Not antidepressants’ fault

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress last week and repeated his reckless claim that antidepressants cause violence. He has even said some people have a harder time coming off SSRIs than heroin. These statements are false, stigmatizing and dangerous.

I have lived with clinical depression and anxiety my entire life. I take three prescriptions every day. They are not optional. They are what allow me to function, to work and to live. When I miss a dose, I fall apart. Antidepressants are not an addiction. They are a lifeline.

The science is clear. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 60 million Americans live with mental illness each year. A Columbia University study found that only 4% percent of mass shooters had ever used antidepressants, compared with more than 11% of the general population. Clinical research shows SSRIs reduce anger, anxiety and aggression. The opposite of Kennedy’s claim is true.

Antidepressants save lives. Guns take them. Kennedy’s attempt to scapegoat medication is not leadership. It is a betrayal.

Christi L. Moore, Houston

It worked then; why not now?

Re: “Count by hand floated — Change for GOP primary in Dallas County would cover thousands of ballots,” Thursday news story.

As a lifelong Republican voter, I was initially shaking my head in disbelief at the Dallas County Republican Party’s executive committee’s proposal to hand-count around 90,000 ballots in the March gubernatorial primary.

But then, by-cracky, it hit me. Why should we let these young whippersnappers take over our trusty, good ol’ fashioned elections, especially with “all the fancy stuff with these machines,” as Chairman Allen West actually said? After all, if hand-counting ballots was good enough for Millard Fillmore, it’s good enough for me. What could go wrong?

Now, I’ve got an even better idea for reporting our results to the Austin. No bushwhacking, newfangled technology is going to bamboozle us, by golly. If we have an outpost with fresh horses every 15 miles between Dallas and Austin, we’ll only need four or five strong riders to get that saddle bag hand-delivered safe and sound to the capital, lickety-split.

Mark Lovvorn, Dallas/Lakewood

Curb pickup is step backward

The city of Dallas plans to eliminate alley trash collection in many neighborhoods that were designed for it, including mine in Midway Hollow, in favor of standardized curbside pickup. This isn’t modernization — it’s a step backward.

Sanitation is funded by fees, not property taxes, and alleys have been serviced safely for decades. The city’s claim of “safety and efficiency” rests on a handful of poorly maintained alleys and isolated incidents. But those don’t represent the majority.

In neighborhoods like mine, alleys are fully paved, clear and problem-free. Where alleys are in disrepair, that’s on the city. It owns them as public right of way and has fallen behind on maintenance.

Where upkeep isn’t the city’s job, it’s a failure of code enforcement. Either way, it makes little sense to punish every neighborhood for the shortcomings of a few.

Worse, the city is approaching this backward. Instead of modernizing the fleet to serve neighborhoods as they exist, staff bought larger trucks and are now forcing residents to change to accommodate them. And this decision wasn’t voted on by the City Council. It was made administratively by staff judged on cost metrics, not resident satisfaction.

Bradley Williams, Dallas/Midway Hollow

Don’t put profits before sense

Re: “Don’t let Texas camp owners rewrite floodplain rules — Operators lobby state to cover rebuilding costs or let them stay open, putting kids at risk,” by Phillip Cunningham, Thursday Opinion.

The operators who want to continue running their camps in the floodplain where 27 campers and counselors recently drowned should make themselves scarce for their own good. Their disrespect in asking their camps be exempt from any future restrictions on locations or be subsidized for any relocation is beyond the pale.

Granted, the camps should never have been allowed in the floodplain many years ago, but the audacity of wanting to continue to host camps in historic flood areas is unbelievable. They seek to justify their continued operations in place purely, it seems, because of the economic benefits. The lives of those 27 who died cannot be measured in dollars.

Cunningham should be commended for his column, which serves to remind us of how seeking profit can overtake common sense and decency in the wake of a tragedy.

Tony Torres, Garland

More on common sense

I am appalled at some of the decisions made recently by federal judges. One decision basically states that if someone gives you a donation, then they are obligated to keep giving you that money forever, and they cannot change their minds. Ever. That would be the District Judge Allison Burroughs, who ruled in favor of Harvard University — that the government cannot rescind its grants to the university. Frankly, if someone or some entity gives you money, they absolutely have the right to stop giving you money for any reason whatsoever.

Next, we have the surprise ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that decided that drug dealing, extortionist, violent gangs from other countries preying on American citizens are not enemies of the state. Just how ridiculous does one have to be to make that decision?

Apparently common sense no longer has a place in American law. Sad.

Olan Knight, Murphy

Literary parallels

President Donald Trump has asked his Congress for $2 billion to beautify the streets leading to the White House — veritable yellow-brick roads leading to the Emerald City. And palace guards are already in town. They just need snazzy unis, a la the Emerald City guards.

The $200 million ballroom is being completed with private donations. Does that include the golden furnishings pictured in the renderings or continued maintenance of a 90,000-square-foot usually empty room?

The scene is almost complete. Just need the curtain that reveals that the great Wizard of Oz is just a hustler who will float away, leaving the land of Oz empty-handed.

But fancier. So exciting.

Joan Patmore, McKinney