Early voting is under way and runs through Oct. 31. Metrocom area polling locations, dates and times are listed as follows:

Bexar County

All Bexar County early voting sites will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Friday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; noon to 6 p.m. Sunday; and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Oct. 31. Area polling sites include:

• Kirby City Hall, 112 Bauman St.

• Universal City City Hall, 2150 Universal City Blvd.

• Windcrest’s Takas Park Civic Center, 9310 Jim Seal Drive.

• Julia Yates Semmes Library at Comanche Lookout Park, 15060 Judson Road.

Guadalupe County

All Guadalupe County sites will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Oct. 31. Area sites include:

• Schertz, Guadalupe County Annex building, elections office, 1101 Elbel Road.

• Seguin, Guadalupe County elections office, 307 W. Court St.

Comal County

Comal County voters have two options, extended hours in New Braunfels or limited hours in Garden Ridge.

• Comal County Court-house, 150 N. Seguin St. in New Braunfels. Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and Friday; 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday; and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Oct. 31.

• Garden Ridge City Hall, 9400 Municipal Parkway. Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Support parks, rec propositions

Editor:

Cibolo is on the move and rapidly growing and could approach 35,000 citizens by 2016. Cibolo, both today and in 2016, desperately needs more recreational and park facilities.

Our current parks have reached their limits and will only offer our community two ball fields, two multi-use fields and some playscapes.

The bond propositions will allow our community to provide much-needed youth and adult recreational programs. The propositions will fund a four-plex of ball fields to increase the total to six fields and support up to 1,400 softball and baseball participants and fund four multi-use fields to increase the total to six and support up to 1,200 soccer and/or football participants.

The Community Events Center will be the center of our community for athletic and community events. The exercise area/courts will support up to 1,000 volleyball, basketball and exercise programs participants as well as provide a venue for reunions, clubs, scouting, health outreach activities and senior citizen programs.

The amenities provided by each bond will be built between 2011 and 2014, so the time to approve them is now. If they are not approved, our kids will not have programs vital to their growth and citizenship. Our community’s well being, health and sense of community will be greatly enhanced by these bonds. The facilities will bring in much needed tax revenue and support local businesses.

We can’t wait or we will not build these much-needed facilities in time. Vote “Yes” for Prop 4 and 5.

Richard Simpson

Cibolo resident

Palin, Bush and the media

Editor:

Oscar Anderson noted in his letter that it’s an enigma how Palin and Bush have “many shared traits and beliefs,” yet Bush has a low approval rating and Palin is popular.

I’ve also reached a perplexing realization during election season. The far left claims to represent women, minorities, children, the middle class, etc. But, members of those groups are thrown under the bus when they aren’t useful in expanding liberalism.

Mr. Anderson thinks Palin is popular, but the media portrays her as unqualified and ignorant. Celebrities and other imbeciles speak of Palin with disgust and some suggest violence against her. The treatment of Palin reminds me of the character assassination of Clarence Thomas during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. If Palin and Thomas were liberals, the media would celebrate them. Anyone who questioned their qualifications, views, intellect or past would be deemed sexist or racist.

The far left supports “the children” when doing so provides an excuse for suggesting socialism and stripping away parental responsibility. If they really want to help “the children,” they wouldn’t reject school vouchers. School vouchers in the worst school districts would have an immediate and long-lasting, positive impact. But, the far left couldn’t care less.

If you are a member of a group who the left thinks they own, examine their goals. Your view of the “American dream” is probably not what they have in mind.

By the way Mr. Anderson, Palin is more like Reagan in heels than Bush. Get it straight.

Angela Lehane

Schertz resident

Not a good time for bonds

Editor:

I agree with Mr. Robert Hicks (“Cibolo tax not wise,” Oct. 16). Given the current financial crisis, stock market roller coaster ride, trillions of dollars lost value in retirement and 401k plans, now is not the time to ask voter approval for more bonds and higher taxes.

Three years ago, Cibolo’s total debt was $3.5 million. In 2006, city council issued $6 million in bonds. In 2007, council issued another $8.3 million in bonds. Now, council wants to issue $27.9 million more in bonds.

Cibolo wastes no time issuing bonds, but is slow in getting projects done. The Arenas wooden pedestrian bridge by Dobie Junior High School took more than two years to complete. A year and a half after issuing the 2007 bonds, Main Street still looks like a war zone. Is anyone actually working on that project?

In just four years, city property taxes increased more than 40 percent. Now, council wants to double our overall debt and increase taxes long into the future. Growth is the reason given for mortgaging such a high debt even though only 475 new housing permits are estimated in fiscal year 2008, down from 800 in fiscal year 2007, as per Cibolo’s bond fact sheet. Contradictory?

Since 2001, our national debt has doubled. The economy is failing. Recession looms on the horizon. Cibolo city council thinks its “borrow and spend” policy with higher taxes will lead us into prosperity. I pray Cibolo voters are smarter than their City Council.

Charles Ruppert

Cibolo resident

By Leticia Espinales

Choice is always significant no matter the cause. However, in this upcoming presidential election your selection is vital. This year, voting is more than a privilege; it is a duty with immense responsibility as we try to weather the enormous problems facing this nation.

A recent article at CNN.com/US dated Oct. 3 illustrates how the American dream of home ownership has turned into a nightmare.

The article relates the story of deputies who went to a home in Akron, Ohio to serve an eviction notice. However, the 90-year-old owner, Addie Polk, was unable to come to the door having just shot herself at least twice in the upper body to avoid being evicted.

Her original mortgage with Countrywide Home Loans was assumed by Fannie Mae, which later filed for foreclosure after she “missed payments on the home that she and her late husband purchased in 1970.”

Imagine the desperation leading this 90-year-old woman to attempt suicide. That day, Addie became “a symbol of the nation’s mortgage crisis.”

Thankfully she survived and was notified a few days later that they would “halt action” “and sign the property outright” to her. It was a positive conclusion … but at what cost?

I thought that was horrible until I heard another news item on MSNBC and found an article at nytimes.com also dated Oct. 3 about child abandonment. It appears that a series of abandonments began in Omaha, Neb., but very out of the ordinary.

On Sept. 1 a mother left her 14-year-old in a police station and on Sept. 23, two more boys and one girl, ages 11 to 14, were abandoned in hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln. Then a 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were left.

This was not the end, however, as a couple of weeks ago, the article tells: “A single father walked into an Omaha hospital and surrendered nine of his 10 children, ages 1 to 17, saying that his wife had died and he could no longer cope with the burden of raising them.”

In total, Nebraska had 15 children who have been dropped off by parents or legal guardians who could no longer take care of them — all due to a Nebraska law that was originally created to prevent newborns from being dumped or killed by young women. However, now the law was being used — or abused? — to drop off “out of control teens or, in the case of the father of 10, to escape financial and personal despair.”

So it is, with these awful examples in mind, that I urge you to make a wise, knowledgeable and conscientious vote for the candidates who can provide the positive solutions we so urgently require.

Leticia Espinales can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it