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Letters to the editor
Letters submitted to the Taylor Daily Press:
Bird watcher gets to have a close encounter
Editor: Great story. You have heard of the horse whisperer, the dog whisperer ... could there be an animal whisperer, people whom animals are drawn to due to reasons we cannot explain that probably goes deeper than trust and love that they sense? My brother lives (on) Lake Drive. With wheelchair in tow, he sets out each morning while most Taylor residents are still in REM sleep, with Betty, his black lab. Betty’s tail is a waggin’ that early because she knows it means a biscuit and sausage for her at McDonald’s or at Ferrai’s. Then it’s back with a good cup of coffee and sit out in the driveway and enjoy the stillness, the quietness of the early morning. Oh, except for the relaxing tones from our town doves. For the last two weeks, one particular dove has sat on the highline watching my brother, and he the dove. A relationship was building without a word. My brother just called me at work … and said, “Marcia, you won’t belive this.” That dove (he says it’s the same, “I would stake money on it!”) was trying to teach her baby to fly (one) morning as (he) was watching. “The baby bird was obviously having difficulty in flight and landed in the yard. The mama bird, after checking her baby over, started marching over … from the yard to the drive where Betty and I sat, with the little one following her. She stops at my feet and Betty and I both are very still and in awe! “She looks up at me as if to say, ‘Take care of my baby,’ and then she flies away. “After about an hour and the rest of my family coming out to view this phenomenon, I’m out there alone with the baby, and low and behold she swoops down and drops another baby off at my feet!” Being a new resident to Taylor my brother (Floyd Moore) has already heard about the fire ants. So I now get a call for my bird cage just in case mama doesn’t want them — he doesn’t want the fire ants to get them. I told him, “Well, be glad you get the stray birds ... they eat like birds, I get the stray dogs. The word is out in the canine community you will get a bath and hot meal and returned home or she will find you a forever home.” All of this brings me back to my original question: animal whisperer or is there something fowl that took place in his front yard this morning? Marcia Moore Taylor
City probably surprised by ERCOT tax exemption
Editor: When ERCOT was being courted to come to Taylor and received its $1.2 million from our city, I am sure that the City of Taylor was not expecting them to file for tax exemptions in the future (“City could owe tax-exempt ERCOT $2.8 million,” July 3). I suspect they were looking forward to receiving tax revenue from them for years to come. So let me get this straight — we pay $1.2 million for their land and expansion and now have to pay them back all the taxes they have paid since the year 2000? Almost 10 years. Oh, but hey, at least we do get the tax revenue from the 570 employees. Oh, wait, I forgot; most of them don’t even live here. I think even Ali Baba would blush at all this. Shane Allen Taylor
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