Letters To The Editor

Our fault? Whose fault? It (“Our own fault,” April 8) became PG&E’s fault when their initial substandard geological survey allowed the placement of their facility in an area of bedrock riddled with a chaotic network of interconnected seismic faults. One question today is who should be monetarily responsible for PG&E’s faulted initial assertion of seismic […]

The problem with county civil service benefits (“Mind the gap,” April 8) is that they are way beyond what the private sector gets and can afford, yet it is the private sector that  pays the taxes for the county benefits. The basic problem is due to two factors: the civil service unions who support and […]

I have known Katcho Achadjian for more than 35 years. Katcho attended Cuesta Community College and Cal Poly. He graduated from Cal Poly with a business degree. As our county supervisor for the last 11—and soon to be 12—years, he has done so much for our youth and public education. Katcho’s accomplishments include providing Oceano […]

Oceano Dunes is a state park gone bad. Given current global opinion about the negative impacts of the combustion engine, the use of off-road vehicles in the pursuit of frivolity is nothing short of a crime. To speak of 3-foot fences, barrier trees, or other mitigation is to dance in the wake of continued pollution. […]

Remember when Cecil B. DeMille filmed the movie in the dunes in the ’30s and nobody complained? There have been vehicle activities in the dunes ever since. Remember in the ’70s during vacations, big three- and four-day holidays, and spring breaks when all the motorhomes pulling their sand vehicles with all their families and friends […]

In one sweeping move, the Supreme Court stripped away the Bill of Rights the American people had been guaranteed in the Constitution. When Justices Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts stamped their approval against citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, they single-handedly destroyed our party system forever and created a new one called the Corporate […]

I wish to thank our Congresswoman, Lois Capps, for supporting health care revision in this country. We all knew the system was broken, and finally we have a good start for a fix. The USA was the only country where health care was left to the devices of profit-making entities: the insurance industry. I bet […]

I agree with much of the commentary posted by our friend from Vandenberg Village (“Think of the country, not the party,” March 11). 1. As long as we have seen men in power, even from the first few centuries after the year of our Lord, it has been about corruption. Power corrupts absolutely; we know […]

A sign promoting the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education contained two statements: Education is a Human Right; and Resist, Mobilize, and Transform. The first is false—education is not a human right. We are not born with it; we or our parents earn it!  The second, a trio of commands, is contrary […]

Santa Barbara County, in its present boundary, is actually a parcel within a rich territory of history that has as a foundation the lifestyle of western ranching, sometimes called the ethics of the cowboy or the culture of the vaquero. On Saturday, March 6, two local documentary producers—Susan Jensen and Paul Singer of Santa Barbara—screened […]

The San Luis Obispo Health Commission took a bold, heroic step at its March 8 meeting, regarding the APCD Phase 2 Study. It passed two motions to advise the Board of Supervisors to do everything possible to stop the health-threatening air pollution from the ODSVRA immediately, and to inform the public about the dangers. Among […]