Letters to the Editor 8/26

Partnership services

Some of your readers may not be aware that the Economic Opportunity Commission recently changed its name to Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo. Community Action Partnership continues to provide essential health services that no other agency provides, but they need community help to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children, families and seniors daily.

Some of the many health services that Community Action Partnership offers are:

• Free senior health screenings, instrumental in the early identification of many serious health conditions.

• Reproductive health care clinics that provide free pregnancy prevention services, menopausal services and testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

• A tattoo removal program that removes anti-social tattoos to increase employability, in exchange for thousands of hours of community service.

• Health education and referral for homeless individuals.

• Highly successful teen programs using peer health educators, including teen pregnancy prevention, parent/teen communication, “Teen Mommalogues” and support for teen parents to graduate from high school and enroll in trade schools and colleges.

A Community Action Partnership fundraising letter will soon go out.

I hope every recipient will contribute to help Community Action Partnership help the most vulnerable members of our community.

Julia Miller

San Luis Obispo

Fruits of speeding

Excessive speeding on Windsor Boulevard between Shamel Park and Highway 1 presents a problem that is sorely in need of a solution.

There have been many dangerous incidents recently like car crashes and cars daily exceeding the speed limit by 20 to 35 mph, plus four deer have been hit by speeding vehicles.

The most recent of these irresponsible acts was a spotted fawn being hit. During the day and following morning, the fawn’s mother paced the area, searching for her fawn.

The following day, the fawn was spotted attempting to come out of the bushes, but it could not get to its feet. Pacific Wildlife Care was called and the fawn was placed on a flattened cardboard box and lifted into a van.

The heart-wrenching cries coming from the small creature were extremely difficult to endure. An emergency veterinarian determined that the fawn suffered a broken back and she was euthanized.

All that is accomplished by excessive speeding is endangerment to other drivers and wildlife in the area. Is the time saved speeding worth losing the life of a small deer or a small child? It was terrifying to witness the pain suffered by the small deer, but how much more painful would it have been if it had been a small child?

Reg Welker

Cambria

Brink of disaster

Now the liberal media’s trying to condition us into believing the reason for President Barack Obama’s plunging popularity is that there are problems just too big for America to solve. The truth is America’s problems are just too big for Obama to solve.

Obama holds fiscal responsibility and economic reality in contempt. His sleight-of-hand stimulus packages, bailouts, buyouts and giveaways have conjured up nothing but $4.8 billion added onto America’s debt each day. Obama (not George Bush, not Iraq, not Afghanistan) has brought this country to the brink of financial disaster and his legacy will be one of no jobs, higher taxes and a European, socialist health care system too horrible to contemplate.

People are questioning Obama’s true intentions. Why is it that everything this vacation-obsessed president implements is not only counter-intuitive, but contrary to the majority’s wishes?

Americans feel this is no longer their country. They’re furious with all the arrogance, racism, posturing, lies and the fact that Democrat corruption is the only remaining growth industry.

Nobody expects political perfection in this day and age, but Americans do expect to see some nobility of character and authenticity in a president. This one’s not even close.

Larry Bargenquast

Santa Maria

Back to majority rule

So again, minority rules! Until recently, majority ruled this country and we had better get back to majority rules before we all go down the drain.

Yes, I am talking about Annie. Many people are upset about Annie. So far, only one letter writer agrees with finders keepers, losers weepers.

As to the minority, who are so tired of hearing about Annie, what if Annie were Chuck Hoage’s human daughter?

I look for news of Annie in every edition of the newspaper and I won’t tire of it until Annie is where she belongs, with Hoage.

Phyllis Will

San Luis Obispo

In defense of AB 32

William H. McKenzie’s letter attacking AB 32, California’s clean air and clean energy law (“Global warming,” Aug. 24), is easily refuted with actual facts.

His belief that businesses will flee the state to avoid requirements to use renewable energy is contradicted by the fact that, since the passage of AB 32 in 2006, $9 billion in venture capital has poured into California’s clean tech sector. In 2007 and 2008, when the state’s economy declined 1 percent, the green jobs sparked by AB 32 grew at a rate of 5 percent.

Proposition 23, the oil company-funded ballot initiative to kill AB 32, would snuff out one of the only bright spots in the state’s economic picture.

Definitive studies by the California Air Resources Board and the Brattle Group concluded that minor increases in energy costs to businesses will be offset by increased conservation and energy efficiency measures and that AB 32 “will substantially increase California’s reliance on clean energy sources, dramatically reduce global warming pollution and maintain steady economic growth at the same time.”

As success tends to be imitated, McKenzie needn’t worry about “California acting alone.” Vote “no” on Proposition 23.

Andrew Christie

Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club director

Unlimited taxing

The city of San Luis Obispo is mailing 3,900 letters to property owners who appear to be renting homes without a required business tax certificate and business license. There is a $68 fee for the certificate and a $59 renewal fee for any gross annual income less than $50,000 (“SLO plans to crack down on landlords,” Aug. 3).

This use of an obsolete 1991 regulation is another tool that opens the door for unlimited taxing. This is an administrative nightmare and is a reminder of when crops were taxed by kings during medieval times.

Again, the property owner is treated like an ATM for all conceivable issues. The city is desperate to make up for the absurd salary and benefit increases “gifted to” union employees during this recession. The parking fee and sales tax increases have not met expectations, resulting in present and expected labor cost increases not being totally offset.  

As a consequence, some rentals involving families, friends and confidential referrals will proceed underground. Other rents will increase to offset fees and administrative costs.

A weak city council is not “living within its budget” and negotiating realistic contracts with employees. If not solved, a disgusted public will eventually make changes by vote.

Werner Koch

Cambria

Love ’em? Tag ’em

In the midst of the many vendors at Puttin’ on the Dog, a fundraiser for the Arroyo Grande dog park, was animal services offering microchips for $20.

Thirty-five dogs were microchipped at this event, more dogs than any other time the animal services division has offered this service.

From the popularity of the booth, it looks as if people have gotten more serious about putting identifications on their pets.

No one expects their pet to get out, but it happens all the time. Identification tags and chips are the best insurance policy for your pet to be returned to you.

If you missed this opportunity, don’t fret. Go to animal services anytime it is open and get your pet microchipped for $20! If you love ’em, tag ’em.

Terry Parry

Arroyo Grande

Making it work

It really does not surprise me that San Luis Obispo County has earned the distinction of being the least affordable place to buy a house in the entire state (“Houses still hard to buy in county,” Aug. 24).

The problem is the job market here — it’s terrible. I knew this in 2001 when I turned to The Tribune’s job section and the job pickings were slim even then. If you want to be a ranch hand or a barista with no benefits, great. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.

My sector, technology, is particularly paltry in the county. I keep hoping a tech company will actually move into the optimistically-named “Tech Center” in Grover Beach.

So my husband and I have had to be creative to make things work for the last nine years. He commutes to his teaching job in Orange County (sleeping overnight in a small RV we bought for that purpose) and I have made my own job in the form of a small computer business.

Would life be easier somewhere else? Maybe. Would it be better? No. This is why we stay despite everything. There’s no place else we’d rather be. The trick is finding a way to make it work.

Angela Henderson

Grover Beach