Reader's Editorial

READER’S EDITORIAL: DON’T LET AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FALL TO TYRANNY

By Sohel Bahjat

June 16, 2022 (San Diego’s East County) -- My name is Sohel Bahjat, a former Republican and an active voter in East County, San Diego, CA. Please support the efforts to bring Trump and his enablers to trial --  because the Big Lie and the attack on our democracy on January 6 was a real menace and a threat that was going to end in bloodshed and possible chaos.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: GETTING HEALTHY IN 2021 SHOULD INCLUDE REDUCING EXPOSURE TO SECONDHAND SMOKE

By Dana Stevens
 
Photo authorized for use to CASA
 
March 24, 2021 (San Diego’s East County) -- After a long difficult year that forced us all to alter our daily lives just to stay well, our priority for 2021 should be to continue protecting our health. As we look to improve our diets, start exercise routines, wear our masks, and get vaccinated, let’s make sure we also give equal attention to the air we breathe.
 
Tobacco and marijuana smoke and the aerosol expelled from electronic smoking devices damage the lungs and other organs of users as well as everyone around them. 
 
In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that there is  “no safe level of exposure to  secondhand smoke.” That same year, the California Air Resources Board designated secondhand smoke as a  “toxic air contaminant.”

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READER’S EDITORIAL: SCAPEGOATING SAN DIEGO’S TRANSPORTATION WOES

 

 

By Daniel Smiechowski

January 18, 2019 (San Diego) - Having just returned from my second home in France, a city of 180,000 residents with a state of the art tram and ultra-modern fast buses, I am again reminded of San Diego’s real dilemma in promoting public transportation. Home to Edouard Philippe, former Mayor and now French Prime Minister, the City of Le Havre has been transformed through a network of mass transit that is the envy of the world. What is their secret?


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READER’S EDITORIAL: FUTURE OF WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ON THE LINE IN NEXT ELECTION

 

By Ellen Holzman, Julian, California

August 27, 2018 (San Diego) - With the November election on the near horizon, it’s vital that we all understand why we must vote for Ammar Campa-Najjar for Congress: Ammar believes “women are capable of making their own choices regarding their bodies and reproduction.”


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READER’S EDITORIAL: KALASHO’S CANDIDATE STATEMENT SLURS EL CAJON AS UNAMERICAN

 

By Jamie Freitas

Councilman Kalasho is running in District 1 in El Cajon, a city with a high population of immigrants and refugees, and which celebrates its diversity and patriotism with an annual “America on Main Street celebration (photo). Last year, that event included a citizenship ceremony for people from 54 different countries.

August 15, 2018 (El Cajon) – Councilman Ben Kalasho thinks El Cajon is dirty,unsafe and does not resemble America. Per his Candidate Statement he submitted he states, "I know that most Fletcher Hills and Grossmont area residents shop in Santee or La Mesa. Why? Because it's safer, cleaner & still feels like you're in America."


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READER'S EDITORIAL: AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITY OF EL CAJON ON THE FOOD SHARING BAN

 

By Raymond Lutz, Citizens Overnight

January 22, 2018 (El Cajon) - Greetings:

I am writing today about the failed policy to cite or arrest people who are sharing food at parks, and the related Hepatitis A outbreak.

El Cajon is getting a national reputation, and it isn’t a good one. I noticed a recent Facebook video on the subject – https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1778159485607501/ – received more than three million views. We can’t afford to get this type of publicity!


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READER’S EDITORIAL: ALPINE COUNTY PARK CAN BECOME A REALITY. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP

 

By C. Bonsignore, Alpine

September 4, 2017 (Alpine) -- Imagine a picnic under a shade tree in a cool grassy park, relaxing with friends and the whole family, while the kids play on swings and slides, the teens on the skateboard ramps, there are fire pits, barbecues, restrooms, fountains, dog frisbee, seniors playing bocce ball and 24/7 access, right here in Alpine..


