‘Where Do You Stand’ Response
I am writing in response to “Where Do You Stand?” from the August 15 edition. This letter to the editor is hard to take seriously. The writer attributes all of our country’s current woes to the Democratic Party.
Perhaps you would like Democrats to respond to repeated mass shootings in the same manner as Republicans, only with prayer for the victims? As for the hostility and divisiveness, which is so prevalent nowadays, why don’t you look to President Trump who constantly spews out racist, hostile and demeaning messages to anyone who disagrees with him?
Whenever there has been a mass shooting, Democrats in Congress have renewed their calls for sensible gun control restrictions, such as background checks, banning assault weapons and keeping guns out of hands of the mentally ill. The Republican response is always the same: Don’t politicize a tragedy by seeking to pass gun control legislation at the present time.
No matter how long Democrats in Congress have waited, Republicans have never said that the time had finally come for gun control legislation. They want the American people to wait until the emotions have died down, and then they continue to thwart the will of the American people who overwhelmingly favor sensible gun control legislation. If Republicans would ever allow a vote on gun legislation, Democrats wouldn’t have to bring it up after the latest mass shooting.
If you’re looking for someone to blame for the current state of violence and hostility in our country, look in the mirror at the party you obviously favor. It was President Trump who reversed President Obama’s ban on allowing the mentally ill to possess firearms. It was President Trump, whose words of hatred and bigotry against Mexicans and immigrants, were echoed by the shooter in San Antonio.
It was the Republicans in the Senate who, after the Sandy Hook tragedy, filibustered gun control legislation, favored by a majority of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. It was Mitch McConnell who refused to call the Senate back from their summer vacation to consider gun control legislation from both parties after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Maybe you don’t mind hearing about mass shootings happening on a regular basis in our country, but I do. Maybe you favor prayer as the solution, but I don’t.
Until the Republicans in Congress take action to change our gun laws, to at least try to stem the tide of gun violence, you and they have no one to blame but yourselves.
Steve Cron
Charter
It is a mystery as to why it took the Post so long to print this information about Pali High’s charter renewal and its ramifications. Charter renewal with its accompanying expansion wish list sounds pretty much like a done deal. Is there no requirement for community input?
Why exactly is Palisades High allowed to even contemplate adding yet another hundred students and accompanying staff (how many?) without comment from the community? In case you haven’t been near PaliHi on a school day recently (say, within the past ten years) the surrounding neighborhood is seriously impacted with traffic at both the beginning and end of the school day.
PaliHi is already over capacity with its student population; students and staff now park cars more than half the way down Temescal Canyon Road on a daily basis. Neighbors raise this issue (and others) from time to time, but are shut down by an unhelpful and unresponsive administration.
Janet Davis
The Case for Skate Parks
An initiative will be presented on August 22 at the Pacific Palisades Community Council for creating a skate park in the Palisades. I think this is a wonderful idea.
Skateboarding is one of the best things that has ever happened to young people. I have spent a great deal of time over the last few years in dozens of skate parks in Southern California, accompanying my grandson and his friends.
In addition to the obvious fitness benefits, skateboarders develop enormous self-discipline, as they patiently practice their moves hundreds of times before succeeding.
The atmosphere is typically friendly and the spirit is cooperative, with skateboarders coaching and helping each other, and valuable friendships are made.
Skate parks are safe places where young people can have the social interaction needed at their age. Professor Richard Sagor of Washington State University has written that schools have a lot to learn about cooperation and motivation from skateboarders. (His article “Lessons from Skateboarders,” was published in the prestigious journal Educational Leadership.)
Research shows that skateboarding is a safe sport, provided skaters wear protective gear; a study published in the Journal of Trauma in 2002 reported fewer serious injuries per participant from skateboarding than from football, basketball and bicycling.
Stephen Krashen
Grandparent
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