Letters To The Editor

Holstein and Owen have been bragging about how much money they have saved the taxpayers by the lawsuit against ETMC. None of what they accused the hospital of was true and that was proven.

And Owen claims he brought "accountability to the citizens of the county from our hospital tenant." The hospital was doing just fine until Owen got his little vendetta going against it and the cost to the taxpayers, other than his $100,000 a year salary, was $113,882.57 in outside attorney fees alone (per Open Records Act information). All this to find out that Holstein and Owen were wrong and the hospital was right.

Must be awful nice to just waste taxpayers' money to satisfy his inability to cope with somebody being right and him being wrong.

Okay, folks, this is all of our tax dollars that they have wasted plus all the trouble it caused to the hospital.

Edith Rounsavall

Athen, Tx

VOTE `FOR' Proposition 14

House Joint Resolution 36, which passed the Texas House unanimously, will appear on the ballot on November 6, 2007, as Proposition 14.

This proposition allows judges to complete at least four years of the term to which they were elected after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 years. Allowing a judge to complete the term of office to which the judge was elected fulfills the intent of the voters.

Proposition 14 would not create any additional expense for the State and would bring an end to the delay, expense and inefficiencies in the administration of justice created by the vacancy in a court when a judge reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75 and is required to immediately retire.

We respectfully request that you support Proposition 14 at the polls on November 6, 2007, or at early voting beginning October 22, 2007.

Judge John Coselli 125th District Court President, Texas Association of District Judges (2007-2008) Judge Julie Kocurek 390th District Court President, Texas Association of District Judges (2006-2007)

Dear Editor:

The American Cancer Society supports the cancer research proposal on the ballot now in Texas, Proposition 15. We encourage voters to vote for Prop. 15.

As the foremost private not-for-profit funder of cancer research, we know the importance of an additional $300 million a year dedicated to cancer prevention and research in Texas. Nobel Prizes were awarded this month and American Cancer Society researchers won two for scientific breakthroughs, which brings to 42 the number of Nobel Prize winning scientists that have been funded by the Society. We've funded research leading to the first chemotherapy, mammography technology, bone marrow transplantation, the PSA prostate cancer test, a host of lifesaving drugs, and discoveries related to genetics and molecular biology.

Despite these advances and those of the federal government's National Cancer Institute, it's not enough. About one-third of the 95,000 Texans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year will not survive. One in two men and one in three women in Texas will develop cancer during their lifetime. No dollar value can be placed on the lives lost and the families disrupted by cancer. New research could provide new discoveries that lead to thousands of lives saved from the ravages of cancer.

A vote for Prop. 15 could do more for the battle against cancer than any vote ever cast in Texas.

Sincerely, Mark Clanton, MD, MPH, Chief Staff Medical Officer American Cancer Society, High Plains Division P.O. Box 149054, Austin, Texas 78714. 1-800-486-2345

To the Editor:

When I read the letter to the editor two weeks ago about the city sewer that flooded the home of Mr. Coy Ellis, I could not believe that the mayor of Chandler wrote this letter. It sounds more like Ann Hall, who wants to be mayor.

The letter said if you want the facts ask a City Council member. Well, one thing for sure, the facts were not in this letter the Mayor signed. Nothing could be farther from the truth that the matter is over with, and the City is not liable. Besides, how would the Council know anything about the home that was flooded with sewer as not one elected council member has even gone to see the house. Now that is a fact, `Mam, and not a half truth. And one more fact, the City has now maybe corrected the problem by extending the sewer line all the way to the sewer plant after the fact. And the damage was done.

As for as asking a City Council member a question, you can forget that, as they are very secretive about what really goes on at City Hall, so much so that the Tyler paper does not waste their time trying to cover the news at the council meetings.

Here is a good question for Ann Hall and the other council members: Why could the economical development money have been used to extend the sewer line and replace the old line from where the recent line stopped, that caused the problem in the first place?

Howard Taliaferro Chandler, Texas 903-849-3388

Editor:

District Attorney Donna Bennett's opponent continues to run ads that he will be a "warrior" and "put our kids #1." Yet, the scum he defends makes me believe otherwise. Scott McKee recently defended a man that had sexual intercourse with his nine-year-old step-daughter. I would think you either want to be a prosecutor and put bad guys away or you want to defend them. Obviously, by the amount of billboards and ads he is running, he is making a good living defending them. I have two young daughters and have been a Henderson County resident my entire life. I am worried that someone from out of state who finished law school three years ago and defends child rapists wants to be our district attorney.

Meanwhile, Ms. Bennett is prosecuting four capital murder trials. I will keep her in my prayers and wish her the best for my daughters' sake.

Amanda Wilson, Athens