Letter to the Editor

Accountability, whose is it? Our school district is facing five areas of responsibility to our students and their parents. The area we cannot effectively control is the legislature. While it is out of control, however there are four areas we can have input on: the board of education, the district administration, the teachers and the students.

The board is elected to select the best qualified to run the district, hire teachers and guide the district through its accumulated experience in real world business, teaching models and overseeing operations. If our board doesn’t handle these functions well the whole district suffers.

Our input can be applied by voting in the best possible candidates and attending meetings where agendas of interest are held and speaking out. If our voices are not heard how can we expect to see change?

The district administration holds the responsibility to produce a curriculum that satisfies the Federal, state and local entities. They are responsible for teacher qualifications and upgrading them to stay current. The administration is supposed to be an efficient, on-budget operation that trims all the fat to produce a leaner profile.

The administration also assigns its principals and teachers to the schools where needed, but sometimes thinking that a good middle school administrator might bail out a high school, only find that administrator overwhelmed causing stress and perhaps the loss of a capable administrator.

Teachers hold the unique responsibility of forming our students’ minds and learning habits that will set them for life. In our current economic turmoil teachers are looking over their shoulders to see if they are next to be let go, perhaps at the expense of the “art” of teaching, that is to inspire their students. Teachers are not built-in baby-sitters but are to help build character and self esteem.

The students have their own responsibilities like being on time, doing homework, and focusing on the material being taught, not their neighborhood challenges. They need to learn to respect themselves when no one else does. They also need to know that there are other avenues to careers that don’t need college to start but, only their imaginations.

The responsibility for our students’ education is ultimately in our hands and we should be asking those who direct it, why doesn’t the system work any more?

Jack Yeager
Candidate AUSD

To the publisher:

You own the newspaper, so you have every right to publish your opinions, but I don’t have to agree with them. I can’t agree with your statements about scripture and sexual orientation in your “Publisher’s Response.”

I feel that your statements are not based on any fact but solely on your opinions. Your response sounded suspiciously like Creationist ideas or Anti-Climate Change arguments.

I also felt, and here I must admit that I have no facts only conjecture, that your article about the McNerny Town Hall meeting had only references to the point of view of one side of the aisle. I suspect that there must have been some comments supportive of Mr. McNerny, but none were referenced in the article.

That said, I will read future issues of your paper, but for the sole purpose of finding out who is advertising in it and be sure to avoid patronizing those businesses.

Disappointed Antioch resident,
Roger Martin

——

Mr. Martin,

Thank you for reading the paper and sharing your thoughts.

In response, you wrote that my “statements are not based on any fact” when I actually cited the American Psychiatric Association’s own website, that there is no proof either way that gays and lesbians are born that way.

I also referred to basic physiology.

Both of those arguments to support my position have nothing to do with “Creationist ideas” and I believe are very strong.

As for them having anything to do with being “anti-climate change” is a complete disconnect to me. I don’t see the two issues as remotely related.

As for the article on Congressman McNerney if you had attended his “town hall meeting” (which was held in a very small room that could only accomodate 20 people at the most – which I believe was intentional, but didn’t mention) you would have recognized it was quite kind toward him.

The meeting was also poorly publicized, but I didn’t mention that either.

I took many pages of notes but had to condense it down to what could fit in the paper and to give the general feel of the meeting.

It was his own fellow Democrats who hammered him on issues, one of which I cited regarding not voting to raise taxes on the rich in Obama’s first two years.

On the question of Medicare the Congressman’s response was rather confusing as he discussed MediCal instead. But I didn’t include that in the article.

He also got questioned on the failure of the No Child Left Behind education policy by administrators from Brentwood school districts, but I had to cut that part out to fit in the paper, due to limited space, unfortunately.

I quoted him exactly and included his verbatim responses to the questions posed to him.

The congressman’s experience was similar to what other Members of Congress have experienced across the country from even members of their own political party and is why some aren’t holding public town hall meetings during the summer recess – because people are upset with Congress in general. Some are holding tele-town hall meetings instead so they can better control the conversation.

So I believe the article was very fair and accurate as to what occurred.

I’m sorry to learn of your response in not supporting Antioch businesses who advertise in the paper because you disagree with either my viewpoint or articles you don’t like. Helping promote Antioch businesses and grow our local economy, as I’m sure you can appreciate, is seriously needed and one of the main reasons I started the paper.

My paper reaches more homes in Antioch than any other.

We didn’t have to run the letter to the editor critical of my article in the July issue. But we’re willing to print both sides of issues and even those critical of me, my views and/or our articles.

We’ll even publish your email on our website and in our next issue, to demonstrate that further.

To be fair, do you apply the same standard to all newspapers and other publications which contain advertising and which you read, if you don’t like their editorials or articles? Do you like or agree with all the articles and editorials in the Times, Antioch News or Chronicle? I seriously doubt it.

But if that’s your policy then you’re going to seriously limit where you can shop, do business and dine in town.

Plus, what you’re doing is demonstrating you disagree with my First Amendment rights of free speech and freedom of the press, because you’d prefer my newspaper go out of business by seeking to keep advertisers from advertising in it.

So is that what you want – an America where only your or one side’s views are expressed? I would surely hope not.

Allen Payton
Publisher

To the editor:

We were deeply disappointed to see Mr. Payton’s article on the “Gay History Bill” in your August 2011 issue. While this is not Mr. Payton’s first display of negativity toward the gay and lesbian community, it was extremely unfortunate to see this published as if it were an actual article based on fact as opposed to an “opinion piece” more suitable to an editorial page.