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READER’S EDITORIAL: THE RUSSIA SCANDAL PUZZLE IS FINALLY FITTING TOGETHER; IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

 

By Shaun Mullen

Originally published in The Moderate Voice, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

June 1, 2017 (Washington D.C.) -- If you think of the Russia scandal as a big jigsaw puzzle with lots of seemingly unconnected pieces when they are first spread out before you, several things become apparent as the pieces begin to fit together.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: SHARP GROSSMONT HOSPITAL’S NEW ENERGY PLANT IS EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF OUTSTANDING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

 

By Barry Jantz, CEO, Grossmont Healthcare District

May 24, 2017 (San Diego's East County) – Late last year, the Grossmont Healthcare District (GHD) and Sharp HealthCare celebrated a new Central Energy Plant that we completed in partnership at Grossmont Hospital. I’m proud to say that we were named a finalist for this year’s Golden Watchdog Awards in the public-private partnership category, presented by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: PROTECTING ACCESS FOR OFF-ROAD VEHICLE RECREATION

 

By Assemblyman Randy Voepel

Photo: Ocotillo Wells off-road vehicle recreation area

February 28, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- As a representative of rural areas San Diego and Riverside counties, I’m proud that my district includes wide swaths of land that are perfect for off-road recreation. There are tens of thousands of individuals and families throughout my district and our state who enjoy exploring our state’s natural environment through off-roading.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: WILDLIFE EXPERT FIRES BACK AT HUNTER OVER HIS SUPPORT FOR WEAKENING EPA

 

By Renée Owens, President, Wild Zone Conservation League

“Be aware that if any of my students made the statements you are erroneously posing as fact they would fail the course…”—Reneé Owens, environmental science instructor

February 19, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) -- Yesterday I sent my Congressional Representative, Duncan Hunter Jr., a message urging him not to weaken or dismantle our Environmental Protection Agency, as the 2017 Congress is threatening to do. If anything the agency needs strengthening and more funds to do their jobs. Today he responded, telling me the EPA is a big problem. I know something about the EPA in my line of work, so I felt obligated to respond:


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READERS' EDITORIAL: SANTEE-BASED GUNS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE EXAMINES GUNS RIGHTS UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP

 

 

By Michael Schwartz

February 14, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Second Amendment supporters in East County are looking forward to a Trump administration. Although the most problematic gun laws restricting our Second Amendment rights originate in Sacramento, there is optimism in the gunfight at the federal level.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: HARVESTING EAGLES - PART TWO

 

How agencies charged with protecting our wildlife continue to betray our trust

By Jim Wiegand

June 13, 2016 (San Diego) - It is difficult to read that word “harvest” without thinking of harvesting crops, grown for the purpose of feeding humanity. In this case, however, we are talking about one of our most iconic species, one of our most magnificent raptors – and the “harvesting” is to be done by “grim reaper” machines: wind turbines.


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READER’S EDITORIAL: TERM LIMITS A BAD DEAL FOR LA MESA

By Kristin Kjaero

October 20, 2014 (La Mesa) -- Don’t be fooled by Prop K. La Mesa voters have a term limits proposal for City Council on their ballots, but it’s unnecessary, undemocratic, and won’t work as advertised.

This election we'll have a majority with two years or less experience on our City Council. Yes, you read that correctly: no matter who wins, there will be two new people, plus a third half way through a first term - all without term limits in place.

And although it’s called the “three consecutive terms limit,” Prop K would actually allow candidates to run again after sitting out one 4-year cycle. The only thing it would limit is voters’ choices.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: MY WORLD IN SEPIA - REMEMBERING THE GREAT CEDAR FIRE OF 2013

 

 

By E.A. Barrera

November 27, 2013 (San Diego) – Even now, ten years since the flames have died and the air has cleared, the sight of it all still seems unreal - the earth outside my door in smolders and flames. Waking up that Sunday morning to the sounds of Santa Ana winds and an unpleasant sky, the Great Fires of 2003 were still a world away. They were still off in some remote back-country. Dreadful to consider - but none the less esoteric, and lacking any influence upon my Sunday morning routine.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: TARGETED BY A DRONE CULTURE

 

By Lisa Elkins

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has resolved to push ahead with a plan to expand its drone combat weapons system despite the malfunctioning drone that injured two last Saturday on the USS Chancellorsville’s last Saturday off the coast of San Diego. The $4 million aerial and subsonic target drone, Chukar (BQM-74E), which was manufactured by Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman, capable of speeds up to 604 mph, had veered out of control during an operation test. Luckily only two sailors out of the 300 crew members aboard the ship were injured after it was struck by the drone. Investigators at the Naval Base were unable to say why the drone lost control and crashed.

