Are Moms for Liberty breaking the law if they keep SLO County students home? | Opinion

You call that liberty?

I was appalled to read in The Tribune that a local group, “Moms for Liberty,” has devised and is threatening to carry out a cynical method to force compliance with their mandates for restrictions — that run contrary to our state laws — within our local school districts. These parents are considering keeping their children home for a day each month to put financial pressure on districts that receive funds based on attendance.

Besides depriving their own children of the benefits of education, they seem to overlook the legal aspect: Not attending school without a legitimate reason constitutes truancy, for which children and their parents can be penalized. By what appears to me to be blackmail, the “Moms” dismiss students, teachers and staff that would be denied the funding they are due, and critically need, to provide equal education for all our students. How is this liberty?

H.K. Davie

Templeton

‘Pothole Paso’

Can you address the city road repair plan?

Residents have significant complaints voiced on NextDoor. Councilmember Fred Strong has tried to address the issue, but the complaints continue and Paso Robles has been dubbed “Pothole Paso.”

For example, partial funding for the controversial pickleball court was reported to come from the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) and could have been used to fund road repair.

Also, could all or some of the native plant installation funds have been used for road repair?

Dee Shaw

Paso Robles

Commendable step for Paso

Though I’m not a San Luis Obispo County resident, I know California homelessness well — I once raised my daughter while unhoused here.

Today, I’m a documentary filmmaker, national advocate and founder of a homelessness awareness campaign working to spark systemic change from the ground up. Paso Robles’ hiring of a Homeless Services Manager is a promising and commendable step, but to be truly effective, this role must reflect more than policy knowledge. Those who’ve navigated housing insecurity firsthand must help inform this role.

Homelessness isn’t monolithic. I often speak of three broad classes: the working poor staying in motels or vehicles, those cycling through short-term programs and individuals in more visible crisis, often in encampments. Too often, public conversation focuses only on the latter, while families striving for stability remain overlooked and underserved.

In communities where lived experience helps shape decisions, the solutions are more equitable, inclusive and impactful. I urge Paso Robles to ensure the voices of unhoused and formerly unhoused individuals are part of the process.

I’m open to sharing what I’ve learned if my perspective can contribute to a more inclusive approach. Homelessness isn’t just a political issue—it’s a profoundly human one.

Eric Protein Moseley

Richmond

Coincidence?

Dave Hovde announces his retirement, and the skies are cloudy for three days after.

Coincidence? I think not

Jan William Simek

San Luis Obispo

Distorted meaning

Stephanie Finucane distorts the meaning of the definition of antisemitism in her April 13 column. While I do not support deportations without due process, the fact that the government is opportunistically using it doesn’t mean the issue isn’t real.

As Finucane writes, “Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic” but appears to ignore the phrase “similar to that leveled against any other country.”

Far worse instances of the same alleged conduct have occurred since Oct. 7, 2023, and there have been precisely zero protests at Cal Poly. Not against the genocidal attack on native Africans in Sudan, the murder of Alawite Syrians by the new Syrian government, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam.

In other words, almost no one is leveling “similar” criticisms against Israel. Now that Trump has done this, Jewish students are left in the lurch. Efforts to protect them will be dismissed as incipient fascism. If universities want to show Trump’s moves have nothing to do with antisemitism, perhaps they should simply exert 1% of the effort they did protecting other vulnerable minorities on Jewish students, and then point out how that differs from what Trump is doing.

Jon-Erik G. Storm

Los Osos

Harvard’s refusal

Donald Trump’s requirement that Harvard University comply with his DEI guidelines or lose federal funding came out of Hitler’s playbook. He was demanding that he would dictate what Harvard would teach; how professors should think; and what students should learn. Harvard refused to capitulate to Trump’s fascist demands. Trump lost his war to control the minds of the American people.

Jim Huchthausen

Nipomo

Are you happy?

I hope that all the voters who elected Trump are happy with the price of groceries now. They must have believed the lie that he could lower them. Unfortunately, our tax money is going elsewhere — including to a nasty prison in El Salvador.

It is embarrassing that the USA, once a world leader in civil rights, is responsible for the arrest and deportation of men assumed to be Venezuelan gang members based on their tattoos. And the U.S. is paying for their imprisonment in the worst conditions where torture is used.

I urge all citizens to contact their elected Congress members and demand them to use their power to reverse this deportation and misuse of power and our money.

Janet F. Langton

Templeton

SLO’s questionable priorities

Who are we as a city and what are our priorities? As The Tribune recently reported, Bang The Drum Brewery will be evicted all because their corporate landlord has not completed repairs and let the property languish. Per the city manager at the April 1 City Council meeting: “The property owner has been working…for several years, and anybody who’s visited in those years I’m sure has noticed it’s been in a constant state of non-completion. We’ve been working with the property owner, trying to urge them to bring the site into compliance and make it safe.”

So they’ve been “working with the owner for years” and been stonewalled. Now a thriving local business will be forced to move because the council says the property is unsafe.

But wait! At the same meeting, Kylie Davis spoke about how she and other neighbors recently worked to trim their trees, including those of their 80-year-old neighbors. They thought they were doing good in their community, only for her to receive a nearly $30,000 fine from the city for violating MC 12.24.170.

Policy reflects priorities. So who are we? Shouldn’t we protect small businesses from irresponsible corporate landlords as quickly and forcefully as we protect our trees?

Garrett Philbin

San Luis Obispo

Landfill or agricultural grading?

For several years, Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg has renewed an agricultural grading permit for the same location as the greenwaste facility application, which went down to public outcry in 2016 on the Perozzi Ranch.

No one thought neighbors would object to a “heaping mess” of toxic greenwaste near our homes, but we did. Thankfully, Kompogas came to the rescue.

Currently this site is importing foreign construction dirt in excess of 120,000 cubic yards per year. No one from the county is monitoring volume or testing soil as up to 50 dump trucks daily are tearing up Johnson Avenue and Tank Farm Road on their way to 4400 Orcutt Road. Nor is the city is collecting use fees for this wear and tear.

Where is Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg’s concern for trust and openness in government when a landfill is operating on a ministerial ag permit? Are the smoke stacks at Morro Bay next for importation?I understand our county policy of right to farm activities. Where is importation of thousands of cubic yards of foreign soil (without testing) which is graded and pushed by bulldozers, spreading soil, creating dust and covering rangeland an “agricultural” necessity?

Mary L. Johnson

San Luis Obispo