In letters: Hold on, Trib! We should at least consider joining Oceano and Grover Beach | Opinion
Opinion on Oceano was premature
The April 9 Tribune editorial on Oceano annexation by Grover Beach seems premature and the people quoted don’t even live in Oceano. Maybe Oceanoans are fed up with decades of flooding, lack of sidewalks, potholed and dirty streets, and their property, sales and tourist taxes all going to the county?
Joining with Grover could result in Oceano finally having its taxes working for the community in the form of complete sidewalks and streets, police and fire services, more parks and recreation and local control over planning and development, along with a real City Council we elect representatives to that has the ability and willingness to write grants on our behalf, which the county says it has no capacity to do.
Oceano will always have its history and identity. I appreciate Grover Beach officials being open to the idea. Local citizens should have access to more information on the pros and cons in order to inform their opinions. Thanks to Supervisor Jimmy Paulding for raising the question.
Charles Varni, Oceano
Deaths of despair
In the April 14 Tribune I read the opinion article titled “Excess deaths in America are increasing at a shocking rate” about the death rate increasing in a younger demographic. The deaths from despair (suicides and overdoses), vehicular accidents (faster and more reckless driving) and homicides were mentioned.
Then I turned to the next section and saw the movies “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,“Cocaine Bear” and a vampire film listed. If this is an example of what young people are being fed as entertainment today, I wonder if it might have something to do with these grim statistics as they focus on only the evil in this world.
Maxine Riell, Arroyo Grande
Why can’t I buy a justice?
SCOTUS has decided that limiting political contributions restricts our right to free speech — and that corporations, as well as people, are entitled to that right.
Yet corporations are an artificial construct. American corporations developed in the 1790s, around the same time the Constitution was written. There’s little likelihood that the Founding Fathers even gave them a thought.
Congress, over the years, has passed numerous campaign finance laws to limit the influence a donor can “purchase” from a politician. I personally find it quite fitting that an associate justice of the Supreme Court who has consistently voted to not limit contributions also finds it acceptable to receive many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in gifts. I wonder if taxes were paid on those gifts.
Why can’t I buy one of these people?
Because they are not cheap crooks — only the rich can afford them.
This total lack of ethics — reflected in the court’s biased decisions over the last couple of decades — is the reason that I, along with many others, have come to distrust the highest court in the land.
Ron Gottesman, Arroyo Grande
I understand Trib’s delivery decision
I took the pending change in the delivery method of The Tribune — from carrier to USPS — with mixed feelings. Delivery by carrier is a tradition. Both my brothers delivered the Schenectady Gazette on their bikes in the 1950s.
On the negative side is the fact that my mail is delivered rather late — 4 p.m. if I’m lucky. But I read the electronic version of the “paper” so it’s only the puzzles that are delayed. But on the positive side, I understand why you’re doing this. All newspapers are struggling. The last thing I want is to lose my hometown newspaper. Not enough people appreciate it. I wish more people would subscribe to it.
Rosalie Valvo, Morro Bay
Tribune’s ‘dumbest decision’
The April 5 announcement that effective Monday, June 5, the daily print edition will cease being delivered by local carriers in favor of the U.S. mail and to expect arrival the same day is patently ridiculous. C’mon! How is that possible?
I believe I speak for most every print subscriber that reading the paper each morning is the only acceptable means. Who’d want to read at the end of the day when many articles and such are old news? While the e-edition is fine and all if one enjoys reading an electronic display, most print subscribers find printed paper is far easier on the eyes.
This is the dumbest decision ever. If The Tribune intends to go out of business, you’re doing an excellent job.
Abram Perlstein, Los Osos
An ‘existential issue’
A recent opinion piece published in The Tribune goes woefully wrong in saying the climate crisis is not an existential issue and in referring to President Biden as “ignorant” for labeling it as such.
There is no question that human activity, primarily in the burning of fossil fuels since the start of the Industrial Revolution but also in agriculture and deforestation, is causing climate change.
We are already seeing the impact in the form of more severe weather and sea level rise, both of which are affecting the existence of populations of humans, other animals and plants around the world. We need to clean up our act and the sooner the better. We must encourage a wide range of green energy sources including solar, thermal, wind and tidal and reduce use of polluting sources like fossil and nuclear. We also must develop energy storage technologies beyond batteries. Gravity is an inexhaustible power.
John Sherwood, Topanga
The real mental health crisis
Republicans are correct in that “mental health issues remain the root cause of the country’s gun violence problem.”
Because of this position they object to any action that would restrict access to guns. The actual mental health issues is that Republican members of Congress are beholden to the gun lobby and fear rejection from gun-loving MAGA members.
Wake up America and remember this at the ballot box.
Gail M. Lafferty, Paso Robles
