The June 4 special election is an opportunity for enlightened progressive citizens, middle- and working-class voters to take action for the good of hard working blue collar personnel instead of big business profits. Mid Valley Disposal service does not have Fresno's interest. We have to separate the wheat from the chaff in this instance.

The Bee published a story on May 15 about lowering the blood-alcohol limit; the story highlighted how drunk driving is one of the highest causes of death in America. Fortunately, liberals have provided a template to fix this unacceptable situation.

As reported in The Bee recently, global C02 levels have reached a new high of 400 parts per million. This is quite alarming, since similar levels have not been seen on earth for about 3 million years.

I am rather appalled at the May 16 editorial printed in The Bee regarding President Obama and the description of his " imperial presidency." I thought the purpose of a newspaper was to inform its readers, not to influence them by imposing its own interpretation of events.

Buy local! It benefits our community. That is what we hear all the time. However, the managers of the campaigns for and against Measure G -- a purely local measure -- apparently didn't think about our community when trying to woo Fresno voters.

A tragic event at a garment factory. Nearly a third of the young ladies working there (some 15 and under) died in the flames. Some leaped to their death on the streets below. The exit doors had been locked. These ladies had endured extreme poverty and terrible working conditions. They were afraid to speak up and lose their jobs.

After watching the press conferences of President Obama and Jay Carney, and the answers they gave to reporters concerning Benghazi, the IRS audit profiling scandals and the investigation of Associated Press phone numbers by the Attorney General's office, I had an interesting thought.

What a sense of sadness rushed over me when I opened The Bee recently to see James Russell Clements' obituary. Having grown up walking to school (both Hamilton Junior High and Fresno High School) along Van Ness and passing by his family's gas station each Christmas season, I remember well their window display of Santa Claus sleeping, replete with a rising and falling chest. For many of us, this display made our holiday season.

Solar panels. What a great idea? Start saving money on your utility bill? When I was in school, it was during the Dark Ages. We had to learn to add, subtract, multiply and divide without the aid of calculators. And we actually learned something. So, if my facts and figures are incorrect, someone out there please correct me.

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in and what did I find? Hubris and wretched excess. We think we know the secrets of the universe. Hubris! If a little is good, then a whole lot is better. Wretched excess!

Can anyone tell me why:

Is it possible under the No Child Left Behind Act to achieve and meet expectations for every school in the nation? NCLB was signed by President George W. Bush and was placed into law on Jan. 8, 2002. The act sets standards for every child to be at least at proficient level, have highly qualified teachers in every classroom and make public schools accountable. The goal is to end the gap in student achievement.

I would like to respond to the May 10 letter, "GOP double standard," by Clyde Auston. He writes of the various attacks on U.S. consulates from 2002 to 2008, and the 31 lives lost during those attacks. What he fails to mention is that not one was a U.S. citizen or employee of the State Department. He also fails to mention that all consulates were heavily staffed by U.S. Marines who, in most cases, helped repel those attacks.

For all the people who would like to know the facts about Benghazi, I would recommend you read the report on the State Department website about the incident. This details the incident and gives recommendations on future security.

As we watch the investigation into the attack on our embassy last September unfold, we need to look for the reasons behind the actions, reactions and inaction of the president and the State Department.

Thank you for the story by Sophie Dictos, the adopted daughter of Paul and Stella Dictos (Valley Voices, May 11). These are people who were a great influence in my family's life also.

Over the past four years, Highway City Thrift Store has partnered with Fresno State marketing classes in a hands-on, service-learning experience. The students apply what they are learning in class to assist a local non-profit.

The Sunnyside Property Owners Association donated and dedicated park benches for the Sunnyside Fancher Creek Parkway. In the last couple of years, two were stolen. I built -- out of old, spare wood -- a replacement bench so that my grandkids and others could rest during their walks. It, too, has been stolen.

The day after the Benghazi terror attack on our embassy in Libya, The Bee had a front-page article on The church at Kaweah in Three Rivers linking it to the video that was incorrectly blamed for the horrendous acts that killed four Americans.

Do you remember the children's book, "Charlotte's Web," where in the corner of the barn door the spider spells out "some pig" in her web in an effort to save the pig? The townspeople hear the news, rush to the barn, gather around and agree it must be "some pig." At one point, a person in the crowd says: "Some pig? That's some spider!" Everyone ignores this person, maybe because if it's in print, it must be true.

There was a May 11 report on The Bee's inside pages that a jury in Guatemala had found a former president of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt, guilty of crimes against humanity. There were many witnesses and a lot of forensic evidence to attribute mass slaughter of his people in 1982 to the man, and I, who was alive reading newspapers at the time, am sure the jury made the just decision.

Mayor Ashley Swearengin warns us that if we don't privatize our sanitation services then we will have to cut public safety services. Slashing public safety services is an equally foolish Plan B.

The moniker, "Fresyes," is an insult to Fresno, and its citizens, owed to the fact that it actually projects a negativity that something is amiss in California's fifth largest city.

Is it "anomie?" Which is to say: a breakdown of a supporting social or moral framework between individuals and their community. A 12-year-old stabs his little sister to death; a shot fired outside the Fashion Fair Mall; skateboarders beating a man; an American Special Forces person in Afghanistan accused of murder and torture of 15 Afghans (where did he learn that skill?); a New Jersey sex offender killing and holding hostages in his residence -- and so on without end.

