To the Editor: It is difficult to respond to the letter by Ms. Hooper on Sept.

To the Editor: I’ve read so many articles about how we should vaccinate for ourselves and others. We have heard about why we should vaccinate and not listen to those preaching about not vaccinating.

To the Editor: I went on the World Wide Web this week and noticed that states who have the lowest vaccination rates for COVID-19 are also the states that have the highest number of new cases of COVID-19 infections. Just a coincidence? I also noted that our Fayette County vaccination rate is quite low and that we have a high number of new cases.

To the Editor: Thank you to the Hudec family for sharing their story, their on-going journey of living with the loss of a family member to suicide. I would like everyone in our area to know that Hospice Brazos Valley is a Red Door.

I lost my sense of smell a number of years ago, and didn’t realize it for the longest time. My sense of taste still exists, so apparently those 2 senses aren’t connected even though I am often asked if I can taste foods.

Given the tenor of conversations overheard in local places lately there’s not much left of our good old America. Simple things, things we thought never would change, or never could, have. If for example you try to say, about this big new drive for “equity”, that success in life comes best to people left alone to figure it out for themselves, someone will probably call you a racist. So just in case, and to be totally “proper”, you don’t say it. That’s called censorship. Self censorship actually. The more we try to make excuses for it all, the more we realize free speech is becoming terminal. The shaming-mad media pay as much homage to it — and those other personal freedoms that underpin success in life — as we might a field of dead door nails.

We are in trying times with the spread of COVID-19. There is a lack of confidence in proven vaccines that have helped suppress the terrible virus. The initial rollout of the vaccine was botched from the beginning. We were told that without an 80% vaccination rate we would not achieve herd immunity. This resounded negatively to me. We are not cattle in a pasture. We are human beings in a society. Why was it not only stated that if 80% of our population were not vaccinated we would not achieve life saving results from this terrible virus? People young and old may die without fighting back to suppress this pandemic. If the vaccine were not safe and effective, we would not have over 96% of the physicians vaccinated in the U.S.

His fate was already sealed when Gov. James Edward Ferguson rose to speak on Sep.

In late August I took off on a road trip, alone, across Texas. People kept telling me it was a brave thing to do.

Seventeen Southeast Texas counties have been declared disaster areas after Hurricane Nicholas came ashore, dumping more than a foot of rain and cutting off power to a half-million customers in Texas, according to poweroutage.us. That number had been reduced to about 4,200 as of Sunday.