Letters for October 28, 2010

Back to community

Re “Nucleus of expertise” by Rachel Leibrock (SN&R Best of Sacramento, September 30):

I suppose you typically receive letters regarding rants and complaints from people who simply want to get their voice and opinion heard. I wanted to write to say thank you, instead, for your piece on community and having a network of friends.

Initially, I was captured by the craving for the delicious food you described so vividly and the camp life that I miss so much, but I kept reading because I saw that you presented something we all long for as human beings. I have somehow been fortunate enough to be a college student, and as one, I understand what you mean when you talk about this “informal network of go-to people,” because I’m surrounded by them. I live in an apartment-townhouse complex with many houses occupied by my friends. Yet this communal sharing of things doesn’t exactly happen; we still have our own things, our own meals.

Everything is individualized in America, the land of the me, myself, and I; of choices, and of the personalized … everything. I was talking with a young artist at the Davis Farmers Market one evening, we conversed about these things. He revealed to me his hunger for closeness with a group of people and spoke of the difficulty to find a sense of belonging once you graduate and are thrust into the world.

Yet Rachel Leibrock’s message gives me hope, and I do see this grassroots “return to togetherness” and breaking out of our personal shells that has begun to grow on many of us. I have seen churches create directories of skills and businesses, finally showing understanding of how the early church was, as described in Acts 4:32.

Reading this [essay] has made me want to bring this idea of sharing and community to all the various groups I’m a part of.

Amanda Hoang
via e-mail

Know what the school ‘reformers’ are about

Re “Who will fix our schools?” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Feature, October 21):

To read more about the so-called “school reform movement” espoused by The Broad Foundations, Bill Gates and [Mayor] Kevin Johnson, read the best-selling education book in decades, written by a former U.S. assistant secretary of education and supporter of No Child Left Behind, Diane Ravitch. Her book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education, is a real wake-up call to parents and taxpayers. You can also read her blog—just Google her. Another informative website is http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com.

As a parent, a taxpayer and a supporter of our public schools, I urge everyone to become as informed as possible on this very important issue. That is also why I am supporting Ellyne Bell and Jeff Cuneo for the [Sacramento City Unified] school board. We need a school board that is not in anyone’s pocket and who will act independently in the best interest of our children, not corporations or politicians.

Linda Buzgheia
Sacramento

Arden Arcade is not Sacramento

Re “Vote with us!” (SN&R Opinion, October 21):

I’d always considered SN&R to be heavily slanted to the left. Fair enough. But I’d also considered you somewhat intelligent in your assessments. Strange to see that has gone completely out the window in your disendorsement of Measure D.

Arden Arcade is not, and has never been, considered part of the city of Sacramento, except by the city officials who are already planning how to use the revenue provided by annexation to solve their budget woes. We are a separate community, with a separate identity, just like Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights.

SN&R used to stand up for the little guy. So sorry to see you have sold out to the politicos and special interests who are trying so hard to keep our neighborhoods stuck in the mire. The wealthy fighting this have feathered their nests, and don’t give a crap about the people who will have a better quality of life through incorporation.

Oh wait, I forgot. All these massage parlors that surround my home advertise in your paper. My mistake. As usual, it’s just all about the money, isn’t it?

Ed Dickey
Arden Arcade

Lame endorsement

Re “Vote with us!” (SN&R Opinion, October 21):

Well, just when I thought SN&R was a true alternative “news” source in Sacramento, your “endorsements” are published and clearly show that you have done no independent editorial review of candidates for most offices, and most notably for local races.

Example: [Deborah] Ortiz for Los Rios Trustee? Even The Sacramento Bee saw through this lame attempt by this career politician to boost her post-Senate retirement by running for this spot!

You can all do better than this on important issues. I mean, come on, Ken Barnes is at least a guy who actually wants to work for our local community and is not running just to jack up his pay at the cost of Californians’ stretched tax dollars. Lame. Quite lame!

Richard Franklin
Sacramento

Bravo for that blog

Re “Can your blog do this?” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Frontlines, October 21):

Two thumbs up for David Greenwald and The People’s Vanguard of Davis for making the public aware of what seems to be a corrupt part of Yolo County’s jurisdictional system.

