In letters: Don’t trust Trump to fulfill promise of North County VA clinic | Opinion

Support a VA clinic in North County

The Trump administration has declared their intent to fire or retire 80,000 employees of the Veterans Administration. They claim that veterans services and benefits won’t be hurt by these cuts and cite the openings of new VA Clinics since Trump took office.

However, these clinics were planned and built by previous administrations. The current VA secretary has not pledged to keep these new clinics open. Here in SLO County, we have been working for 20 years to get a VA Clinic in North County.

Salud Carbajal, Jimmy Panetta and others finally persuaded the VA and SLO County to lease a county building in Paso Robles. This clinic is in the current Los Angeles VA budget — until it’s not.

What we’ve seen since Jan. 20, 2025, is that anything started by the previous administration is automatically “bad for America.” So we should not trust that the VA will follow through on budgeted plans for a clinic in North SLO County.

If you agree that the 14,700 military veterans in our county – the majority of whom live north of the Cuesta Grade – deserve a VA Clinic in North County, then email your support to the Los Angeles VA at VHAGLAPublicAffairs@va.gov

Paul Worsham

Arroyo Grande

Save U.S. Department of ED

The promise of the U.S. Department of Education is that each and every student in our country has the resources and tools to achieve their goals and dreams. As an educator, this is what I have dedicated my life to — that we can inspire a new generation of learners to explore, grow, develop and succeed.

When it was first announced that Trump was planning to shutter the Department of Education, I felt heartbroken. But right now, I am feeling rage to my core. How dare they? How dare they attack children with special needs and children who have experienced bullying and discrimination? How dare they try to privatize that which is a public good?

You shouldn’t have to be rich, able, white, Christian and male to get a good education. A good education is every child’s right as a human being. We must resist the dismantling of Department of Education with everything we have.

Virginia Roof

Arroyo Grande

How about year-round daylight saving?

In response to the person who wants to end daylight saving time and go to standard time for one year, I purpose we try daylight saving time for a year. In California students do not go to school in the dark! Schools start at 8:30 by law. Some at 8 a.m. but most not. Farmers work sunup to sunset so it doesn’t make much difference to them what time it comes up. At least half of the people polled nationwide prefer DST.

George Hanna

Nipomo

That’s a mighty big seal

The author of the article in the March 16 Tribune describing a cruise to the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica states, “to our collective amazement, elephant seals, some weighing as much as 400 tons were lying en masse.” The author or the copy editor should have questioned this critically.

That’s a lot of weight for an animal to bring on shore and move around. A quick internet search suggests that elephant seal females weigh just over half-a-ton and males a couple of tons, with the occasional heaviest at around four tons. Also from the internet, the blue whale is considered the largest marine mammal with weights from 50 to as much as 199 tons. If the author flew on a 300-seat passenger jet, it could have weighed 400 tons fully loaded.

Phil Bailey

San Luis Obispo

DEI is misunderstood

There is a false narrative that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives give unqualified minorities jobs over more qualified white candidates. In reality, DEI ensures that lower-qualified white individuals are not hired over more highly qualified minorities.

For too long, hiring decisions have been based on familiarity rather than competence or merit. Studies show that applicants with “white-sounding” names receive more callbacks than equally or more qualified candidates with “ethnic” names. Women with identical resumes to men’s are offered lower salaries.

These are not coincidences; they are systemic barriers. DEI initiatives do not take away opportunities —they expand them. They ensure the most talented individuals, regardless of race or background, are recognized. Removing DEI does not create fairness; it reinstates old inequalities.

Today, DEI efforts are under attack. Some claim we’ve gone too far, but the real question is: What happens if we do nothing? We lose diverse perspectives, stifle innovation and deny opportunities to those who have earned them. Let’s be clear — this is not about politics. It’s about competence and merit. Let’s commit to DEI, not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary.

Micheal D. Boyer

Pismo Beach

Where’s that efficiency?

Are we efficient yet? More than 60 days into the Trump/Musk/DOGE experiment in remaking the U.S. government, more and more people are unhappy with the short-term results (firings, closed departments, angry allies, ridiculous tariffs, etc.) and nervous about the long-term results.

What if the tariffs really tick off our trading partners and they go elsewhere? What if Trump really doesn’t know what he is doing? He is great at projecting confidence and avoiding responsibility for the obvious errors.

What if he and Musk break something they cannot fix, like the Veterans Administration or the Social Security Administration? How will they restore Americans’ jobs and income they have taken away? What if people fired for “poor performance” can’t get another job? Or can’t get unemployment? The supposed savings that DOGE is announcing daily is not going into a piggy bank. Money Congress already approved cannot be reclaimed until Congress takes action to cut or rescind it. This is called the rescission process, established in 1974. So the end run that Trump has orchestrated around Congress isn’t going to work in the long run. I guess we are not efficient yet.

Rachelle Toti

Arroyo Grande