the plan amendment to the city.
    Aren’t those violations of the ordinance and show a need for regulation, first?
    This ordinance puts the onus on the people who have financial gain in a proposed neighborhood plan amendment. Everyone must come to the mediation table equally. Those with a financial conflict of interest can neither instigate nor participate in any discussion to persuade the city to give them a golden egg.

Dear Editor,
    Readers’ letters to editors are generally my favorite section of any publication; I have learned much from them in my lifetime.
    The Dec. 7 edition of the Chronicle contains excellent contributions to “Postmarks“ by Debbie Russell (of ACLU-TX), Donald Dodson, and Dave Shapiro.
    Louis Black continues one of his favorite themes: the danger to democracy of demonizing those with whom one disagrees [“Page Two,” Dec. 7]. An acceptable exception to this “danger” might be when the one who is “demonized” is an actual (figurative or literal) demon. Black touches on a few of Bush’s desecrations of the Constitution, which support the contention he is a demon; “conspiracy hobbyists” (that term itself is what Black imagines is a clever insult) have proof Bush, his daddy, and colleagues worship a demon annually in Bohemian Grove.
    However, I suspect the demonization Black denounces is of him. This happened when, among other abuses, Black used his power to support corruption (i.e., toll roads and continued nontransparency of city government) and to dishonestly argue against conspiracists.
    I have boycotted buying (not reading) the Statesman since Editor Rich Oppel unbelievably endorsed Bush in 2000. (Seven years of lost sales is something.)
    There are also Chronicle letter writers and columnists whom I no longer bother to read: Vance McDonald, Kurt Standiford, and Louis Black. (The most recent “Page Two” is the first one I’ve skimmed in months, since Black’s laughable “final (then finaler, then finalest) word” on conspiracies.
    Finally (not for the final time, no doubt), 1) voter fraud; 2) his weak campaign and distancing himself from the popular Bill Clinton; and 3) his stiffness cost Al Gore the presidency, not Ralph Nader!

Dear Editor,
    A comment on Daniel Mottola's “Naked City” article [News, Dec. 7] about the push to use energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs. His was one of the first to mention the need to recycle these bulbs, and the city's Household Hazardous Waste Facility, while managed by good folks, is not going to be used by many consumers. The city and Austin Energy are going to need to really make this an important education matter.

Hey Stephen,
    I was just reading your column [“After a Fashion,” Arts, Dec. 7] and was shocked to see a link to my Always Maxi Pad letter. Also shocked to see that it supposedly won PC Magazine's editors' choice award … I think they forgot to tell me. Anyway, I wrote this last February as a humor piece for McSweeneys.net, and it's taken on a life of its own. The good news is that Proctor & Gamble no longer puts "Have a Happy Period" on their adhesive strips. I'm taking full credit for that one.
    Love the column and thanks for the mention!

Dear Editor,
    Although I can understand Robert Bryce's uneasiness [“If More CO2 Is Bad … Then What?,” News, Dec. 7], waiting for the deluge cannot be the solution. Luckily he is wrong, at least partially. Europeans and especially Americans spill lots of energy, thereby emitting CO2 that does not contribute to their wealth.
    Holland, my country, enjoys the same wealth as the U.S. while using 40% less energy. That is simply 40% less CO2. Efficient factories and cars make a lot of difference, and newly built houses require 70% less energy to heat than those of the Seventies. And Europeans are frantically researching for further improvements.
    In comparison, the ignorant course of current American politics strikes many Europeans with fear. Still, it is not too late to make a new emissions deal. I believe America direly needs a visionary government. It may well be America's last chance to retain world leadership.

Dear Editor,
    Was Michael King's interview done on the road to Damascus perchance [“Point Austin,” News, Dec. 7]? It makes Mike Krusee, who was instrumental in cramming toll roads down our throats sound like Phil Donahue. I ain't buying it, although Michael King seems to – hook, line, and sinker. When he announced his retirement before the end of the year, which coincidentally makes him eligible as early as 2009, he was rumored to be in line for a gubernatorial transportation sinecure in appreciation for his work as Governor MoFo's Ho, but his aw shucks response was, "It's not like there's an open invitation," Krusee said. "It's just leaving the door open." Ask not for whom the road tolls; it tolls for Mike.

Dear Editor:
    Re: "The Austin Climate Protection Plan" [News, Dec. 7]: Climate schlimate! Want a plan to protect the planet (say that three times fast)? Then adopt a vegetarian lifestyle! In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations said that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. Senior U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization official Henning Steinfeld reported that the meat industry is “one of the most significant contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems.” Going vegetarian is the single, most effective thing you can do to protect the planet. Money may make the world go 'round, but eating meat will stop it from turning at all!