This is the second drone crash to occur in the past week after another unmanned craft malfunctioned and came down over Lake Ontario on Tuesday, prompting the suspension of all drone flights in Central New York.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: BINATIONAL LITTLE LEAGUE PLAYERS - LESSON TAUGHT

 

By Patrick Osio

September 27, 2013 (San Diego) – The greater San Diego-Tijuana region has been taught a lesson by a group of young people. The little league players from Chula Vista (Eastlake) and Tijuana placed 2nd and 3rd in the Little League World Series (LLWS) – it may not sound like it, as first and second place would have been greater, but what they accomplished is historic in many respects.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: VETERANS DEMAND DRONE OVERSIGHT

 

By Dave Patterson

July 26, 2013 (Ramona) – Beginning in 2012 the stories about the misuse of drone technology have been frightening.  Starting with the revelation that we have been killing hundreds of civilians and children in places that we are not at war, to the government using the border drones to surveil American citizens.  Worse yet, there appears to be an unholy alliance between our nation and Pakistan because there is now evidence that our drones are killing people that are not terrorists, but instead political enemies of the Pakistani regime.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: REFLECTIONS ON KILLING PIT BULL TO SAVE PET

 

By Joel A. Harrison, PhD, MPH

July 11, 2013 (San Diego) – Lee Patisson, a young Navy diver, bitten himself while trying to protect his dog, was recently forced to kill a pit bull that was attacking his pet dog.

According to a San Diego U-T story: “Pattison said he wants to make it clear that he did not shoot the dog without exhausting what he felt was every other means. He tried grabbing its collar and hitting it with his fists. The dog was undeterred. He ran inside and got his shotgun, and struck Bodi [the pit bull] with the butt of the gun five or six times. . . Pattison said Bodi was often tied up on his neighbor’s front doorstep, but the dog was known to break loose . . . He said it was the second time in about a month that the dog had attacked Bolt [Pattison’s dog]. Pattison does not face any charges. Wayne [the dog’s owner] has been cited for failure to keep the dog leashed and failure to protect the public.” (Man Who Killed Pit Bull Says He Is No Hero, July 4, 2013).


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EDITORIAL: MAKE SHAREHOLDERS, NOT RATEPAYERS, PAY THE COST OF SAN ONOFRE FIASCO

 

By John Mattes, Much Better Choices

Who should pay for San Onofre fiasco? The answer is obvious. Shareholders collect dividends while ratepayers pay tens of millions of dollars a year for a defunct nuclear plant. It's time for the PUC to step up.

There may be lots of questions yet to be answered about Southern California Edison's permanent shutdown of its San Onofre nuclear plant, but here are a couple about which there's no doubt. Who's responsible? Edison, 100%. Accept no argument that it did the best it could in overseeing a $700-million generator replacement project, but accidents happen. This wasn't an accident: It was the product of what Edison claims was its rigorous oversight of contractors.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: SEQUESTRATION WILL LEAVE SENIORS HUNGRY

4 Million Senior Meals to be Cut Nationwide, 100,000 meals in San Diego Alone

By Paul Downey, President/CEO, Senior Community Centers

March 28, 2013 (San Diego)--Sometimes I am really glad to live almost 3,000 miles from Washington DC. The latest “raging” chest-thumping, finger-pointing debate is whether President Obama cancelling tours of the White House are politically motivated or a true result of sequestration. This is a bit of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: DID YOU KNOW--CAL FIRE HIDDEN FUNDS AND NO OVERSIGHT FROM THE LEGISLATURE?

