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Dear Editor,

On the precipice of perhaps the most ambitious power grab any administration has ever attempted and in the quise of a massive public option health care plan, tens of thousands of average Americans swarmed Washington D.C. early in the week and through out the week-end in protesting, even as our elected officials were fighting it out in the House.

From thousands of Tea-Parties & Rallies through out the year & across the country. From town squares, North, South, East & West to the very steps of the Capital. Those of us who have been involved in some of these protests have surprised even ourselves.

Hillard and I have not been able to attend the one in Washington this week, but we are really in awe of these tire-less patriots. With chants of "Read the Bill" & "Say What you Mean & Mean What You Say!" this public option Health Care debacle is only the tip of the iceburg. For starters let's get rid of the smoke & mirrors, the ear-mark worked out under the cover of darkness.

It's not so much diplomacy we want. We're really pretty tired of that. We do however demand true representation. Just say what you mean & mean what you say- don't run as a moderate if you are left of center or vice versa. We've had enough of it from both Republicans & Democrats. Enough already! We will no longer put up with politicians triangulation of his or her position on a Bill, hoping to fool the electorte because something truely awesome has happened in the hearts & minds of the average American. We're having another election in 2010 & we can hardly wait so write this down & never forget it. This next time, when you are in "Campaign Mode", just remember to tell us who you really are! And tell us what you believe, and what you really stand for if anything". And if you can handle that little talk try trusting the American people to make the correct choices. Maybe it's just me but "There's just something about the truth"!

Ruth Rodgers

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San Saba, Tx.

Dear Editor,

We would like to thank the people who helped with the Open House and Art Show at the Friedlander Library, Nov. 6 & 7.

C. K. Stevenson, Trish & Dennis Fullerton, Noma Fitzgerald, Margie Osborn, Bebe, Adam, Brittan Bagley for working on the great signs, Zolly Jones and Jocelyn McRorey for the refreshments along with the ladies that baked wonderful cookies, we went through ten dozens of them, Pat Belk, Bebe Bagley, Autumn Castro, Blanche Biggs, Janis Bull and Imogene Hawkins for being greeters. Thanks to Mary Lee Coulder, Librarian for her suggestions and patience with us.

To the many artists that let us display their works of art we thank you so much.

The approximately two hundred visitors were so surprised and pleased to find that we have so many fine artists.

Visitors were also pleased with our beautiful little library, as they described it, many hunters said they didn’t know we had a library. The signs helped out a lot.

Most of all we thank the many many citizens of San Saba County and the visitors for joining us in the first library open house and art show in ten years.

Thanks to anyone else that helped out that I might have missed.

Carol Lee Littlefield

Friends of the Library

Dear Editor,

POSSE; the Moral Argument

By now, many citizens of San Saba County, as well as Brown, Mills, and Lampasas Counties are aware that Oncor is planning to build a 345KV Transmission Line. There are 46 alternate routes, 22 of which run thru San Saba County and one of which is Oncor’s designated preferred route. Many of us are “affected landowners” by virtue of having one of these alternate routes run over our land. Protect Our San Saba Environment, Inc (“POSSE”) formed to fight to keep this project from despoiling the Colorado River and San Saba County greenspace where nonesuch thing presently exists. Other entities, the city of Goldthwaite included, have retained lawyers to try to keep this project in San Saba County.

Early in this process in June when I first received notice from Oncor that they would potentially be crossing my own property in San Saba with a 345KV Transmission Line, I quickly realized that I could not pray to God that this evil be visited on my neighbors elsewhere in San Saba rather than myself, nor on my neighbors elsewhere in surrounding counties. I could not pray that evil should befall others, rather than me.

In time, I realized that San Saba County is a relatively and increasingly unique greenspace, that the Colorado River is a singular ecological jewel, and that allowing that transmission line to cross these aesthetically and environmentally unique lines and spaces was an affront to all TEXANs who value our vanishing TEXAS landscapes and viewscapes.

In further time and with more study, I realized that if I went back 100+ years, and was tasked with the problem of locating a major travel artery out of Central TEXAS and going West and/or Northwest, say to Colorado or Northern New Mexico, I would try to avoid crossing rivers because of the engineering difficulty….I would stick to higher ground that is generally much more stable and suitable for road building. In fact, Hwy183 is situated on the divide between the Colorado River riparian zones and watershed and the Brazos River’s equivalent spaces, following the higher ground exactly as one would expect.

The Hwy183 corridor passes thru Lampasas, Lometa, Goldthwaite, and Brownwood. Generally this is a major travel artery going west out of Austin and for decade upon decade there has been economic development and benefit along this corridor. When a traveler leaves Austin to drive to Colorado’s ski slopes he or she will drop dollars all along the route.

San Saba County, on the other hand, is bypassed by these economic blessings. Instead we have developed our own economy based largely on agricultural and recreational economic values. It is these fragile values that are directly attacked by an “industrial grade” transmission line that blights the river and the greenspaces where so much of our economic and aesthetic values lie.

Significantly, there is a PUC guideline that generally asserts that new transmission lines should follow established corridors, not just the least expensive route, which generally in this case dictates that the line should stay North of the Colorado River and follow the higher ground on the divide between the rivers.

For citizens of Goldthwaite, or others similarly situated, to wish that this line should be built in San Saba County is, in my opinion, a “have our cake and eat it too” argument. They have benefited from the economic blessings of being situated on a major travel corridor, and they should NOT wish to slough off the negative side-effects of their good fortune, lo all these years, on their neighbors South of the river.

Roger Alan Whatley

POSSE