The dangers of fireworks: Letters to the editor, July 4, 2021

Spare the booms, spare the air

As a World War II holder of a Combat Infantry Badge, I say enough of the bangs and booms of July 4th. All fireworks, the illegal and the legal (if that is an oxymoron) should be prohibited countywide except for professional displays.

Selling expensive play things that start fires, overwhelm fire departments, pollute the air, terrorize animals and risk life and limb is an odd way for nonprofits to raise a buck.

Dams needed more than fast trains

California is in a horrible water drought. Possibly the worst yet. Now the Biden admininstration is giving almost $1B to start work again on the high-speed rail.

At the speed that the state is working on the speed rail, it will be completed before anything is even started on the water issues. Such as maybe building a new dam to hold the water we need might be a good idea.

Diane Pearce is tone deaf Republican

I found myself smirking while reading Diane Pearce’s June 6 column supporting the Gavin Newsom recall.

Pearce, a failed Clovis election candidate and sometimes guest host of the Ray Appleton show, has proven her right-wing bona fides numerous times and her letter only accentuated her ludicrously disingenuous and highly partisan political positions.

She finds Newsom unpalatable for some of his mild missteps while governing one of the world’s largest economies but found nothing disagreeable about the incessant buffoonery and chaotically divisive antics of Trump as he pushed his big lie about election fraud and continued his demonization of minorities and immigrants culminating in his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which five people died.

Trump, the twice-impeached, one-term self-admitted groper of private female body parts is not a problem for Pearce, but apparently Newsom sipping vintage wine and dining on haute cuisine at the French Laundry was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

No matter that Trump cultists were beating Capitol police officers and desecrating our most hallowed congressional grounds while the former president and his family watched on big screen TVs and celebrated the violence.

How tone deaf can one be?

Arax has little claim on racism

Rather than promoting cancel culture, perhaps Mark Arax should look into the mirror and ask himself why he was so recently actively involved in meetings with a group of predominantly white parents and community members for Bullard High School and its surrounding schools to separate from the rest of the Fresno Unified School District. 

Did this have anything to do with racism?

Glad to have Marek writing columns

 I would like to thank Marek Warszawski and, by extension, The Bee. Mr. Warszawski's articles and commentaries are very well written, many times thought-provoking, and well-reasoned on such diverse topics as the origin of the Creek Fire, the San Joaquin River Parkway, the pending sale controversy of the Tower Theatre to a church and the job performance of Mayor Jerry Dyer.

Marek Warszawski joins a proud Bee tradition of columnists such as Woody Laughnan, Eli Setencich and Jim Wasserman. Thanks, Fresno Bee. Thanks, Marek.

On critical race theory, history

What is critical race theory? Andrew Fiala (June 13) approaches it as an exercise in critical thinking, whereas Arax and Janigian (June 13) argue replacing the name of a school celebrating a known white supremacist (Forkner). I prefer the latter approach, providing historical examples of how race influenced public policies and social organizations.

Back in the early ‘60s, I was in an accelerated American history class and the teacher brought up the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Several students immediately protested, stating that it was propaganda.

Currently there are several states prohibiting the teaching of CRT. Will this then eliminate discussions on Jim Crow laws, slavery, or genocide of native peoples of the Americas?

Farm workers need work, no handouts

I work for a grower-packer-shipper of fresh produce here in Fresno that also has growing operations throughout California. I recently read a Bee editorial, “Free money for Valley farm workers? In a drought, state leaders should back the idea.” I must disagree with this article. Farm workers don’t need handouts; they need to get back to work.

One of the biggest things causing labor shortages right now is people not wanting to work because they are able to stay at home and take government money without having to work for it. I know of cases where some workers make about the same, or in some cases more, than they were making when they were working full time.

In the Coachella Valley I know of a municipality that passed legislation that farm workers in their city should receive “hero pay” with extra money added to their checks. Many workers have also received multiple stimulus checks to help them during COVID.

So, in essence, the government started a universal basic income pilot shortly after the COVID-19 scare began.

We need to get our workers back to work.

This story was originally published July 4, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "The dangers of fireworks: Letters to the editor, July 4, 2021."