Letters to the editor | Sunday, March 14, 2021: Can Stanislaus escape purple?
CA COVID tier system stinks
Can people not see the insanity of the COVID tier system that has been forced upon us here in the People’s Republic of California? Does anyone think that the power-hungry politicians will relinquish their grip on this once-great state? Using the ridiculous formula to calculate when we can move to the red tier, Stanislaus County will be forever stuck in purple.
Our kids need to be back in school now. Distance learning is going to have negative consequences for this generation of youth we can’t yet imagine. The damage done from lockdowns is far greater than the damage done by the virus. I’m sure we’d be shocked if we knew the real numbers and how they have been manipulated to instill fear in the populace.
Recall any politician from Newsom on down who will not immediately reopen this state. Most importantly, stop living in fear.
Stan Lindsay, Modesto
Education prepares for life
Life is learning blocks. It is very important for students to have continuity with their studies. We understand that keeping students alive and well during the coronavirus pandemic takes priority over an education.
Taxpayers support our public educational system, which was set up for us to have educated, informed citizens for our nation. It was never a free ride to receive a public education.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, students should be given the opportunity to resume their normal in-class studies from where they left off before schools were shut down. This means that a student who would graduate at 18 years old could be possibly graduating at 20. If we do not address this problem, it will come back to haunt us. All of us have to learn the essential things in life to function as adults in this world.
Anna Bennett, Delhi
Protect vulnerable restaurants
Re “The missing ingredient for state’s restaurants in COVID-19 recovery” (Page 6A, March 8): The opinion expressed is eye-opening. I had no idea that unscrupulous lawyers were setting their sights on mom-and-pop restaurants. It’s bad enough that the families owning these restaurants will be faced with costly lawyer fees. But who would have thought that a restaurant needs to prove that they didn’t give a customer the virus? It’s almost impossible to prove a negative.
It’s high time for our elected representatives to stop playing gotcha politics with each other and do something to protect hard-working family businesses.
Lance Bernard, Turlock
New homes won’t save Riverbank
Why do the residents of Riverbank send their water bills to Pleasant Grove, Utah?
Why did Riverbank’s city council adopt the Agricultural Preservation Policy only to trash it in favor of building 1,000+ houses on the last remaining farmland within the city’s sphere?
Why has Riverbank mandated water rationing for the last five years to its 7,000 families and then approved the Crossroads West housing project which will add another 1,000 families to the water grid?
Why is all of Riverbank’s raw sewage piped over the Stanislaus River into San Joaquin County?
Why was the cannery denied an industrial wastewater waiver (which led to its closure) yet the new industrial cannabis facility, which has taken over the same complex, is granted a waiver?
This new housing development is supposed to solve all of our current problems — antiquated infrastructure, poor roads, terrible traffic, lack of police services, and high crime — with its new tax revenue. That was the same thing we were told when the first Crossroads development was approved. Things did not improve. To quote Pete Townshend, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Rick Kimble, Riverbank
Boo for Big Pharma
Re “Big Pharma is rescuing us from government error” (Page 6A, March 11): In his latest attempt at a coherent argument, Mark Thiessen celebrates Big Pharma as our great rescuer from the virus after getting attacked by the Democrats. Maybe he’s not familiar with one John Kapoor, a pharmaceutical billionaire who is serving 66 months in prison for his part in a national opioid scheme. Or maybe the Sackler family Purdue Pharma billionaires who recently pled guilty for their part in the OxyContin scandals which led to the deaths of nearly 500,000 Americans.
Thiessen would be shocked to learn that the Pfizer vaccine was developed in cooperation with a German company and funded by the German government.
As for Operation Warp Speed, clueless Mike Pence basically wrote checks from funds paid for by us. We recently learned OWS had no national infrastructure in place to get vaccines in peoples’ arms. DJ Trump didn’t even bother to attend their meetings during his last seven months in office.
As for the “medical miracle,” the SARS virus was well known to the scientific community. After the Chinese published the virus’ gene sequence in January 2020, it was just a matter of days before a vaccine candidate was available.
Wayne R. Howard, Ceres
Gov. Newsom recall motive
Is it as obvious to anyone else that the current movement to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is an effort to thwart a possible future run for president?
Penny Williams, Patterson
Do some real work, government
Re “Biden establishes Gender Policy Council” (Page 4A, March 9): Really? Biden needs to establish a Gender Policy Council run by two Clinton-Obama women? I guess they needed jobs.
Who’s running this side show? There are valid pressing issues to attend to. Read the article. It’s spin and blah-speak. More presidential side show instead of dealing with say, COVID, the border, government waste of our tax money. But cliche works, a chance for another signing ceremony instead of doing the real work.
Christine Scheele, Modesto