The May 12 letter from Nick Lewis is correct but does not go far enough. Barstow Avenue from Maroa Avenue past West Avenue is dangerous. There you will see the running of red lights, speeding (posted at 25 mph or 35 mph, but vehicles going 45 mph-plus are not uncommon), passing in the turn lane and using the bike lanes as regular driving lanes or a drop-off zone at Bullard High School.

Thank you for your May 6 editorial in support of AB 227, which would reform Proposition 65 to help stop abusive lawsuits.

One of the most important components in a student's education is parental involvement. This should include being involved in their school programs, helping them become responsible and independent, and providing them with a peaceful environment at home.

This garbage issue with Yes or No on Measure G has really improved the attitudes and customer service of residential solid waste drivers. They all have a happy face on. They are cordial. They wave and even straighten up the barrels after they empty them. Before they would knock them over, then drive off leaving the waste material strewn all over the street. Wow, what a change! We just hope this continues.

The Fresno Police Officers Association offer comes with all kinds of strings attached. There is an expensive 18-month extension on the contract that would cost the city of Fresno millions. So really the union is just asking the city to take on a huge expense to give the appearance of concessions on the part of the FPOA.

I find it ironic how former Fresno City Council Member Larry Westerlund responded to Hong Yang's May 3 letter describing Fresno as the city of "no" when it comes to starting a new business. Mr. Westerlund states how easily he retained a business license in just five minutes with only $11. He goes on to say that maybe Mr. Yang was trying to open an explosives factory or a strip club. Really?

I write in support of Richard G. Cummings (letter May 11) pointing out The Bee's deplorable Benghazi article. I now must address your article on the IRS versus the tea party. The Wall Street Journal's article is titled "IRS admits it was wrong to scrutinize tea party." The Bee titles its May 11 article on this topic, "Nonprofits singled out by IRS." You had to read the article's second paragraph to realize the target was the tea party.

Students across the Fresno Unified School District are experiencing their public school environment as unwelcoming and even violent. This is due to prejudicial attitudes that contribute to the problematic Fresno public school setting.

The Fresno Bee's May 7 factually distorted article regarding Azerbaijan begs for correction and exposure of the truth about little known historical facts.

As a Catholic and a legal immigrant, I follow with interest the debate in the Congress. I arrived here as a "working poor" with two suitcases and two boxes of books and barely enough money to make it to my first paycheck. Bishop Armando X. Ochoa (commentary May 9) states that illegal immigrants "are confined to the shadows." I would argue that they walked into the shadow by their own doing.

This last Friday and Saturday, hundreds of volunteers came together to donate their time, money, materials and effort to work on restoring Rotary Storyland and Playland. Nothing was mentioned by any of the local media except KMJ radio.

We might expect appalling acts in lands far away, similar to the recent Benghazi butchery or the terrorist bombs in Boston, but an unconscionable attack occurred here in the intimacy of our Fresno community.

There was a headline on the front page of Sunday's Bee: "Hidden No More." In the story, it says "Hidden under sweat pants and baggy T-shirts are the battle scars of birthing a child: Stretch marks, loose skin, C-section scars...and stomachs that still look pregnant." (Yes, I know this is not what the article itself was about.) Oh, and let's not forget the weight gained, the lost sleep and the pain of childbirth.

Doctors acknowledge that solid, non-soluble lead like the lead in hunting ammo is not poisonous, but soluble lead in the blood is poisonous to birds, animals and humans as evidenced by many soldiers and law enforcement people that have lead-bullet fragments in their bodies.

In the May 3 article about the 2011 famine in Somalia, the picture of a baby looks nothing like a human child. I was shocked to read that the scrawny living thing was, indeed, a baby boy severely affected by starvation.

We have an award-winning, cost-effective trash collection program operating at a much lower rate than many cities in California that have privatized. Overall, city rates are lower than privatized rates statewide.

I loved Bonita Hele's May 4 essay in Valley Voices. Her words made me realize how art helps us break through life's barriers and helps to feed the souls of all ages.

Contrary to President Barack Obama's claims, the Korea Free Trade Agreement isn't working. Tens of thousands of U.S. jobs were lost as the trade deal was implemented last year.

The May 9 Fresno Bee article, buried on page A9, "Little new in Benghazi hearing," by Jonathan S. Landay, Bee Washington Bureau, sounds like it was written by someone who was not present at the congressional hearing.

Recently, I walked to CVS Pharmacy along West Avenue between Alluvial and Herndon avenues. Again, nothing is being done to save the plants and bushes that have been taken over by weeds. The bushes are invading the sidewalks and the weeds all over. I think I am in a third-world country!

I just received my latest Pacific, Gas & Electric Co. bill. Now I know how PG&E is going to pay their $2.25 billion fine. For the period of April 4-May 6, my bill increased $75. We had warm weather during this period, and I had not used any heating or cooling, just ceiling fans.

I am responding to the recent story, "FDA lowers age limit to 15 for over-the-counter birth control." I believe this is wrong because if we allow 15-year-olds to get access to birth control without their parents' consent, then we are saying it's OK to have sex at a young age.

The "opinion" in The Bee on May 9 that there was "little new" in the Benghazi hearing was not accurate.

Measure G is an attempt to increase the quality of garbage pick-up while simultaneously lowering its cost. Only one thing can accomplish higher quality products and services while at the same time lowering the price -- competition. Right now there is no garbage pick-up service competition. If Measure G passes, there still won't be any competition.

Luckily, the Thursday accident at Fruit and Barstow avenues wasn't fatal. Sadly though, it has been one year since my letter to The Bee detailing accident totals since 2002 at this intersection without a directional, located near schools.