Letters to the editor: May 23, 2019

May 23--If car wipers engaged,

turn on headlights too

Many states have laws that require drivers to have lights on if wipers are engaged. These are smart laws.

The recent uptick in fatal traffic accidents in Austin may be the results of population growth, cellphone use or alcohol, but one additional element could be headlights. With the recent rainy weather in Austin, too many drivers engage their wipers without turning on headlights.

Drive with your lights on and save a life.Felix Contreras, Austin

Articles damage zoo's

work caring for animals

Please stop printing negative stories about the Austin Zoo. It is a beautiful place to go to and I really appreciate that they take in rescue animals.

Negative articles hurts their business when they can use all of the financial help they can get to continue caring for animals in need. My family and I love to go there.

Natalie Germanio, Austin

Ludicrous to say fetus

is separate from woman

Re: May 20 letter to the editor, "Abortion debate more than about religion."

The letter declares a fetus not part of a woman's body because it has its own DNA, bloodstream and beating heart. However, the fetus has DNA because the woman contributed chromosomes, and its ability to have a bloodstream and beating heart in utero are dependent on the woman.

Fetuses aren't tiny aliens that find their way into a womb and develop independently of their host. No doubt most pregnant women experience their fetus as part of their body. I invite the writer, a man, to ask women around him. In making his "scientific" argument about DNA, bloodstream, and beating heart, the writer uses the word "viable."

Since almost 90 percent of abortions in the U.S. occur within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, it is ludicrous to proclaim that these non-viable fetuses are somehow separate from the pregnant woman (and thus the woman should not have control over her body).Janna Zumbrun, Austin

Alzheimer's fight needs

federal funding increase

Alzheimer's disease affects 5.8 million Americans and approximately 390,000 are here in Texas.

ITexas ranks second in the number of Alzheimer's disease deaths. In 2019, caring for individuals living with Alzheimer's or other dementias will cost $290 billion – including $195 billion in direct costs to Medicare and Medicaid. As the director of a senior living community that provides care for those with Alzheimer's disease, I see firsthand the effects on families, caregivers, and those with the disease. Alzheimer's disease is the only leading cause of death without any way to prevent, cure, or slow its progression.

Please join me in asking Congressman Roger Williams to support a $350 million increase in Alzheimer's funding at the National Institutes for Health. To learn more about this disease and how to join the fight to end Alzheimer's, please visit alzimpact.org.

Clint Strickland, Belmont Village Lakeway Executive Director, Lakeway

How can we justify

abortion exceptions?

Every time I hear that abortion restrictions are okay as long as there are exceptions for rape or incest, I'm incensed at the hypocrisy and misdirection.

On one hand, if you happen to believe that aborting an embryo or fetus is murdering a human being, then how can you justify any exceptions based on how conception occurred? But more importantly from my perspective, those "exceptions" are merely a way to try to make government control over a woman's body somehow seem acceptable.

I think pro-choice advocates should be careful not to allow discussion of "exceptions" to distract from the real issue: Either a woman has complete control over what happens inside her own body or she doesn't. No exceptions.Pat Grigadean, Austin

It's not hyperbole to ask

for honesty from Trump

Re: May 18 letter to the editor, "No, Republicans aren't in lock-step with Trump."

The letter to the editor of May 18 was a prime example of Republican denial about their leader's habits of serial lying and praise of Russia.To dismiss folks as hyperbolic when they call out their leader's serial lying and defense of all things Russian is Anti-American.

Americans treasure honesty as the most desired trait in a candidate for office. The present occupant of the White House does not possess a track record of honesty. His lies are easily tabulated. Just enter "Trump Lies" in your search engine. It is not hyperbole to demand honesty in the president of the United States. It is not hyperbole to demand that America's president is not a cheerleader for our biggest adversary. Decent folks will continue to hammer away at the liar-in-chief. True Americans will never let Trump's serial lying and defense of our prime adversary to be dismissed. Ron Torrey, Austin

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