Referees are the true unsung heroes of sports. Let’s celebrate them | Opinion
Unsung sports heroes
As we progress into March Madness, I can’t help but remember the truly great, but unsung, officials I encountered in high school basketball in the mid-1960s. I have great respect and admiration for local basketball (and other sports) officials who provided key examples of leadership and sportsmanship. Most of the officials at that time were underpaid high school teachers, athletic coaches or assistants. But they were “masters of the moment” who knew when to “call the game close” in rivalry matches or to “let the kids play” when blood was not on the line. The officials (such as Ralph Sachs of Atascadero, among others) were superb examples of how to handle high-emotion situations.
I remember one incident in which official Ralph Sachs called me for a technical foul. In a key play against SLO High, I blocked a shot by Tiger Dick Anderson (from the Anderson Hotel clan). It was a clean block! Ralph saw it differently, and I slammed the ball down in frustration when Ralph called the foul. Ralph “had” to call the frustration technical. But on the way back up the court after the foul shot that Dick made, as he always did, I remember Ralph saying: “Life’s not always fair ... let’s see how you deal with it.”
Ralph’s advice has stuck with me to this day. Again, thanks to all the faceless and often maligned officials who give of their time for not much pay to make the game, the players, and the country stronger and enable players to “deal with “ whatever comes their way in life.
Randy Walti, Templeton
Respect Oceano Beach
The recent storms changed the geography of Oceano Beach and Arroyo Grande Creek’s contact point with the ocean. Vehicles are driving in the ocean and beyond the “No Vehicle” signs into the front yards of Strand Avenue’s homeowners and the foredunes that protect them.
The surf and vehicle activity eroded the foredunes and formed a high bank. Vehicles are off-roading on it, changing the natural configuration of the beach and further destroying the foredunes. Before the storms, the staging area for the off-roaders was one mile south of our beachfront. Since the creek crossing moved north, the old staging area cannot be accessed because the creek is running and cannot be crossed. Hundreds of vehicles are packed by the Pier Avenue access ramp making it unsafe for pedestrians to access the beach.
Vehicles were allowed to drive on Oceano Beach to reach the off-road area. Presently, the off-road area is closed. Why are vehicles still permitted to drive and recreate on Oceano Beach? It is not part of the SVRA. The foredunes protect Oceano from sea level rise. State Parks’ use of our beach and foredunes puts Oceano at risk. Nature created the conditions to implement the transition toward no more vehicles on Oceano Beach and Dunes, which the Coastal Commission requested with its 2021 unanimous vote. Why not take this opportunity?
Lucia Casalinuovo, Oceano Beach Community Association
Cambria housing
The article on Cambria’s housing problem is grossly one-sided. It tries to paint the housing crisis as the lack of building permits in Cambria. The truth is that Cambria workers can’t find affordable housing anywhere in the county. Rents are inflated in California, particularly in high tourist areas like SLO County, partly due to the lack of available rentals caused by the huge number of vacation rentals.
Ten years ago I was renting a stand-alone home in Cambria for $1,000 a month. Now the seven listed Cambria rentals are all over $3,000 a month. Triple the cost and you better believe pay has not tripled. A person making $20 an hour will net less than $3,000 a month. Does that make any kind of sense?
Tamara Nichols, Paso Robles
Happy 70th Anniversary!
This note is to acknowledge and congratulate Dan and Ramona Phillips of Atascadero on their 70th wedding anniversary today, April 2, 2023, which is also Dan‘s 90th birthday.
Dan is a Korean war veteran and he has been a barber at the same location for more than five decades and is still open for business today. God bless you, Dan and Ramona, on this special occasion!
Dan and Wendy Dow, Templeton
Pismo parking request
With the new parking striping on Price Street in Pismo Beach, it is even more important that vehicles, especially trucks and vans, pull all the way forward into their parking space and against the curb stop. When they don’t it can negatively impact vehicles traversing the travel lane. Signage to that effect would be a big help.
Jason Gillespie, Grover Beach
Children deserve safe schools
While disturbed parents campaign to restrict and ban information and books from schools and libraries, and politicians enact laws to whitewash American history and eliminate any mention of sexuality or racism, our children are subjected to daily trauma every time they enter their schools.
They are forced to undergo active shooter drills, reminding them that, at any moment, someone could walk in and kill them. We expect them to absorb their lessons and perform well on tests while suppressing the terror that they could be massacred sitting at their desks. This is not just child neglect or abuse. It’s complicity, not only in their inability to think and learn, but in their murder.
“Parental rights” advocates, supposedly working to protect their purportedly delicate children from discomfort, “indoctrination” and “groomers” (pedophile enablers) at school, do nothing effective for their children’s rights to a safe environment. The kids know this. We fret about our children’s poor scholastic achievements and deteriorating mental health, we condemn them to chronic psychological stress, subverting their trust in teachers to tell them the unvarnished truth and trust in their parents to secure a place where their natural curiosity and enrichment can blossom. Shame on us.
David Broadwater, Atascadero
Here’s what kills
Books don’t kill kids, guns do. Pronouns don’t kill kids, guns do. Drag shows don’t kill kids, guns do. Diversity and tolerance don’t kill kids, guns do.
Diane Schuetz, San Luis Obispo
What will future citizens say?
After the demise of civilization as we know it, after the crash of economies and the devastation of cities and shores (due to climate change and/or nuclear weapons); after we are all gone, the survivors who read what remains of our history as they organize new (and reformed) economies and political entities will be shocked to learn that here was a land where the body politic valued lethal weapons far more than it did children.
Imagine that! We hang our heads in shame.
Susan Pyburn, San Luis Obispo
