He always spoke from the heart and gave of his knowledge and experience, having lived in S. P. all of his life, and engage the City Council with his ideas and also objections to ill-advised decisions by the Council. He recently experienced a distasteful incident when he was asked by city officials to remove a sign from in front of his business. The sign, according to Jess, had been there for many years with no problem until he was served with a notice to remove the sign or else be arrested and handcuffed and hauled off to jail. Apparently, he had run afoul of an ordinance prohibiting such signs. Jess stood firm in his belief but respectfully complied with the ordinance. What a pitiful and lowly way to treat a stalwart and solid citizen and businessman of so many years on Main Street. I felt sadly for his confrontation and that he should have to suffer such an injustice, indignity and maltreatment.I have not lived in Santa Paula since 1954 but I have kept up with the goings on in Santa Paula, as I have many friends from high school still living there. My sister also still lives there and keeps me informed. Beverly Harding of my high school class who also recently passed away along with another good friend of mine, Tony Vasquez, whom I played softball with in the late 40s with Rivera’s Market. Three huge losses for Santa Paula.To Jess, Beverly and Tony, I offer the following: “An Irish Blessing – May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rains fall soft upon your fields, and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”Mario A. NavarroWhittierToday’s teachers union’s prioritiesTo the Editor:Some of our schoolteachers have different priorities today than they had in the past. I always thought that this was one of the noblest professions and one of the most important things we can do is educate our children, pay our teachers well in order that they can dedicate their lives to the education of our children. Many of my family were teachers, they were loved by their students. I was amazed to learn that the teachers union has other priorities by giving millions of dollars to support homosexual lifestyle in California. Homosexuals do not produce children only straight people produce children. Teachers should ask their own mother, father where they came from and how they voted on proposition # 8. The Holy marriage union belongs to a man and a woman, according to the Bible.David KaiserSanta PaulaSanta Paula’s economyTo the Editor: Santa Paula’s economy is in trouble and as a result the city manager has had to cut staff wherever he can. We are having to reduce the number of city employees staff and expand the workload on those remaining on our payroll. The administration in Washington needs more tax dollars from every family to pay interest and principal for all the expensive programs being started. Our primary source of funds that pay for our city’s services is taxes.Non-profit organizations like Cabrillo’s 150 unit Plaza Amistad pay no property taxes but they will cost the city a huge amount of dollars for our police, fire department services and schools. All of these 150 units will have air conditioning.Washington wants to start a carbon tax on all of us. The cost of this tax has been estimated to be about $1,800 per household each year. The government says they need these taxes to pay for all the money we are borrowing from China for interest and principal to cover the bail out funds that they have given out and are going to give out.David KaiserSanta PaulaCoaches?To the Editor:As the summer months swiftly emerge, and many youth athletic organizations begin to plot out their summer sports’ tournaments, it is important to remember the true purpose of these athletic activities. These youth athletic programs are designed to teach perseverance, commitment, teamwork, and athletic skills under the umbrella of “friendly” competition. Sure there is an objective to win and the shiny trophies are the lure that moves a team toward a unified mission. However, that desire to “win” should never supersede the importance of using the sport as a vehicle for teaching great values and principles that will be useful throughout these children’s lives.It appears in this era of the Manny Ramirez “doping” issue, many coaches and people in leadership positions in the athletic arena are both permitting and promoting this concept of “win at any cost”, regardless of the ripple effect of their actions. It is bad enough that these “role models” are permitted to creep into the lives of our children through the medium of television and radio. It is even more disturbing when the adults who are coaching them display a lack of values and professionalism.My daughter’s coach dismissed her from her team when he found out that she was going to play with another team at the end of the tournament. He directed me not to take her to practice or to the final game because he wanted to focus on the incoming players. I told him that my daughter had a commitment to the team, and the tournament was not over yet. He replied telling me that it was over for her, that he had no longer a commitment to her, and as a volunteer and unprofessional coach, he could do whatever he pleased to. As he gathered all of the girls for warm-up, he never called on my daughter and ignored her. I told my daughter to warm up with the team. As they began to jog, he told me to leave the area because my presence annoyed him. How can I then teach my daughter some of the most important values: commitment, responsibility, teamwork, etc? There is much more to say but I won’t give space in this commentary.This type of behavior and