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State restricts guns
but coddles criminals
Re. “State already has some of the toughest restrictions on arms in U.S.,” Page A1, April 4:
Yes, California has arguably the toughest gun laws in the nation, and our legislators decry the continuing gun violence. But, it’s these very same legislators who have crippled California’s criminal justice system with “progressive” laws that hamper law enforcement, the courts, and the jails and prisons.
Remember “use a gun, go to prison”? We used to have that. How about the “three-strikes” law sending habitual offenders to state prisons? While bolstering a plethora of anti-gun legislation the state is coddling serious offenders when the primary duty of our elected representatives is to ensure the safety of the citizens by enacting laws designed to remove these predators from our streets and neighborhoods.
That should be the state’s goal. Protect us and punish the offenders.
Patrick T. Adams
Dublin
Vote for Cook-Kallio
for Board of Education
Having raised a family in Livermore and worked for our schools, I know how important it is to elect leaders who understand public education inside and out.
Cheryl Cook-Kallio’s qualifications to represent District 7 on the Alameda County Board of Education are unmatched. Her children attended Alameda County public schools where Cheryl taught AP history and government courses. She has championed quality programs and received the American Civic Education Teacher Award. Giving our students a solid foundation in civics is more crucial than ever, and Cheryl will work to ensure that all Alameda County schools provide that.
Cheryl has engaged with the government at all levels. She received a Congressional Fellowship and has served on numerous advisory committees. Please join the California Teachers Association and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond in supporting Cheryl Cook-Kallio’s candidacy, and vote for her in June.
Sally Esser
Livermore
Park has the power
to build community
I recently returned to Walnut Creek. I contemplated a hotel but staying with family meant every morning dad, the dog and I were at Tice Valley Park about 7:30 a.m., afternoons 4:30 p.m.
As we walked and the dog saw her friends, my dad did the same. He introduced me to other park-goers. I heard stories of friendships forged through finding lost dogs, people who check on each other daily, and a shared appreciation for a magnificent park.
I called home last week. My stepmom was busy helping a neighbor move into Rossmoor by transporting some of her more fragile items. I said, how gracious but isn’t that a lot to take on? Not to worry – other park-goers had also stepped up and there would be a convoy moving the friend’s treasures. What a wonderful, true community. All thanks to a simple park.
Liz Ross
Gainesville, Va.
Support Berkeley
ban on plastic bags
Days ago, I read an alarming article concerning researchers finding microplastics in human blood for the first time.
The community has talked in the past about plastic pollution plaguing our environment and the lasting effects it may have on our future; but now, it already affects many of us. According to this study, it affected nearly 80% of the 22 healthy volunteers. That is concerning to the health of not just our future, but for us in the present as well. You don’t have to be a medical professional to understand that a blockage in our blood vessels could flat out kill you. So what can we do about it?
Some groups on the UC Berkeley campus, such as CALPIRG, have been advocating for making Berkeley free of single-use plastic bags. Things like the Better Berkeley Bag Ban would help set our community in the right direction.
River Richart
Berkeley
Schools start too early,
time change or not
Your March 25 editorial, “Daylight saving time change did not work in 1974” (Page A6), though accurate in a sense, was misguided.
The true issue here was revisited more recently (April 3, Page E4) in “There is no upside to mandatory 8 a.m. meeting.”
Clearly, students shouldn’t be required to report to school in the dark, before sunrise. But the real issue here is school start times that are too early, not the general implementation of daylight savings time, which most Americans want.
A large body of research confirms that (at least) middle and high school students do much better with later start times, in the range of 8:45-10 rather than 7 or 8. They are noticeably healthier, less sleep-deprived and do better at school.
Under the later start times backed by research and advocated by doctors and the CDC, students won’t risk their lives going to school in the dark, regardless of daylight or standard time.
Steve Koppman
Oakland
Source: www.mercurynews.com