Compassion for the homeless: Letters to the editor, Dec. 20, 2019

Seeking kindness for the homeless

I’m a student at Buchanan High. I’ve lived in Fresno/Clovis my whole life. We obviously have a homeless problem. We’re all on the same page on that. But how we want to solve the problem is where we’re not.

Many of you want to make it a crime to “camp” on the streets/sidewalks. Homelessness is not a crime. I have been homeless. At 7 years old, I was homeless, along with my mom and 5-year-old brother. Would you tell a single mother with two small children that existing is a crime? We needed help, not prejudice. Never once were any of us drug addicts. Not all of the homeless are drug addicts. However, addicts are just as valid as everyone else. They need help, your help.

Just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean they’re less than you. What makes you feel like you’re better than them? “This guy said to me, ‘You could be in this same difficult situation as me, so don’t judge me.’” — Stromae.

I’m asking you, please, open your mind, and put yourself in their shoes — how would you want to be treated? They are human; be kind.

Column was a cheap shot, uninformed

In an op-ed piece on Nov. 21, Andrew Malcom opines that the impeachment inquiry of President Trump is a “total waste of time.” He is entitled to his opinion, but I disagree. The lawless acts of Trump that violate his oath of office to “protect and defend the Constitution” cannot simply be swept under the rug and ignored.

In his last paragraph, Malcom states that, “If you survived the 2,922 days of Barack Obama, you can probably handle 350 more days of Donald Trump.” That is both a cheap shot and is historically uninformed. I’m not going to say that Obama was a great president, but I will say that he was an outstanding one. It has never been suggested that Obama ever asked a foreign government to interfere in our elections as Trump has done on several occasion.

In a C-SPAN poll, 100 presidential historians were asked to rate the presidents in a number of categories. Obama was ranked at No. 12. Trump was not included because he is currently in office. For your information, Lincoln, Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eisenhower were ranked in order as the five greatest presidents.

Delta salinity and pumping rate

Dan Walter’s article about Mr. Bernard’s federal deal with Westlands says the guarantee is “about 1 million acre-feet/year.” Using Kyle’s converter on the internet, I find it means an average flow rate of 1,400 cuft/second; this is not huge. In the week of 1/14/19-1/20/19 federal Delta-Mendotta canal was pumping at 5,042 cuft/second with a salinity of 103 meq Cl/liter. I suppose the deal guarantees that the flow rate would never be zero, as it was during parts of the last five-year drought. The 1,400 cuft/second does not seem to threaten to raise the Delta salinity suctioned into our Valley as much as the January 2019 flow rate of 5,042 cuft/sec did.

Past time to clean up Highway 41

My letter is response to trashy Highway 41. It is really an embarrassment to our city. Everywhere signs are hanged, “No littering, fine 1000$”, but this doesn’t work.

Trash on the highway distracts drivers. A clean environment keeps us healthy and protects from infections.

So, authorities responsible for this should clear our problem.

This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Compassion for the homeless: Letters to the editor, Dec. 20, 2019."