decision-making by a volunteer nonprofessional coach should never be borne nor tolerated by any player or parent. My daughter was never called in for the final game, and even though she will no longer be on this coach’s team, such unprofessionalism and lack of ethics should not be accepted by anyone, anywhere. A coach in his position must be encouraging, supportive, discerning, and professional.As parents, we must discuss these issues with our children, so that they do not lose sight of the bigger picture. It is our collective responsibilities to hold the coaches and leaders of these youth organizations accountable for maintaining high ethics and values and for remembering they are working with very impressionable minds - our children and our community’s future leaders! Equally important, we must keep our children away from coaches who are petty, who exclude, who discriminate, and who hold grudges. Coaches need to instill in players a sense of love for the game and a sense of accomplishment, and must always be ready to hear the sharing of constructive spirit of discontent from parents.Samuel RamirezSanta Paula
Letters to the Editor
June 05, 2009
Opinion
Missing a friend
To the Editor:Today I lost a friend. I received a call early this morning that Becky Eaton had died. I have known Becky every since I started practice here in town 14 years ago. She was a Registered Nurse and worked in many different settings in Ventura County.In the last several years she focused on home nursing and Hospice care. She was very devoted to scores of homebound patients who were often in severe pain or actively dying. Some of these patients had no insurance and no means to pay. Even when her health declined she continued to take care of patients on a daily basis. We often worked together and she inspired me to include Hospice work as a part of my practice.She was competent, kind, and very compassionate. She will be greatly missed.Michael C. Tushla, M.D.Santa PaulaChanging of the guard?To the Editor:The masthead for the last several issues of the S.P. Times – through 4-29-09 – lists a new publisher for the paper. Nobody is listed as Publisher-Emeritus, so, where/why did Don Johnson go?Vince BurnsSanta PaulaSupportive communityTo the Editor:This letter is to thank the community of Santa Paula for all of the support during the past month after the passing our father and husband, Robert Ponce. His passing was a huge loss for our family as well as this town.This is such a difficult time for us; however, the love and support from the wonderful people in this town has been such a comfort to our family - the beautiful cards, flowers and plants, the wonderful food, the phone calls, the visits and offered condolences, hugs and shared memories. Our father truly loved this town and the people who lived in it and it is obvious why - this is a very special tight knit community full of truly beautiful people!Also, due to the generosity of several individuals who donated money to the SPHS Education Foundation in his name, we are able to honor two graduating seniors with The Robert Ponce Memorial Scholarship. Also many thanks to those who made donations to Livingston Hospice and the First Presbyterian Church in his name.With much love and appreciation to all,The Ponce FamilySanta PaulaThank you 23% who had the clear vision!To the Editor:For the 23% of the eligible voters who cast their ballots on May 19, 2009, thank you! For those voters who voted No on Propositions 1A through 1D, thank you and thank us for saving California from the inevitable. If bankruptcy will induce rationality, so be it. Some public employee unions such as the CTA (California Teachers Association), CCPOA (California Correctional Peace Officers Association), etc., were hot for the passage of these propositions. No doubt, this was a self-serving agenda. Maybe, just maybe, the blister is ready to burst. To put in layman’s term: “Sometimes something good comes out of something bad”. I have hope, real hope (not this cliché of Obamaism) that finally the voters are starting to feel pain. Unfortunately, pain seems to be the catalyst that initiates rationality. I fail to understand voter apathy this last election. Although the propositions were defeated overwhelmingly, many voters stayed home. Perhaps the judicial activists in the California Supreme Court have promoted voter apathy. For the many that stayed home, I hope your vote would also have been against the measures. We as a society cannot continue to spend beyond our means, we as a society cannot continue to allow gross financial mismanagement by public officials. It is very important that informed voters step up to the plate and make intelligent choices on Election Day.Andrew F. CastanedaSanta PaulaA great lossTo the Editor:A great loss has occurred in the city of Santa Paula, the passing of a noble and gentle man, Jess Victoria, a good friend and comrade-in-arms. He served his country with honor and valor. He loved his hometown of Santa Paula, his birthplace. Whenever I was able to be in town, I would be sure to stop in to say hello and chat with Jess about the goings on in Santa Paula. He would bemoan the decline of a once thriving community, especially the downtown business area. We would discuss topics like local politics to loss of new ventures to raise the level of new enterprises in Santa Paula. He expounded on the decisions of the City Council and how they would adversely affect growth and prosperity by not effectively soliciting for new ideas to promote greater growth by bringing in viable businesses and people with vision and courage to make changes and increase the tax base.
