Letters to the Editor: Mailbag: Schiff is honest and honorable, supporters write in his defense
In response to the letter writer from Tampa, Fla., we have lived in Burbank for 46 years. When Adam Schiff first ran for congress, he sat at our table and explained why he was running. We have supported him ever since and still do, because he is an honest and honorable man who is seeking the truth as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Schiff is doing his job related to national security. The Russians did interfere in the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump. Persons in the campaign and later in the Trump Administration met with Russians and lied about it. These are facts.
The president has not been exonerated, especially in regards to obstruction of justice. In time the truth will come out and it will be Trump who will be out of office, not Rep. Schiff.
Lucy and George Christophersen
Burbank
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Kudos to the three letter writers April 6 in defense of Rep. Adam Schiff. I will add, why is Trump afraid to release his tax returns as previous presidents have done? My answer: There is much to hide from the public, especially to his base who have been fooled by Trump’s lies and voted against their own interest.
My guess is that one of the reasons is because Trump did not pay enough in taxes to our federal government. I am sure he fears many other illegalities will be exposed.
The con man wins for now, but for how long before the fall of King Don?
Nina Sutton
Simi Valley
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Congratulations to musical director Brendan Jennings and his staff of outstanding choreographers at John Burroughs High School for a spectacularly successful weekend in Boston. Both the Powerhouse and Sound Sensations show choirs were named grand champions in their divisions at the Eastern Show Choir Festival. More than 125 Burroughs students performed.
The city of Burbank has two of the most successful competitive show choir programs in the nation in Burbank High and Burroughs High, and yet the Leader seldom has any mention of their competitions. The performers work just as hard and are just as dedicated as their classmates who compete on sports teams and they should be publicly recognized for their efforts.
Elliott and Esther Porter
Burbank
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On March 7 the Jordan School Naming Committee reported to the Burbank school board regarding renaming Jordan Middle School. This came about due to Dr. David Starr Jordon’s association with eugenics, “the practice or advocacy of controlled selective breeding of human populations (as by sterilization) to improve the population’s genetic composition,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
The committee failed to use the negative connotation of eugenics as a teaching moment. Just as slavery in the United States is taught and the wrong that was done because of slavery, so can educating students of the wrong done because of eugenics.
This proposal opens a can of worms. The following schools will also need to be renamed: Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison elementary schools and Luther Burbank Middle School, because these three men embraced the ideas of eugenics; Thomas Jefferson and George Washington elementary schools, named after men who were slave owners; Joaquin Miller Elementary, named after a man who was a horse thief and jailed in Shasta County and in Oregon. Let’s look at the positive influence of these men to society. Sometime the choices humans make are ill-founded, but on the whole, value all these men, including Jordan, considering their positive characters in spite of negative choices.
Eugenics has led to medical genetics, a positive. The school board needs to take a hard look at the proposal to rename Jordan. If the board approves this proposal, then I formally request that the above six named schools be renamed for the same reasoning that Jordan is renamed, per board policy No. 7310. The board must be educators and vote “no.”
Carol Simpson
Retired BUSD employee
Deer Park, Wash.