Forum Letters: Gavin Newsom needs change and Crucial local reporting
Focus on California
“California may ban African hunting trophies. How Black Lives Matter has altered the debate” (sacbee.com, Aug. 3):
As a 29-year-old California Game Warden veteran and as former President of the California Fish and Game Wardens’ Association, I must voice my opposition to Senate BIll 1175.
This bill seeks to outlaw California hunters from importing or possessing select African animal species they lawfully harvested in African nations. While regulated hunting is a critical tool to balance wildlife populations with habitat, this bill would take time and resources away from California Game Wardens’ mission to protect our native wildlife. California already has one of the lowest numbers of wardens per capita of any state. This bill, which will also divert millions of taxpayer dollars to enforcement, would pull wardens from the important duties of managing California’s natural resources and would also keep them from the pursuit and apprehension of wildlife poachers.
California legislators should let African nations manage their own wildlife and focus on protecting California’s own wildlife resources instead.
Jerry Karnow Jr.,
Rough and Ready
Crucial local reporting
“Sacramento County treats its coronavirus problem by funding police. That’s malpractice” (sacbee.com, Aug. 12):
Marcos Bretón’s excellent report on misspent COVID-19 pandemic funds is a prime example of points made in Margaret Sullivan’s book “Ghosting the news: local journalism and the crisis of American Democracy.”
Local reporting such as Bretón’s is crucial for holding county supervisors accountable for their actions. We need more reporting like this.
But I fear that now that ownership of The Sacramento Bee will be passed to a hedge fund, we will have less of it.
Mona Knight,
Sacramento
Mail-in election solution
“Is California ready for a mail-in election? Democrats are worried about two ‘wild cards’” (sacbee.com, Aug. 13):
President Donald Trump is doing all he can to put doubt on the election in case the polls are right and he loses in November.
Not only is he making false and misleading statements, he is trying to sabotage the United States Postal Service by not only refusing to increase funds, he is actually reducing funds to attempt to make sure a problem exists. I have a suggestion for California, and other states. Increase and publish ballot drop off locations throughout the state so that it is more accessible for voters to drop off their ballots instead of using the USPS.
I’m sure that President Trump and his cronies would suggest that it is not secure to have drop off locations so it would be imperative to have very secure access and storage.
Bruce Henline,
Sacramento
Install solar, avoid blackouts
“After second night of rolling blackouts, will there be more? The threat climbs with temps” (sacbee.com, Aug. 15):
Californians are fortunate that thousands of homeowners were smart enough to have solar panels installed on their houses.
This added electrical generating capacity is critical during peak demand hours to power air conditioning for their neighbors. The many individual home solar outputs also buffer the grid and reduces the chance of blackouts. We seemingly can do nothing about the coronavirus but we can add more power generation to the electrical grid with solar panels on our roofs. My own home installation did not cost PG&E a single cent but they, along with their residential and commercial customers, benefit from the power it generates.
To me it is a no brainer to put solar on the roof of one’s house.
Bruce Stenman,
Prunedale
Gavin Newsom needs change
“‘Patience is wearing thin.’ Year of misfortunes tests Gavin Newsom’s political standing” (sacbee.com, Aug. 16):
Perhaps Gov. Gavin Newsom can explain why we have a California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) whose director and employees have had hundreds of hours of pandemic preparedness training, yet were not prepared for this pandemic?
Also, the director and employees of the Employee Development Department were not prepared for an emergency as well. As a California taxpayer, I feel betrayed and I am outraged. As a democrat, I know who to hold responsible.
As a veteran, I suggest Gov. Newsom make some changes at the top and quickly.
Anthony Lucas,
Folsom
Quotas aren’t effective
“AB 979 would put people of color on corporate boards in California. It deserves support” (sacbee.com, Aug. 19):
In your editorial “AB 979 would put people of color on corporate boards in California,” you applaud California’s proposed racial quotas for corporate boards and describe criticism of the quotas as “almost laughable.”
As the woman quoted, I disagree with your characterization of my comments. You seem to think that I was implying that there are no racial injustices plaguing America, and quotas are therefore unnecessary. That is not so. As I stated to your reporter: quotas are not the best, or a constitutional, way to go about achieving equal opportunity. In fact, they put equal numbers over equal opportunity. In my opinion, we should address systemic problems rather than imposing quotas, which are arbitrary and require people to make hiring decisions on the basis of a person’s skin color or gender. “Equality” means treating people as something more than their immutable characteristics.
Quotas reduce people to those traits.
Anastasia Boden,
Sacramento
