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 [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    Those of us living near Capital Plaza have recently been informed of an exciting new feature in our area called “the jughandle.” According to the flier, the jughandle is part of how TxDOT and Catellus plan “to accommodate additional traffic, while improving conditions on the existing roads.”
    Sounds exciting! However, I don't quite understand the logic. The plan involves building a maze of roads next to the northbound access road leading to Cameron Road, then diverting all traffic off the access road and into the maze.
    It makes sense that additional traffic can be accommodated by increasing the surface area of a road. But doesn't it work better when the road is made wider rather than longer?
    And I guess conditions on the existing roads could be improved by disallowing traffic completely. But isn't the whole problem with traffic congestion that people actually want to go places?
    I would love it if someone could explain to me how this jughandle could be a good idea.

Dear Editor,
    I was ecstatic to see Gilbert Tuhabonye on the cover of last week's Chronicle [“The Memories of the Long-Distance Runner,” News, May 13]. I ran my first distance challenge (series of races leading up to my first marathon) with Gilbert. Of course, he was like 10 million miles ahead of me in all of the races, but it's always a point of pride to say I ran the same courses. I remember watching Gilbert run Race for the Cure at less than competitive pace and smiling as I saw him greet all who ran alongside him. Anyone in the running community can tell you that Gilbert is never too busy for a smile or a nod if you pass him (or more likely, as he passes you) on Town Lake. Even if you're a midpacker saddled with the butt and gutt that will ensure you'll never win your age division, you feel proud running the same races with Gilbert. And after reading your article I am even more aware of why such is the case.

Dear Editor,
    The U.S. had a huge and well-organized peace movement in the late 1930's. Students were holding sit-ins demanding "more schools and less battleships," and 50,000 military veterans held a peace march in Washington, D.C. It was matched by a large peace movement active throughout the Western democracies. That the leadership in Germany and Japan were emboldened by that movement is undisputed. It more than likely accounted for the failure to put an end to Hitler while he was still relatively weak. So an argument can be made that the "peace advocates," sincere though they may have been, contributed greatly to the catastrophic blood bath we call World War II and even to the Holocaust. So the numbers in the peace movement will remain small right up until people forget what the last great peace movement brought us. War must always be the absolute last option. But taking that option completely off the table is naiveté run riot.

Dear Editor,
    I read your story about Gilbert Tuhabonye published on May 13 [“The Memories of the Long-Distance Runner,” News], the same day I first saw the film Hotel Rwanda. Both were inspirations. But I suppose I had let myself believe the violence in that part of Africa had ended a decade ago. How easy it is to imagine that trouble in mineral-rich Afghanistan and oil-rich Iraq count for more than whatever happens in AIDS-infected and famine-ridden Africa.

Dear Editor,
    Smoking is sooo 1585-ish! You only have three excuses if you smoke: you're overweight, over ugly, and over 40; your driver's license says R.J. Reynolds or Phillip Morris; or you are on your death bed in the cancer ward. Cool people don't smoke anymore – they're straight-edge anarchos who don't take shit from the government or corporations or media campaigns. That said: I don't smoke and I voted against the ban, since this is all about yuppie professional types who are trying to legislate aesthetics and their upper-middle-class notions of good taste. Next thing you know they are gonna try and ban rat tails on scruffy kids. Something tells me I ain't gonna see them at the Elysium on Sunday nights even with the ban. This is all about "think/live/look like me!" Hey Lance, it's great you beat cancer, and I'm a big-time bike enthusiast like you, but ... stay outta my life! See you and Sheryl next week at Elysium, right?!

Dear Editor,
    So, Yacov Sharir and José Luis Bustamante are the Lewis and Clark of the local dance scene ["Dancing Through Uncharted Territory,” Dance, May 13]? I'll buy that trope as both duos have demonstrated that neither exploration of the unknown nor cultural transgression is necessarily a "good thing."

Dear Editor,
    Your story on Badgerdog Literary Publishing by Nora Ankrum [“Write of Passage,” Books, May 13] has reached the eyes of this Badgerdog director in faraway California. As a sometime poet, my contribution is as much rooting from the sidelines as it is constructive input. And I do know how to root. In my view, Ms. Ankrum has demonstrated the kind of writing skill that contributes not only to your readers' knowledge of what is going on in this Austin-based enterprise but also leaves them with a very clear picture of the inspiration the quietly talented students are gaining in the writing workshops she describes. She is obviously at one with the program she portrays. I want to thank her for reminding me of why I joined the Badgerdog board in the first place.

