Deregulated mess
We are once again enjoying the benefits of electric deregulation with these rolling blackouts that don’t roll.
I could not find any statistics on how many Oncor, aka Texas Utilities Company, customers lost power in the 1983 and 1989 cold snaps, but I bet it was less than 5% and not due to frozen generating plants or natural gas being cut off. I recall that the pre-deregulation natural gas generating plants could also switch to fuel oil to produce electricity when their natural gas was curtailed.
Gov. Abbott says the grid is not broken. When 30% of ERCOT covered customers are without power for days in record-breaking cold, the grid is broken.
Bob Potter, Hewitt
Lunatic fringe
I am disappointed but not surprised that former President Trump was acquitted of high crimes during the second impeachment trial. The Republicans in Congress, Including our own two senators, apparently could care less about what happened or about the lives lost vis-a-vis the attack on our Capitol on Jan. 6. They’re more afraid of the loony-tunes far right fringe element that has supported Trump than they are concerned about doing what’s right to protect our democracy.
John J. Baker, Hewitt
No ‘only’ groups
I read with interest your recent story about Black Baylor students who organized a sit-in to bring light to a situation that happened at Moody Library. While not there, I don’t think I’m informed enough to comment about the event, but the story brought forth what I believe is a much more troubling issue: segregation. Segregation is defined as the separation or isolation of a race, class or ethnic group. The story quotes a young woman who said “someone posted a tweet asking for Black students to meet up for an impromptu study session.” She later is quoted as saying “the group is an informally organized study group for Black students of all grade levels.” If the word “Black” in the quotes above was replaced with the word “white” it might sound as if a group of white supremacists decided to form a “white only” study group, not a good thing.
Seems as if it should go both ways. If it’s bad for one group, it should be bad for another. Black only or ethnic specific is not new in present day America’s colleges and universities. Many have Black or Asian only dorms and graduation ceremonies. It’s almost like we are back in the 1950s, but this time it is not white people segregating others but rather the people who Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard to free from segregation separating themselves. The world after school is a tough place and segregating while in school will not benefit students. I’ll conclude with a quote attributed to King: “I feel that segregation is totally unchristian, and that it is against everything the Christian religion stands for.” It does not sound like he would want to be in a Black- or white-only study group, a point to ponder.
