Letters – Flags, first responders and fairness

Reader answers – What’s with the flag?

To the Editor:

Since several people have asked me that question, I thought I would answer briefly. The red, white, and blue flag flying on San Jacinto Street is the flag of the Czech Republic, the same flag used by the former Czechoslovakia from the time of its formation in 1918 from the Austro-Hu

ngarian empire until it was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

I fly this flag because October has been named the Texas Czech Heritage month in honor of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Czech lands (mostly Moravia, but many from Bohemia and Silesia as well.) These Czechs came to Central Texas as early as the 1840’s but most came late in the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Many communities had large number of Czechs, including West, Temple, Taylor, Fayetteville, Lagrange, Praha and many others. Some places north and west of Central Texas held sizeable communities of second generation Czechs who moved out of Central Texas when they could no longer afford or inherit land their first generation forbears had worked. Some moved West to escape the ethnic expectations of the older generation. My parents moved from Taylor to Rowena, because they were a mixed marriage—my father was German, my mother Czech, which pleased neither of their extended families.

Still, many Texas Czechs are proud of their heritage, and we celebrate this month remembering the immigrants status of our grandparents and the struggles they went through to build an new life in this new world. So, when you see the red, white, and blue, put on Dvorak’s New World Symphony and raise a glass of Pilsner to celebrate America, the home of diverse freedoms.

Na Zdravi!

Wayne Walther

Lockhart

Resident thanks first responders

To the Editor:

Kudos to the Lockhart Fire and Police Departments!

They went far beyond rescuing a kitten from a tree… Instead, they quickly swarmed and carefully disassembled our car to access a tiny, trembling, scared and adorable four-week-old kitten from a confined crawl space within the heated engine area on the evening of Oct. 16, 2016.

Lockhart can be proud of our emergency responders with hearts the size of Texas. My wife and I can’t thank them enough for bringing this tiny beating heart into our lives.

Please let them know just how happy and proud our community is for their hard work, bravery and kindness.

Photographs are available upon request.

Thank you,

James and Dolores Hoskins

Lockhart

Online reader blasts council for zoning decision

To the Editor:

We can do better than this can’t we?

Lilly’s is a landmark in and of itself and deserves an unbiased welcome to re-opening after her death. Her family deserves to continue on and not be singled out but embraced along with the other businesses that came in after hers.

Downtown comes with downtown culture. Who are we as a town to be so divisive?

Our churches have sidewalks that are used by all patrons and we should not be singling out who we more prefer to use them then not use them. Let’s rather encourage businesses for their individuality and like anything else if one becomes a problem, then take judgment.

Bonnie Didion

Lockhart