How to start a letter

BROKEN ARROW â€" To affirm his stance that a proposed border wall is the right move for public safety, one area mayor wrote a letter this week to President Donald Trump.

Mayor Craig Thurmond said he sent the letter â€" in which he writes that as mayor of Broken Arrow he “fully supports” the president’s efforts to build a wall on the nation’s southern border â€" Tuesday before Trump’s address to the nation about it that evening.

“I believe in security, and we have a real crisis on the border,” Thurmond said Wednesday of his decision to write the letter.

Meanwhile, the mayor also participated in a White House conference call Wednesday morning on the border topic, continuing what’s becoming a regular practice for him.

Thurmond said he’s been on five White House conference calls in the last 10 months on various topics, this time with Vice President Mike Pence and nearly 400 state and local officials from around the country.

Thurmond said it was an email the White House sent out on Friday that initially motivated him to write his letter to the president.

That email was appended by an article quoting the sheriff of Yuma County, Arizona, on the crime and other problems faced there from illegal crossings and how border fencing has been a significant help.

Thurmond, a Marine Corps veteran, said he was based in Yuma, Arizona, back in the 1970s. In his letter to the president, he mentioned his service in Yuma, adding how he “saw first-hand the challenges that law enforcement encounters along our southern border, and I will support whatever it takes to make it secure.”

“In Broken Arrow,” Thurmond wrote, concluding the short letter, “our citizens build fences around their homes for protection. Some citizens choose to live in gated communities for security reasons. I believe it is time to deviate from partisan politics and commit to doing what is best for the American taxpayers.”

Thurmond said Wednesday that he’s worked in construction for 40 years, and has “worked with a lot of immigrant workers and I know their importance.”

But public safety must take priority, he said.

He added he wishes officials would move beyond partisanship on the border issue and focus on problem-solving: “In Broken Arrow, we don’t have partisan potholes or waterline breaks. Everything we do is for everybody â€" to solve problems.”

Thurmond said he’s received a couple of emails about the letter that “disagree with my position.” But most Broken Arrow residents, he believes, would agree because they support public safety.

In addition to the conference calls, Broken Arrow leaders have been invited to the White House in person four times, the last visit in October to discuss housing, Thurmond said.

The first visit was through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and from there “somehow we got on the short list,” Thurmond said.

He said the city of Broken Arrow is “very proud of its relationship” with the White House, adding that “the people I’ve met in this administration are very focused on helping America’s cities with their problems.”