At a time when we are seeing an increase in the bullying of gay and lesbian youth as well as suicides, for Mr. Payton to refer to homosexuality as a “choice” is tragic. If homosexuality were a choice like choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream, why would so many of our youth take their life if it were just a simple choice? Why would anyone “choose” a lifestyle that continues to subject them to ridicule, discrimination and acts of violence?

It’s ironic this article appeared in the issue that included the appointment of our new police chief. My partner and I were subjected to ongoing harassment from a neighbor as a result of our sexual orientation and the members of the Antioch Police Department were more than supportive whenever we dealt with them. We have no doubt that compassion will continue.

At a time when people are struggling to simply keep their lives together, promoting discrimination and discord is the last thing that we should be doing. My partner and I have been together almost 15 years. We get up and go to work, pay our taxes, participate in our local community and are fortunate to have supportive, loving families. Other than the fact that we are lesbians, don’t we wish everyone could say the same?

Susan Kennedy and Stephanie Bonham
Antioch

To the Editor:

Re: “Bonilla and DeSaulnier Vote for Controversial New ‘Gay’ History Law,” this is an editorial which the publisher tries to disguise as “reporting.”

“Controversial?” Every law is controversial unless it is unanimously agreed on. This is just a prejudicial term as used here.

“Even as young as age 5” is loaded, not balanced reporting. We teach five-year-olds lots of things, why not this?

“There is no opt-out” is similarly loaded. Cherry-picking for prejudicial factors.

“Now, not only…” At this point Mr. Payton abandons any pretense at reporting and lays on his views.

“… those who have chosen that lifestyle and the behavior that it includes.” Rubbish. Homosexuality is no more a choice than being ugly, or being stupid, or being only 4′ 10″ tall. It happens. And has our good publisher a list of the “behavior” — bad behavior, naturally — that has occurred among the gay population of this city?

No, I’m not gay, or, as Mr. Payton puts it in quotes, “Gay,” as if the word were not part of the language yet. But I respect good journalism, and this is not journalism. So don’t pretend to be a newspaper, just let it all hang out.

Of course, we have to take a shot at the two Democratic legislators who voted their conscience. Meanwhile I’m sure the publisher, who I’m sure just hates laws and regulations like a good right-winger, takes full advantage of the postal service’s generosity in having the paper delivered to my mailbox, without even an address, at minimum cost, while it costs me $.44 to mail a letter.

Frank Scalpone
Antioch

To the Editor,

Why is it that the state can’t get its educational priorities straight, since the “kids” are our future? It’s simple. Over 100 years ago we needed men and women to fill a need in industry.

These individuals didn’t have a need to know about money, only what they were getting an hour and how to pay their bills. School districts all over the country fell prey to the philosophy “push them through school so we can be a powerful economic force.” And in the pushing there wasn’t a need to teach them that they could be more than spokes on the wheels of prosperity, but a vital force to expand that success. So the study of money, how it works and how to use it was left out.

Now we are faced with a dilemma: our money is not money anymore (backed with gold) – it’s currency floating in value on the world market. Big business has shipped thousands, if not millions, of jobs overseas, or has sold out to foreign concerns that have no interest in supporting U.S. workers.

Is there any possible answer to fixing this? Yes, there is but it will be a work in progress for several years if we start now, decades if we don’t.

We need to not just look at our current system, but at a model that would first create an atmosphere of entrepreneurship. Students who have a vested interest in their own businesses would be able to do many beneficial things, like raise the tax base, contribute to the educational system and lower crime. They would leave a legacy for their posterity to build on in instead.

Students who are taught about having their own businesses would need, even want, to know more on how to grow it through an education about what money is and how to use it. Some of these same young business owners would start to fill the empty storefronts in town. They could give back to the school district with donations, mentoring, and time to help others find the “American Dream.” These future business people would able to hire others reducing crime and welfare in our city.

And yet we struggle with outdated early 20th century concepts of money. We need to revisit the late 19th century to see that most people had farms and knew enough about money to calculate the worth of their crops. Some farmers had stores in town to highlight their specialties so that people wouldn’t have to make the trip out of town. This concept has been the backbone of the successful small business person. Why not let our future generations regain the greatness we have lost?

Jack Yeager
Candidate for Antioch Board of Education

To the editor:

I have been following BART since it started about 40 years ago. How did we get e-BART? I don’t ever remember a session where the locals had any input. I know we were in on many meetings to hear what was being done, but never were we in on the plans for construction.

Why are there two rail lines between Antioch and Pittsburg? One should do, and be about 3 million dollars cheaper. Why are there two rail sizes involved?

I am asking questions because I don’t know the answers. I see no reason why we can’t have one line connection to Pittsburg. I don’t expect that much traffic. I thinks it’s time to stop everything and start over again.

Bob Oliver

To the editor:

Here we go again with political schemes that created the gerrymandering districts that left Walnut Creek divided amongst three supervisorial districts after the last redistricting ten years ago.

In an eloquent doublespeak, District 4 Supervisor Karen Mitchoff argued that the map she favored is not personal or political, and that Walnut Creek suffered no ill effects as a result of the three-way split. I challenge Ms. Mitchoff to prove she believes her own argument. Show leadership and volunteer the equal division of Concord, your political base, and not some city in East County, which has been the dumping ground and step-child of Contra Costa.

Unbiased redistricting establishes supervisorial districts reasonably equal in population while maintaining neighborhoods and communities of interest. Dividing any town or city is a contradiction to this goal. Please explain, Ms. Mitchoff (or Ms. Piepho), how Walnut Creek can be part of the East County neighborhood when the only land connection is a trek up Mount Diablo?

Something is cooking and East County is on the menu. A supervisor not in favor of Plan 7 (which keeps neighborhoods and all cities intact) is not upholding the intent of the process and must be suspect of political maneuvering.

Cynthia Ruehlig