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Pinball wasn’t always
so welcoming
Re: “Pinball league tilts balance of power through diversity” (Page A1, Sept. 26).
I simply wanted to share a story because in 1957, when I was 8, I played pinball for a short time at a corner store named “Sy’s” that was two blocks from my house.
Corner stores back in the day, at least as far as I knew, didn’t sell liquor. Sy’s had one pinball machine, where we could play for a nickel. It also had a small counter where we sat on stools and drank sodas, also a nickel. (My favorite was vanilla Coke.) Anyway, one day, the owner, Sy, came up to me and said, “Little girls shouldn’t play pinball, so you have to leave.” I didn’t understand why, but I accepted the finality of it. I was hurt, confused and angry, but there were no words. And it saddened and frustrated me for a long time.
Thanks for writing about women and pinball.
Julie Dobkin
Oakland
Underfunding schools
is an injustice to kids
Re: “The hidden price tag of California’s public schools” (Page A1, Sept. 17).
Public education is supposed to be a free education. It is outrageous that outside of taxes parents are expected to fund extracurriculars for their children when it’s not their financial responsibility. Schools should be funded enough to support their athletic departments and additional student activities. It’s unfair to expect that every parent is able to financially support additional fees for their kids to participate fully in school. The system is backward, and it directly targets low-income students and people of color.
The education system has always been a system of oppression from the Jim Crow era until today, especially in California since Proposition 13. The unjust practice of underfunding schools is outdated and inexcusable when we now have better and more equitable options like taxing large corporations. It is time to reform our education system and promote a more equitable and just way of learning and of funding our public schools.
Arin Haas
Berkeley
Parents shouldn’t be on
hook for public schools
Re: “The hidden price tag of California’s public schools” (Page A1, Sept. 17).
Even in the richest state in the United States, schools aren’t able to receive enough funding for their students.
Just a few years ago when I went to high school here in California, all the funding for the theater program was paid for by parents and any supporters of my high school theater. I remember having to buy all my costumes and pay dues out of my parents’ pocket when my school should have helped to fund the theater program. I didn’t go to private high school because it was too much money.
It should not be the responsibility of parents to pay for their children’s education when it should be covered already.
Jules Pizano
Berkeley
Story sensationalizes
officers’ pay on leave
Re: “Cops on leave earned $1.8 million” (Page A1, Sept. 26).
The article is prejudicial and the dollar amount is sensationally out of context.
First, people are innocent until proven guilty, and the tone is clearly against the six police. Second, for six people suspended for 20 months, $1.8 million works out to $180K per year per person, in line with the national average of $193K per year for police officers.
Since they’re legally innocent, shouldn’t they be paid? If suspended, how would the three reporters want to be treated?
Richard Kruger
Fremont
MLB should support
minor league players
Major League Baseball is as profitable as ever with the average team value currently sitting at north of $2 billion. With stars like Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. setting records, marketability is at an all-time high. Even after players and owners agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement that required clubs to increase salaries and housing, there needs to be more done to support players and their families.
As recently as last year, Brittany Ghiroli reported for The Athletic that players in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league system dealt with cockroach-infested apartments. In June 2023, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis signed a bill that allowed owners to pay minor leaguers less than minimum wage.
I’m a huge baseball fan, and seeing players struggle for a bottom line doesn’t sit right with me. Fans of our national pastime should be aware of these injustices.
Robert Nishkian
Benicia
Source: www.mercurynews.com