Conservatives are drowning: Letters to the editor, March 31, 2021

Conservatives are drowning

After reading Jeff Hodge’s letter, I realized why the GOP is so involved in voter suppression. They are afraid of becoming the minority. Yes, changing voter rights, lying about the results of the election and almost everything else involved are acts of a desperate person and in this case, party.

Trumpublicans, Proud Boys, KKK, white supremacists, and right-wing extremists and like-minded people know how they treat and have treated minorities in the past. They are deathly afraid that if they are voted out of office, they will be treated the way they use to treat minorities.

Surprise, you are in the minority and you have not been suppressed. You have used cancel culture to your advantage. You have spun every new event possible even trying to spin science. The new majority has compassion and will not treat you the way you have treated others. Jeff was right, you are drowning.

Clean car rides in rural Fresno

“Environmental justice is the study of people on the receiving end of society’s blunt sticks of pollution and poverty...” said Kevin Hall in an op-ed on March 13. These words sting true, and are an important reminder as our local leaders deal with an equitable rollout of the Measure C extension. As the founding director of Inspiration Transportation, a local nonprofit focused on equitable and sustainable transportation, I’m learning the myriad of hurdles it takes to get viable services to those who need it most.

Through the Fresno County Rural Transit Agency, with Measure C funding, our microtransit pilot project is offering affordable rides in electric Chevy Bolts to rural unincorporated communities where public transportation is unavailable. Essential workers are getting rides to work during the pandemic, pregnant mothers are driven to medical appointments, and families are afforded shopping trips. The concept of microtransit is simple but feels monumental for Fresno, where status quo public services are what we’ve become accustomed to. Our complacency is our biggest hurdle.

Equitable, sustainable, and accessible transportation is possible, and Measure C is the vehicle to make it happen. Let’s hope those in charge of our tax dollars have the courage to agree.

Bee editorial way off the mark

The pitiful print edition of the March 22 represents an all-time low in the collective thought of those formulating editorial opinions for McClatchey Newspapers. Reference is hereby made to the editorial originally appearing in The Sacramento Bee, vilifying former Yolo County Deputy Sheriff Orrin Heatlie for suggesting that consideration be given to microchipping felons who are in the United States illegally. His remarks elicited accusations of bigotry, based on the contention that the politically correct euphemism “undocumented immigrants” is the only acceptable term for those here illegally.

Next,The Bee made the quantum leap from Heatlie’s affiliation with the group endeavoring to recall California’s governor to the conclusion that all those affiliated must be “Trump-supporting bigots.” And, there’s The Bee’s magnanimous concession, “it is likely some Democratic and independent voters signed the recall petition.” Uh, ya’ think? Garnering 1.5 million signatures in California, where only 24% of the voters are “Republicans,” requires the assumption that another quantum leap was made in concluding that the recall “is driven largely by extreme right-wing figures.”

Finally, The Bee sullies itself by engaging in editorial extortion, threatening to paint anyone who refuses to denounce Heatlie with the same extreme right-wing, bigot brush.

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Conservatives are drowning: Letters to the editor, March 31, 2021."