By Assemblyman Brian Jones

March 20, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)--Did you know that Cal Fire bureaucrats have joined the ranks of state agencies hiding taxpayer dollars?  It’s sad, but true – recent Cal Fire headlines are less about the brave duty of firefighters and more about secreting taxpayer dollars away in a non-profit association.

Not only did Cal Fire hide $3.5 million, but they did so while Governor Brown and the Democrat-controlled Legislature slapped a $150 fire tax on rural residents from San Diego to the Northern California border.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: SEQUESTER HARMS SAN DIEGO; BIPARTISAN SOLUTION NEEDED

By Congressman Scott Peters (D-San Diego)

March 12, 2013 -- Two weeks before the sequester took effect, House leadership called a recess and sent us home. As a former Port Commissioner and City Council president, that was foreign to me. I could not believe, with the amount of work still to be done, we were sent home. And, even more frustrating, that we were sent home without being allowed to vote on a single alternative to the sequester, because leadership didn’t agree with the legislation. This, in my opinion, is not representative of the democratic process that the United States is regarded for.

I used my time at home to send a message back to Washington. I worked with our port commissioners, scientific research community and maritime workers to tell Congress that the negative effects of the sequester will be felt in San Diego through layoffs, furloughs, stifled research and decreased GDP.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: THE LID HAS COME OFF THE MORTALITY AT WIND FARMS' COVER UP

A summary of the latest news on bird/bat mortality at wind farms

By Mark Duchamp, Chairman, World Council for Nature

"New studies reveal ... that in the United States alone ... wind turbines kill an estimated 13 million to 39 million birds and bats every year” (there are about 39,000 wind turbines in the US)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/22/big-wind-tax-credit-exterminates-endangered-specie/?page=all#pagebreak

January 31, 2013--The worldwide slaughter of birds and bats by wind farms has been confirmed by biologist Clive Hambler, who teaches at Oxford University:


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READER'S EDITORIAL: VISIT MCCAIN VALLEY WHILE YOU CAN STILL ENJOY IT!

By Laurie Baker

December 4, 2012 (McCain Valley) -- This is a warning for those who escape to Cottonwood Campground in McCain Valley for a tranquil and refreshing experience to explore the Great Outdoors:  Your days of enjoyment are numbered.   Wind turbines will soon be invading the area just like the ones in Ocotillo.   The Sunrise Powerlink already obliterates the natural beauty along parts of the 13-mile dirt road to the remote campground.    Building 450-foot tall wind turbines a little more than 1,000 feet away from it will completely destroy its appeal altogether.  


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READER'S EDITORIAL: IS SUPPORT FOR VETERANS A FALSE PROMISE TO VOTERS IN EXCHANGE FOR BONDS?

 

By Rick Alexander

October 11, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)--As a vet I’m ticked. This great nation has vowed, rightfully so, to never again treat its veterans the way we were treated during the Vietnam Era. But now it seems that if a special interest group wants anything from government or the electorate they simply attach the “veteran” label to the request, whether it is a significant part of the program or not. As vets, we have gone from being abused to used. Better, but still not good.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: ROMNEY -- THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN CANDIDATE

By Patrick Osio

“By virtue of his father’s birth in Mexico where he was automatically a Mexican citizen by birth, makes US born Mitt Romney a second generation Mexican American. His actions against the Hispanic immigrant community reflect a loss of gratitude for Mexico granting the Romney family refuge from religious persecution they suffered in the U.S.” – Patrick Osio

September 14, 2012 (San Diego) -- Anyone born in the United Sates is a native-born citizen. Also, anyone who is born of American parents visiting or living in a foreign country, and is registered by those parents with the nearest U.S. consulate or Embassy, becomes a “native-born” citizen, though not born in U.S. territory. The child thus enjoys dual citizenship as a native-born in both the country of birth and the U.S.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: SDG&E EXCLUDES FIRE SURVIVORS AND LOW-INCOME PEOPLE FROM FIRE MITIGATION GRANTS

Meeting August 7 in Deerhorn Valley on fire mitigation funds

By Kim Hamilton, Editor, Deerhorn Valley Antler


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