Dear Editor,
    The city of Austin leadership assured us that when they moved the day-labor camp from downtown to its present location on 4916 N. I-35 that the impact on surrounding neighborhoods would be minimal. However, the result has been the proliferation of intoxicated day laborers wandering our neighborhood, urinating in public, and panhandling on street corners. Locating anyone at the city to take action is more difficult than finding an affordable residence in Austin (no wait, there are now a few choice places in our neighborhood). Staff at the city of Austin's First Workers' Day Labor Center tell me there is nothing they can do. A brazen group of street imbibers has even set up a regular drinking spot on the northeast corner of I-35 and 51st Street. Here they pass the hours drinking, sleeping, and “giving the finger” to passing motorists. Austin Police Department officers simply speed pass them, no doubt late for encouraging some disco fire. Maybe in September I'll get a response when my new street neighbors “light up” within 15 feet of a nearby business.

Dear Editor,
    Lately, I've been looking forward to The Austin Chronicle because of Lloyd Dangle's ongoing sardonic take on life in Bush's America. His Troubletown cartoon tickles me. Dangle's take last week on "At last the official story of Abu Ghraib can be told" was, simply put ... laugh-out-loud hilarious [Comics, May 13]! Thank you for introducing this weekly slice of joy into my life. Along with Tom Tomorrow, these editorial features are not to be missed.

Dear Editor,
    Somehow people who have inherited money and command large salaries cannot understand living on a very tight budget. They discuss private investment accounts as if everyone could afford to put thousands if not hundreds of thousands in these accounts.
    The vast majority of working people are barely covering the cost of their living expenses. The idea of their being able to invest thousands of dollars in a retirement account is a mirage equal to their hope of winning the lottery.
    It would take my entire lifetime of earnings for any percentage of my Social Security deductions to accumulate enough to earn more than a few pennies. Our congressional leaders don't seem to realize that we are not given vacations in exotic locations, nor are we treated to banquets and cars. We do not collect money to travel and advertise our virtues as we run for office.
    We go to work each day cleaning your buildings, taking care of your lawns and gardens, teaching your children, selling you your luxuries, serving your meals, driving buses, trains, or planes, and trying to pay our bills with the small salaries we are paid.
    Social Security has been our lifeline in our retirement years. Remove our lifeline and you will doom millions to destitution.

To the Austin community,
    I am writing in response to Dan Mottola's article "Where There's Smoke ..." [News, April 15]. I am Christine Carlucci, the program coordinator of oriGENal voice, GENaustin’s public awareness campaign that empowers middle school and high school girls with important information about the dangers of tobacco use. Just like several other thousands of Austinites, the girls of oriGENal voice are thankful the smoking ordinance passed since it will be enforced in places they spend time with their families – particularly bowling alleys.
    I heard a “Keep Austin Free” representative on the news accuse those supporting the smoking ban of having nothing at stake, as bar owners do. The American Cancer Society reports that secondhand smoke attributes to 300,000 lower respiratory infections in children each year and cases of asthmatic children due to secondhand smoke leaped from 200,000 to 1 million this year. It doesn’t take a biologist to understand adults are affected in equal measure. In many ways tobacco is directly marketed to girls and women, playing on insecurities associated with fitting in and mythology about smoking and weight-loss. The facts are staggering regarding how many girls will start this year. Today, 457,000 girls under age 18 are likely to become daily smokers – 146,000 under 18 are likely to die prematurely as a result.
    oriGENal voice is dedicated to counteracting these trends, teaching girls to use media to raise awareness about the risks of tobacco use and secondhand smoke among their friends and family. Funded by the Texas Cancer Council, oriGENal voice is a unique group within the GENaustin network, a nonprofit existing in Austin since 1996 focused on building girls’ confidence and critical-thinking skills. The girls of oriGENal voice send a resounding thanks to Austin for taking their health and wellness into account during the recent decision!

Dear Editor,
    Your article covering Texas Senate Bill 1858 inexplicably repeats developer attorney/lobbyist Dan Wheelus' assertion that "no one has ever justified that the 15 to 25% impervious cover limits were necessary to preserve and protect the recharge and contributing zones on Barton Springs" [“Senate Bill Threatens Local Water Quality Standards,” News, May 6]. In fact, the one person testifying at the SB 1858 hearing with the best credentials to opine on that topic – environmental engineer Lauren Ross – submitted data to the Senate Committee showing the scientific consensus on the necessity for these restrictions. Why did your reporter choose to rely on a developer lawyer as the sole source of information about science rather than reporting on contrary information provided by a scientific expert?
    SB 1858 is nothing more than an effort to take decisions regarding water quality protection standards away from local voters who are motivated to protect their environment and put them under the control of a state agency beholden to polluter lobbyists.
    While environmentalists sometimes become elected to City Councils, it is chemical company lobbyists and their ilk who are appointed to run the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. SOS Alliance and many other organizations have long petitioned TCEQ to hold hearings and gather scientific evidence on the adequacy of the TCEQ rules regarding the Edwards Aquifer, but these requests have been wholly ignored. "Scientific" decisions at TCEQ regarding water quality standards are driven by political constraints imposed by lobbyists like Dan Wheelus and their friends in the Texas Legislature. Please dig a little deeper on these issues, and don't allow yourself to be an unquestioning platform for developer lobbyists' assertions about environmental science.

