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Why aren’t players free not to observe Pride?
Re: “Pride Night pain lingers” (Page A1, June 25). Enough already. A few baseball players write a Bible verse on their caps, and it’s five days of headlines of “lingering pain” — and (of course) the mandatory accusations of bigotry and hate for those who express a politically incorrect perspective.
Imagine the “pain and hurt” of being forced to publicly support a viewpoint in total opposition to your own beliefs? Do we not realize we can accept all people without overtly applauding all their behaviors? How immature are we when a simple difference of opinion causes us “lingering pain”?
Anyone who wants to celebrate “pride” is free to do so — and others should be equally free to refrain. I remember reading about something closely associated with pride that usually follows it. It escapes me at the moment.
Stacy Spink
Castro Valley
Public instruction is to blame for decline
Re: “Loss of multilingual students drives down enrollment” (Page A1, June 22).
An interesting article, it explains how “multilingual” students affect public schools in California. But the article’s headline is misleading. The headline would lead one to believe that speaking two languages would matter, one way or another, to the drop in public school attendance.
Parents have been avoiding public schools for years now. They have realized that, in California, the kids are getting indoctrination instead of instruction. I believe the teachers’ unions have a lot to do with this. These unions are controlled by left-wing influences that promote left-wing, anti-American agendas. They push DEI and “woke” mantras instead of traditional curricula.
During the COVID lockdowns, parents were able to witness first-hand that their kids were being groomed with radical political and social theories. So, they are yanking their kids out of public schools in favor of schools that promote education.
Jay Todesco
Concord
Trillionaire Musk could step in when US leaves
Re: “[South African groups warn of dire HIV impact as U.S. exits](https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-us-hiv-funding-pepfar-trump-466ae7d6d3ebda8e871e71239946e733)” (Page A4, June 25).
From the article, I learned that South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV, 8 million.
Since Elon Musk is now a trillionaire, perhaps he could see it in his heart to help his homeland. Our government has been sending aid to the country for 20 years to help battle HIV, saving 20 million lives. The most vulnerable are women and adolescent girls.
The U.S. program is about to be phased out. Could someone let Elon know?
Shirley McGrath
Walnut Creek
Fire prevention is as important as response
Re: “Fire breaks out in the foothills east of San Jose” (June 24). The recent vegetation fire in the South Bay’s eastern foothills has raised important questions that deserve more attention.
While news coverage often focuses on how quickly firefighters contain a fire, there is less reporting about what happens afterwards. What steps are firefighters and Bay Area officials taking to prevent another fire from occurring in the same area? Are there enough resources dedicated to vegetation management, public education and fire prevention throughout the Bay Area? Residents deserve to know what proactive measures are being taken before another emergency happens. Prevention is just as important as emergency response, yet it receives less attention.
The paper should investigate this issue by asking fire officials what prevention strategies are in place and whether additional funding or community involvement is needed. Keeping the public informed about fire prevention is just as important as reporting on the fire itself.
Cierra Martinez
Pleasanton
State leaders target smart local growth
This month, 70.2% of Contra Costa County voters passed Measure A, reaffirming the County’s “Urban Limit Line.” It was a ringing endorsement of smart growth, directing new development inward toward infrastructure-rich existing cities while protecting open space. Neighboring Solano County has had a similar “Orderly Growth” policy since 1984.
Right now, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature are holding backroom discussions to override Solano County’s smart growth policies as a favor to a few billionaire developers. They want to develop a “California Forever” the size of Stockton in Solano County’s dedicated open space. Neither Solano County government nor its citizens have a voice or a vote in these deliberations.
Californians, wake up. If Sacramento overrides Solano’s orderly growth law to accommodate a few wealthy developers, no urban growth boundary is safe. The principle of smart growth will be dead, and the bad old days of urban sprawl will run amok.
Jeff Deiss
Vallejo