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| 6/4/2008 10:01:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Bush misled America into Iraq war
Dear editor,
The Round Rock Leader is surveying the readers on whether we think President Bush misled America on going to war?
I say he did.
Jesus Franco
Round Rock
Defending Diana
Dear editor,
Regarding Holly Hansen's May 27 letter to the editor: I know former RRISD board member Diana Maldonado and I consider her to be a friend.
I recently met Bryan Daniel at the Austin Community College victory party at El Matador and he was also very nice and I hope to be able to call him a friend also.
Since many readers are new to the community over the past six to eight years, I would like to clarify two items for your readers and Ms. Hansen.
First, billions of taxpayer dollars were not spent by RRISD on football stadiums.
Second, Diana had nothing to do with the athletic complex project.
Two bond packages totaling approximately $468 million dollars have been voter-approved in RRISD over the past eight years.
The athletic complex was part of the February 2000 bond package.
The complex is revenue positive. It brings in enough funds to retire its own debt and contributes over a half a million dollars to the budget each year for the use of all kids of RRISD. This is unheard of.
Voters approved the athletic complex bond three years before Diana took office. Stadium construction started in October 2002.
Maldonado became a board member in May 2003.
The first event held there was Sept 5, 2003 when McNeil High School played Westwood High School in a football game. All decisions were made on this project, pre-Diana.
Each year many volunteers give thousands of hours on committees to help the community with no personal gain in mind.
Having served on and chaired three of the last four RRISD bond efforts, I respectfully request that Ms. Hansen verify her points before she attempts to use fantasy as fact for her political needs.
Touting inaccurate information as fact is harmful and is a disservice to both political parties, both candidates, and the community as a whole.
If Ms. Hansen has a solution to the issue of more people with children moving into the RRISD area, which creates even greater demand for more infrastructures, I would love to read about it in this paper as she responds to my facts and viewpoint.
Rodney Howard
Round Rock
She'll cross party lines for Maldonado
Dear editor,
I was amazed by the recent letter to the editor (May 27) concerning Diana Maldonado (Democratic candidate for District 52 State Representative).
She is mentioned as a free-spending liberal.
I guess she is considered a free-spending liberal when she is a strong advocate for children and felt the addition of additional schools would eliminate the overcrowding in classrooms and schools.
I guess you could very easily include Raymond Hartfield with that same statement. In my opinion both are leaving the board and both were outstanding.
If Diana Maldonado approaches the Texas House like she does the board position, we all will be better served.
She doesn't have an "R" after her name, but instead has a "D." I know that I will cross over my party line and make the decision for the person who has demonstrated commitment.
I hate to pay taxes, but if our schools were overcrowded we would suffer.
Instead of Round Rock schools being noted as one of the best, it would be deemed very negatively.
The people selling their homes now would only see them depreciate more. Even if you don't have children attending schools, the impact is great.
A school district and its community are either thriving and progressing or depressed and regressing. I prefer to be in a community that cherishes our children and continue to grow.
Thank you Miss Maldonado and I hope others will look not at your party affiliation, but your character.
Sean Young
Round Rock
County Commissioners plan for growth
Dear editor,
I found Mr. Windham's column "County's highway plan will be ruinous" to be a perfect example of what's wrong with politics today.
All it contained was blatant, partisan rhetoric, intended to scare folks instead of furthering a dialog about the issue.
One of the problems we face in Central Texas is that we don't plan enough for growth.
How many times have we built roads in our region that require the taking of homes and businesses because we failed to educate the public about what is being built in their own backyard?
All that does is increase the cost of infrastructure projects, lengthen the time of completion, degrade quality of life and create distrust.
I applaud Williamson County and specifically Commissioners Cynthia Long and Valerie Covey on their transportation planning efforts regarding state Highway 29.
This is the forward thinking, visionary leadership we need in Central Texas.
For the sake of everyone's quality of life, we must do a better job planning further out (30-50 years).
We need to do a better job educating people 30, 40, 50 years before building large, regional arterial roads so homes and businesses are not built there in the first place.
This is not the end of the public process for the Highway 29 Corridor Study.
Maybe new capacity lanes will be added to the highway; maybe they won't.
Citizens need to become educated, ask questions, offer their comments and voice their concerns.
However, the Williamson County Democratic Party should recruit candidates that further the quality of life of Williamson County and add to the dialogue.
They seem to have missed the boat with Mr. Windham.
Beth Ann Sprengel
Austin, Williamson County
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