Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Sound Off

Sound Off: July 8, 2025

By Sun Herald
Authorities search for victims among the rubble near Blue Oak RV park after catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday, July 6, 2025. When catastrophic floodwaters surged through Kerr County last week, there were no sirens or early flooding monitors -- instead, there were text alerts that came late for some residents and were dismissed or unseen by others. (Jordan Vonderhaar/The New York Times)
Authorities search for victims among the rubble near Blue Oak RV park after catastrophic flooding on the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, on Sunday, July 6, 2025. When catastrophic floodwaters surged through Kerr County last week, there were no sirens or early flooding monitors -- instead, there were text alerts that came late for some residents and were dismissed or unseen by others. (Jordan Vonderhaar/The New York Times) JORDAN VONDERHAAR NYT

Sun Herald readers weigh in on local and national topics.

Texas flooding

It seems that the catastrophic flooding and resulting loss of life in the Texas area represents, at least in some part, a failure of the weather warning system in that area as there is a long history of flooding there. At a distance, its hard to understand how something like this could have happened.

NWS

Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd blamed the National Weather Service for failures in warning about the flood threat ahead of time. Gosh, I can’t imagine why the NWS would have failed in this instance. Has President Notmyfault blamed the Biden administration yet?

Bad things happen

The tragedy in Texas is awful, but seeing Republicans and Democrats race to blame the other side is nearly equally as sickening.

Teacher pay

I love comments on education from people with no experience. Education is not a private business. When a product (child) has learning difficulties you don’t get to remove them. Maybe we should start at the source supplier (parents). If you have no experience in the field you are basically going into NASA and telling them how to build a rocket with no engineering skills.

Pay them more

Having sent two children through the public school system, I can honestly say that whatever teachers are being paid, it isn’t nearly enough.

Brain drain

If Mississippi wants to stop its brain drain, it should stop doing stupid things, such as having Confederate Heritage Month.

Get to work

Enough with the crying about how horrible the Republicans are. Medicaid expansion is nothing more than Obamacare renamed for freeloaders. Get a job and get to work.

Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com.

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