Letters to the Editor (go back »)

Some Galveston City Council members already want to rethink a civilian police review board’s proposed meeting format, which would allow the group to gather behind closed doors without notifying the public. The council created the board, which will review complaints against the police department, last week.

Council Needs To Rethink Police Review Board

I am no lawyer but, if I were a cop, I would have serious issues with Galveston City Council’s new civilian police review board and my contractual rights as described in the “Collective bargaining agreement between the city of Galveston and the Galveston Municipal Police Association” under sections seven, 33 and 37.

The creation of the board creates a redundancy in the process in which we hold our police officers accountable and therefore is a waste of public resources and a waste of tax dollars that could be spent on other things, such as roads.

Further, the contract the city signed has an interesting point — the agreement’s article 33, section E states: “Employees shall have the right to request an independent polygraph operator at city expense should the city order an employee to take a polygraph exam. The city shall request a complaining witness to take a polygraph exam before requiring an employee to take one; however, the city shall not be prohibited from requiring a polygraph from an officer in any instance where physical or mental incapacity or death of the complaining witness prevents same.”

I hope the new board takes full advantage of this contractual agreement and asks all complainants to take a polygraph test before they take up valuable city time that we taxpayers will be paying for.

Norman Pappous
Galveston

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Traffic ‘Solutions’ Are For The Few — Not The Many

Gordon Robinson’s traffic engineering “solutions” (“Island city should engineer traffic solutions,” The Daily News, July 23) for Galveston would create major problems where only minor problems now exist. Choking major arteries down by a lane may ease the way for the comparatively few cars merging in, but it would drastically congest through traffic on the main road.

The traffic engineer’s motto should be the Vulcan credo from Star Trek — “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

Most of Robinson’s “solutions” take the opposite tack, inconveniencing the many for the benefit of a few, while further congesting such major arteries as Interstate 45, Broadway and Seawall Boulevard.

As for his suggestion that all downtown stop signs should be made four-way, for consistency, the four-way stop sign is the driver’s bane, as it makes each and every car coming through the intersection stop and start several times. This drastically cuts gas mileage, while increasing brake wear, air pollution and travel time.

I’ve driven in cities all over the country and Galveston has by far the largest percentage of four-way stop signs of any I’ve seen. We need far fewer of them, not more.

My message to Robinson is, please don’t quit your day job!

David Konkel
Galveston

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The Rev. John Nathan LaBauve, who ministered for almost 10 years at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Galveston, died in Bay St. Louis, Miss., after a prolonged illness. He was 85.

Father LaBauve Will Be Sorely Missed By All

Galveston County residents have undergone a great loss with the death of the Rev. John Nathan LaBauve, who was the first African-American rector-in-charge of St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese for nearly a decade.

Father LaBauve was an extraordinary and distinguished man who took priesthood seriously. My family and I had the pleasure of knowing him for several years and he will be sorely missed. He truly was a gift to us from God.

His incredible leadership, love, commitment and courage will keep our wonderful memories of him alive and well.

There will be a memorial Mass honoring Father LaBauve at 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, 2011 Church Street in Galveston.

We know he is peacefully in a better place, saying in his native Creole lingo: “Child, child, child — this is genuinely heaven to now exist with the most prominent, our Almighty Master!”

Joyce Ann Daniel
Galveston

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In a column published Sunday, about whether motorcyclists should be required to wear helmets and the cost to the public of traumatic injuries, Associate Editor Michael A. Smith wrote: “I’m not arguing that the state should force bikers to wear helmets pocket bike helmet, but I’d like it to get them out of my pocket.” Readers can join the discussion on the blog “Editors’ Notes” at galvnews.com.

All Motorcyclists Should Pay Their Accident Costs

In regard to Michael Smith’s column “Taxpayers’ pockets need bike helmet protection” (The Daily News, July 27): The Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Council said that brain injuries to motorcyclists not wearing helmets cost an average of $187,430, but it also found that those who wore helmets still had an average cost of $123,000.

Should taxpayers donate only to the motorcyclists who opt for the approved fashion statement?

All riders should be responsible for their costs and their act that hits taxpayers the hardest is trading four wheels for two, not taking off a hat.

If Smith must pick on the bare heads, the required insurance should cover only the additional cost incurred by crashing without headgear.

For the typical crash, that would be $10,000 to $15,000 and, for the relatively few resulting in traumatic brain injury, $64,430, not $300,000.

A free country will allow people to ride what they want, dress how they want and expect them to accept responsibility for their choices.

To that end, all motorcyclists should be required to either carry adequate insurance or opt out of public health care.

I have no doubt that the insurance companies will adjust their premiums and underwriting for any unfavorable experience among the helmetless to penalize them and reward the safety conscious.

Doug Murray
Altamonte Springs, Fla.