They want better life
Robert Kittleson in his letter asked, "Can we all agree that Mexican and Central American parents are the worst in the world?" My response: No, we cannot all agree. I definitely do not agree.
He asked, "Who does that to their kids?" I assume by "that" he means sending their children unaccompanied to the U.S. The answer is simple: Desperate people do that. Two hurricanes hit Central America in 2020, affecting more than 7.5 million people and destroying homes and crops. Many of these people are still homeless and without means to support themselves. Sending a male teen to the U.S. may mean survival for their family. In many cases, these parents are trying to shield their children from incessant gang violence. They want a better life for their kids.
Mr. Kittleson called these desperate parents "animals." Even animals do all they can to provide for their young. These people are God's children, just like we are. We need to get down on our knees every night in gratitude that we do not have to face the horrible choices and circumstances these Mexican and Central American parents have to confront.
GLORIA WILLIAMS TRAN
Fayetteville
Checking out for free
The latest move by Walmart seems to be a stroke of genius. By eliminating jobs and putting employees on the street to add to our unemployment problem, Walmart is in the process of training customers to do these jobs and thereby saving salaries. It is a disgusting turn of events. Sam Walton always made a show of taking care of the customer because he knew the customer made him successful. Today's CEOs seem to forget the customers are the reason they get their six- and seven-figure salaries.
Many of us are not "computer people" and don't want the hassle of working them for a basket of purchases. The few people working the self-service checkouts can't be everywhere, and it leads to frustration for many. It would seem Walmart is successful enough to continue to provide the service of checkout without going down the tubes. They put the almighty dollar ahead of respecting and supporting those who support them. Had I been able to find the manager, l would have taken him my basket and told him I am not paid to check out and I am certainly not paid to stock shelves, so he could restock them himself; then I would have walked out.
Harps and Walgreens are a couple of miles closer. Lowe's is handy and they all check me out. I can easily order more online from Amazon, so my days as a customer of Walmart since the '60s are winding down. A couple of self-checkouts is fine for those with a couple of purchases to move through, but I suspect most of us would like the courtesy of being checked out and having our purchases bagged. I would like Walmart to reconsider this move and continue to provide the customer assistance they have in the past. I suspect, however, that the top folks at Walmart couldn't care less about a few disgruntled customers and will continue to take advantage of those who have been loyal to them.
MICHAEL RAPP
Siloam Springs
Get the vaccination
I am told that there are certain groups of people who will not take the vaccine to prevent covid-19. I heard an expert in epidemic medicine state that any time a new case of this virus occurs, there is a chance that the virus can mutate into a new strain.
This pandemic reminds me of the polio epidemic I lived through in the late 1940s. It was the scourge of mankind, especially children, in those days. The difference today from those days is that I don't recall anyone not willing to take the vaccine. We were only too happy to get something that had a chance to save us from spending our lives in a wheelchair or an iron lung. What was the result of social compliance to taking the vaccine? Almost total elimination of the polio epidemic worldwide. We could do the same thing with covid-19 today if we had complete adherence to requests to get vaccinations. But those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it. How many diseases that have haunted mankind over the centuries have been eliminated through the use of vaccines?
But there is one epidemic that no vaccine has been able to cure: ignorance.
JON McQUIRTER
Hot Springs
Disingenuous claim
Near the end of last Monday's Democrat-Gazette column, Professor Bradley Gitz makes two claims. The first claim, that the president's call to the Georgia secretary of state asking him to "find" votes was "the ugliest incident in our especially ugly post-election," seems plausible (though I would instead make that claim for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol). But his second claim, that the president did this "because he believed that the other side had been busy finding" votes, is disingenuous and dubious.
I seriously doubt that the president "believed" Democrats were "finding" illegitimate votes in Georgia. Moreover, I doubt that he cared--he was trying anything and everything he could to deny that he had been defeated. Too, I seriously doubt that Professor Gitz believes this second claim. In any event, this second claim subverts the entire column's argument.
EARL RAMSEY
Little Rock
It's not good science
If Bradley Gitz does indeed have a degree in political science, he must have slept through the science part. Science involves a systematic process of observation, facts, proof and logic. In his recent column, Mr. Gitz suggests that while there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in past or recent elections, we surely can't make it easier for people to vote because it might lead to more voter fraud like the fraud we have not been able to find in the first place.
That might be good politics, but it is not good science.
MARK HINTERTHUER
North Little Rock