Ron Rozalski
West Sacramento

Stop the decline

Re “Vote with us!” (SN&R Opinion, October 21):

It is important that voters learn the truth about Measure D: A “no” vote is a vote for deteriorating services from the county. That’s because the county is broke, so by letting the county continue to be in control of our tax dollars, we will see a further decline in the quality of life and safety in Arden Arcade.

Voting “yes” on Measure D means that the residents of Arden Arcade will have an opportunity to turn things around, stop the decline and have a better community. Also, by becoming our own city, we can stop the dysfunctional city of Sacramento from taking control of Arden Arcade.

Carl Burton
Sacramento

What’s he hiding?

Re “Can your blog do this?” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Frontlines, October 21):

I am not clear from the article whether Mr. Greenwald’s request to District Attorney [Jeff] Reisig for information on the grant was an informal request or a formal request pursuant to the Public Records Act.

If it was informal, then Mr. Greenwald, as well as other concerned citizens of Yolo County, might want to make a request under the PRA. DA Reisig would be obligated to respond within a specific time frame. If he refuses to provide the information, then he would have to provide his legal basis for the refusal.

If, on the other hand, Mr. Greenwald has made a PRA request, then the DA, by not responding, is in contravention of the PRA law.

There certainly is a lot of bluster on the part of Reisig, and unless he has something to hide, why doesn’t he provide the public with the requested information? Also, I would think the state or federal agency to whom the grant was given might have an interest in the allegations of Mr. Greenwald.

James G. Updegraff
Sacramento

Another place to calm down

Re “Calm down” by Nancy Brands Ward (SN&R Feature, October 14):

We noticed the SN&R piece on meditation and wanted to let your readers know that we have a long-established teaching center for meditation in Rancho Cordova.

Ananda is one of the oldest and largest centers for meditation training in the Sacramento area. People from every walk of life have learned to meditate in Ananda classes over the past 20 years. A two- to three-week class series is offered every month on Wednesday nights starting at 7 p.m. See www.anandasacramento.org, or call the center at (916) 361-0891.

Sabari Clark
spiritual co-director

Fighting abortion is a badge of honor

Re “To the extreme” by Kel Munger (SN&R Frontlines, October 14):

As Phil Collins once sang, “We always need to hear both sides of the story.”

Kel Munger states, “Pugno has actively spent most of his professional life fighting against abortion.” Munger fails to appreciate that she has just paid Andy the ultimate compliment. From an eternal perspective, “fighting” the holocaust of abortion, the real war American is engaged in, is a high and holy calling. Andy, and all activist pro-lifers, put a smile on the face of God, who is clearly pro-life.

Why do pro-choice individuals fail to understand the scientific, biological and medical fact that every abortion kills a living child? Ask an abortion doctor. They understand they are killing a human being! Yet Munger feels compelled to call Andy “extreme” because he stands up for the sanctity of life and against our current culture of death, which kills well over 1 million American children every year. Oh, the horror in my heart!

Munger criticizes one of the most honorable organizations in the area, the Sacramento Life Center. We all should be applauding the SLC for playing a major role in saving a significant number of young children from the executioner, and for providing invaluable services to mothers who are hurting, and sometimes considering a decision that will kill one person and leave the other forever wounded.

The truth is that Andy Pugno, and the Sacramento Life Center, are real American heroes who understand ending abortion is the civil-rights movement of our generation.

Terry McDermott
Sacramento

Keep those spokes close

Re “The spokes-man” by Raheem Hosseini (SN&R Frontlines, October 7):

“I think everyone that has had a bike has had one stolen.” Not necessarily. I’m 52 years old, have three bikes and have been an avid cyclist since I was big enough to ride, but I’ve never had a bike stolen!

My secret? If it’s not something I want to risk losing, then I don’t let it out of my sight. So I ride a clunker around town and lock it up when I go inside a store, whereas my road bike and travel bike never leave my sight.

Kari Logwood
Sacramento

Correction

In last week’s story, “Who will fix our schools?” (SN&R Feature, October 21), we mistakenly wrote that school board candidate Paige Powell had been endorsed by The Sacramento Bee. In fact, that distinction belongs to her opponent Ellyne Bell. SN&R regrets the error.