Letters to the Editor — Cellphones, HIV education, the pope, Project 2025

Re: “Jeb Bush: Curb school cellphone use — Parents see the damage from their kids’ excessive social media exposure,” by Jeb Bush, Monday Opinion.
I wrote a letter to The Dallas Morning News that was published in 2018 and sadly what I said is still true today. The paper titled it “Take responsibility, parents.”
Why is this still so frustratingly relevant? Parents need to take total responsibility for their kids in all areas of life — physical and mental health, nutrition, manners, attitudes, sense of decency toward others, etc.
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Parent involvement and support would lessen the effects of the phone ban mandates that are coming. Schools and teachers can only do so much when they have to grapple with all these issues plus do what they are there for — to educate the students.
We need parents on the front line working with and supporting the educators.
Cathy Gribnitz, Irving
Re: “Students need phones,” by Graham Mouden, Monday Letters.
Mouden thinks students need phones at school. I disagree. Phones are not required for students and families to communicate, even during emergencies. If there is a family emergency, a parent can either come up to the school or call the school. If the student has an emergency, the school can call the parent.
If students forget their homework or lunch, they’re not as likely to forget it again if they have to suffer the consequences of not having it. Extracurricular activities can be discussed before or after school. Kids can keep track of assignments either by checking or using their school laptops or, and I know this is revolutionary, writing them down on paper. If there are apps that help students, they can use them when they’re working on their homework at home or, if the teacher agrees the app helps, perhaps get them downloaded on their laptops.
I teach private lessons. I have had to get students’ attention too many times to prevent them from walking straight into me during class passing time. I have also had to tell students to put phones up during lessons. I totally agree with the teachers who have the pockets for phones as students walk into class.
Judy Pelowski, Red Oak
Re: “Advocates work to change narrative — Increase in HIV cases among Latino men worries those who know stigma can play a role,” Monday news story.
I have now seen three important articles about the concerning rise in HIV diagnoses in Dallas. Each one details the important work some organizations and the county are doing in testing for HIV so that people can get treatment.
They do not do enough to emphasize that real prevention is in educating all people on how to avoid exposure to HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections. Stigma is diminished when teaching all students with respect and without judgment.
Quality sex education should include accurate information on all the ways in which HIV can be transmitted; how to avoid engaging in those activities; or if you do, to protect yourself adequately. It is a low-cost, high-yield strategy. Schools are failing our young people if they graduate without this life-saving knowledge.
Terry Goltz Greenberg, North Dallas
Re: “Voting isn’t sacred, but it’s essential — While pope said it’s a moral obligation, only becoming better people will heal the nation,” by Joshua Whitfield, Sunday Opinion.
As a lifelong Catholic, I salute Whitfield for his column about voting. I totally share his comments about the pope’s recent statement concerning “moral obligation to vote” and would add that the pope should stick to religion and not meddle in other countries’ political events.
His latest statement, “for us to choose the lesser of two evils” when considering whom to vote for in our upcoming presidential election, is pure meddling and a disgrace!
Kevin B. Halter, Aubrey
Re: “Thank you, PolitiFact,” by Kay Wrobel, Sunday Letters.
This letter from Wrobel bemoans what she calls the false narrative of linking Donald Trump to Project 2025, the manifesto created by the Heritage Foundation. Trump himself has said that he hasn’t read it and has no idea who is behind it, although 140 people who worked in his administration have contributed to Project 2025.
He also said that it has some good, some bad ideas. Which story do we believe? Let’s look for some statements that provide a bit more clarity.
Kevin Roberts, president of Heritage, worked on Trump’s 2016 transition team and said that “institutionalizing Trumpism” is their role. Trump himself said about Heritage that, “they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do when the American people give us a mandate. And that’s coming.”
Nothing false or misleading about that narrative. Do I need to mention that JD Vance wrote a glowing foreword to Roberts’ new book, saying it articulated a “genuinely new future”? Clearly, the GOP strategists have told Trump-Vance to disavow and distance themselves until after the election, but their own actions betray them.
Nora Hamill, Lewisville
Explain it to me like I’m 5 years old. How can anyone look at how bad things have gotten over the past 3 1/2 years and say, “Yep, I’m voting for more of this?”
Larry Mendolia, Dallas/Lake Highlands
I worked at a political booth at the Plano Balloon Festival this weekend and discovered a strange irony. Neither party could distribute the wire brackets that support yard signs because they are dangerous. Yet Attorney General Ken Paxton says we can carry guns to the State Fair.
James C. Cargile, Plano
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