In letters: Readers react to SLO County protests; response by local police; and COVID

A.G. protest

I was glad to read your coverage of the protest march that occurred in Arroyo Grande Friday. I am grateful for Mayor Caren Ray Russom’s response to the concerns of the citizens, though I found it oxymoronic.

Ms. Mayor indicated she “vehemently disagreed” with Mr. John Hackleman’s decision to post rifles atop the building. However, after the Arroyo Grande Police Department and SLO County District Attorney’s Office review of the facts, Mr. Hackleman was not doing anything illegal.

Ms. Mayor went onto say that that the AGPD was there to protect the rights of all of us, whether the rights were of the First Amendment or of the Second. Though the protest was entirely peaceful, with no injuries or property damage, Ms. Mayor related that, “Those rights clashed yesterday,” however, she failed to explain the clash.

In fact, there was no clash. This event was a fine example of the “well-regulated militia” the founders wrote of in the Second Amendment. Hats off to Mr. Hackleman for recognizing a potentially dangerous situation and taking preemptive action to ensure the safety of his business and employees.

Arthur Whittington, Arroyo Grande

Thanks, protesters

I would like to thank all the passionate and peaceful protesters who showed up for the Black Lives Matter rally in Arroyo Grande/Grover Beach on Friday June 5. I would also like to thank the police departments and city officials who were very supportive of our right of free speech. It was so inspiring to see all the young people who showed up to swell the ranks of us “old folks” who have been protesting on the corner of Oak Park and Grand for four years.

I hope everyone — especially the young — will continue to rally and protest and demand equal justice for all. The future is theirs. They need to shape it and protect our freedoms and our democracy. We, the older generations, must support them. The rally was a multigenerational event including people from age 2 to age 90. The time is now to make our leaders listen and make systemic changes in America. We all need to breathe.

Cheryl Storton, Arroyo Grande

Waste of $160,000

Our SLO City Council has allocated $160,000 the city doesn’t have so they can have some Kumbaya meetings with some students who think this is going to affect change. Most young people dislike the police — even I did as a youth — but as you gain responsibilities and learn life lessons you realize without them life would be chaos.

The police displayed great restraint when protesters attempted to get back on Highway 101, with total disregard for the safety of motorists on the freeway.

Police are an easy target because they enforce the rules. Hiring another consultant, like the dozens the council has already enriched, will again prove fruitless.

Get out and volunteer with the downtrodden, see what the police must put up with. No one is going to teach you compassion or educate you about others. This is something you must learn for yourself.

Terry Mohan, San Luis Obispo

Time for change

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s commentary was an eye opener. As someone who sees a diversified community as a treasure, I was shocked when I realized I answered the questions he asked just like a “white” person.

As much as I have deplored so much of the treatment of black people, have voted for change, have written essays to raise awareness, I heard myself say, “How horrible!” I worried about the protesters not wearing masks. I heard myself wonder why they would damage property in their own community. And all while I sat in front of my TV munching on corn chips.

Kareem did not condone violence that happened in the streets, but with his questions he did impress on me that no matter how I empathize, I cannot feel the pain and fear black people have experienced for way too long.

I’m not living in that burning building. I can only imagine their pain. I appreciate all those who protest in solidarity. The time has come to make systemic change.

Judythe Guarnera, Grover Beach

Count me!

My first protest marches were in the 1960s for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. There have been many subsequent causes. I was delighted at the first Women’s March in SLO when a Cal Poly student announced that she was pleased “…that so many uhm, ahh, old people were there!” So were we. For all of these statements of commitment to a cause it seems to be important to count and report the number of participants.

Now we have COVID19. I intend to be healthy in November so how can I march? Each of my peers I ask has the same response, that they are also in anguish about not marching, unable to be counted. There are too many individuals without masks. Standing close together. Chanting.

So if you are counting the committed for George Floyd and justice, then even though I am in “self-isolation” at home, please count me. In fact, count all of us. We will vote in November.

M. A. Spence, San Luis Obispo

More thanks for protesters

Just to underscore the obvious: Looters and nonviolent protesters have very opposing agendas. The former seek destruction for their own gain; the latter seek justice for the oppressed.

I want to personally thank each of the peaceful demonstrators and the police officers who stand in solidarity with them for equating the demand for social justice and civil disobedience with patriotism.

I also want to acknowledge the daily privileges associated with my own white skin include being primarily seen as an individual (not a representative of my ethnic group). I live a life free of fear that police see my whiteness as justification to murder me. The pandemic of systemic racism grants me protection of police whether I deserve it or not.

Bailey Drechsler, San Luis Obispo

Questions for Mayor Harmon

Have you met privately with Chief Deanna Cantrell and reviewed your concerns? If not, it appears that your publicized concerns are a mere political maneuver to appease your base.

I suggest you would be hard-pressed to find a more progressive and community-oriented law enforcement executive than Chief Cantrell. She and her officers set the standard for professionalism and patience during the protest and subsequent deployment of chemical agents.

To suggest you were completely uninvolved and helpless in the deployment of chemical agents and unable to control your police department is frankly an insult to reasonable and informed people and an amateurish attempt to divest yourself from the sometime unpleasant business of protecting the public and maintaining the peace.

Please don’t attempt to portray yourself as a victim in all this. If this is a task that you find abhorrent, perhaps leading a municipality and police department (after all, you are where the “buck stops”) isn’t the job for you. You can’t, with any credibility, accept praise when your police department does something you find politically favorable but condemn them when they are forced to do something you find politically objectionable.

Gary Joralemon, Arroyo Grande

Where’s the evidence?

Thank you for Friday’s (June 5) editorial; I am happy you ask whether there’s evidence that protesters actually threw water bottles, rocks and so on.

