Dyer for mayor: Letters to the editor, Feb. 16, 2020

A vote for Dyer best for Fresno’s future

People shouldn’t judge former police Chief Jerry Dyer by his past. Nobody is perfect, we all do dumb things when we are young, but people change. Jerry Dyer has become a Christian, a man of integrity, and is a happy family man.

During his tenure as chief he did a wonderful job fighting crime, and it is only logical that he made many friends as well as enemies — all police officers do because upholding the law is not only a tough job but very dangerous as well.

Keep in mind that police officers risk their lives every day trying to protect the public. No candidate running for Fresno mayor knows Fresno and what it needs better than Jerry Dyer. A vote for Jerry Dyer is a vote for the good future for the city of Fresno.

U.S. military is not a for-hire force

Before 1776, in the days of kings, before democracy and freedom were established, royalty would send their armies and troops abroad. Much like pawns on a chessboard.

Today, we have a president who believes that sending troops to other countries — as long as other countries pay for our troops — is acceptable.

It is not.

Our brave men and women, who volunteered to serve, are protecting our freedoms, our citizens, and have taken an oath to defend the Constitution.

Along with that solemn oath is the fact that they are pledging their lives to our country. They may not come home from a mission.

The men and women of our service branches are not guns for hire, or soldiers of fortune — they are dedicated to a service above self to protect and defend our country and its citizens.

Will any amount of money received (or not) from other countries ever look a mother in the eye and be able to explain to her, why her son or daughter is not coming home because they were killed while defending a sultan's oil wells halfway around the globe?

Time to win the war on Fresno’s trash

Thirty years ago, Fresno looked markedly different. There was graffiti, everywhere. It looked as if every surface in our public spaces was tagged, and our town had the appearance of an inner-city ghetto. The graffiti was a symptom of a much larger, seemingly insolvable problem — gangs and crime — yet our leaders had the foresight to understand this symptom had greater ramifications, and that it could be solved.

We acquired and staffed a graffiti removal truck, and went about cleaning up the city. This created a fresh backdrop for crime to drop and our community to thrive. Today, graffiti may pop up from time to time, but disappears virtually overnight.

Now we face a similar crisis. There is garbage, everywhere. Our freeways and public spaces are mired in third-world squalor. Again, this is largely a symptom of a much greater, seemingly insolvable problem — homelessness. But we don’t have to live this way. Like graffiti, there is a much greater social barrier to littering in a clean space, than in one that looks like a dump. We make great efforts to attract new employers and skilled workers, only to introduce them to Fresno with piles and piles of garbage. We ask them to invest in and move to our community, yet we are unwilling to invest in even the most basic of tasks to make it a nice place to live. It has become an embarrassment, and it is past time for our leaders to act and clean up the city.

More on Methodist Church proposal

In her criticism of The Bee’s and CNN’s coverage of the United Methodist Church, it appears Fran Shellenberger (1/26) may have confused the previously rejected One Church plan with the new “Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation,” mediated by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg (who negotiated settlements after 9/11, the Virginia Tech shooting, etc.)

The former proposal did allow for theologically and socially different conferences within one denomination, but the latter actually does result in a split of the denomination. If (and it’s a big “if”) the protocol is translated into constitutionally allowed legislation and is passed by the upcoming 2020 General Conference in May in Minneapolis, the UMC will separate into at least two denominations, with the minority “Traditionalists” leaving to form a new denomination, the structure of which, the Wesleyan Covenant Association, has already developed.

Under the protocol, restrictive policy language regarding LGBTQ members and clergy would be removed from the Book of Discipline. Congregations, Conferences, and clergy would to choose to remain in the UMC or leave. The UMC in the U.S. would be allowed to make culturally appropriate adaptations to the discipline, as Central Conferences (Africa, the Philippines, and others outside the US) already do.