Mailbag: Motivations seem clear in Sagebrush debate
I attended both of the recent Sagebrush hearings. I even spoke at the second one. The vitriol, hyperbole and deceit from one side was nauseating. Two women opposing the transfer of the area from Glendale Unified to La Cañada Unified spoke at the first meeting. One compared the Sagebrush residents to fascists. The other implied the Sagebrush parents only wanted their kids to go to a school where their kids would look like them.
No one from the anti-transfer side, not even the Glendale superintendent, apologized for those hateful and racist comments. My guess is that it is the prevailing sentiment among the Glendale Unified side.
The usual scare tactics of a desperate school board also came into play with threats of teacher layoffs and cutbacks if the Sagebrush students were to transfer. Really, 200 students will wreak economic havoc in a school system with more than 25,000 students?
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Contrast that to the case for transfer articulated by Andrew Blumenfeld, a former member of the La Cañada school board. He made a compelling and factual argument which was the highlight of the second meeting. If the transfer is approved he deserves a great deal of credit for making that happen.
I certainly was not expecting that amount of animosity and anger from the Glendale/La Crescenta contingent. It is sad that they have turned this into a David vs. Goliath battle, and you know how that ended. La Cañada comprises such a small part of the gigantic Glendale Unified School District, and it is obvious from the comments that our students are only seen as dollar signs. Sagebrush is viewed as outsiders to Glendale Unified and are only tolerated because it provides a small funding source. All we are asking is to let La Cañada residents attend La Cañada schools.
Bob Tanabe
La Cañada Flintridge
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A letter worth keeping
Re: “The story of our local bears,” Mailbag, Oct. 28. That was a thoughtful, interesting, informative and lovely letter from Jo Anne Sadler. I have cut it out to keep. Thank you, Jo Anne, for taking the time to write it.
Carol Brusha
Glendale
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Crosby cons go up in smoke
Shame on the News-Press for publishing an anti-Proposition 64 propaganda piece days before the election when there is no time for a rebuttal. Brian Crosby’s column, “The potential side effects of legalization,” contains the easily refuted falsehood that there will be TV ads for cannabis products. Those ads are barred in all states by the FCC, which licenses all TV stations. Crosby claims that the FCC will abandon a duty that they have never before abandoned.
Crosby claims “tax dollars should not be used to approve the sale of more cancer-causing substances,” in spite of the fact that the ballot includes the state’s analysis of the fiscal impact. It states that there will be “additional tax revenues ranging from high hundreds of millions of dollars to over $1 billion annually.” Plus “reduced criminal justice costs of tens of millions of dollars annually.” So Crosby is saying the state cannot perform budget calculations and we should trust him instead.
He then claims “the only reason that California is rushing into legalization is to make money for the industry.” Having met many people in the cannabis business myself, I have noticed quite a few who are in it for the money. But the majority are people who have friends and relatives whose lives were saved by cannabis, like a friend of mine who was weeks from death but survived cancer when he switched from pharmaceuticals to marijuana.
Cosby failed to mention perhaps the biggest reason to end prohibition: For almost 100 years it has been enforced in a racist manner and used as a tool to oppress and imprison minorities.
It is a sad day when a shameless propagandist like Crosby, who appears to have little interest in being truthful, is trusted to be in a classroom with children.
Scott Peer
Glendale
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Election bodes well for U.S.
After 16 years of useless, foreign wars, after 16 years of economic stagnation, after 16 years of staggering political debts, America can breathe again.
As a gay man, I embrace Donald Trump’s call to end identity politics and his rejection of political correctness.
As a member of the California Wintu Indian Tribe, I embrace Trump’s call for America first.
As an atheist, I embrace Trump’s defense of religious freedom.
As an American, I embrace Trump’s understanding of the deadly danger of Islam to civilization.
As a patient, I embrace the repeal of Obamacare.
Finally, the Republican and Democratic elites — who turned their back on individual rights and the rule of law — will reform themselves or end up as croaking toads in the political swamp which Trump will drain.
The dawn of a new America is breaking, and America can breathe again.
Ray Shelton
Glendale