Dear Editor,
    After reading Robert Bryce's opinion piece, "If More CO2 Is Bad … Then What?" [News, Dec. 7], I concluded that Mr. Bryce is either an intellectual lightweight, a stooge for the oil and coal industries, or both.
    Rather than dissect the many factual inaccuracies and fallacious claims in his article, it would behoove Mr. Bryce to actually examine some of the "developing countries" that he so dearly claims to care for.
    Angola, a country in southwest Africa, is one of the fastest growing oil-exporting nations in the world. According to the World Bank, Angola received $30 billion in oil exports last year. However, the average worker in Angola lives on the equivalent of $2 per day, according to the World Bank, and approximately 25% of all children die before their 5th birthday. Angola also calls itself a "democracy," but due to rampant corruption, it has never held an election.
    Then again, those are just facts, and for a man who uses charts supplied by British Petroleum to exaggerate global energy consumption, facts are either too difficult to comprehend or a mere nuisance to be overlooked.

   [Robert Bryce responds: I knew this letter would be coming. I just hoped it would raise something substantive. Kevin Miner doesn't like it that I used data from BP (and it is BP, not British Petroleum) and claims the data is "exaggerated." Were he as informed as he claims, Miner would know that the BP Statistical Review is one of the energy industry's standard references. Further, the chart was not "supplied" by BP. It was one I created, in Excel, from BP's data. Alas, Miner is too busy to "dissect the many factual inaccuracies" in my story. Instead, he provides ad hominem attacks on my character and intellect while discussing corruption in Angola. Perhaps in his next letter he'll discuss the price of sushi in Tokyo? Alas, Miner's diatribe is all too typical of the shallow rhetoric surrounding the real conflict posed by concern about carbon dioxide, while there is rampant energy poverty in the developing world.]

Dear Editor,
    Re: “UT's Brackenridge Tract” [News, Dec. 7]: Brackenridge donated the 500 acres on June 17, 1910 – not in 1917. A copy of the deed may be found in Walter Long's book For All Time to Come, page 27.

   [News Editor Michael King replies: Richard Robertson is correct: The accurate date is 1910. Thanks for the sharp eyes.]

Dear Editor,
    As a rather new resident to Austin, or a "carpetbagger" as one writer recently called us [“Postmarks,” Dec. 7], perhaps my least favorite thing about my new home is hearing people constantly bitch about how it "used to be.” Everyone has a right to complain about things, and rose-colored glasses of nostalgia are a universal constant. If you listen hard enough, you can hear people pining for the stupidest things imaginable, such as the Great Depression or the Vietnam War. Tom Brokaw has made millions trying to convince us that his "greatest generation" of Cold War, lynching, McCarthyism, etc., was so wonderful, but I digress. I'm not saying pining for the "olden days" in Austin is a bad thing, especially if it makes you happy, but if it makes you angry and bitter, well, you be the judge.
    To the Austin "used-to-bes" I'd like to point out a few things. First, the population of the U.S. has risen by 50% in the last 30 years, so it's only logical that the average population everywhere has risen by around that much, including Austin. And when you take into account that there are some places people just don't want to live, it's probably higher for a sweet place like ATX. When population grows, you've got two choices, out or up, which explains sprawl and taller buildings. Higher population density means more traffic, especially when you don't keep up with mass transit needs.
    Louis Black's "Creative Mass" column [“Page Two,” Nov. 30] touched on a lot of these issues a few weeks back, except for this fact: The core problems that Austinites face in rising costs of living, increased population, lack of affordable housing, substandard infrastructure, etc., are the same core problems faced by almost the entire U.S., whether it is Brooklyn, N.Y., or Boise, Idaho. The fact that newcomers such as myself prefer to battle these life challenges in a place such as Austin, instead of Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis, L.A., or New Orleans (my hometown), is a testament to all that is wonderful about this city. Enjoy!

Dear Editor,
    Where has our collective sense of humor gone? Today I was walking my wiener dogs on the off-leash trail. A very tall woman was jogging by with her young boxer on a leash (you’ve seen the type of leashes with a strap around the dogs mouth, ouch!). One of my wieners ran up and barked a “hello” at the boxer. The woman abruptly stops, yanks her dog’s head up, scans the area for the owner of this vicious dog (my 14-year-old wiener with a few good teeth), locks eyes with me, and gives me one of those "you’re an irresponsible pet owner" looks. The lady walking behind me says, “He’s just saying hello.” The boxer lady was having none of it. I felt so sorry for that boxer. I’m betting he doesn’t get off his leash much. I’m betting he has a very strict regimen and isn’t allowed to have much fun. I gave the boxer lady a big smile and said I was sorry for my dog’s hello. She never smiled or said a word; she just jerked the boxer back into the regimen of jogging. I’m saddened by the loss of a sense of humor and a smile. I’m sorry for that boxer and his master, too. Life without laughter is no life at all.

