Homeless people are human, too. They deserve better. | Letters

Re: March 6 commentary: 'What good did that do?' Homeless people scramble after sudden camp demolition | Grumet'

With regard to the raid of the homeless camp at Brandt Road, whose idea was it to raid the camp and not afford those residents a chance to change their own life? Had to be someone who had no regard for humans or homeless persons, who are humans, regardless of what you might think of them.

Did someone believe that homelessness is a choice, or a decision to not make a choice? When we start to think that these people are vermin who need to be eradicated, we are no longer human.

Tomas Garza, Manchaca

As fentanyl devastates more families,

Forever 15 Project spreads awareness

Project aims to Every week we see media coverage of the evolving fentanyl crisis as it devastates families across Texas – including mine. I started the Forever 15 Project to spread awareness after losing my son in 2021 to fentanyl poisoning, and I’m driven every day by my goal: to provide information and resources to the Central Texas community to prevent families from going through similar heartbreak.

The speed, duration and high potency of fentanyl is terrifying, and it makes up 96% of all opioid deaths in Texas. I’m excited to partner with cities as we adapt to provide accessible solutions, like working toward the installation of boxes in public parks with opioid reversal agents. Innovation in the biopharmaceutical space to treat opioid overdose, particularly synthetic opioids, is welcome news, and I encourage our elected leaders to make all FDA-approved treatments available. We need all the tools we can get to save lives.

Janel Rodriguez, founder of The Forever 15 Project

Until St. Edward's acknowledges its

errors, there won't be improvement

Re: Feb. 29 article, 'We are here': St. Edward's University students call for pride flag to be reinstated'

After the reporting about the removal of the pride flag from the coffeehouse at St Edward's University, the president and the board sent out self-congratulatory messages about how wonderful the administration’s policies are. That response is completely false and exhibits blind arrogance from the administration. Until the errors are acknowledged and sincere apologies are extended to the injured parties, conditions will not improve.

No matter how often the school uses its marketing and public relations power to misrepresent its actions, its behavior continues to show an intention to conceal its failures. As a neighbor, as an alumnus, and as a member of the community that pays to support this school’s infrastructure, I am severely disappointed when the school fails to meet expectations. When errors are made in staffing and in specific actions, no improvement can be expected until the errors are acknowledged and corrected.  Covering up the errors does not lead to improvement. A change in direction is needed.

Jon David Swann, Austin

There should be no doubt when

sentencing one to the death penalty

A call for Once again, in the case of Ivan Cantu last week, Texas may have executed an innocent man. Just as in the case of Rodney Reed condemned to death in Bastrop County, there are doubts of guilt.

This is why it makes so much sense to change the legal requirements for the death penalty: if guilt in a capital case cannot be proven beyond the 'shadow of a doubt' instead of 'reasonable doubt,' punishment should be life-without-parole. Sure, 'shadow' is subjective; so is 'reasonable.'

Eugene Czora, Cedar Creek 

Schools face grim forecast as Abbott

spends taxpayer money on his projects

Re: March 5 article, 'School districts face grim budget season"

Why is Greg Abbott bankrupting our public schools? As stated in the March 5 Statesman article “School Districts Face Grim Budget Season,” our public schools will face budget deficits. Money seems to be no problem for Abbott’s pet projects - Operation Lone Star and school vouchers, yet when it comes to educating our children and providing fair wages for our teachers, there is never any money.

Instead of playing “tough guy,” Abbott needs to reconsider his priorities and stop spending taxpayer dollars on projects that are not solving any problems.

Peggy Aschenbeck, Austin 

A harsh ripple effect leads to a hike

in local taxes, all according to plan

This is playing out just exactly as Greg Abbott planned. Make local school districts pick up the funding because the state failed again to enact legislation for proper funding. This in turn causes local taxes to be raised, which creates a backlash toward public education. All according to Abbott's plan to make public education suffer because he didn't get his way with taxpayer dollars for private education.

Over 70% of the voters don't want his proposal – this shows how out of step (Abbott) is with public opinion on this topic. Any Texas public schoolteacher who voted for him needs to get out of the profession. You're delusional and not helping anybody.

Tip Giles, Austin

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Homeless people are human, too. They deserve better. | Letters