Opinion

IT’S OVER! I lived like a hobo for six days and survived. The ordeal of the catastrophic polar vortex is past, but memories of the suffering linger. I was dirty, cold, hungry, thirsty, and alone. The indignity of having to set up a latrine in my home is not something I will ever forget. I’m still living with a mild case of PTSD from enduring unbearable circumstances.

I WAS IN SHOCK at the “Shocked” letter that Mr. Williams wrote in response to Editor Brown’s Field Notes from Jan. 21, 2021. Ms. Laurie Ezzell Brown is anything but “naïve.” Quite the contrary, she’s been a blessing to Canadian, an excellent mentor, and above all, a principled, well-informed, and courageous journalist.

FROZEN WIND TURBINES in Texas caused some conservative state politicians to declare Tuesday that the state was relying too much on renewable energy. But in reality, the lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power-generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans across the state during a major winter storm.

I WAS IN SHOCK at this editorial (Field Notes, Jan. 21, 2021, The Canadian Record). Speaking of the inauguration you comment, “At last, for some of us, it was welcome news.” I have respected your liberal views; you were always fair and publishing my letters, and I gained in respect for you. I knew your dad, and my dad and he enjoyed their arguments at the Killarney Cafe. Most of all, he and I would take up arms to defend your right to express those views. Now it is evident that you are either very naive or complicit in believing and perpetuating the lies that have abounded from your party leaders. Now we see, beyond a doubt, that the concerted effort to do away with our Constitutional rights is in full swing. Almost everything you and the Demo-Socialist party have accused President Trump and the Republican Party of being guilty of, your leaders have been guilty of those very things. The Communist axiom, “If you tell a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.” That defines the last four years of hate and spite that we the American people have had to endure. Already our freedom of speech is threatened, beginning on our college/university campuses. Now, the media are being told what to say and what to refuse. Preachers are being told what they must not preach, never mind the Bible. Now you will get what you want; with it, the government will control what you can write.

I’M WORRIED. Took a test last week and passed—or failed—with flying colors, depending on one’s perspective. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 is a screening tool used by medical professionals to evaluate worrywarts and to quantify the severity of their anxiety.

FIVE PEOPLE DIED AS A RESULT of Wednesday’s mob assault on the U.S. Capitol—and their deaths will linger in the nation’s conscience.

AT THE BEGINNING of every year for the past 72 years since this newspaper has been under the independent ownership of the Ezzell family, we have published a statement of principles which has guided us in the week-to-week conduct of The Record. We have carefully re-read this brief public statement in light of our changing times, and from the perspective of years, and find no reason to change it in any way as we prepare for the beginning of another new year. — LEB

Please join us this week in paying tribute to our own choice for Citizens of the Year 2020: the health care workers who have served selflessly, sacrificed daily, and risked their own health and safety, and that of their own families, in their tireless efforts to heal us and protect us from harm. Each of these men and women—regardless of whether they are doctors, nurses or aides, clerical workers or lab technicians, administrators or receptionists, maintenance workers or kitchen staff, paramedics or physical therapists—have been asked to perform additional tasks and work longer hours, under far greater duress, giving up time with their own families and loved ones to battle on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. We owe them honor and respect, and our heartfelt gratitude, for their willingness to rise to the immeasurably difficult task of saving lives and protecting this community.