Fresno Bee letters: On Russia’s war in Ukraine, notable local women, racism in Clovis

U.S. must be bold with Russian war

What will become of Ukraine and the millions of Ukrainian people? What will America stand for? The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the attacks, which we have all been witnessing, are gruesome. Whatever security concerns Russia may have with the encroachment of NATO is not provocation enough to attempt to annihilate a country and its civilian population into submission.

Ukraine will win this war. They will win because they will never give up. They will win this war, but at what cost? Total destruction of Ukrainian cities? 10,000,000 refugees leaving the country? 100,000 civilian lives lost? What decisions America makes now will go a long way in determining that cost.

America should not fear Vladimir Putin. He will always have a nuclear threat at his disposal. If he is a madman, he will launch nuclear weapons. If he is rationale, he won’t. Humankind needs America to be the north star that says we will never accept this kind of action against a peaceful population, against humankind. America needs to be bold in helping Ukraine secure its skies now. Humankind needs America to be bold now and America needs to be bold now to protect its very soul.

Hitler, Putin share key similarities

There is no difference between Hitler and Putin. Hitler built concentration camps with gas chambers to kill the Jews.

Putin is just killing the Ukrainians in their homes. And the world just watches.

Celebrating our notable women

I was encouraged by the collaboration of these two organizations on the 100 Notable Women of the Fresno Community, and uplifted by the event on Zoom on March 8, when four of the notable women were featured: Luisa Medina, Mary Curry, Juanita Stevenson, and Jackie Ryle.

During these times of division and isolation, it is inspiring to hear women laud the value of community service, taking risks, identifying problems, offering solutions, and collaboration.

I humbly offer two suggestions. The taped program should be distributed to all elementary, middle and high school libraries for viewing by students and parents, and if the list of Notable Women is ever revised, consider adding Julia Balderas and Nancy Márquez to the list.

Goes around then comes around

In 1975 my son was a basketball player for Bullard High School in Fresno. His team was playing at Clovis High. My son made a basket and a Clovis player pushed my son in the back. One of the Clovis fans yelled, “Hit the nigger!” The Clovis fans yelled in support of the racist. I expected a Clovis official to stop play and have the racist leave. The game went on instead. At the time, I was a guest columnist for The Bee. I used the racist actions shown by the Clovis fans in my next column. Even though I called them out, there was no reaction from Clovis.

Recently there was a column in the Bee describing the racist actions of the fans of Oak Ridge toward a Clovis Latino soccer player. Clovis reacted to this and the CIF is considering stiff penalties for racist activities in sports. I wonder if the fans of Clovis feel the pain of facing “What goes around comes around.” My son became a captain on the Richmond Police Dept. He has since retired. He has never received an apology from the Clovis fans in 1975.

Give Fresno council 100K each to spend

So one council member accuses other council members of abusing city funds. True or not, Fresno taxpayers are owed an explanation as to why a council member needs an operating budget of $700,000? Seems like more government fat at the expense of the taxpayers.

I propose they get $100,000, and who cares how they spend it as long as it’s legal. This will remove the finger pointing and we can all move on.

Preschool teachers really poorly paid

From farm workers to fast food employees, all workers deserve a basic living wage. MIT’s living wage calculator estimates that a living hourly wage for a single adult with one child in Fresno County is $34.08.

You’d be hard pressed to find that for most jobs. Teachers tend to fare the worst. Preschool teachers, specifically, are the most underpaid members of the labor force relative to the educational requirements set forth by the state of California.

What does it say about a culture where fast food employees outearn early childhood educators?

Bredefeld’s issues with Blacks, Latinos

Odd that Councilmember Garry Bredefeld so often picks as targets of his outrage people of color. (I am so old, I remember the day when “colored” man, woman or child was considered a biased label against Black or Latino people. And now “person of color” is preferable. This is OK with me. People of color have suffered centuries of mistreatment in our USA. Just a side comment on ethnic sensitivities and changing preference.) But to my point: Bredefeld reveals himself and his biases by so often targeting people of color for his attacks.

Several years ago, he vented outrage that football players, most of them Black Americans, were kneeling before NFL games to protest law enforcement officers’ series — so far without end — of fatal and/or unjustifiable shootings and other mistreatment of Black men, women and children, coast to coast.

I read recently that the latest targets of Bredefeld’s outrage include his “fellow” Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Nelson Esparza. (Tyler Maxwell, to be fair, also qualifies for Bredefeld’s negative pontification.)

A pattern? Something tells me Councilmember Bredefeld has what we used to call a “hangup” with Black and Latino people.

I urge him: Psychologist, heal thyself!

Get to bottom of phishing scam

It would seem to be in the best interest of the community that any scam or theft being perpetrated on an individual or local municipality should be publicized as soon as possible to help prevent such scams from reoccurring or at least give the public or any local organization of interest a heads-up on any potential scams or thefts and where they are occurring.

Whether it be card reader ATM scams, catalytic converter thefts or large fund thefts from city municipalities. The reason for the lack of giving any reporting of the city of Fresno phishing scam was to protect an ongoing investigation. I assume all similar municipalities were warned of this scam immediately to prevent further theft.

I also wonder how the specific invoices are sourced and generated. Is it from someone on the “inside” who has the templates and may have profited? Why aren’t accounts payable departments trained to prevent such thefts from happening? It seems one member of the City Council, which reminds me of Coach Tony D’Amato, has the potential and energy to get to the bottom of it.

This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fresno Bee letters: On Russia’s war in Ukraine, notable local women, racism in Clovis."