Grateful for hospital news
Re: “New $5B hospital coming — 4.5 million-square-foot campus to take 6-7 years to complete,” Wednesday news story.
OK, I admit it. I’ve become a real downer. I didn’t mean to, but every morning, I invariably shake my head in disbelief as I peruse my newspaper over coffee. I’m a person of faith so my hope doesn’t lie in the frailty of man. But far too often these days, the blatant, self-serving misdeeds of our leaders and fellow citizens so dominate the headlines, it has become normal for me to break the morning silence of my own kitchen with a loud “What in the world is going on?”
That is, until Wednesday. The headline announcing the new $5 billion children’s hospital coming to Dallas to address the huge demand for pediatric care is a cause for pure celebration. It’s easy to already be in awe of the work of Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Whether you are a person of faith or totally secular in perspective, this is selfless ministry at work every hour of every day.
The gigantic campus is being planned with such care and vision for future generations of children, we should applaud the decision-makers, planners, medical professionals and thousands of others who love our most vulnerable enough to make this happen. I’m grateful for this story and all it represents. My coffee even tasted better today.
Mark Lovvorn, Dallas/Lakewood
Casino would be cancer
Re: “What’s in the cards for Mavs? On the table are dreams of a new arena, casino, destination resort — and big decisions for Dallas,” by Mark Lamster, Sunday Arts & Life column.
Lamster’s column was the first rebuttal I’ve read in The Dallas Morning News to the narrative of inevitability that has been pushed on Dallas and Texas regarding legalized casino gambling. There is undoubtedly a lot of money to be made in gambling by a lot of already rich people, and if it were allowed to happen that money will be made on the backs of the already poor and disenfranchised.
Sex trafficking will increase, organized crime will increase, drug trafficking will increase, addictions will increase, spousal and child abuse will increase. You know what won’t increase? The economic fortunes of the average player.
Dallas, and Texas writ large, have many avenues for economic growth. This one comes with societal cancer attached to it. Don’t let the dulcet tones of one of Dallas’ most successful billionaires paper over the ills that casino gambling will bring in its wake.
Texans hold the power here — if the lobbyists paid for by the real estate and sports barons manage to get legalized gambling on the ballot one day (as will be required since gambling is illegal under our state constitution), think hard and vote no.
Beverly Lowry, Dallas/Old Preston Hollow
Government can’t thwart gambling
First off, I’m not a gambler. I work too hard for my money. I know plenty of folks who are and they enjoy it and have a great time. I really don’t care about casinos and such. Might play a football pot from time to time. It’s fun to play a poker game, drink a beer and smoke a stogie with the guys every so often.
That said, it’s troubling that more and more the majority of people think the government should protect the citizens from themselves. That is not the government’s job. Gambling can generate a lot of money. It is for other states. If it can offset taxes, then I am for it.
Some of the letters and opposition state that some, or a few, cannot handle it. They cannot say no. But prohibition doesn’t work. Much like a beer or a cigarette or even a super-sized Coke, when is an adult an adult? This is a grown-up world.
Rich Rigsby, Wylie
Arlington mayor gaslights on Cup
Re: “Moving on from selection — With no clear answers, committee turns its focus to matches, fans,” Tuesday SportsDay story.
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross’ gaslighting statement that a ride-share program is “just fine” and is “public transportation” enters the world of “alternative facts”; i.e., false. Arlington, a glorified suburb with hostility to mass transit, has consistently voted against mass transit while showering billionaires like Jerry Jones with subsidies through sales tax revenue to increase his wealth.
Meanwhile, the average fan is left sitting in traffic jams burning gas on the way to Arlington’s entertainment district.
Take note, Mr. Mayor: The World Cup winner, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, has adjacent train service for fans, and the Rangers’ foe in the World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks, has a light right rail system that leaves fans within a block of Chase Field in Phoenix.
Bernie Diemer, Saginaw
Trump not immune from prosecution
Re: “Court rejects Trump’s immunity claim,” Wednesday news story.
A rather interesting statement from the federal appeals court, “We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.” Isn’t that obvious to all? But no, one person, Donald Trump, sees the law differently.
He believes that his previous job gives him a permanent “hall pass” from prosecution but this is real life, not a classroom environment for immature, self-centered children who believe they are immune from the consequences of their own actions.
Will the autobiography of the life and times of Trump be placed in the fiction or factual sections of libraries or will it be banned? Maybe this will be one case when book burning is OK.
Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia
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