Hewitt tax increase

As a taxpaying Hewitt resident, I am shocked, appalled, agape and agog that the city council would have the audacity to consider raising taxes at this time. It was bad enough when the previous council went behind our backs and purchased a piece of junkyard property for $900,000 after a bond election was beaten down. Hewitt home owners cannot continue to bear the tax burden for increased city services. If the facilities are built on this property, we would be better served by the Waco fire station at Imperial Drive and Texas Central Parkway. At least they have four-lane access to most of Hewitt, while fire trucks coming from the new proposed emergency services location would be restricted to two-lane roads.

Hewitt is land-locked and will have few, if any, new commercial entities moving into the city to add to the tax base. How many repossessed homes does Hewitt have and how is that affecting our tax base?

Our city leaders are going to have to watch every penny that is being spent, and cut any, and all, excessive spending. They cannot continue to burden taxpayers for previous mistakes.

Mack L. Bennett, Hewitt

Brazos River study

How much money did officials waste recently to conduct a study to see whether a certain type of mussels live in the Brazos River and would be affected by new frontage road bridge construction at Interstate 35?

In the Aug. 10 Trib story [“Mussels won’t hinder I-35 project,”] biologists said because of soft silt in the low-water dam, it would be difficult for mussels to live there. They didn’t already know that? If mussels are so important, drain the lake so mussels can live there. The Brazos River is several hundred miles long. Disrupting a few hundred yards to build bridges won’t hurt the mussels. If that is the only place they are, then they are doomed anyway.

Nevertheless, I don’t think the new bridges are needed. We don’t need to spend that money right now. Widen Interstate 35, maybe, but don’t add the service road bridges.

Mary Johnson, Mart

Coaches as drivers?

Robinson Independent School District should reconsider its decision to require coaches to drive team buses to and from games. Driver fatigue is one of the biggest causes of accidents.

Requiring a coach who has probably been up since before dawn to drive the team home is ludicrous. This is an accident waiting to happen, and I don’t think the school district should jeopardize the lives of our children to save a few bucks. 

Lola Hopper, Waco

Kind gift appreciated

My husband and I were in Waco on Aug. 8 for an appointment and had lunch at Souper Salad. When he went to the buffet for a second plate, the cashier handed him a gift card. Someone had purchased it and asked the cashier to deliver it to him. We were very surprised by this sincere act of kindness.

In Killeen people are used to seeing soldiers, but every time we come to Waco and he’s in uniform, several people will tell him “Thank you for your service.” Those words mean so much to him. And we truly wish we were able to thank the person who bought the gift card. We hope they see this letter!

Crystal Blattel, Fort Hood