Letters – Readers discuss donations, landfill rumors
Reader praises community giving
To the Editor:
I’m writing to thank Lockhart residents for their generosity in helping thousands of suffering children worldwide this Christmas. Through their efforts, we were able to collect 750 shoeboxes—filled with toys, school supplies and hygiene items—for Operation Christmas Child, the world’
s largest Christmas project of its kind. These simple gift-filled shoeboxes communicate to needy children that they are loved and not forgotten.
Although drop-off locations in Lockhart are closed until November 2014, shoebox gifts can be packed any time. Gifts are received year-round at Samaritan’s Purse (801 Bamboo Rd., Boone, N.C., 28607) or using the project’s online tool, where donors can virtually build a box. To get involved, visit samaritanspurse.org or call (817) 595-2230.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in this project. A simple gift, packed with love, can communicate hope and transform the lives of children worldwide.
Sincerely,
Mark Cooper
Regional Director- Texas and Louisiana
Operation Christmas Child
Landfill may pose water dangers
To the Editor:
There is a false rumor that there is no aquifer at the proposed 1,200-acre dumpsite. Maps from the Texas Water Development Board indisputably show the aquifers for all to see. Both the Carrizo-Wilcox and the Leona Aquifers are on the 1,200-acre site and will be polluted by a leak.
The latest Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reports 44 percent of monitored landfills in Texas – most are not monitored –are currently leaking into our aquifers. Leaking right now. Actually the percentage of leaking landfills is far greater because leakage into the soil does not even count, only leakage into aquifers counts.
This acreage on 183 is situated at the gateway to our community. Some people I have talked with seem to think that a dump 175 feet in the air on Highway 183 is a problem for Lytton Springs, not a problem for Lockhart. Some do not believe that a leak could happen to us; that a plastic sheet is enough to protect us for all time.
A major dump at the gateway to our county and its capital, Lockhart will place a low ceiling on our prospects both economically and environmentally. We all have invested here in our homes and in our community. We all have something to lose here.
We can optimistically invest in our county’s healthy growth and our future like the small towns in the Hill Country have done — or we can pessimistically relinquish it to a handful of profiteers who will plunder its resources and disappear.
The acreage at Highway 183 and FM 1185 is not an expenditure, it is a good, fiscally sound investment! It has attractive features that lend themselves to a mixed-use development like the Mueller Development in Austin — a large pond, a creek, large oaks, and aquifers! With the help of our County Commissioners, we can protect ourselves and our community’s future by investing in this land.
We can choose positive growth, good jobs, breathable air and clean water. After all, this is Texas and we know how to fight for our land and our future.
Lou MacNaughton
Dale