Dear Editor,
    Too bad. Austin had a good thing going. Free markets were working well and everyone had a place to go. Now the holier than thou folks have taken over. Thanks to the smoking ban, my friends and I will not be spending another tourist dollar in Austin. Remember, smoking doesn't make you cool ... but a lot of cool people smoke. Austin used to be cool.

Louis,
    Remind me to box your ears next time I see you.
    Just because I said addiction is a disease not a lifestyle choice [“Postmarks,” May 13] doesn't mean I want to ban smoking, prohibit liquor, or further criminalize drugs, etc. You are adding to my arguments your own paranoid fantasies. I voted against the smoking ban by the way.
    Addiction is a disease that subverts the individual's ability to choose, among other things. I don't think smokers need help unless they want it. Cigarette smokers can have integrity and individuality; crack smokers will come to a place where they have neither.
    So once again, we find our words useless to describe a phenomena as multifaceted as addiction. Perhaps our wonderful civilization has come to the place where we need many words for the concept. The Eskimos had their snow.

Greetings,
    I was just wondering why "war crimes" was put in quotes in the Calling the Ghosts movie synopsis in the online version [“Film Listings Online”]. To me, the way the quotes appear around "war crimes" seems rape is not a war crime. I guess if rape technically isn't a war crime as defined by the Geneva convention, then a more appropriate descriptor could have been chosen.
    Perhaps I'm merely misreading the text and the quote is from the women as a whole who are describing their experiences as war crimes.
    Should anyone revisit this synopsis, I would appreciate either clarification of the speaker of "war crimes" or recategorization of "rape" in this piece.

   [Marjorie Baumgarten replies: It was due to the testimony of the women profiled in the film and others that rape was "added to the international lexicon of war crimes by the UN Tribunal at the Hague" (from the film's Web site). The quote marks I used were an inadequate shorthand meant to express the idea that the definition of war crimes is indeed malleable and expandable.]

Dear Editor,
    I'm voicing my opinion on a rather old subject, but one that hasn't seen the light of day for some time now. Cigarette butts. The folks who choose to smoke, be it in their cars, on the sidewalks, in the parks, what have you, for the most part don't use trash cans or ashtrays. One of the most disgusting things that I see is when a motorist flicks the still stinking little-bitty butt out of the car window – the actual worst is in the river tubing or at parks or pools – "Cause it's just a cigarette butt, what can it do?" It's still trash. Not to mention that millions of those get put out of car windows and on sidewalks every day. Where do they all go? They get washed up with all the other trash and end up polluting our streams and clogging our sewage filtration systems. Why not pay attention to your surroundings and just throw your butts in the trash.
    Oh, and to those of you who go down to Barton Creek on the nice days and leave all that trash (including butts), it simply breaks my heart to see the beauty of a place littered with our "items of necessity" ... but i digress.
    Thank you for hearing me.

Dear Editor,
    To answer Louis ... my argument to that is that they are still public entities that still have to answer to the public [“Postmarks Online,” May 10]. What are smokers’ rights? You certainly have a right to smoke a cigarette, but that right is only extended to the point that that smoking harms me. I agree that I choose to go to a smoking bar, but I also choose where I live and where I drive my car and what alley I choose to walk down. The matter of choice is not an issue here. Just like I have a reasonable expectation for safety when I walk down a dark alley or drive my car on the highway or live in East Austin, I have that same expectation when I choose to go to the Red Eyed Fly. “Well you chose to come to this bar so if you burn in a fire so be it.” Is it a monetary hassle for clubs to hire security, put in sprinklers and clearly marked fire exits? Yes. But they are there to protect the safety and vitality of the patrons and employees. The club owners can’t just put up a sign saying that “you enter our nonexited, no security, toxin-filled, fire-sprinkler-free facility at your own risk.” Why is it different with smoking? Why are these club owners throwing such a fit about this and not max numbers? You cannot smoke in any enclosed public space. No one has a competitive advantage.

