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Opinion Letters to the Editor for June 9, 2010
Letters to the Editor for June 9, 2010
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Much appreciated To the editor: Not all care-givers are working in the hospitals and health care facilities. We have caregivers taking care of us everyday. During this last long winter, our caregivers included the tireless PG&E crews, who worked in terrible weather to get power to us. Our state and county snow plow crews also worked day and night to keep our roads clear and safe. The mail delivery and newspaper people have a difficult job delivering to us, especially if the boxes are not shoveled out. The garbage disposal companies also have a hard time picking up the cans during nasty winter days. Then we have our personal snow plow people, who work just as hard to keep our driveways open. To add to all these helpful people are our neighbors who keep in touch just in case someone needs help. Now that winter is over (?) I would like to let all those people know how much you are appreciated. Flo Griggs Sierra Village Wait ‘til fall To the editor: In response to Helen Smothers’ May 12 letter regarding the wildflower trains at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park: She brought up an excellent point that wildflowers grown from seed planted in the fall will have a much better success rate. For that reason, the paid and volunteer staff at Railtown and New Melones encourage visitors to take their seeds with them and plant them at home in the fall. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation staff of New Melones for partnering with us to interpret the amazing wildflower show. We are fortunate to have such great recreational options here in Tuolumne County. As our recent wildflower trains attested, visitors are willing to come from far and wide to experience what we have every day. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to slow down and enjoy the wildflowers at Railtown, New Melones, or wherever you happen to be. Kimberly Baker superintendent Railtown State Historic Park Jamestown Repaying a debt To the editor: On May 13, one day before my 70th birthday, I was at the VA Medical Clinic shoveling gravel in preparation for pouring concrete for the memorial we are building there. Granted, I did not shovel all that much gravel. And I had a little help from my good friend and fellow Vietnam veteran, Billy Chamberlain. But I realized how blessed and fortunate I am to be able to just pick up the shovel, let alone use it. I am not in perfect health or condition, but I am able to get around with little or no pain, and on a minimum of medications. I have a great wife, a great family and great projects, like Habitat for Humanity, to be involved in. And to not have to punch a time clock is a blessing in the fullest. I have 26 ½ years of sobriety, a blessing in and of itself. I owe a great debt to this generous, caring community I live in, and am working hard to repay that debt. The Good Lord has shown a liking to me, and I fully accept that what I have comes from him. I pray for continued good health, for our men and women overseas, that this community rebounds from these terrible times, that the homeless will have shelter, the hungry food, and that our leaders, wisdom. God is great and life is good. Looking forward to the next 70. Frank M. Smart Columbia Advance notice To the editor: Re: Fallen Police Officer Memorial Each year Law Enforcement Officers throughout the state of California join together to pay respect to those officers killed in the line of duty. As the daughter of a fallen officer, I would like to thank our local Law Enforcement agencies for their efforts in organizing the memorial observance each year. It is always done with the utmost honor and integrity. I am always surprised that our local Fallen Police Officer’s Memorial in Sonora is not very well attended and I believe it would be if more people knew about it. I did not see a notice in the newspaper or hear about it on the radio. Peggy Graham Smith Sonora Daughter of Sgt. Jere P. Graham, Department of Corrections. End of watch, Aug. 21, 1971. Retroquote To the editor: Although I share many of the sentiments expressed by David Njirich in his May 10 letter to the editor, I must object when it comes to the quotation he attributed to Thomas Jefferson. (“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered”). Jefferson’s distain and mistrust of banking institutions and paper currency is well documented, however the quotation published in this column is what author Ralph Keyes refers to as a “retroquote”: “words placed posthumously in the mouth of a well-known dead person.” I encourage everyone, including the editors of this newspaper, to check your references and not believe everything you receive via your email or other sources. Before you hit the send key, please check the facts at snopes.com. Although we might all wish to believe Thomas Jefferson penned those words in 1802, or at any point in his lifetime, it simply isn’t so, and that, my friends, is the simple truth. Heather Crotty Sonora More paths To the editor: We need more bike and walking paths. Many of us enjoy a nice walk or bike ride on a sunny day. One excellent route is to go from Murphys to Kautz Ironstone Winery. The scenery is the best, and at the right time of the day the traffic is bearable. There should be a walking/bicycle path so that the cars, motorcycles, walkers and bicycles are all safe. This route could be promoted for tourists and locals alike. Why not use Federal Stimulus Money and build a nice path? Another nice road for a bike/walking path would be from Michelson Elementary School to Indian Rock Winery along Pennsylvania Gulch Road. Cars drive fast down the downhill part of the road and it is dangerous for pedestrians and bike riders who have little to no room. Riding and walking at night are even more dangerous. Another spot is along highway 49 between San Andreas and Angels Camp. A few months ago a pedestrian was hit and sent to a hospital because there was not room on the road for him. I would hope that our county can get some federal stimulus money to construct bike paths. Bike and walking paths are good investments in our future and will make our community safer and promote more tourism for our county. Rodger Orman, MD Murphys Being invaded To the editor: I was born in San Jose in 1948, the year my blessed grandmother became a U.S. citizen. She and my grandfather migrated to this country legally in 1920, when she was 20. Initially they were copper miners in Tempe Arizona. After the mine gave out they moved to the Santa Clara Valley, where she worked in the orchards and canneries. She was divorced a few years later. She had five children, and all are very successful in life. To hear the details of her life is to hear tales of work and toil from sun up to sun down. She saved every cent could. She did realize the American Dream. She died in 2006 at the age of 106. She owned three houses in San Jose, plus condos and apartment buildings in Pacific Grove. She was an amazing woman, with unparalleled love and kindness to all she encountered. I’m proud of her and I’m proud of my Mexican heritage. What irritates me to no end is how she is equated with these criminals who violate our borders to the south. I keep hearing newscasters on TV and read articles in newspapers referring to this Arizona law as “anti-immigration.” Arizona is not against immigration or immigrants. Its law is against Illegal aliens. It is so mis-characterized it would be laughable if it didn’t dishonor the memory of my grandmother so much. Was she the last of the breed that built this country? Does immigration now mean you come here undocumented and demand citizenship rather than work for and earn it? Wake up, people. We’re being invaded, and our government appears to be facilitating the invasion. Mark W. Leyva Sonora Alternative D To the editor: An open letter to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors: Your choice of the Mintier-Harnish alternative B/C does not appear to reflect the choice of your constituents, as claimed by the consultants. The “visioning workshops” that I attended were underrepresented by voters and property owners, and dominated by the consultants, facilitators and outside interest groups who packed the workshops to effect outcomes suiting their purposes — namely UN Agenda 21 (Smart Growth). Conversely, Alternative D was the clear choice of the citizens at the well attended April 20 joint session. Consult your constituents for their opinion after they have been advised in writing exactly how the General Plan update will affect their particular property, and a very clear consensus will emerge. I strongly recommend that before acting further on the GPU that you advise every property owner by U.S. Mail how the selected alternative will change the land use designation of his/her property and options for its use. Then set a date for a public hearing before taking further action. Finally, please give Alternative D, the people’s alternative, and its distinct principles, consideration equal to that of the consultant’s vague assumptions. Complying with these requests will demonstrate your willingness to serve those who elected you. Bob Mulvany Murphys |
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