Letters to the editor | Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020: Murals to be legacy for Modesto’s 150th

Murals to spruce up Modesto for 150th

Modesto is turning 150 this year and it’s time to party hearty. Let’s paint the town — literally!

Members of the city’s Sesquicentennial Planning Committee are looking to bring beautiful public art to to celebrate. We love the concept of painting murals throughout the town because they will live on long past birthday cake and parties. Plus it’s an opportunity to beautify this city we all call home.

We will catalog public and private properties for mural spaces. Funding is needed to purchase paint, priming and preserving the art, and incidental costs, as well as potential compensation to recruit celebrity muralists and local artists.

Did you know that not a single mural has had graffiti defacement? That’s a major sell for property owners. Sponsors’ names will go on each mural they finance — a lasting testament to their generosity. All contributions may be tax-deductible.

We are firming up the final scope. At the very least we will do 20 Murals for 2020 but we hope to achieve 150 Murals to Celebrate 150 Years.

Please reach out if you are interested in supporting through a contribution or donating a mural site for consideration (high visibility is important). Email: Modesto2020Murals@gmail.com.

We ignore God at our peril

In a world where NARAL buys off one political party and the NRA buys the other, we might ask ourselves what is the greatest chance of peace and personal happiness for humanity. We have always had the autonomy and freedom that we seem to cherish, but is it just another prison?

In the past, we didn’t choose to exercise our freedom in a fashion that damaged us as a community, a body politic with similar goals. Now conflicting ideas claim a high moral road while both suffer from decay and conflict. Freedom means asserting what we want.

The human person has dignity only because we are made in the image and likeness of God. Every person owns a dignity that arises from our creation by God, and our destiny to live with him forever. Our dignity arises from God’s love of us, and our calling to love one another as we love ourselves.

If we stick to our mundane thinking and continue to devalue human life, we lose the true calling to greatness. Our anthropology is weakened when we fight over scraps and ignore the riches of God.

Family, faith important to Kobe

I am late to the Kobe Bryant fan club, but want to pay my respects to the recently deceased.

Popular culture, including the NBA, rages to distract us from reality and big questions of the universe. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Culture’s response is that I cannot bother with these questions of religion when I am so deeply engaged in things that entertain me.

Yet in the midst of the maelstrom, Kobe found his way to engage these questions at their deepest level in his Catholic Christian faith. “I am a beloved child of God. I am here to love God and my neighbors. I have an eternal destiny with him.” On the last morning of his life, Bryant and his daughter attended Mass together and encountered the risen Christ Jesus. Despite his very public flaws (which we all share), he finished strong. As a father of daughters, I can only pray that I, too, spend my last hours with my beloved girls and our Lord.

May the angels lead you into paradise. Rest in peace, Kobe Bryant.

Muni’s demise hurts Nuts

Re “Muni course closure offers a chance at redevelopment” (Front Page, Feb. 9): If Muni Golf Course is developed into housing, how long will it take for people living there to complain about noise and traffic at John Thurman Field? There probably will be no more fireworks at Nuts games and on July 4. It would be very expensive to build a new stadium elsewhere in the Modesto area, so we would most likely lose our Modesto Nuts baseball team. This would lead to even less entertainment opportunities and a loss of city revenue.

Mental health outweighs pets

News reports say Governor Gavin Newsom wants California to become a “no-kill state,” ending euthanasia in animal shelters. He’s dedicating $50 million in his 2020-21 state budget proposal to figure out how to achieve his goal. The money is intended to pay for a grant program that over five years would “help local communities achieve the state’s policy goal that no adoptable or treatable dog or cat should be euthanized.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love animals. But the harsh reality confronts us every day on the streets of our communities. We have severely mentally ill human beings languishing and dying.

You have stated that homelessness is a crisis in California. The Salvation Army chaplain in Stanislaus County states 45% of the people that come there are severely mentally ill. Others report it as high as 60%. Family members who deal with loved ones with severe mental illness know that just putting them in an apartment without help will not solve the problem. They need wraparound mental health services.

The mental health system has failed miserably. It will take a massive collaboration to undo the harm that has been done. Please use the $50 million dollars to save our fellow human beings first. I’m afraid our four-footed friends must wait their turn.

Witness intimidation is a serious threat

For years prosecutors, attorneys, law enforcement and the Superior Court knew the value and the need for protecting witnesses and the severe consequences of a failure to do so.

Gangs and other defendants knew that the loss of a witness or witnesses could easily mean that the case against them could go away. The justice system knew that also. Several court cases had evidence of attempted and real witness intimidation. It clearly was a problem, and we took it seriously.

While hallways were monitored by sheriff’s deputies, judges issued several stern verbal warnings, even putting courtroom cameras in use aimed at the audience. Any attempt at witness intimidation would be met with arrest and prosecution. It worked! Why the toughness? Simple — if witnesses think that they can be hurt or punished in any way, they will look the other way or say, “No, I won’t testify.”

From the top on down, a systemic failure to protect witnesses from hurt, punishment, or retribution will eventually and totally erode our system of justice.

Veterans won’t forget insult

How does a cowardly, bullying draft-dodger have the unmitigated gall to impugn the rank of a combat-wounded veteran (Vindman)? An even sadder commentary is not a single Republican congressperson, not even the few who are veterans, had the backbone to say a word about it. As a veteran I am highly insulted. I hope everyone who has ever been or is associated with the armed forces remembers this insult in November.

Give the man his due respect

I don’t care what your political persuasion is — Donald Trump is president of the United States and deserves all the respect due the office.

In the military, for those who might not know, enlisted men and women salute officers. But the key is that they are saluting and honoring the rank. In my 22-plus years I saw a number of officers that did not deserve the honor, but the rank deserved the salute. In the case of Pelosi and all the Democrats who sat on their hands, frowned, looked at their cell phones, they were disrespecting the office of the head of our country, and I say the same thing about Republicans who dishonored Obama while he was president.

I was a Harry Truman Democrat for many years until the party left me. How sad, childish, petty and ridiculous do the people we elect to govern this country look when they comport themselves in a disrespectful manner. Shame on all of them.

Trump will ruin environment

I read an article on how much the president loves and cares for America and the people. What a crock.

If the president cares so much, why has he removed the EPA food, water, air and also other safety inspections that protect our vegetables and meats from fecal contaminants like E. coli and Salmonella, protect our 50-year-old Clean Water Act from industrial and waste discharge pollution to our waterways, protect air discharges from industry waste, protect our oceans from another Deep Water Horizon rig disaster, protect our endangered species for more trophy hunting, protect 1 million acres of our treasured National Monument Park in Utah from oil drilling? Why has he stopped food programs for the needy? And of course no assault weapon background checks that might help prevent mass killings. Why? All for his big-business friends and their almighty dollar gain.

He will, no question, go down as America’s most destructive president to our environment and health. If he is voted for in another term, our children and future generations to follow will pay dearly for his actions.

This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters to the editor | Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020: Murals to be legacy for Modesto’s 150th."