Letters to the editor | Sunday, June 6, 2021: Not enough water for all these almonds

Keep precious resource here for us

A May 6 editorial in The Los Angeles Times led with the outrageous headline “There is no drought.” Read beyond the headline and you learn what the editors mean: we are experiencing climate change and this is our new normal.

Part of our new normal is erratic rainfall. According to The Times, we are getting as much precipitation as ever but the old pattern of a full Sierra snowpack that gradually melts to feed our rivers is no longer the reality.

Farmers need water to grow the crops that built our local economy and help feed the world. If they can’t get it from the river, they’ll pump it from underground. Unlike field crops, nut orchards cannot be fallowed and allowed to go unirrigated. So, as our new normal results in less river water for farming, crops like nuts become unsustainable.

They are unsustainable because water is being pumped out of aquifers faster that it can naturally be replaced. This has caused permanent damage to some aquifers. Our new normal calls for less acreage planted in high-water-demand crops, especially new nut orchards; 62% of the almond harvest is exported, so in effect we are exporting our water to other countries.

Anita Young, Modesto

MJC leaderships needs a change

Re “If new MJC president doesn’t like Modesto, send him on his way” (Page 1C, May 30): I find it hard to believe that any of the YCCD board members voted in favor of the hiring of Santanu Bandyopadhyay, especially if they all knew about his interviews for similar positions in Southern California. At the very least they should have postponed the vote until he made a decision to accept one of the other positions.

Did anyone on the board ask him about these other interviews and whether he would leave right away if chosen? If so, what was his answer? And Board Member Nicolau not being there for this important vote — I trust she had a valid excuse for her absence.

I don’t believe this is the only problem besetting YCCD. I would seriously take a look at Chancellor Yong’s leadership. What kind of advice is he giving the board? As far as my area’s representative, Nancy Hinton, voting for Bandyopadhyay’s hiring, she will not get my vote if she decides to run for re-election in 2022.

I hope Dr. B gets an offer from the Southland and goes merrily on his way. Don’t let the swinging door hit you on the way out.

Michael Brennan, Oakdale

Resilience of the oppressed

Re “Critical Race Theory isn’t so scary, once you understand it” (Page 1C, May 30): Thank you, Mr. Souza, for a well-written piece on CRT. I agree with you that the 1619 project is flawed academically; however, I also know that being able to freely view history through as many lenses as possible is necessary in order for students to develop solid critical thinking skills.

I am a member of a faith tradition and an ethnic group that was regarded with deep suspicion by the ruling WASP class of America for centuries. None of that is taught in our public schools.

Slavery and its horror has permeated every fabric of our country. To ignore that is to deny people descended from those slaves the dignity they deserve. Indigenous peoples were cheated by government officials and slaughtered. Women were denied a seat at the table and were willing to be jailed and assaulted to cast a vote.

Teaching the fullness of history can instill a sense of the strength of our ancestors. A ruling class regarded them as little more than animals. They fought for a place in society.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Let’s celebrate them! More important, let’s live up to their standards.

Leslie Shaw Klinger, Modesto

GOP has lost its way

In 2016, Republicans rejected 15 traditional candidates to elect a swindler lying about his Moscow Tower plans. Getting voted out of office in 2020, he claimed fraud. Dozens of audits, recounts and investigations, including by the FBI, plus 90-some court filings, found no fraud. He even tried to strong-arm state officials into committing fraud. As a last-ditch effort to upend democracy, Trump incited Republicans to stage a coup.

Republicans are too embarrassed now to talk about it in public. Instead, they downplay the coup, calling the rioters “tourists” as though Americans didn’t witness the crimes on live TV. Historians will mark their attempted revisionism as consciousness of guilt.

Republicans are only fooling themselves if they think they can dodge ownership of the coup and all the un-American treachery it implies. History will find no solvent to scrub away that stain from the name “Republican.”

Extremists took the GOP out for a joyride and totaled it. Republicans who are not proud of the failed attempt to violently overthrow the government should organize a new party that stands for conservatism instead of Trump’s whims. It will also give Trump supporters an unsoiled place to go when they return to their senses.

Jason Gale, Riverbank

A bit of political satire

Senate Republicans have nixed a Jan. 6 independent commission because the mob that stormed the Capitol did so only because Trump told them the souvenir shop was about to close. Also, it was a swing set they erected for VP Pence, not a gallows.

They would also like their constituents to know:

• Africans booked passage on ships to America so that they might enjoy a rural lifestyle in the South.
• Native Americans were grateful to the government for moving them to small, distant reservations so they might learn farming techniques on non-arable, water-starved land.
• Mexican and Central American immigrants come to the U.S. not only for the high-paying career-track jobs in fruit picking and drywall installation but also because there are no voting restrictions in their native countries.
• And yes, the earth is flat, but only during a full moon.

Jack Heinsius, Modesto

Best wishes for water defender

As MID board members, it has been our pleasure to work with Mr. John Davids. His leadership, talent and passion for serving MID’s customers’ needs is commended. John has been the nucleus of the region’s fight to preserve and protect water resources and our way of life.

For the last nine years, John’s leadership has been a steady source of stability and inspiration for all of us. John’s ability to make fair and balanced decisions that positively impact us all is unsurpassed. We wish John the best in his next adventure and pray his vision for the region’s water management continues to benefit everyone.

Nick Blom and Larry Byrd, Modesto Irrigation District Board directors