Letters to the editor: DA Dan Dow deserves thanks and praise | Opinion

Dan Dow is a blessing

Tom Fulks’ March 4 opinion piece was amusing. He spins Dow’s extra two years into a good thing for his side because it gives them two more years to find a “level-headed opponent.”.

Trust me Tom, if you didn’t find one in the last four years, you won’t find one in the next six! In fact, the term “level-headed” isn’t exactly a common phrase when used to describe anyone on your side of the political aisle.

Fulks mentions the “Tiana Arata legal fiasco” while denigrating Dow. The “fiasco” has absolutely been perpetrated by liberal progressive activist judges. Fulks refers to the “Pastor Dan Act” which was nothing more than Dow upholding the Constitution.

For Fulks to accuse anybody of partisanship is laughable, given the extreme partisanship of the judges’ decisions in the Arata case. One more thing Tom, what is Dow supposed to do about “mental illness, addiction, poverty, and homelessness”? Do you even know what a district attorney’s job is? His job is to prosecute criminals for violations of law. He is not a social worker. Dow is a blessing to the citizens of San Luis Obispo County and we who are actually level-headed are thankful for him.

Jody Langford, Templeton

Train derailments

I know you are aware of the thousands of train derailments in recent years. it is time to take necessary action to prevent these often catastrophic events from occurring. I believe the answer is a scout car (a small, nonpolluting vehicle designed to ride on tracks). This scout car would proceed some distance in front of all trains to ensure tracks are clear and securely in place. There would be a direct line of communication between the scout car and the train engineers following.

Further, trains need to have speed restrictions in populated areas, especially urban areas and towns. Tracks and road beds need to be regularly inspected and well maintained. (I have walked along train tracks and observed railroad ties that were lifted — lots of them).

Finally, a new and better braking system for engines and rail cars should be designed and not only used on new equipment but retrofitted to existing engines and cars.

Robert Matano, Cayucos

Why all the secrecy, McClatchy?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom visits PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant and all you do is cry foul that the governor did not share his schedule. Really? Let transparency begin in your house. Why not tell your customers why your rates have skyrocketed in the past few years? How many customers have you lost due to high rates?

Your poorly written opinion about secrecy speaks volumes about the McClatchy team. Comparing other political figures and how they manage their schedule, who really cares? The last thing our community needs is the media hounding the governor while he is fact-finding. I seriously doubt PG&E would let any media at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant site during such a visit.

And you want Newsom’s take on long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel. As though McClatchy has not been following that story for years! Maybe the media can report on the path to green energy independence. Oh, I’ll be happy to share my schedule with you, be that is hardly newsworthy.

Steven Hamilton, San Luis Obispo

Los Osos Cemetery

I read the Tribune’s Feb. 27 article, “Gophers, weeds and sunken headstones.” I buried my husband at Los Osos Valley Memorial Park last December and purchased my plot next to his. Does this cemetery look like Forest Lawn in Los Angeles? No. But in touring the various burial areas, yes, it looked a bit run down, but not enough for me to want to find someplace away from the town we both love.

One has to wonder about the reasons that are causing the “before” and “after” differences at the park. I have questions for Dignity Memorial (Service Corporation International), the owners:

Did the former owners use poisons to kill the gophers and the present owners are not? Poisoned gophers don’t all die in their holes, and the predator birds and coyotes eating them can also be killed by the poison. (I hope the recently hired gopher removal service does not use poisons.)

Are they negotiating with the county to obtain recycled water from the water reclamation plant just a stone’s throw away? If the owning corporation, Service Corporation International, is not negotiating, why aren’t they? They could reclaim some community trust by doing this.

I found the staff to be wonderfully supportive and helpful to me while making the arrangements for my husband. Dignity Memorial got something right anyway.

Lynette Tornatzky, Los Osos

To stop gun violence change the culture

While there have been many well-meaning efforts recently to address gun violence through regulations, it is unlikely that more gun regulations are going to solve this problem.

In fact, regulations are more likely to spawn second amendment folk heroes who figure out ways to get around them. It would be better to confront and discredit the idea that guns somehow empower us or make us better. The reality is that guns are dangerous and they kill people —they kill more children than fentanyl, and there are now more mass shootings than there are days in the year. There was a time when cigarettes were cool, too, when everybody used them and they were the “in” thing to do. The lead characters in big movies of the mid-to late-20th century were all smoking.

Well, we went after the idea that cigarettes were cool and instead showed they were a dumb habit that was killing us and guess what? Most of us don’t smoke anymore. Cigarette regulations didn’t make much of a dent in smoking, but showing the Marlborough man choking to death on the smoke really did.

Chris Toews, San Luis Obispo