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 appreciate KUT putting such talent and resources to use exploring the days of the Armadillo. Details I might’ve missed include references to eatin' nachos and drinkin' pitchers in the beer garden to Dan Del Santo’s folksy C&W tunes, even before his fame playing world beat at 90.5FM. For music fans – though we didn’t toot our horns nationally back then – this town was the place to live (cheaply).
    August brings two hometown “heroes” to mind: In the 1960s, my neighbor was Austin drum prodigy Tommy Taylor, who always raved about another whiz kid named Eric Johnson. I didn’t see Johnson perform until I was a student at UT years later. When the Electromagnets opened for Captain Beefheart in '74 I was there for the great homegrown talent and California weirdness. But nothing prepared me for their perfect rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s classic "Third Stone From the Sun." I remember having goose bumps for that entire song … experiencing Hendrix’s spirit. Thank you, Eric!
    That summer, I strolled into the One Knite to avoid homework and drink beer. Music was by Paul Ray & the Cobras, with some flamboyant guitarist named Stevie Ray sittin' in and soloin' too often, I thought. He was passable but didn’t compare to Johnson. A year later, at the new Antone’s club down on Sixth Street, the Cobras were playing, and that same guy had really improved! Any reference to Jimi aside, I must say: Bless you always, Stevie – for personally proving what a human can do when we set heart and mind to whatever we want.
    I wish Eric another happy birthday. We're proud that you keep adding to such a wonderful body of work. And though we lost SRV 20 years too early, his talent lives on here and everywhere. For that also, I’m very grateful.

Dear Editor,
    Contrary to what Mr. Obama would have us believe, it is possible to have a full, rich, and rewarding life without having put one foot inside of a university. Insisting that a college degree is necessary for success in the 21st century denigrates all of those who lead extraordinarily successful lives without one. Evidently, the president has never had his sewer blocked, the lights go off, or his car in need of repair. Furthermore, if you think these kind of jobs don't require skill and ingenuity, you've been dancing with the pixies for too long. Not everyone is interested in getting a Ph.D. or should have one. In fact, there are probably too many of them walking around. If more emphasis was put on teaching children how to think for themselves and reason in primary schools, all of us would be the better for it, and the president could go on and find something else to tell us to do.

Dear Editor,
    When the Supernatural Family Band moved to Austin from Denver in 1980, there were already 11 working bands here from Lubbock – all friends of ours. So our start here was fun and easy partially due to help from those bands, notably Joe Ely, who invited us to open for him in the Armadillo World Headquarters' last days.
    So in KUT's recent celebration of the Armadillo World Headquarters, I was disappointed to not have been included among the list of every band to have played there. Who knows what happened to us? The performance was videotaped.

Dear Editor,
    Re: “Officer Drives Away Visitors” [“Postmarks,” Aug. 6]: So, if I got this right, Mr. Don Cox from Hewitt came to our city and got a ticket on I-35 from a less-than-friendly cop. And Mr. Cox's response to that is to take it out on an entire city full of clubs, restaurants, theatres, and parks by swearing to never come back here again? Gee, Don, with an attitude like that, I really don't know how we're going to get along without you.

Dear Editor,
    I wanted to thank you guys for making mention and showing a work-in-progress photo of the restoration job on the state Capitol [“Naked City,” News, Aug. 6]. As a son of the man who restored the exterior of the Capitol twice, it does one good to see that the building we take for granted deserves our nonpolitical attention once again. Don't get me started on "family secrets" regarding past restorations. Most would make you laugh. I hope to hear or read if the current restorers will have their own to tell.

Dear Editor,
    The residents of East Austin need not feel disenfranchised when it comes to education dollars flowing to their neighborhood. All they need to do is park their cars and walk through the multimillion-dollar Austin Community College campus located in their Oak Springs neighborhood. At this location, students are offered ESL, GED, and all manner of adult education and scholastic degree programs. Govalle residents without cars need only get on the Austin Metro bus with a big sign on the front that says "Govalle," and they will be dropped off in front of the campus.
    Our St. John neighborhood has no such campus.

Dear Editor,
    Compared to later Democratic presidents like Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton (a Democrat in name only) or Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy was more politically conservative – he came from great personal wealth and realized this made him greatly privileged. He saw – firsthand in some cases – the threats of totalitarianism as practiced by the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. And he saw how wrongheaded his father’s isolationism was. He also learned firsthand during his presidency how futile intervention was, first with the invasion of Cuba and by sending troops to Vietnam – both policies originating with Republican Dwight Eisenhower’s administration. Had Kennedy not been murdered, it is likely he would have reversed course and pulled our “advisers” from Vietnam. He is also believed to have wanted to close the Federal Reserve and revamp the treasury – any of the above would have been enough to earn a death sentence. Yes, JFK understood that an onerous tax burden would stifle economic development. But he (and brother Bobby), coming from wealth and privilege, also knew that government had (and has) a special responsibility toward those less fortunate, and that those of wealth and power have a special responsibility to foster a government – one that allowed and encouraged them to become prosperous – that protects the rights of all citizens and promotes the general welfare, something conservatives fail to get. An unintended consequence of JFK's murder was the passage of important civil rights legislation and practices – practices that conservative ”pundits” like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Mike Savage (to name the most egregious), as well as the tea baggers, peg as the root of America’s problems.

Louis Black,
    The good that spews forth on a regular basis from Michael Ventura [“Letters at 3am”] and you vastly outweighs the No. 1 issue I have with the two of you: your collective dismissal of anything that smacks of conspiracy theory. Therefore, I take great umbrage at your capitulation to Tony Ortega’s smackdown [“Page Two,” Aug. 6], which was nothing more than a paranoid schizophrenic pot calling the kettle black.

Dear Editor,
    A new proposal would allow a private company, Waste Control Specialists, to import radioactive waste from 36 states to dispose of in Texas. The company stands to earn a massive profit while bringing Texas the liability of this radioactive waste for thousands of years. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality engineers and researchers unanimously voted to deny the company a disposal license because the site (in Andrews County) sits atop the Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from Texas to South Dakota. In fact, the site was formerly known as "Windmill Hill." The director of TCEQ issued the license anyways, causing several employees to quit in protest. Glenn Shankle, the executive director, soon left as well to become a paid lobbyist for Waste Control Specialists. Typical corruption in Austin! We must speak out against this proposal. Our water, health, and future depend on it!