Dear Editor,
    I am a resident in the Brackenridge Apartments, a division of the famous Brackenridge Tract that is not being utilized for its "highest and best use” [“UT's Brackenridge Tract,” News, Dec. 7]. Please allow me to utilize this venue to send an apology to the University of Texas Board of Regents.
    Vice Chairman James Huffines indicated in another publication that the university has been generous in the past. As a resident, I apologize for encroaching upon the generosity of the Board of Regents.
    As a resident, I realize that the Brackenridge Tract Task Force, composed of lawyers, UT administrators, and other professionals, kept the best interests of the students living in the apartments in consideration throughout the process of evaluating the "best use" of our homes. We must accept that the task force's decision that the value of the land exceeds the value of the people currently living on and using the land is a sound and appropriate decision.
    We will not keep the Board of Regents from fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities to the University of Texas.
    Again, my humblest of apologies for taking up valuable space.

Dear Editor,
    “Lubbockian Identity” [“Letters @ 3am,“ Dec. 7] was one of the most insightful, informative, sensitive, and well-crafted columns that I have ever read in this or any other publication. Mr. Ventura deserves a national audience.

Dear Editor,
    As I sat down Saturday morning to enjoy the latest issue of the Chronicle [Dec. 7], I was dismayed to find yet another “Postmark” article about how wonderful Austin used to be ("Life in Austin Once Was Better" by Donald Dodson). I have read these articles ad nauseam with mounting frustration, and this most recent post has brought me to my boiling point. To quote Mr. Dodson referring to UT graduates who wouldn't leave the city after graduation, "but at least they had a similar Southern drawl"; it makes me sick to my stomach. These archaic Austinites are so busy moaning and complaining about the Austin that used to be that they are unable to see the bright future that Austin holds for its citizens – no matter where or when they moved here. It's the new millennium, people – we've got a choice. Live in the past or enjoy the present. If they took half the time they spend complaining and instead went out and actually enjoyed their beautiful city, they would realize that even though Austin may be changing and growing, it is still retaining a refreshingly large amount of its culture. It is simply naive for Mr. Dodson to act so shocked and offended that his city – a large city and the capital of Texas – is going to change or grow at all in the coming years and to bemoan this growth. One of the joys of living in America is the diverse background of its beautiful citizens, but the "original Austinites" are sunk so deep in their depression about their city that once was, they fail to see the positive impact the new citizens are adding to this wonderful place. My challenge to the city of Austin: Cheer up, enjoy your wonderful city, and stop complaining!

Dear Editor,
    My recent letters to Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison were answered two months later, but completely ignored my subject, which is the reported "loss" of more than 10 billion of our taxpayers dollars in Iraq and asking them if they were looking into it and other waste and fraud including no-bid Halliburton contracts. Their response was boilerplate enthusiasm for Bush's war. Can we Texans really support out-of-touch representatives who seemingly have no regard for our hard-earned tax money being joyously wasted by the Pentagon and the Republican administration? These unresponsive "guardians" of our tax dollars don't deserve to be re-elected.

Dear Editor,
    Austin is home to a wealth of outstanding classical music groups such as A. Mozart Fest. This local organization has grown in stature and worldwide recognition but somehow not in Austin. Recently, I was privileged to attend a concert in which A. Mozart Fest secured one of the most important pianists of our time, Paul Badura-Skoda. He has been heard in all the world’s greatest concert halls, has appeared as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, and has more than 200 recordings. He was awarded a proclamation from the city of Austin, but not one word appeared in the news media about him or the wonderful concert he played for a delighted audience. Mr. Badura-Skoda gave his time and talent in a program for the children of Austin under the auspices of A. Mozart Fest. Please support our local and often under-recognized contributors to the cultural life of Austin.

   [Editor's note: While it is true that the Chronicle did not cover Mr. Badura-Skoda's most recent performance in Austin, the paper did cover his local appearances in 2003, 2004, and 2006.]

Dear Editor,
    What can the public do to keep Officer Gary Griffin [“Lawsuit Against APD Officers Alleges Civil Rights Violations,” News, June 29] and officers in similar cases off the streets?

Dear Editor,
    I sure wish the folks at the American Civil Liberties Union cared as much for my rights to live in a neighborhood free of drug dealers and drug users and all the subsequent crime that attends them as they do about the rights of those same drug sellers and drug users. My car is vandalized and broken into, I have my life threatened for calling the police, my home is burglarized, and my general peace of mind is nonexistent. Hey ACLU, what about my right as a law-abiding taxpayer (and I think law abiding is a key term here) to live in a safe and peaceful environment? You have a solution for that? I seriously would like to hear a workable solution to remove these threats to the rest of the neighborhood.
    I have to ask myself, "Is the neighborhood better off with the so-called 'victim' removed from the playing field?" I think we know the answer to that question.