I was right there, facing the “law enforcement line”, and didn’t see anything thrown. Where’s the evidence, particularly as no injuries were reported?

Instead, I submit that the police were the threat to public safety with their pepper bullets and tactic of pushing people down the street. I agree, too, that they could have simply waited it out. And yes, maybe Chief Deanna Cantrell was a bit of a coward by failing to talk to the crowd. There was no danger to her!

And yes, again, one can’t help but think that the decision to turn out in riot gear was unduly influenced by events in cities very unlike SLO.

One last thing: as we walked away from the event, numerous protesters avowed that the event had been peaceful and it was the police who escalated the situation.

Sara Mikkelsen, San Luis Obispo

Protesters vs. rioters

The news reports I hear keep conflating the protesters with the rioters. The protesters are members of the Black Lives Matter movement and their sympathizers. Their aim is to point out to the world that blacks are as important as whites — there should be no difference — and to move the world toward acting on that premise.

The rioters are not members of this movement. They are opportunists, people looking to create chaos and give the Black Lives Matter movement a bad name. They seem to be succeeding.

As events continue to unfold, remember this difference. The protesters and the rioters are different sets of people. Protesters good; rioters bad.

Rosalie Valvo, Morro Bay

Don’t choke people

This is a good rule, because choking people is extremely dangerous. While a good rule for all of us, this is especially important for our police departments, where emotions can be especially intense. Fortunately, this sensible rule is policy in most police departments.

This simple rule was ignored by Derek Chauvin as he choked the life out of George Floyd. He and his partners need to be prosecuted for gross dereliction of duty to protect, sloppy procedure and lethal lapse of plain common sense. Our black communities are understandably outraged by being failed once again. Justice and an effective national response need to be made to stop this continuing nightmare. We cannot kid ourselves that this is an isolated incident. The urgent demand of our black siblings is reasonable and should be a chorus we all back up: Stop killing us!

Ken Hill, Arroyo Grande

Why are protests OK?

For a couple of months we have had severe restrictions on peaceable activities (church, hiking trails, campgrounds, etc.) all in the “interest of public health and safety.”

Now, people are rioting, looting, burning, stealing and in some cases murdering, and many of these events stem from “peaceful protests.” Why are these “peaceful protests” not banned in the “interest of public health and safety?”

Instead, we do nothing and let them run amok, escalating into destructive situations. This country is so upside down now that I fear it is never coming back.

Jody Langford, Templeton

Protests threaten health

I feel compelled to voice my opinion on the protests taking place in SLO. How can we justify, in the name of “rights,” having hundreds of people gather shoulder to shoulder in the midst of a pandemic?

Most of us have spent the last two and a half months giving up our freedom to help stop or at least control this invisible virus stalking us. We have finally started reopening businesses in downtown SLO, only to have traffic impeded by protesters.

These few hundred feel it is OK to possibly give this virus the opportunity to undo all we have fought to do the last two and a half months? And how is it “peaceful” to overtake freeways and put innocent motorists at risk? How disrespectful to our police to carry signs so vulgar they can’t be printed?

This is about more the just George Floyd. I don’t know what it is, but a “peaceful” protest does not end in tear gas, windows being shot out and some of us feeling less than safe in our own community. This has got to end.

T. Doerr, San Luis Obispo

Diversify local government

It’s time to commit to diversifying our mostly white city councils and school boards. They do not represent our whole community and we need all people to be represented. Yes protest. Yes speak out and be heard. And let’s change our districts to better the lives of everyone who lives, works and attends schools here.

SLO County needs to do better.

Alisa Piette, San Luis Obispo

Rein in rock throwers

Those protesting the murder of George Floyd have cause to be angry. But they do not have cause to be violent. The violent actions of a tiny minority detract from the righteousness of your movement, destroy the livelihoods of average citizens and potentially injure innocent bystanders.

The best chance for progress on racial issues (and many other fronts) will come in the presidential election and I believe most Americans will react negatively to the vandalism they see on nightly TV. I watched a youth repeatedly bash a police car with a baseball bat, each swing bringing 10,000 voters to Donald Trump, now portraying himself as a law-and-order bulwark. Many citizens, even those who dislike Trump, will vote for him because they fear lawlessness in the streets.

The great majority on the left must rein in the rock throwers. I don’t mean go out and tackle an arsonist, but first try to dissuade them from violence and, if that fails, to report their intentions to the authorities. In other words, turn them in. If you would thwart the violent plans of right wingers, you are obligated to expose the plans of the dangerous fools on your side.

Bill Rumbler, San Luis Obispo

Heartbroken over killing

I am appalled and brokenhearted by the killing of George Floyd. What about the law that says you are innocent until proven guilty?

Police suspected him but didn’t know for sure that he was guilty and the crime he was suspected of was not violent. He had not injured or killed anyone. Police had him handcuffed and on the ground. He was no threat.

I can only think that the policeman who knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for eight minutes must have felt great hatred for “black men” and this must stop!

The Minneapolis mayor said, “Being Black in America should not be a death sentence.” Racism is not something people of color can change, it must be changed by people like me. I am an 89-year-old white women and people like me must speak out and say clearly this is wrong, this unacceptable, this not the kind of country I want to live in!

Maggie Fertschneider, Atascadero

How Lompoc protested

I’m a teenager living in Lompoc, and I’d like to share with you how we decided to protest the issues involving race in America today. At 8:00 p.m. on May 29, hundreds of our teens took to the streets, not with shouts and violence, but with posters and tape.

We hung countless posters around our town, each dedicated to victims of police brutality, racial discrimination and overall violence as our own silent protest. We understand how tense the country is now, which is why we’d like to try and spread our peaceful message to you, in hopes that it will inspire others to do the same.

Griffin Hanson, Lompoc

This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 3:12 PM.