Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Becton is the best
choice for DA
The East Bay Times got it right with the endorsement of Diana Becton as the best choice for Contra Costa prosecutor. Becton prioritizes safety while staying resolute in applying justice fairly and holding all, including law enforcement, accountable.
She eliminated the backlog of untested sexual assault kits, and she established the county’s first Human Trafficking Unit and a Cold Case Homicide Unit pursuing justice for victims and families of unsolved murders. Becton continues to file felony charges for organized retail thefts in Walnut Creek, coordinating with Bay Area agencies.
Reelect Becton.
Renee Zeimer
Moraga
Bill’s critics are denying
mentally ills’ humanity
Senate Bill 1338, the Community Assistance, Recovery and Employment (CARE) Court, represents a long-overdue assertive action to address the worsening societal malady of homelessness.
For far too long, hand-holders of these untreated mentally ill, drug-addicted or situationally displaced people have advocated for their independence and “right to live on the streets.” They contend that by removing homeless citizens for triage assessment, treatment and management of the underlying causations of homelessness, CARE supporters are being “inhumane” and “unjust.”
In actuality, ignoring a homeless person or tossing a quarter into a cardboard box is truly denying them their humanity.
Jon James
Pleasanton
Without Planet B, time
is short on climate crisis
When it comes to climate change, most people are not paying attention. Let’s use the frog in a pot of boiling water metaphor: Place a frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly increase the temperature. It fails to notice the change and is eventually cooked alive. As yearly atmospheric temperatures slowly rise, we fail to notice and do nothing.
Globally we are putting around 50 billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. We can’t keep doing that forever and not expect any negative consequences. Eventually, our planet becomes uninhabitable for humans.
Parents would do anything to save their children from certain death, but ignore runaway greenhouse gas emissions. If we won’t save ourselves; can we at least try to save our children?
How? Go to the EPA.gov website and calculate your carbon footprint. Then try to reduce it toward zero.
Remember: There is no Planet B.
Jackie Wise
Fremont
We should invest in
keeping lunch program
On June 30, the federal program that provides free lunches for all school children is set to expire. This change means that many of our nation’s children will no longer have adequate nutrition. We should continue to invest in school lunches because childhood hunger impacts us all.
Roughly 15% of U.S. children are food insecure. Chronic health conditions associated with food insecurity include diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disorders, liver disease and chronic stress. These conditions limit a child’s quality of life, lead to further health conditions down the road and rack up massive health care costs that reach all of our pockets.
If we have learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, let it be that our individual health is interwoven with our collective health. As we move beyond the pandemic, let us carefully invest our resources into upstream health-promoting measures like healthy lunches for every kid.
Lindsay Levesque
Alameda
Ohman would do well
to consider big picture
Political cartoonist Jack Ohman’s too-cute-by-half cartoon (Page A6, May 3) attempted, unsuccessfully, to equate the Insurrection in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the war in Ukraine.
This was completely tone-deaf to the reality of the war in Ukraine with thousands of deaths – some as executions – severe injuries, destruction of cities, displacement of millions and destabilization of the world’s food supply. The two events are by no means comparable.
Mr. Ohman would do well to consider the big picture when crafting his next (usually spot-on) cartoon.
Leslie Pahl
Oakland
Stay out of woman’s
choice on abortion
I believe governors, clergy and individuals who oppose a woman’s right to choose are pro-birth only, not pro-life.
In cases of rape, incest and maternal health, will these governors, clergy and others personally raise that child to an adult with all the expense and difficulties that accompany it? I doubt it. Pro-life is more than pro-birth.
Instead of attacking or eliminating a woman’s right to choose, why don’t these individuals first focus on education and pregnancy prevention (i.e., birth control)? What a concept.
Men don’t get pregnant, so why do they make these personal decisions for women? It’s very complicated. The decision to terminate a pregnancy should be among a woman, her doctor, her partner and her spiritual advisor only. Politicians, clergy other than the woman’s and others, stay out of it.
Ramona Krausnick
Dublin
Source: www.mercurynews.com