Letters – Hot Cars, Hot Days, Ambassador Hotel Fire, Slavery Issue, Eric Heiden

Are we really more enlightened?Re: "Experts warn of the risks hot cars pose for children — When inside one, children can get heatstroke in matter of minutes, doctor says," Wednesday Metro & Business story.How disturbing to realize that our society needs a reminder to protect our children from dying in a hot car! The article suggests that the parents leave their phone or purse in the back seat in order to remember their children. Does this mean that these items are more important? We are supposedly more enlightened and morally superior than our ancestors who owned slaves and yet we are allowed to have abortions for our own convenience and are too preoccupied to care for our children. Instead of looking back to judge others' actions of a century ago, we might spend our time looking in the mirror.Valerie A. New, McKinneyAutomakers could prevent thisTragically, another child has died in an overheated car. With all the marvels the auto industry has put into modern cars, it doesn't seem like such a stretch to include a passive system that would keep them from becoming ovens in a parking lot. I see no reason why the inside of a car should ever get hotter than the outside. This would save lives and also allow everyone to be able to get into a parked car in the summer without first waiting by an open door to let the heat out. Surely, carmakers are up to this task.Paul Pedigo, Dallas/Lake HighlandsEducate us on climate changeRe: "Spike in hot days on horizon? Scorching heat waves projected to grow in Dallas, study says," Tuesday news story.Thank you for featuring this story on the front page. Despite the global trends that we are experiencing right now, including increased flooding, warmer waters, ice cap melting, extreme temperatures and increased wildfires, I do not believe that local media outlets are effectively educating the public about the relationship between these extraordinary events and global warming.The topic has been so politicized that what should be a human issue has become a partisan one, obscuring the fact that we are experiencing climate change right now. Please keep covering this news as it relates to North Texas and our children's futures. Also please provide more information about what ordinary citizens can do and how our city is planning to address this looming issue.Susan Knape, Highland ParkWhat caused Ambassador Hotel fire?By now, Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Dominique Artis should know what caused the fire that took down the Ambassador Hotel. Everyone knows that the fire cost the city of Dallas many, many thousands of dollars in fire and police work. What really caused the fire? Taxpayers need to know.Vernon Freeman, IrvingDrop ties to slavery issueIt's time to drop the "personal ties to slavery" issue. None of the candidates, any more than the rest of us, owned slaves. We are not responsible for what our great, great, great grandparents did regarding slaves or anything else. Beto O'Rourke's family lived in the south. Mine lived in the north. That made a difference in slave ownership, which had nothing to do with either of us.It would be so refreshing if we could stick to real issues and facts, rather than making up mud to sling. At this point, a fair and informed election is looking more and more remote, and that's sad.Carol Stephenson, MesquiteIt's just hairRe: "'One door closed, another one opened' — Rejected for hair, teen attracts modeling agency," July 15 Metro & State story.Will we never get beyond hair? Kerion Washington was rejected for a job because of his hair and was told that he could cut his hair and come back. So it would seem that his hairstyle or length was the only offending issue. From the photo in the paper, one can see that his hair is styled in a manner commonly seen on people of color these days. I can't see a problem with it. It is groomed.This puts me in mind of something which happened in a local high school in the mid '70s. A student was sent home from school because his hair touched his collar. This was the period of time when Eric Heiden, the speed ice skater, won an unprecedented five individual gold medals and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Olympic games. If you remember, he had long hair that came quite a bit over his collar. He also made news because of his admirable work ethic, getting up extremely early in the morning to work out on the ice.My husband and I commented to each other at the time that Heiden couldn't go to that high school. To me that just shows how silly the issue of hair is.Katherine Creech, Garland  Continue reading...