Dialogue

Letters to the Observer

by

SYSTEM FAILURE

Heartfelt anger is what I think of when reading “A Gentle Soul, Unbroken by Injustice” (October 5). Being involved in “the system” has taught me so much. I know there are innocent people in prison. I know there are wrongful convictions and disparities in sentencing. I used to be on the side of the system, but now I see so many flaws, so much corruption, so much coercion, and really ignorant people serving as prosecutors, and on juries, who decide my fate and that of my loved ones.

Jan May Via e-mail

RALPH AND SISSY

Be still my heart! To get to revisit Ralph and Sissy in the same issue made my spirits soar. “Ralph Yarborough’s Ghost” and “Texas [Still] Needs Farenthold,” September 21)

I and countless other Texans have not really been represented in the U.S. Senate since 1972; well, perhaps sort of by Lloyd Bentsen. Who else has had such guts and tenacity, such high integrity and deeply rigorous patriotism? Is there another Ralph Yarborough anywhere? His gravestone in the Texas State Cemetery contains a statue of an eagle, a very appropriate metaphor.

And Sissy’s contributions to Texas law-making are without argument. I remember in the summer of 1988 that she and Mickey Leland and other leaders came to Laredo to attend a candlelight vigil for the Veteran’s Peace Convoy. The convoy was trying to get across the Texas border to carry humanitarian aid to Nicaragua; we were stopped by the U.S. government, but later given the go-ahead the U.S. District Court in Laredo.

Thanks Sissy. Thanks Ralph. For standing up for the people always.

Carol Cavness Walker Austin

It is not often that an author captures the character of a both a public figure and a private person.

Robert Leleux has done both. Kudos to the Observer for finding and publishing him. Sissy fights on and hence, proudly, so do we.

George Aurora, NY

BANG ‘EM

Thanks for the editorial (“Molly’s Last Crusade,” October 5). I never knew the woman, but I loved her dearly and saw her many times in the San Francisco Bay area. This year here in San Francisco, a Pots and Pans Brigade has apparently been formed and I will be out there banging on mine. About e-mailing most of these cretins in the Senate and the House: You can’t. That’s because almost all of them post a notice that they only accept e-mails from their “constituents” in their particular state. You have to snailmail or fax; and as I understand it, snailmail isn’t put before their pristine eyes on a timely basis because they’re still being checked for poisons, etc. These guys and gals are literally getting away with murder vis-a-vis Iraq, denying children’s health plans, etc., etc., etc. Keep on writing and keep Molly’s name before us always. What a damned loss.

Gail Henigman Via e-mail