Letters to the editor | Sunday, July 18, 2021: Masks in Stanislaus County schools

Masks in Stanislaus County schools

Re “Parents pack Stanislaus board meeting to protest mask-wearing rules at schools” (Front Page, July 14): So to the school teacher: the obvious answer as to why you can stand in line at Disney World (without masks) and not teach in Stanislaus County is that the governor in Florida doesn’t believe in science. Let’s be real. Vaccinate and wear a mask, or teach in Florida. You choose for yourself, not for your students.

Arturo R. Ybarra, Modesto

Refuse shot, lose hospital bed

If you are not watching Fox News (they alone call it news) then you know that there is a big rise in COVID-19 Delta variant sweeping across the country. Hospitals are filling up with non-vaccinated patients.

Now some are going to say I show no compassion for the ill. If with a clear mind you decide not to get vaccinated just because you don’t think you need it or that your political beliefs keep you from participating in a nationwide inoculation against a very deadly disease, you in my opinion should be denied hospitalization. Why should these medical personnel risk their lives to save yours when you do nothing for yourself? Hospitals are going to need beds for those of us who have had our shots but somehow contract the Delta variant.

This is not going away any time soon. Go get a shot. What do you have to lose — your life?

Charles Wilkinson, Modesto

Fee for nonuse isn’t fair

The East Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency has proposed a fee structure to cover costs for its activities and the development and implementation of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan. While we support the goals of the agency, they have developed a fee structure that is seriously unfair. We protest the administrative fee as currently structured.

It is patently unfair to charge a fee on parcels that do not irrigate. The State Water Resources Control Board would impose fees based on wells — only wells. Clearly the state of California did not intend that unirrigated land should be charged a fee, and the agency should not do so either. The groundwater users are offloading their financial responsibility to non-users. Non-irrigated land should be paid a reward for the fact that they do not use water.

Dave and Allison Boucher, Stockton

My, how times have changed

My wife and I were enjoying a dinner out at the National Hotel in Jamestown when it occurred to me that we could walk in relative safety on the streets of Jamestown while at the same time at night in Modesto you were better off carrying a concealed weapon. During times past in Modesto you could walk the streets in relative safety while in the gold-mining days of Jamestown’s past it was prudent to wear a gun for your safety. Kind of makes you think how times have changed.

Joe Dooley, Sonora

Watering rules need reworking

The city of Turlock is not playing fair in how it distributes water to customers.

I have a small vegetable garden and water early in the morning rather than later in the day. On the other hand, you can drive by CSUS at any given time and find the sprinklers on for hours, with water spraying onto the sidewalk as well as Geer Road. Why is CSUS allowed to water whenever they want to?

As we are a family of two, we are required to limit our water usage. However, a family of six that has a pool is not fined for overusage due to having to refill their swimming pool that was replastered? I’m sure they too use a lot more water?

We also have three producing fruit trees as well as 16 shade trees to help not use our AC as much. What are we receiving to offset our carbon footprint?

Marcie Solomon, Turlock

Can we all work together?

Is it the fate of the human race to lapse into more dark ages, dystopia on a global scale, or face extinction before we can attain our full potential as a species?

Since the Egyptians built the pyramids, mankind has made slow and uneven progress toward becoming civilized. How long do you suppose it will take to master our unbecoming emotional impulses, to end the rich and powerful victimizing the poor and powerless, and to unanimously accept the rule of law? How long will it take until humanity respects humanity equally, irrespective of religion, sexual preference, skin color or gender? How long will it take until our gods stop condoning bloodshed in their names?

Is it mankind’s destiny to someday achieve universal moral actualization, to someday embrace our humanity and shared human condition, to someday compensate for inconsistencies in human psychology, to someday leave behind millennia of egocentricity, and work together for the progress of all humans? If that is our destiny, why wait?

Jason Gale, Riverbank