Fresno Bee letters: Readers sound off on overgrown forests, school shootings and more

Need to thin out overgrown forest

Our Sierra Nevada forests are being destroyed. They are either overgrown or totally gone due to our recent wave of mega wildfires. Both are a result of the same faulty reasoning. The radical environmental movement, perpetuated by people such as Chad Hanson, are the primary reason for our degraded and unhealthy forests.

My wife and I spent a night in Yosemite in 2018 and as we were leaving, she said “don’t ever bring me back to Yosemite again”. The forests in the valley and surrounding areas were so overgrown that they caused us to feel trapped. As we left the Park we drove through the Ferguson Fire, which was still burning, fully demonstrating the state of our forests in the Sierra in just one 20-mile drive.

Scientific facts show clearly that wildfires burn more intensely due to fuel overloading. A recent research paper authored by Dr. Scott Stephens et.al. from UC Berkeley provided details of fuel overloading causing the catastrophic Creek Fire in 2020. In addition, my studies have shown that an overgrown forest has about half of the wildlife that a healthy managed forest has.

We must expose people like Chad Hanson who masquerade as forest ecologists and environmentalists. They are the true cause of our current forest degradation. The time has come to listen to the advice of respected scientists such as Dr. Stephens as well as established foresters whose lives have been dedicated to sensible management of our forests.

Common-sense ways to limit shootings

How many more times are we going to have to be subjected to mass school shootings in America? It seems to me that every time this occurs, we basically end up doing nothing.

There are many things we can do to reduce the occurrence of this phenomenon. First of all, we can place armed police personnel on each school campus from kindergarten to 12th grade. We can make our schools more secure by using enhanced fencing and controlling the entrances to our campuses. These school shooters have a rather specific psychological profile, and we need more mental health professionals who can identify and follow-up with these students. When identified, law enforcement may need to make preventative contact with the minor in question and their parents.

And finally, we have to change our gun laws. We need to ban military-grade weapons. Since we live in a democratic country, we make our political decisions based on the vote, and not through the barrel of a gun. Our military has all the combat weapons needed to protect us from foreign powers, so private citizens have no real need for them. These measures may seem drastic but this must stop.

People, not things, cause world’s evil

Our governor has some bills that will undermine our constitutional freedoms. AB 1594 (Ting) – Allows governments and victims of gun violence to sue manufacturers and sellers of firearms This bill could put gun makers out of business while creating a government owned and controlled gun-making industry.

Yes, my heart broke over the senseless deaths in Texas, but we cannot blame the guns. It was the evil in the heart of that young man that did the killing folks!

Let’s just sue the car makers for fatal car crashes. Let’s sue alcohol companies because folks drive drunk, or video “games” or “films “promoting violence. Would this make sense? No. Why?

Logic tells you it was the person driving, not the car that killed. The person chose to drink and drive irresponsibly. Therefore, logic should be used with guns. The person chooses to do evil and may use a gun or any weapon to kill others.

This is a political grab for power and votes. Newsom’s agenda is gun control preventing citizens from owning guns. Suing beer or car companies or Hollywood is not an agenda liberals want.

Logic is used only if it is not a political issue.

Make candidates focus on issues

It's past time to change campaign laws to level the playing the field and eliminate the influence of groups like the NRA and dark money. Each candidate should have a set amount of money, determined by the office for which they are running. This funding should be provided by a taxpayer-based fund. Any collection of funds outside of the "campaign fund" would result in automatic disqualification from the race.

This would provide every candidate for a particular office the exact same opportunities to reach voters. It would also remove the influence of lobbyists and other donors. Furthermore, candidates should be required to focus on their views, positions on issues, and policies without denigrating other candidates.

Constantly attacking opponents does nothing for the country or the voters. We need to be informed to make our choices for political offices, not incited to violence.

Gun, bullets need to be in solution

School massacres are occuring because we allow unauthorized individuals to smuggle guns onto school grounds. We search people for guns, knives and bombs at airports, before they step onto airplanes, but not before they walk onto school property.

Since guns and bullets are the problem, they should factor into the solution. The cost of administering a country-wide “School Safety Program” will consist of a tax levied on firearm and ammunition sales to include, as necessary, accessories sold and used in conjunction with firearms. The Departments of Homeland Security and Education, in cooperation with regional state and local law enforcement, will oversee implementatiom and program maintenance.

School shootings are a symptom of society’s complacency and neglect in many areas, a complex of issues, with mental health topping the list. Second is education’s failure to understand how to teach baseline (simple) principles to solve complex equations (problems). Society has been at a loss about how to address this problem for 33 years (Cleveland School massacre, 1989).

Looking for complex solutions to a complicated problem has frozen us into inaction for far too long. Let’s triage this emergency properly by enacting simple measures to protect our children.

Politicizing school shootings horrific

I grow weary from hearing of gun control minutes after one of these horrible shooting incidents. It is politicizing a horrific incident, especially one that involves children.

I grow weary of politicians using tragedies as a means to belittle each other. The shooting of little children should not be used as a ladder to climb into a congressional or Senate seat. These episodes of horrendous actions are events that should bring tears and empathy to all Americans.

To see a politician berate another to further his or her ambitious attitudes is beyond despicable. I wish our people in leadership of this country would come to realize millions of its citizens mourn when a calamity of this magnitude transpires.

Let us set aside a day of mourning for victims and all who are heartbroken from such a tragedy.

Bullying may be shooting’s cause

With so any opinions of solving the shootings going on in the United Stares, I thought about putting in my 2 cents. Having been bullied as a child myself, I can understand this real problem in the schools. This phenomenon, bullying, could be life destructive.

As I understand it, the shooter at Uvalde elementary school in Texas, had been a student at the school himself. Why was he waiting to reach the age of 18 to be able to purchase the weapons? He must have been planning this all along.

If something happened at his alma mater, for instance being bullied, it could be a reason for this horrific act. Whether this is a reason for these horrific acts to occur is up to the experts to determine, but I know personally, bullying at the schools is very prevalent.

GOP hypocrisy over baby formula

An attractive news commentator on Fox News was lamenting the shortage of baby formula. The criticism harshly condemned the Biden administration. According to her, Biden was essentially incompetent in dealing with the crisis.

The Republican mantra is small government. Let capitalism and the private sector do its job.

Abbott is a large producer of the formula, which according to a Food and Drug inspection found four consumer complaints with merit. Inspectors found the cronobacter sakazakii bacteria in baby food plus multiple other issues, and the plant had to be shut down to clean up.

Now, Republicans criticized Biden for not being competent in fixing the problem that private ownership and capitalism has created. Is it irony or hypocrisy? Exactly what do Republicans stand for?

This story was originally published June 26, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fresno Bee letters: Readers sound off on overgrown forests, school shootings and more."