Government and Kids...

Two letters to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram make some very interesting points.

About government...we'll have more to say on that soon.  YOU won't want to miss it, YOU can't afford to.  And we have to assume the Fort Worth swimming pool letter writer is 14.  Wouldn't it be great if all 14 year olds paid attention?  They are our future after all.

Bloated government

In these times of industry cutbacks, layoffs and "clearing out the deadwood," it is interesting to note that the largest employer in the U.S. has more than 500,000 employees whose base salary exceeds $100,000 per year and who enjoy a job security rate of more than 99 percent (per a recent CNN release).

That largest employer is the federal government. Our national leadership continues to tell us we need to tighten our belts and expect our households and our industries to do more with less and contribute more of our "fair share" to the general welfare of all citizens. If the federal government were to implement the same 15 percent reduction in force that Lockheed Martin is, it would reduce base salaries in the $100K club by $7.5 billion a year. Eliminate just a few of the anachronistic, useless agencies and the lifetime-benefit packages to former legislators and we could make some real strides in deficit reduction.

Seems like a good place to start reducing cost of government to me.

-- Drex Rutledge, Burleson

Fort Worth pools

It has come to my attention that the public pools of Fort Worth have closed because of a lack of maintenance and money to fix them. This is both shocking and disappointing, especially to a 14-year-old.

In some places in the city, there are no other places to swim except public pools. Kids in these parts of town need them, not only because this heat wave we are going through is brutal but to keep them out of trouble as well. Also, kids need to learn to swim for safety. This is not a skill that they can go through life without. Swimming is even a great source of summer exercise. The YMCAs are great for swimming. They have great facilities, and it only costs around a dollar to get in. But they are not placed conveniently around the city. They are only built in key places.

The public pools need to be restored and put back into business.

-- Trey S. Hille, Fort Worth