Letters to the Editor 12/8

Pointless police logs

What is your emergency? I sincerely hope it’s not a grey goose sighting in a WalMart parking lot, an older (obviously drunk) woman slapping men in a night club, or the frequent and repulsive mention of people “doing their business” in public places. Come on, people!

The police logs from Pismo and SLO are the source of this pointless effort to, what? Entertain the readers? Frankly, I’m offended. The fact that The Tribune has decided to give premium placement, usually on the front page of the Local section, to report these incidents (and try to inject humorous headlines) is an irresponsible use of editorial space, especially because the exact street addresses are published in the column. That’s a privacy issue in my opinion!

As a writer, I value and appreciate the publication that I am involved with because it serves the community with useful information and interesting stories.

Reading about public displays of bad taste, inappropriate behavior or a possum walking in circles on a playground may be interesting to some people. But I read a newspaper to be informed and educated. I’ll just bet that most of the people who are calling the police (and wasting the dispatcher’s time!) with their “emergency” rarely read a newspaper!

Millie Drum

Paso Robles

The one-fifth against

Bob Cuddy’s Dec. 4 column, “Some think fairness is just so unfair” has merit, but it is also too fair toward the nihilists, anti-civilizationists and government haters who now comprise the Republican Party.

Cuddy writes, “I personally believe that those who are pushing this ballot initiative are not mainstream GOP; they are imposters who have hijacked the party.”

Problem is, these radical absolutists are the base and the power elite of the current GOP. Gore Vidal observes, “These (Republicans) are the small-town enemies of everybody. They just dislike everyone.”

These are not your grandparents’ Republicans like Eisenhower and Dirksen, Bob, those “fairminded” mainstreamers who “believe in our system of government.”

This new GOP proclaims to detest government, thinks democracy is a joke, the Constitution is “just a piece of paper,” and compromise is a dirty word.

Bobby Kennedy once noted, “One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”

That’s who these current Republicans are, Bob, and I don’t think I’m being unfair.

Joseph Rank

San Luis Obispo

A sweet gesture

I just wanted to write to you to show my appreciation to a young lady named Ellie. Recently, Ellie came by my place here in Morro Bay and gave my husband, Don, and me a small baggie with lemon almond biscotti that she had made herself. She was very sweet and we thought that we would show our appreciation by writing this to you. Thank you for your time.

Evelyn Plymale

Morro Bay

Help shelter animals

It is the season of giving and dogs and cats on the Central Coast really need your support. Of all the dogs and cats euthanized last year by Santa Barbara County more than 77 percent came from the Santa Maria area. In spite of all their great work at the county of Santa Barbara Animal Services facility on Foster Road there are simply too many animals and not enough space.

The Santa Maria Valley Humane Society is now building a new no-kill shelter and spay neuter clinic at 1687 W. Stowell Road in Santa Maria. Once completed, this project doubles our ability to shelter animals and doubles our surgical space to prevent animal pregnancies.

At the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society we take in owner relinquished animals from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. As space permits, we transfer animals from county shelters, helping prevent their overcrowding and possible euthanasia.

You can help. Every dollar counts in saving the lives of innocent animals. In order to move from our current small facility on Black Road to this larger facility we still need $600,000.

Visit http://www.smvhs.org or call 805-349-3435 today.

Claire C. Sheehy

Board president, Santa Maria Valley Humane Society

Whose free lunch?

Why don’t we give our prisoners the responsibility of working and/or paying for their food, and let schoolchildren receive the free lunch?

Alisha Enns

Santa Margarita