Mailbag: Dog park is on its way to CV

I just wanted to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who came to the community meeting on May 27 (“Unleash the fun,” May 29). Barring any major problems, we should have L.A. County’s first off-leash dog park in the Crescenta Valley by next June!

First, I would like to thank Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and his staff for supporting this idea. Working with the supervisor’s office has been a genuine pleasure. Their professionalism and dedication to the dog park is greatly appreciated.

Without the support of the community, this effort would not have been possible.

I would like to thank the many people who have volunteered for Community Volunteers for Dogs Off-leash Gathering and Socializing, CV DOGS, at various events, helped hand out fliers, gathered petitions and promoted the idea to their friends and family.

This was truly a community effort, and without that support, we would not have been able to achieve this goal.

Finally, I would like to thank the officers of CV DOGS, both present and past, for all of their help over the last three years: Cheryl Davis, Carol Fodera, Melissa Klose and Scott Duncan.

If you have gone to an event where CV DOGS was present, no doubt you have talked to one of these folks! Each of them spent countless hours working on this task, ensuring that this project came to fruition.

We, as a community, have achieved a shared goal through hard work and perseverance.

I hope that this park not only provides a place for our four-legged friends to exercise, but also provides a place for people to meet and socialize with one another, making the community stronger as a whole.

JOHN KLOSE

La Cañada Flintridge

Editor’s note: Klose is president of CV DOGS.

Social graces are a thing of the past

Maybe I am just from the old school, but it seems to me that the very basics of human interaction have deteriorated to such a degree that the very fabric of our civilized society is dangerously at risk.

What I am talking about are simple manners and courtesy on a daily basis.

I cannot tell you how many times I have held a door open for somebody and they just walk right by me without even an utter or a smile.

Usually they are busy texting or talking on a cell phone.

Have people become so desensitized that they actually interact better with their high-tech toys than with their fellow human beings?

Manners and politeness are the glue of a civilized society, and people who are guilty of this lapse of the very basics of human interaction should take a long, careful look at their behaviors.

CHARLES FRANK

Burbank

Keep ethnicity out of it, politicians

Your recent series of articles on the 43rd Assembly District candidates’ outreach to Armenians (“Forum likely to proceed June vote,” May 15) were very instructive.

It appears that Sunder Ramani is picking up where Nayiri Nahabedian left off.

Trying to “out-Armenian” the other candidates and stirring up bad feelings in the Armenian community to try to manipulate them into voting for him. This did not work for Nahabedian, and I doubt it will work for Ramani.

Is it possible that Mike Gatto was the top vote-getter in the special primary because he refused to engage in this ethnic pandering?

This voter certainly thinks so.

DAVID DOBSON

Burbank

Boxing isn’t a career for everyone

I’m writing about these boxing clubs that are popping up all over Southern California that I read in your paper (“Unbeaten in the Bronx,” June 7).

I like to remind the young people in our town that a education is important, or a skill, because only a few ever make it to the top, and it’s short term because very few last past their 30s — not only in boxing, but all pro sports like football.

And some just end up broke. Look at what happened to the great fighter Muhammad Ali.

He was able to make money to fall back on, and again I say only a few make it to the top. So remember, education should always be first.

RUBEN JIMENEZ

Burbank

Machine calls are a turnoff to voters

Why don’t politicians understand that robo-calls are very annoying to most of the people who receive them?

And why don’t they understand that most people hang up as soon as they realize it’s a machine calling them. Is there any reason for anyone running for office to believe the calls do any good?

I suspect that candidates hire consultants who tell them to use robo-calls to justify their consulting fees. It’s the same with the literature sent through the mail.

My wife and I were thinking of supporting the woman who ran against Mike Gatto, but she sent such a huge amount of materials through the mail, we became suspicious of her.

She seemed to be spending far too much money on her campaign.

So we decided to support Gatto, and I am glad we did.

STANTON J. PRICE

Glendale