Long Live the Flatlanders
I enjoyed the brilliant article about an extraordinary group [“The Flatlanders: Now It’s Now Again,” December 2014]. I saw them perform several times, at the Galveston Mardi Gras and at the Houston International Festival. Relatives in Germany first raved about them.
I am playing “One Endless Night” right now.
Ursula Sluis | Rockport
Nueces EC
The Story of Bad Santa Gets Worse
Your story of the Santa Claus Bandit [“Bad Santa,” December 2014] is one that I heard over and over again growing up. My late father, Jim Clements, who would have been 99 on December 4, witnessed the lynching of Marshall Ratliff in Eastland when he was 14.
After riding with his older sister from Cleburne to shop in Eastland that day, they were caught up in the crowd frenzy. He told the story just like it happened. After the first rope broke, he remembered them holding Ratliff while someone ran into the hardware store for another rope.
There are other aspects of the crowd that are definitely too graphic to print. I heard this story long, long before I ever heard anything about the Santa Claus Bandit outside my own home.
Michael Davis | Baytown
Medina EC
Plan of San Diego
Thank you for the excellent history article on the Plan of San Diego [“Plan of San Diego Uprising,” January 2015].
Readers may like to know that movement is still alive and well in several organizations, including the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A).
D. Martinez | Bastrop County
Bluebonnet EC
Incandescents vs. CFLs
Everyone these days seems to be talking of saving energy, which I guess is a good thing. However, your “Six Easy Ways Kids Can Help Save Energy” in the January 2015 issue recommends changing lightbulbs to CFLs or LEDs.
How can kids afford these high-dollar bulbs? I can, but I generally refuse to pay that much for a bulb that I find does not last any longer than an old-fashioned one.
I have CFLs in my home office and have changed them twice in the year and a half we’ve been in our home. That does not seem to be a savings for the consumer (me!).
Sorry, but if given a choice, I’ll stick with the old incandescents and change them every six months or so.
Don Dieu | Lubbock
South Plains EC
