Mortgage crisis or spin?

Editor:

I read with interest the recent “Life As I See It” article titled, “Difficult times and tragic choices.”

It is too premature to make Addie Polk the poster woman for this mortgage crisis. There are too many unanswered questions regarding her loan specifics, what happened with the money and what efforts she made to get help.

The classic knee-jerk reaction is to find a tragic story during a crisis, automatically equate the two, and then demand a government solution. She likely didn’t tell anyone because she either was too proud or felt the situation hopeless.

She was undoubtedly depressed which is very common in the elderly which led to another common problem in the elderly — suicide. Depression and hopelessness are increasingly due to more and more isolation of households in America.

If Mrs. Polk had sought aid, then I am sure that her extended family, church home or concerned citizens in Akron would have chipped in $20 from 24 families to keep her from being evicted (payment $280/month). This act of charity and love would have markedly improved Mrs. Polk’s isolation and reversed her depression/suicidal ideations much better than a visit from an overworked bureaucrat who would cross-examine her to determine if she’s eligible for any “benefits.”

The time is now for all Americans to reach out to our neighbors through self-initiative, charity and love, and not to rely, yet again, on a government that is inefficient, burdened, and mortgaging our children’s future

Retired Col. Christopher J. Lisanti

Schertz resident

Negativity taking its toll

Editor:

Windcrest is a beautiful city and many people enjoy living here. The negative news circulating by way of huge disturbing newspapers articles, and a lawsuit filed recently, maybe making people think twice to not to move here.

Picture developers seeing all this bad news; why should they invest in making Windcrest a bigger and better city? So many good things are happening, i.e. Rackspace Hosting, and more Fort Sam troop movement. We would love to have some of those folks to make Windcrest their home.

Now a lawsuit has been filed by extremely hateful and negative people who are causing “forward-looking” planning for Windcrest to come to a screeching halt. Nowadays, especially with the volatile market, any unnecessary stoppage will cause future planning to become more expensive and possibly out of reach. Of course the lawsuit will cost money, which will tie up money earmarked for services to the citizens.

We all need to work together to bring Windcrest into the future. Windcrest will never again be the city “like it used to be.” Times have changed; if we do not move forward Windcrest will be bypassed and forgotten.

Picture a bunch of empty houses, not enough property tax to sustain the city and the services we have, empty stores with no customers to support them … Get the picture?

Let’s move forward and bring Windcrest into a positive and progressive city. If you are not happy here, move elsewhere! Happiness and contentment does not come from being negative.

Inge R. Geiger

Windcrest resident