With a Democratic mayor taking over the reins of the city of Vicksburg, will the new mayor follow the steps of other Democratic leaders, which have led to an increase in crime, higher taxes, expansion of city employees, higher tags and higher property taxes?

If so, all of this will lead to a larger burden than the people can bear with the economy falling, jobs leaving the city, wages frozen or even falling. Will this new mayor see the burden on the people and seek to ease this burden? Or will he simply follow the usual agenda of the Democratic playbook of big government and ignore the burden on the people of Vicksburg?

Right now we do not need midnight basketball, and we need only one airport. And we do not need to build more public housing. There are enough empty houses already. Go to the mall and look at all of the empty stores.  Times are hard for everybody and this mayor needs to control spending.

Look at Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Washington D.C. These cities have been controlled by Democrats. And these cities have been destroyed by their policies — high crime,  high taxes, destroyed school systems, low test scores  — even though they get plenty of funding.

And last but not least Mayor Leyens did a lot for the inner city and he was betrayed by the very people he tried to help. I wonder what the motivation was to vote for the other guy?

Larry Jackson

Vicksburg

Don’t cut down the trees

What sort of brainless numbskulls is the Corps of Engineers comprised of these days, for they certainly are lacking in geological knowledge when it comes to the levees. (The Vicksburg Post of June 10).

The entire Mississippi Valley from the Rockies to the Smokies is alluvial soil, meaning it is powdered rock and sandy silt with no cohesion whatsoever. The only thing that holds it in place is grass and tree roots. Down here levees are planted with Bermuda grass where roots go 20 feet deep to try to keep the levees from washing away.

Anyone who wants to cut every tree away from the levees is asking for double trouble in heavy rains or even small fluctuations in river stages.

These people may be armed with college degrees, but never having set foot on the actual terrain they know precisely nothing about how nature works to defend itself against the onslaught of man’s stupidity. Sitting in front of a computer screen and juggling imaginary computations doesn’t convey an inkling of actuality. It’s the difference between the so-called desk jockey and the field engineer. No tree root is going to endanger a levee. What it will do is anchor the base of the levee to the unstable soil underneath it. The mass of weblike roots that keep trees upright is what holds the soil in place.

Any of you “experts” ever hear of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s? That’s what happens when you cut all the trees.

L.C. Giles

Vicksburg

Not enough communication

I was deeply saddened when I read the article about elementary summer school. Teachers are a great asset to our children and if parents would talk to them more, maybe elementary summer school would be eliminated. Teachers may recognize that the child has a different pattern of learning because no two are the same.

When my child was in school, my statements to others were, “When he’s in school I am also.” I made an effort to communicate with his teachers three times a week. Doing this helped me realize he had a different pattern of learning skills from other children and that was a blessing. I followed this from kindergarten through high school.

If you are following your child’s grades and there is a low score, that should be your red flag. Racheal Hollowell stated her child would not be at summer school if her daughter had brought home the letter about intercession. Hollowell also stated, “Letters don’t work.” My questions are these, “What would work?” and “Why didn’t she keep updated on her child’s grades?”

I’m sure some parents will be angry when they read this, but wouldn’t it be better to help your child now so they can become productive graduates?

More communication is the key.

Loretta Young

Vicksburg

Leyens was, will be an asset

OK, I’ve heard enough about what our soon-to-be former mayor may or may not be doing these days. If he is sitting somewhere in a corner licking his wounds (which I assure you he is not!) I really could not blame him.

He came to this city years ago and, after living here a while, decided that something needed to be done. Just look around you! He has spent the last eight years of his life trying to turn Vicksburg into a better city to live and a wonderful place to visit — and he definitely succeeded! Did he anger some people in the process? Well, maybe so, but that comes with any job. So how did we as a city thank him? The majority of citizens here did not even get out to vote on election day.

I was out of town that day and I voted by absentee ballot and at the end of the day I have to admit I was disappointed to have to come back to this town where I’ve lived for 51 years. It has absolutely nothing to do with who was elected mayor for the next term; it has everything to do with the non-caring attitude the people who live here have. So, with that said, I’d like to get back to what I know Laurence Leyens is doing these days. He is very busy looking for a way to continue to financially support his family. Those of you in Vicksburg who are unemployed right now should understand this. Regardless of whether he stays here or goes elsewhere, Laurence Leyens will no doubt be an asset to any community.

Jean Thomason Johnston

Vicksburg

Fight smarter, not harder

On PBS radio I learned that the roadside bombs in Afghanistan are becoming more and more sophisticated and that people are now hiding them in the carcasses of dead dogs and other animals. Because so many of our servicemen have been killed in this manner, I asked a research scientist if he could invent a dead-dog detonator that could be activated by a laser sweep of the road ahead of the convoys.  He replied that they had almost debugged such a system when the funding was canceled a couple of years ago.

I do not understand why spending $350,000 on a photo op of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty, taking Air Force One on a jaunt to New York in these bad times for dinner and theater or our congressmen and women flying wherever they want on private planes is the chosen way to spend our money instead of on research and development that could save hundreds of lives of our servicemen and women. The decisions that have been made are killer decisions. Let our guys fight smarter not harder.

Mary Elsa Hocker

Vicksburg

Skipping Omaha an error

Imagine my disappointment, first my beloved USM Eagles lost to the Texas Longhorns at the College World Series. Yes, the Eagles fought hard and were not disgraced in losing by a run to the No. 1 team in the nation. But, we Eagles come to win, not just to fight.

Second was the disappointment of reading The Vicksburg Post article, which was simply a wire article that I had read in several online versions of newspapers earlier in the day.

What has happened to the No. 1 sports section in the state? In the past, a Vicksburg Post sports reporter has been sent to Omaha to cover another state school — Mississippi State in 2007 and likely would have covered Mississippi, had Ole Miss actually advanced past a Super Regional. Is not USM as important? Are times so bad that the Post will not spend the money to sent a reporter? Or is there a bias against USM?

The Vicksburg Post has been delivered to my address since the 1930s and to me since 1985. I have and still expect the best effort of the Post to cover important stories, and this may be the No. 1 sports story of the year in Mississippi, and where is the Post? Covering T-ball, I suppose.

I am extremely disappointed in what was once a fine sports section.

Don Taylor

Yokena

Full-time mayor needed

Did our mayor-elect give any indication that he planned to keep his two jobs in Port Gibson before the election?  I was appalled to read that such is his intention. Vicksburg needs a full-time mayor so that our town can continue to improve as it has over the past eight years.  I sincerely hope that Paul Winfield reconsiders and decides to direct all his energy toward being the mayor that Vicksburg deserves.

Linda Hall

Vicksburg