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,
    The closure of Barton Springs, Deep Eddy, and their brethren is akin to the War on Drugs in that it drives otherwise responsible citizens to iniquitous avenues to sate their appetites, in this case for a good, cold natural soak. Now that it’s hotter than blazes people are bound to find ways to swim, come hell or no (municipally sanctioned) water, and the kiddie pool ain’t gonna cut it. When swimming is criminalized, only criminals will be able to swim, at least among the general population. Meanwhile, the wealthy remain, as ever, aloof and exempt, free to ply their personal watercraft on Lake Travis or fiddle in their private natatoria while the rest of us wither and burn. If people were allowed to pursue swimming in a legal, masked, well-controlled environment – as the springs were for just shy of three glorious weeks in June – rather than huddled under bridges and in back-alley storm drains or cramped, fetid “Hill Country hot tubs,” we would all be safer, healthier, and happier, and the local economy would benefit. Just say yes! Regulate it, but don’t shut it down. Make Swimming Safe Again!

Dear Editor,
    In the opinion piece published July 3rd under the headline, “Another Unfair Burden Put on Texas’ Public Schools,” the author writes:
    "COVID delivered us another knockout blow. Texas Education Agency decided not to fund the last 12 weeks of the school year, despite the fact that schools immediately shifted to teaching online."
    This claim is simply not accurate. When school buildings across the state were forced to close two-thirds of the way through the 2019-20 school year, districts were faced with the possibility of a massive reduction in attendance-driven state funding. Under the usual structure, without Texas’s 5.5 million public school students in the classroom, districts would have had no means to “earn” state dollars for the remaining months of the school year. 
    Instead, districts were fully funded for the entire school year through the combination of CARES Act funding – with districts receiving 100% of their entitlement – and a bold commitment by state leaders to hold schools largely harmless for the drop-off in attendance.
    School funding has been fully preserved here in Texas, which has not been the case in some other states across the country.
    Districts are receiving their CARES Act funding through a formula grant process identical to the process used for all major federal programs. State leaders have further shown their commitment to schools by allocating Coronavirus Relief Funds, another funding stream of the CARES Act, to reimburse districts for 75% of the coronavirus expenses they incurred while schools were closed.
    Finally, a small amount of supplemental funding will flow to districts – above and beyond other funding – to ensure they can meet federal equitable service requirements during this especially challenging time.

Dear Editor,
    Your article, “Right Now, COVID-19 Is 'Spreading Quickly in an Uncontrolled Fashion'” [News, July 3] starts with a falsehood in the first line. Austin never brought our "transmission down to nearly zero" and this misunderstanding is part of why many people are so confused by the steep rise in cases. As the graphic of hospital admissions above the sentence clearly shows, we had steady community spread throughout the lockdown. The line of admissions remained steady around 10 per day. Our "lockdown" left many Austinites (and other Americans) working and socializing and only functioned to suppress community spread rather than eliminate it. We did not build up an adequate testing or tracing infrastructure during these months nor was there clear public health messaging around the necessity to wear masks, physical distance, and wash hands. This catastrophe is only starting and only our collective behavior can slow or stop it. Please help Austinites understand this and change their behavior rather than perpetuating the belief that our early mitigation efforts were ineffective rather than incomplete.

Dear Mr. Bingamon,
    I hope you are well. Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough article in The Austin Chronicle on Mr. Billy Joe Wardlow. It is rare that large media organizations take such an effort to give a full picture of someone who is considered to be unsympathetic by so many people. I was especially touched by the closing line in your article: "So you know, it's not just that he's not one of the worst of the worst. He is, as a human being, one of the best of the best. He is that." It is such a touching quotation. However, I could not help but think that this conclusion is in direct contradiction with the headline of the article: “A Dangerous Man.” [News, June 26]
    Mr. Wardlow was sentenced to death due to a pseudo-scientific “future dangerousness” assessment, which cast him as a cold-blooded monster when he was no more than 18 years old. From your article, I can tell that you disagree with such a condemnation. He is, in fact, not at all “a dangerous man.” While I understand that this article headline might have been added to highlight the irony of such a label, these three words, "A Dangerous Man," are one of the first things that a casual reader and citizen encounters when searching Mr. Wardow on the internet. It is the second hit on Google. Your article is quite long, and even though I hope that every reader reads it to the end, the headline is probably as far as most readers get. In other words, your article actually deepens the perception that Mr. Wardlow is a dangerous man who is worthy of execution. That is not only perilous for Mr. Wardlow but also untrue.
    I’m sure that this article was edited many times by other reporters and editors in your office. Perhaps you also agree that this headline must be altered and have your hands tied. But if it is at all possible, I urge you to please change the headline to more accurately reflect the content of your article and the true character of Mr. Billy Joe Wardlow. It is his life that is on the line.

Dear Editor,
    I realize this article is 10 years old ["Killing the Messenger," News, June 23, 2000] and probably does not get many hits these days. But the part about me complaining about Kathy Fair's (Walt's) accusations on Nightline that I tipped off the Davidians - The 10th Court of Appeals ruled her accusations were false, The congressional report on the "ATF Investigation of Vernon Wayne Howell …" states that I did not alert the Davidians and the ATF Director Stephen Higgins has sent me a letter thanking me for my bravery that day. At the request of ATF agents, I ran through gunfire to get to my news unit and call for ambulances and assistance.
    This may all seem petty to you, but the story still reads as if I may have had something to do with "tipping off" the Davidians. And that really was the end of my television career. Despite winning four AP awards, a Katy Award, and being nominated for an Emmy I never received another job interview request from a television station after her comments.
    Actually, that turned out to be a bit of a blessing though. A few years later an invention called the internet made it tough to earn a living as a journalist. By then I was living in the Middle East doing public affairs for an oil company. :o)
    Anyway, I just wanted to clarify the article.

Dear Editor,
    At a time with so much strife, suffering, and discord, we need healing.
    At a time when pandemics are becoming more common, we need someone who truly understands evidence-based research, population health, and epidemiology.
    At a time when babies are being ripped away from their mother's arms and children are dying in cages, we need humanity shaping policy at our borders.
    At a time when global temperatures are warming and sea levels are rising, we need someone who believes in science.
    At a time of mass violence within our churches and schools, we need someone who will study the root causes of such violence.
    At a time when our schools are struggling and our teachers aren't paid living wages, we need someone who knows the value of education, not just for the few or the elite, but for everyone.
    Dr. Pritesh Gandhi is a person who embodies the antidote to many of our ailments. He's running for the House of Representatives in TX-10. He has dedicated his studies, career and advocacy efforts to curbing gun violence, founding Doctors Against Gun Violence during his training.
    Dr. Gandhi led a group of health care workers to protest the inhumane policy on the border. He runs an indigent health care clinic in East Austin. He knows all too well that the social determinants of health need to be addressed, and he will fight for these issues at the federal level.
    He has studied the deleterious health effects of poor air and water quality and will continue to advocate for policies to heal our planet.
    He is the father of three young children and is married to a public school teacher; together, they know the importance of quality education for all children.
    Yes, we sure could use a doctor in the House of Representatives.