Dear Editor,
    On behalf of the Vance family, we want to thank you for Robert Faires' excellent tribute to my brother Boyd [“Touching All Those Hands,” Theatre, April 29]. My brother was a beautiful human being and I think the many comments from others attest to this fact. Thank you Austin Chronicle and thank you Austin.

Dear Editor,
    Well, well, so the armies of jackbooted puritans weren't content that 99% of Austin businesses were already nonsmoking – nope! These selfish, arrogant prohibitionists must make it 100% of businesses! Now any bar owner who happens to smoke must step outside his/her own bar to do so! Come September, smokers will be marginalized even further – no one will be allowed to cater to them unless they (temporarily) give up smoking. Well, I call this an exercise of tyranny of the majority. No compromise, no exceptions. These folks are unbothered by the implications of what they've done. These people have decided that they have the right to tell businesses and individual adults that they cannot indulge in (or cater to) perfectly legal adult vices, to freely associate and to enjoy themselves because it's unhealthy. Thanks “Dad”! Well, the only thing left to smokers to do is to bite the bullet and boycott all bars and clubs. Only by withholding your nicotine-stained dollars en masse will those who smoke and those who support the right of adults to their legal vices be heard now. Come September I will never set foot in a bar, buy a drink, pay cab fare, and all the rest – let the puritans and social fascists have them. Hasn't anyone been to the Dog and Duck? I've been there on several occasions and every time I went the inside was virtually empty with crowds all outside eating, drinking, and (gasp!) smoking. Well, that's what Austin bars and clubs (the ones that survive, anyway) will look like. So, I suggest giving these paternalistic cunts what they want – for now. And if ever they reveal themselves to you, turn your back and walk away – this is a person who does not respect you and your right to make decisions they don't like, and to indulge in a perfectly legal adult vice. So you owe them no quarter either. So much for democracy – where unpopular activities, lifestyles, etc., are protected and tolerated. It's majoritarianism and social tyranny from here out! Sieg heil to the new prohibitionistas! And screw you right back! Amsterdam is looking better all the time!

Dear Editor,
    Michael Hankin's letter in “Postmarks” [May 6] read eerily like the paternalistic crap that the religious right has been feeding the country with regard to gays and lesbians. "They are sick people who need help"? “They are trapped in a desperate compulsion"? Is this man a ghostwriter for Pat Robertson?
    The Austin anti-smoking group pushed through an ordinance banning the use of a legal substance. They sucked up to the tactics of the fundamentalists and are trying to remake all of society in their own image. Rather than trampling on the personal freedoms of citizens and the rights of business owners to determine how they will run their businesses, Hankin and others like him should focus on making tobacco illegal. Now,
   I'd sign on for that objective.
    Incidentally, I wonder if all of the cretins who applaud the "No Smoking" announcements at concerts are going to voluntarily stop smoking weed during the same concerts? "No smoking" means "No Smoking ... anything.” Oh, I expect the hypocrites to light up anyway.

Dear Ms. Wood,
    I have lived in Austin since 1979. I have had the nachos at the Armadillo and the chicken-fried steak at the Stallion. Over the years I regarded you as someone who was knowledgeable about the local restaurant scene. Recently you proved that to be wrong with your review of El Pollo Feliz ["Cheap Eats," Food, April 15]. In the first place, Guadalupe Street and Airport Boulevard do not intersect. There is no such address as 6801 Guadalupe. You were apparently thinking about the intersection of North Lamar Boulevard and Airport Boulevard. However, there has never been a restaurant at that location called the Hamburger Haven. The name of that restaurant was Airport Haven.
    I suppose everyone makes mistakes now and then, but I expected better from you.
    Here is a bit of advice – if you want a truly fine meal for a reasonable price, go to El Patio at 2938 Guadalupe and order the chicken enchiladas. Good luck to you!

   [Editor's note: The address for El Pollo Feliz is 6801 Guadalupe and Guadalupe and Airport Boulevard do intersect.]

Dear Editor,
    I wanted to write in and thank those well-meaning citizens who voted to pass the smoking ban. For me, this ban is a blessing. In the interest of health, I have been trying to eradicate alcohol consumption from my life completely. Now, thanks to the ban, my Friday night happy hour ritual will cease to exist. Because, for me, there is no point in having a cocktail if I can't enjoy a smoke. Now, if only they would vote to ban smoking on my front porch. Then I could give up coffee in the mornings. Anyway, here's to making the DWI task force obsolete ... cause we all know the light rail would never have been able to achieve that.