School solar panels

I’m delighted to see so much energy generated by the Trib’s Sept. 3 article on Rapoport Academy’s solar installation. As an underfunded public school, we look for every opportunity to put more dollars into the classroom, and this grant program allows us to do that while exposing students to cutting-edge scientific advances.

We are responsible for educating our students in all ways, including conservation, economics, green energy and engineering. We will provide the opportunity for our students to learn everything possible about renewable energy technology, impacts on our environment and the engineering required to produce energy. Our students also will be inspired to use innovation for future green energy sources and one day will become the leaders in this field.

Just watch, because it will happen. And that’s because we provide opportunities for creative learning!

Nancy Grayson, founder and superintendent of Rapoport Academy Public School

A&M, Big 12 dust-up

On Sept. 7, Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin complained that his school was “being held hostage,” saying “we’re being told that you must stay here against your will, and we think that really flies in the face of what makes us Americans, for example, and makes us free people.”

It’s understandable that Loftin is upset that a kink has been thrown in the Aggies’ plan to fly the Big 12 coop for the greener (pun intended) pastures of the SEC. It is stunning, however, that he would seek to play the “American card” in voicing his displeasure over developments that he and his advisers failed to divine.

Need Loftin be reminded of another bedrock principle of our beloved country — that freedom is not free? Or, in the midst of feeling bound, might he care to ponder anew the well-worn, though no less true, adage, “Your word is your bond.” If nothing else, A&M now has the opportunity to contemplate whether there are millions of reasons to honor its commitment to the Big 12.

Todd D. Still, Waco

Outdated unions

Max Tooker’s Sept. 12 guest column, “Outdated labor unions serve no purpose in today’s economy,” hit the nail on the head. My grandfather was a milkman for Sealtest Milk in Detroit for nearly 40 years. He was a founding member of the Dairymen’s Union in Michigan. His Dairymen’s credit union account number was a single digit. Family stories abound with allegations of the beatings he withstood from corporate thugs. Yet the day before his pension was to become vested in the early ’70s, Sealtest declared bankruptcy.

Following this loss, he never again belonged to a union, believing fervently the demands of the Dairymen’s Union caused the demise of Sealtest. None of his children or grandchild have ever participated in a union, either. His cautionary tale was enough for us.

Pete Micus, McGregor

Careful with lit butts

Motorists: Don’t throw cigarettes out of windows. We are having one of the worst droughts in our history, and fires are popping up everywhere. Keep your butts in the car. We don’t need more homes and land burned up by your carelessness.

Michael Lockman, Woodway