Letters to the Editor 9/18

No endorsement given

I am writing to correct a statement made in your Sept. 16, 2011, article, “Pismo councilman considering run for county supervisor seat.” Contrary to what was stated in the article, I did not endorse any of the candidates in the 2010 4th District Board of Supervisors race.

As a former county supervisor, my door is and always has been open for any potential candidate wishing to talk to me about the intricacies of being an elected official. As noted in the article, I did recently meet with Pismo Beach City Councilman Ed Waage, just as I met with all of the 2010 candidates for the 4th District.

Katcho Achadjian

Assemblymember, District 33

Welcome back, Cal Poly

San Luis Obispo greeted several thousand new and returning students Monday.

Tuesday morning, my family and I were greeted by overturned trash cans and a trail of vomit down our street, one block from campus.

It seems that our new and returning students may have forgotten to pack the most important item: respect.

Welcome back, Cal Poly!

Stephanie Conner

San Luis Obispo

Bag ban is a silly idea

My brother once told me that if an I.Q. test were required to be a county supervisor, there wouldn’t be any. Banning plastic bags is about as significant as having a bake sale to save the world.

These people must let their hired help do their grocery shopping for them because if they played out the scenario, it would be obvious that plastic bags have a very important place in our economy.

Paper bags are cumbersome; they fall apart. We already tried them and replaced them with a more efficient bag.

I can hang five plastic bags from one hand. Can you imagine some senior citizen walking home from the grocery store carrying five paper bags?

Bring your own bags? What if you don’t have any or enough? Then you have to stretch your tiny Social Security check to cover the cost of bags. Hey, 10 cents is nothing to you, but maybe for the rest of us not so rich, it is.

If you really want to protect the environment, stop issuing building permits, cutting down trees and covering our county with asphalt and concrete. Jim Vint was right (letters, Sept. 16). All the valid reasons to scrap this silly idea that Vint mentioned probably never occurred to you.

Wayne Roberts

Oceano

Rein in unruly dogs

I had just returned from a training session with my 7-month-old golden retriever puppy. She was on a training lead when I noticed a woman with two unleashed dogs. I asked her to please restrain her dogs because I was training my puppy.

I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when here came her Jack Russell terrier with hair raised and teeth bared nipping at my puppy! I yelled at the dog to get away, my heart pounding wondering if the other dog was going to join in the fun.

What happened next? If you guessed that she apologized and leashed her dogs, you would be incorrect. She called me the “b-word” … several times.

What in the world are people like that thinking? Am I at fault for having my leashed dog in the way of her rude, off-leash dogs? This is not the first time something like this has happened, and always the other person blames me!

It is inappropriate, aggressive behavior for people to let their dogs behave in this manner, and unfair to those of us who obey the leash laws with our dogs. Please be respectful of others.

Tamara Doerr

San Luis Obispo

Shame on Robertson

What a shame to read of Pat  Robertson’s comments that “divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable” (Sept. 15). When so many look up to him as a person of God, filled with compassion and love, for him to be so callous and uncaring is beyond belief. His statement that Alzheimer’s “is a kind of death” may be true, but one doesn’t just throw away a loving spouse like a dirty rag because they are no longer healthy!

I lost two wonderful and loving wives to this dreaded disease. Both of them had been good and faithful wives and mothers. But when they were hurting, they each needed special love and compassion from a loving (truly loving) husband — not to be rejected and tossed aside.

I hope that Mr. Robertson thinks over his statements and shows more love and compassion for those stricken with this horrible disease.

Nelson Jones

Los Osos

Los Osos a great town

I can’t concur with Terry Mohan’s assessment of the current state of the city of San Luis Obispo. During my life, I’ve lived in Fresno; Ogden, Utah; Weed, Calif.; Sacramento; Rancho Cordova; San Antonio, Texas; Rantoul, Ill.; Fresno (again); Weed (again); and … now Los Osos (for the past 24 years … the longest time I’ve lived in any single community). I’ve found this city (and county, in general) to be the healthiest place I’ve ever experienced. If you don’t like this area, I suggest a road trip to see what it could be like elsewhere. This city is alive and well, thank you very much.  

Lee Ferrero

Los Osos

Risk of germs

Has any Integrated Waste Management Authority board member spoken to public health officials on the sanitary implication of reusable bags? Who is going to be responsible for the spread of germs from house to car to store?

I am all for recycling and benefitting the earth, but at what expense to health? Recent articles have shed light on the lack of food safety. I wish more research would be done before an attempt to appear green puts us all at risk for more illness.

Hope Whitehead

Grover Beach