Marred Yosemite visit: Letters to the editor, Nov. 15, 2019

A marred visit to Yosemite Valley

Recently, my disabled mother asked to spend the day in Yosemite Valley. I live just 37 miles away, but on weekends, the drive is three hours of stop and go. YARTS was not an option because the shuttle bus service is now a disaster.

We drove the long way, and stopped for an early dinner at the Wawona Hotel. The window by our table was too dirty to enjoy the view. The rugs and furniture were dingy and the paint was peeling. These are such easy fixes that we wondered why they weren´t addressed.

Later, we were stuck in traffic relegated to a single lane. Next to it was a special lane used by just two vehicles! The Ahwahnee Hotel, where I´d proudly worked for over five years, was shabby. Previously, Park Service enforced the quality of the concession sites. Yosemite was a showcase of American standards. Now the message is: we don´t care if you ever come back.

Aramark, the concessionaire, cannot hang on to its workforce. Park administrators don´t care about the tourist experience. We need new Superintendent Cicely Muldoon to stanch the decline and ensure that the visitors we rely upon to keep our local counties afloat will return.

Key truth: People are just people

Before you tell an immigrant to go back to where they came from, you should think twice. I am writing in to express my gratitude towards immigrants of the United States. Contrary to negative myths that make them out to be criminals who steal jobs and abuse the welfare system, there is research to support the notion that immigrants greatly benefit our country.

Immigrants don't steal American jobs, in fact many of them open businesses, which create more jobs. They don't come here to abuse the welfare system, but they do contribute millions of dollars towards the funding of welfare programs. There is good and bad in every group, no matter where they come from, so here I speak for the good. Immigrants bring adequate skills and entrepreneurship to the table.

Together we can work for the better of our country. Only, if we could stop focusing on false claims, set pride aside, and instead rely on facts, of course. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity until they show otherwise. The focus of this country needs to be on achieving unity and coming to an understanding that people are people despite anything else.

Baby choice and responsibility

I feel I owe a kind response to Ms. Antiporda (Ms. A) and her comments published Oct. 20 in The Bee. Although Ms. A cites dictionary definitions for terms used to describe stages of human development following conception, scientists remain uncertain as to the exact moment we become persons. We do know that abortion terminates the life of what would otherwise become us. We can survive outside the womb at 22 weeks of development and, once outside the womb, we remain completely dependent on others to sustain us until we are some years of age.

Like Ms. A I am pro-choice. I believe every woman has the right to decide whether or not to participate in the procreative act. If conception occurs however, it becomes the responsibility of our mother, and father as well, to see us through to our birthday. Many cost-free options exist if she chooses not to keep us; many resources are freely available to aid her during our pregnancy.

I beg of Ms. A her kind consideration of these, my observations and beliefs, and urge her to keep an open mind and heart. Don't let those dirty looks and Bible verses obscure the facts.

Act, do not deny, climate change

The Trump administration is formally withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Meanwhile, we face utilities shutting off power to prevent massive wildfires of the sort that destroyed property and claimed lives last year, wildfires breaking out in places where the utilities are not shut off , and increased damage and deaths from a larger and stronger hurricanes. Then, of course, there’s the flooding that is beginning to damage coastal communities. The costs of allowing climate change to continue are mounting. And yet we keep hearing that reducing emissions will somehow destroy the economy.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will not destroy the economy, but is the only thing that will save the economy. That is why I have called my congressman’s office and asked that he support HR763, a bill that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions through market mechanisms while putting more money into the pockets of the majority of citizens. That really is our choice — a little extra money in our pocket and less damage, or financial catastrophe caused by climate catastrophe. The smart money is on acting, not denying.

This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Marred Yosemite visit: Letters to the editor, Nov. 15, 2019."