The death of jazz great Buddy Collette; the rich and taxes; the takeover of Harry & David

He led in many ways

Re “Buddy Collette, 1921 – 2010: L.A. jazz saxophone player and bandleader,” Obituary, Sept. 21

We have lost a great jazz musician and humanitarian.

In 1994, Buddy Collette visited my daughter’s performing arts magnet and taught her and others to play jazz flute and saxophone.

He was generous and utterly accessible and lit up any room he entered.

What he did for music, he did for civil rights. And what he did for civil rights, he did for everyone he encountered.

Joan Kramer

Los Angeles

In 1955, I was working construction, going to college at night and hanging out at a club near the water in Long Beach, listening to the Chico Hamilton Quintet.

As each set finished, I tried to get Chico to talk to me; sometimes he was gracious and would sit down. Most of the time he was too busy, especially as the band became more popular.

But one guy who almost always stopped and talked was Buddy Collette.

He was always gracious and explained the music they were playing and what they were trying to accomplish.

And we often talked race, because there were never a lot of black people in the audience.

Buddy did a lot of great things for jazz, both as a musician and as a human being.

Thomas Pari

Anaheim

Talking about paying taxes

Re “Uncle Sam gets his sliver,” Sept. 10

Good for entrepreneur Garrett Gruener for advocating greater social justice, even if it means taxing him more.

He’s perfectly right that the periods of greatest economic inequality — 1929 and 2008 — preceded

severe dislocations.

Unfortunately, achieving social justice is a long shot in an age in which giant corporations wield virtually unchecked power.

Still, it’s a goal worth fighting for.

Roger Carasso

Los Angeles

The column calling for an end to the Bush tax cuts for the rich was a breath of fresh air.

Our economy excelled when President Clinton returned the taxes on the wealthy to a more equitable level. By contrast, with the Bush tax cuts, as the author noted, “We got nearly a decade of anemic job growth, stagnating wages, declining incomes and high inequality.”

That’s not the path for a better America. Those calling for continuation of the tax cuts for the very wealthy may wave banners reading “Country First,” but they should read “Greed First.”

Paul McElroy

Laguna Woods

Allow me to remind the writer that if he feels so tormented that he isn’t paying enough taxes, there is no law preventing him from writing checks to the U.S. or state treasury over and above what he actually owes.

He sounds nostalgic for the days of “anemic job growth” we had under the last president, when the unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in 2007.

Or maybe he would like to go back to the days of Jimmy Carter, when we had double-digit unemployment and sky-high energy prices.

I bet a lot of these rich people crying that they aren’t taxed enough take advantage of every deduction, credit and loophole their highly paid accountants can dream of come April 15.

Judd Silver

Irvine

“None of my investments has ever been motivated by the rate at which I would have to pay personal income tax,”writes Gruener in your opinion pages.

My first reaction is to declare him a fool because after-tax returns are exactly how small-business owners evaluate growth projects.

But the reality is that he is no small-business owner.

I believe that he does personally consider tax policy in other ways when it actually does impact him (e.g. salary versus dividends, tax-free versus taxable investment income).

And keep in mind that if he wants to pay more to the IRS, he may do so now without the benefit of higher marginal tax rates.

Put together, we have a disingenuous attempt by a liberal to advocate for taxes largely paid by others.

Anthony Howe

Mooresville, N.C.

When I read the column, I was struck by a strong sense of deja vu.

This is fast becoming a well-worn cliche in the argument for higher taxes: The nouveau riche Internet mogul or whatever who broadcasts loudly in a heroically noble fashion that yes, they need to pay more taxes, and so do we.

The simple question is this: When taxes were lowered, did it become illegal to continue to pay at the previous rates?

To every multimillionaire who got rich in front of a keyboard or camera, I invite you to start paying your taxes at the Clinton levels to show us how sincere you are.

Richard B. Williams

Woodland Hills

They’re the only ones reaping

Re “Buyout’s bitter fruit,” Business, Sept. 19

As a longtime customer of Harry & David, I’ve enjoyed the wonderful pears many times in spite of the increasing cost per bite. Now I begin to understand why the prices have increased so much in recent years.

Thanks for the excellent story, which is, unfortunately, a familiar one. The apparent recipe? Use highly leveraged credit to buy the company, loot it and walk away from the wreckage, including the employees. The new American way of doing business.

Paul Cooley

Culver City

It’s another classic case of how private equity firms destroy prized brands to enrich themselves. Didn’t any of these guys go to business school? Or perhaps they did.

Bruce R. Feldman

Santa Monica

To the loyal, hardworking employees of Harry & David:

I feel your pain. It’s not just the downsizing, lost wages and disappearing benefits you’ve had to endure while watching your new bosses collect obscene salaries as the company hemorrhages money.

That’s Corporate America 101. But that demoralizing “Culture Promise” you had to sign? Can this management team really be that condescending and clueless? Well, maybe not so clueless. They’re not bothering to relocate.

Obviously they know exactly where this is going, and it won’t be “delivering happiness” to anyone except themselves in the form of big fat paychecks while they run this venerable company into the ground.

Anne Madden

Venice

It doesn’t seem quite right to thank you for your disturbing article about the buyout of Harry & David, but what a great example of a major thing wrong with America: greed.

So the new chief executive, making $9.7 million — up from the $1.4 millionhis local predecessor earned — works from near his home 2,000 miles away, while employees are laid off and pension plans are slashed. The company is on the hook for $20 million in interest a year.

The last thing I want to do is hurt the employees more, but I can’t in good conscience buy anything from a company using those kinds of business practices.

Linda Richards

Redlands

Pricing out the death chamber

Re “1st execution in new death chamber set for Sept. 29,” Sept. 22

The Times reports that it cost “$853,000 in taxpayer money” to build the new death chamber at San Quentin, with the cost presumably kept down by using inmate labor.

You could build an entire three-bedroom, three-bath house in a nice area of town for less.

No wonder the state is $19 billion in the hole.

Barry Nichols

Los Angeles

Minimally appointed, functional, the only color coming from a splash of pistachio faux leather on the sole furnishing — a permanent but adjustable gurney. And all this for only $853,000! (Labor not included.)

This story should have appeared in the Style or Home sections.

Cheryl Dullabaun

Redlands

Something is very seriously wrong with California’s justice system and the electorate that supports it.

To execute a person 30 years after his crime was committed — and during which time he had been in prison— amounts to justice delayed and therefore justice denied.

And it is patently unfair and unjust to punish a person twice for the same crime: first by subjecting him to approximately a life sentence in prison, and then imposing the death penalty on him.

M.T. Gyepes

Pacific Palisades