Trapping mosquitoes the hard way, Bill Buckner, Scott Griggs, tariffs, USS McCain flap

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Letters to the Editor

A summer in the sewers

Re: "Taking the sting out of summer," May 26 news story.

This front-page article about mosquito control certainly grabbed my attention. I was especially intrigued by the picture of the high-tech trap that can catch 200-300 mosquitoes in one night. Things sure have changed in nearly a half-century. 

As a 19-year-old college student employed by the Dallas Health Department 45 years ago, I also trapped, identified, counted and tested mosquitoes that transmitted disease, but with one noticeable caveat. In those days, I was the "human trap." My job was to awkwardly waddle deep into the pitch-black storm sewers across Dallas, with flashlight in one hand, mosquito suction in the other, and capture single mosquitoes from the damp, concrete walls for subsequent testing. 

As the spiders and snakes I encountered would attest, today's traps are much more efficient. But after all, at a whopping $2.10 an hour, who wouldn't have ventured into the sewers?

Mark Lovvorn, Dallas/Lakewood

Classy Bill Buckner

Re: "All-Star, batting champ remembered for error," Tuesday SportsDay story.

Bill Buckner was beloved and led by example. He was a class act on and off the field. Without him, the 1986 Boston Red Sox wouldn't have been in the World Series. He carried the burden of their loss on his shoulders alone for decades, even though his teammates and true fans knew differently. He gave baseball his all. Bill Buckner, rest in peace.

Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach, Fla.

I support Griggs for mayor

I have been intimately involved in Dallas city governance for the last 40 years, managing or consulting on more than 30 local races with a 90 percent success rate and serving on various city boards and commissions.

Running the city is complex. It is my strong belief that you need to choose the candidate who has the experience, not a novice. Because of his experience as a neighborhood leader and his service on the council, Scott Griggs knows Dallas, he knows the issues and he knows how to get the job done.

I am proud to have played a role in electing the first neighborhood candidate, the first elected woman mayor and the first candidate to run as openly gay, efforts that have helped to open up the process and representation to help make this an inclusive city that works for all its citizens. In each of those campaigns, those supporting Eric Johnson opposed those candidates.

Those supporting Johnson are also the ones who brought you the $246 million Trinity boondoggle on which the city also wasted 20 years of political capital. The money is gone, and we have nothing to show for it.

They brought you the $115 million bridge that can't be used and the kayak debacle that almost killed people. They tried to give away Fair Park without a bid. The list goes on and on, and one wonders what they are expecting their candidate to bring them next. 

The choice is clear: If you are satisfied with the status quo, with the city wasting your hard-earned tax dollars on whatever new boondoggle might enrich them, vote for Eric Johnson.

If you want Dallas to move forward so that we can become a city that works for everyone, join me in my choice of Scott Griggs for mayor. If you want to have a voice in the future direction of Dallas, vote! (You can vote in the runoff even if you didn't vote in the first election.)

Lorlee Bartos, Dallas

Tariffs and the Constitution


President Donald Trump has no power to increase tariffs. Only Congress does. Congress may not delegate its power to the other branches. Congress may constitutionally permit officials in the executive branch to make some policy decisions, but there is a point beyond which the Executive Branch's delegated authority may not constitutionally go.

The Constitution requires that Congress "lay down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to [exercise the delegated authority] is directed to conform,"
according to the Supreme Court in a 1928 decision.

Congress has not prescribed intelligible principles for either Trump's actions against China or his threatened actions against Mexico, nor has it prescribed any other protections against presidential misuse of its powers.

John Tollefson, Dallas

Shanahan credibility shot

Re: "Trump: Hiding of USS McCain 'well-meaning,'" Friday news story.

It did not take acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan very long to emulate his disturbed menace of a boss by lying. According to The Wall Street Journal, Shanahan knew of the White House's concerns about the USS McCain's being in sight during Trump's Japan visit and approved military officials' efforts to obscure the ship's name. 

Shanahan later denied this, but the conservative Journal's impeccable reputation makes it unlikely that it published incorrect information. Thus, like nearly every other administration appointee, Shanahan has demolished his credibility and harmed his important office.

Bill Halstead, Far North Dallas