Recalling Modesto’s Kid Guitar and backyard gigs. ‘You were all right.’ | Opinion

Kid Guitar and backyard gigs

From the early 1990s to 2000, Kid Guitar played at three bachelor parties in our backyard. The first time he brought his band, and after that he came by himself. A short time before he played at these parties, his motor home was set on fire and he was beaten up.

He ate with us, drank with us and was paid well. He really enjoyed himself! From that time on he trusted my sons and myself and I am proud of that. After that when I saw him his first comment was “ Hey man, when are you having another gig?” My oldest son filmed the Kid performing at all three parties. We will enjoy watching these films.

Modesto has lost an icon and we lost a friend. You were all right, Kid. We will miss you. Happy trails to you until we meet again!

Steve Pedego, Modesto

Wrong COVID skeptic to highlight

George Will’s column (“A CDC director confirmation hearing?”, Sept. 15, 2023) cites a number of COVID-19 skeptics to purportedly bolster his own critiques of the handling of the pandemic. Among those he relies on is Jayanta Bhattacharya of Stanford, who is also affiliated with the right-wing think tank, the Hoover Institute.

Although Will points out that Battacharya had authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, this does not tell us anything, as Will doesn’t tell us if any of these had anything to do with COVID. What Will doesn’t tell us about his “expert” is that Battacharya in 2020 was claiming that there was no need for lockdowns because, according to him, the estimates of mortality due to the virus was “orders of magnitude” too high. His estimate of the death toll from COVID? “20,000 to 40,000!”

Now that the U.S. has experienced well over 1 million COVID deaths, the evidence strongly suggests that Battacharya’s opinions — and Will’s — on COVID should be disregarded.

David Rockwell, Modesto

Gun rights, GOP and Hunter Biden

My significant other observed that for people who get a rash when any kind of gun-purchase control is even mentioned, Republicans are sure all over Hunter Biden for trying to arm himself.

Jack Heinsius, Modesto

Backing new immigration bill

During my 45 years of pastoral work at Central Baptist Church in west Modesto, it became abundantly clear that the overwhelming majority of neighborhood residents longed for the day when representatives in Washington, D.C. would pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

In 2013, the Senate did pass such a piece of legislation. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives was never given the opportunity to vote. Now, thanks to Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida) and her co-leader, Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), HR 3599, the Dignity Act, has been introduced into the House. It is bipartisan, at this point supported by five Republicans, including our own John Duarte.

Granted, because it is bipartisan, neither side gets everything it wants, but each side does get significant improvement over the current policy — from greater border security to pathways to citizenship. Both sides should agree that passing this reform is better than the “crises” status quo.

I am not naive enough to think that passage of The Dignity Act will be easy — anything but. However, as a retired evangelical pastor, I am assured of support from the Evangelical Immigration Table, World Relief, The National Association of Evangelicals and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

By the way, in retirement, my wife and I have become members of First United Methodist Church in downtown Modesto. Without doubt, the Methodists also long for comprehensive immigration Reform.

Wayne Bridegroom, Modesto

Overdosing is a personal choice

Concerning the current fentanyl epidemic: I know one career that welcomes the change from heroin to fentanyl, and that would be the doctors of our local hospitals.

Why? Because fentanyl, unlike heroin, can be smoked, whereas heroin has to be injected to feel the euphoric effects of it. Thus, I’m sure local hospitals are seeing less cases of skin abscesses, or positive Hep-C and HIV results.

Fentanyl may be a more extreme drug that often results in overdoses, but I’m sure it has cut down on diseases related to intravenous drug use. As an ex-addict myself, I understand all the consequences of using needles. And personally I think the less people use needles, the better. I’m fortunate that I’ve never lost a leg or an arm to a flesh-eating necrosis.

Overall I think that the less people use needles, the better. And if you’re going to use fentanyl, you have to understand that it definitely does kill people. And take accountability for yourself. If I was to have overdosed when I was using, there would be no one to blame but myself. Not Purdue, not my parents, not anyone, but myself.

Alex Hardie, Ceres