The Beef With the Bus Driver

Regarding the vegetarian bus driver fired by the Orange County Transportation Authority:

Let me get this straight. This guy is forcing his so-called religion, “non-burgerism,” onto the people who ride his bus. They’re not given the right to decide whether they want a burger or not, this man gets to make that decision for them because he’s right and they’re wrong and they don’t know any better. Unreal!

OCTA did the right thing by firing this dictator. His job isn’t to pass judgment on others or decide on how they should live. I’ll finally be convinced we’re all doomed to be ruled by stupidity if this man gets his job back or wins the inevitable “It’s not my fault, it’s someone else’s fault” lawsuit.

ROY MYTINGER

Mission Viejo

* Bruce Anderson, the fired OCTA bus driver, needs a lesson in logic, not meatless culinary promotions. Doesn’t he realize that handing out these hamburger coupons was an effort to promote and increase ridership, which possibly increases revenues and maybe [helps him] stay employed?

With the increases in job losses and unemployment in Southern California, anyone with any logic and common sense would first do whatever it takes to keep their job. After all, the OCTA was not asking him to eat the hamburgers. That is an individual’s choice. How many coupons do we receive in the mail? In the Sunday newspapers, should those who deliver the paper refuse because they found one coupon in the hundreds that are in the paper offensive and/or against their religion? I doubt it.

Regarding your argument that this is not part of your job assignment: Wake up, if you haven’t noticed all of us that are employed are continuously doing more within our specific jobs. That is the reality. Do you think police just give out tickets and arrest people? Do you think teachers just teach? In every occupation there has been an extension of the job due to the changes in the work environment, economy and society.

Finally, as taxpayers we should be more appreciative of the OCTA for their efforts at working with the private sector to promote ridership and revenues so that public transportation is available for those who need it. As a taxpayer I am disappointed at Anderson for bringing on this legal challenge against OCTA for something that was totally unnecessary and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

F. REYES

Trabuco Canyon

* I couldn’t agree more that Bruce Anderson is a bus driver, not a shill for Carl’s Jr. I’m surprised that a Carl’s Jr. representative has not issued a statement condemning this obvious injustice. By failing to do so, Carl’s Jr. is an accomplice to an injustice.

The management of OCTA deserves to be reprimanded for this absolutely uncalled-for response to Anderson’s actions.

I’m not a fan of Anderson’s attorney, Gloria Allred, but she is certainly “right on” in this case. The great thing is that Anderson may never have to drive anything again. It could be limo time!

Of course, the most unfortunate aspect of this situation is that the Orange County taxpayers will once again pay for the incompetence of public officials because their actions are indefensible.

J. LEE WASSON

Irvine

* As a former bus driver and supervisor of 20, I must take issue with Anderson.

My father always taught me that when a supervisor asks you to complete a task, you respect the wishes of your supervisor and perform the task required to the best of your ability, providing that the request does not infringe upon the life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness of another. If, at that time, you feel that the request is unreasonable, you may then grieve to higher authority.

Anderson’s rights are not in violation. He was not asked to eat meat. The transit passengers were not asked to eat meat, only offered a coupon for their personal convenience. The passenger is left with the decision to either keep or discard the coupon.

Anderson does not have a case. He is taking advantage of a situation as so many choose to do in this age of making an issue in order to grab a headline for self-importance.

S. MICHAEL LOEWY

Westminster

* Those members of the community who came to his defense attempted, albeit poorly, to ameliorate Bruce Anderson’s conduct and willful failure to follow a lawful supervisory directive. Were they eloquent in their presentation? Maybe. But to quote Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes: “Eloquence may set fire to reason.”

Anderson’s conduct, based upon his personal beliefs, is as morally impractical as a firefighter who is personally opposed to abortion and refuses to battle a blaze in a Planned Parenthood clinic, or someone whose beliefs compel them to have facial hair and yet tries to argue the point when he is hired at Disneyland.

KEVIN M. O’BRIEN

Laguna Hills

* Bruce Anderson and Gloria Allred are trying to convince a judge and jury that insubordination is a synonym for civil rights and that vegetarianism comes under the umbrella of religious freedom. Boy have they got a case!

CHARLES J. TIGHE

Fullerton