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,
    If J. Frank Dobie were still ruminating on Philosopher’s Rock, he might take a shot, verbal or otherwise, in the direction of the Lorenz compound in Spanish Oaks looming to the west of his ranch. If he did, I don’t think he’d miss [“Range War at the Dobie Ranch,” News, June 21].
    I was a Dobie Paisano fellow in 2007-08. When I arrived in September, bulldozers broke ground on that adjacent property and roared louder than the lions in the nearby Austin Zoo. At the end of my residency in February, nail guns punctured the silence. And when the program celebrated its 40th anniversary, arriving fellows were shocked at the monstrosity jutting above the cedars.
    Dobie Paisano Ranch is the rarest of sanctuaries for writers, providing four to six months of uninterrupted time in solitude and silence. All that’s been changed by trespass. I don’t use the word lightly. In Texas, people have been shot for less.
    During my residency, I was walking my dogs and came across a trail of blood near the house. Five minutes later, a hunter with a high-powered rifle came out of the woods, trying to finish what he’d started with a bad shot. More recently, I’ve heard that a drunk crashed through the gate in an SUV and ended up in the part of Barton Creek that flows through the ranch. One could say that shit happens. But the real insult is that UT is so reluctant to protect the treasure it received from the Dobie family. If it weren’t for the real stewardship of Michael Adams and the alumni of the program in fundraising for badly-needed repairs, the place would have been condemned long ago.
    Although I’m shocked and saddened by the latest flagrant trespass, I’m grateful for your in-depth article. The first shot has rung out. Hopefully, the aim is true.

Dear Editor,
    Just a few of the many egregious hypocrisies of the Texas GOP/Tea Party: 1) Life is sacred, but it is right for the state to execute hundreds of men and women, some of whom are innocent. 2) Government should be limited, except when it comes to regulating the private moral and sexual lives of citizens. 3) Abortion is evil, but homeless, hungry children are simply unavoidable; millions of uninsured are acceptable, but people dying from poverty or inadequate access to health care is just their own fault. 4) Profiling and wrongful conviction due to racial prejudice is "justice." 5) We are Christian but idolize war, guns, and the NRA, even though Jesus taught peace and nonviolence. 6) We love our grandchildren, but it is our prerogative to plunder and destroy the Earth.
    Those of us who are politicized have seen it all before. To some it is only sound bites. But today, the actions of right-wing extremist legislators in the special session gave me a scary, queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Texans who value their civil liberties and their civil rights better start voting and participating in the political process before the hard side of the self-righteous Right falls down on us all.

Dear Editor,
    I am writing this letter to shed some light on the parking at South Congress. I can sum up what I think about it in two simple words: It stinks. For some reason, the parking spots are slanted the opposite direction that cars travel. Parking makes it painful to visit South Congress because of the complete inconvenience. It is unbelievable to me that someone thought the parking was practical. I am sorry how much I am complaining, but this needs to be changed. With so much traffic on South Congress, parking needs to be quick, convenient, and easy. I hope this letter can bring attention to this critical issue.

Dear Editor,
    The war on women in this state is overwhelming due to the audacity of the "bored" state legislators ["''Let Her Speak!','" Newsdesk blog, June 21]. When are we going to wake up and vote these fanatical legislators out of public office? They claim to be advocates of less government intrusion, and yet won't allow the majority of the population to participate in its own democracy. They use the government to advance their own narrow-minded agendas rather than what the majority of the public prefers and needs. What happened to majority rules?
    This war on the right to choose is wasting legislators' valuable time, which we pay for, while there is other, very valid legislation left languishing in committees. For instance, the legislation to save money on the replacement of the state immunization registry. This would also save the end-users (the physicians and their staff) time and money. What happened to HB 772?
    It's a very sad state of affairs in Texas when intelligent, thoughtful people allow themselves to be ruled by a minority of morons who strive to thrust their own beliefs on everyone else – all within what is supposed to be a free society!