Letters to the Editor

Step Off Galveston

The Gulf’s great: Just returned this morning from a week cruising the Gulf, and it was great to see the sands of Galveston [Night & Day, by Steven Devadanam, June 30]. By the way, these are the same sands that appear in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. While no beach is perfect, the sandy beaches of Galveston are among the best in the Gulf.

Ernie Connor
Galveston

Unnecessarily negative: I was sent an e-mail today from our Historic Downtown Strand Partnership regarding an article in your paper that discussed coming to Galveston as an option for the Fourth of July. However, the article I read was demeaning and unnecessarily negative in its description of the beaches. I am concerned that your paper chooses to present the island in this manner.

Susannah Holmes
Galveston

Cheap shot: Obviously the writer doesn’t know any more about Galveston than he does about the local geography. In reference to the “murky waters of Galveston Bay,” the bay is murky because of all the tributaries and run-off from the Houston area that dumps into the bay. But Galveston Island is a barrier island that sits outside the bay and doesn’t contribute to the condition of that water. As for the “brown ocean water,” the nearest ocean is the Atlantic, which is about 750 miles to the east, so good luck watching fireworks on the ocean from here. What you see from Galveston is the Gulf of Mexico, and unfortunately there are several sandbars on the Gulf side of the island. The waves stir up the sand, and that makes the water brown, but when there are no waves, our water is just as blue-green and beautiful as any west-coast-Florida beach. The “broken glass and dead jellyfish” remark was just a cheap shot. Maybe your writer should come here and help clean up the beach just once. Then he might have a better understanding of and a greater appreciation for the beaches of Galveston. Didn’t your mama tell you that if you can’t say anything nice, keep your opinion to yourself?

Name withheld by request
Galveston