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Sound Off for April 13, 2008
| Tuesday, May 27 2008 2:06 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 27 2008 2:32 PM
Reader: To The Bakersfield Enquirer,
I am writing in regard to the article about still more animal horrors on April 7. It seems there is no end.
First it was large pictures of dogs being put to sleep. I am curious how many of your reporters are animal haters.
I guess you never thought that small children read the paper and of course this would catch their eye. Some would even awake at night crying because of the nightmares about their own animals.
I say pass the needed law for required spaying and neutering. Get this out of the children's sight and out of the paper. We have all kinds of fraud and different illegal things happening here but where are their pictures on the front page? That is also news.
I hope sometime in the future you can adopt some type of compassion.
-- Patricia A. Bailey
Jenner: You're right, we all hate animals here.
That's why we go to such lengths to show the public what REAL nightmares are occurring daily for animals at the Kern County Animal Control Shelter, which is overrun by unwanted strays that irresponsible people have failed to properly care for.
Is it upsetting to children? Yes.
We foolishly thought it also would be upsetting to adults -- adults such as yourself who should understand that by highlighting this problem, the paper is attempting to motivate people to actually do something about it, rather than hide their heads in the sand and ignore it.
For the record, we've put plenty of criminals and fraudsters on our front page as well.
Our job is to inform the public about the real world in which they live.
We'll continue to do our best to do just that.
Reader: The Bakersfield Californian's photos and coverage of our county's large number of pets being euthanized has left a tremendously sad impact on me, but I applaud your newspaper for reporting on this desperate situation.
Since your photos and articles carry such weight, why not run daily or weekly "Pets in the Spotlight" photos with adoption information about dogs and cats at the shelters (as you once published)? There remains the goliath task of preventing the overpopulation in the first place, but all adoptions save lives.
Hopefully, readers will see the photos of these precious animals and adopt them, rather than only seeing the sad newspaper pictures of ones who have already said goodbye.
-- Patti Heiser
Jenner: Thanks for the great suggestion, Patti.
We plan to do just that. Our ever-popular Pet of the Week feature will return to The Californian on April 21, and will continue every Monday in the Eye Street section.
Reader: I started to read with interest your April 1 story by Jason Kotowski about "Thieves Steal War Mementos from WWII Veteran" until I noticed his name was changed under the second photograph from Vilas Walhood to Vilas Vengas?
Under the third photograph: Vilas Walhood when he was a young first Lieutenant with the 70th Infantry Division.
Reading the text of the story was painful. There were unnecessary words or misstatements (e.g., "A couple of things the thieves didn't take when they robbed Vilas Walhood's home was his Silver Star and Purple Heart medals." The sentence doesn't even make sense.
What kind of editing/proofreading do your reporters/editors do on your newspaper? This is shoddy work. Shame in a story with some real human interest and to honor a man who had given service to his country. Who bears the blame?
-- Joanne Gartenmann
70th Infantry Division Assn.
Falls Church, VA
Jenner: The complaint you make regarding the photo caption appeared in an online version of a story, which was subsequently fixed. The error never appeared in our print edition.
If you had read our print edition, you would have found the story and photo front and center on Page One.
I thought our presentation paid tribute to Mr. Walhood's sacrifice in a respectful way. And by getting the word out about his loss, we might actually help him get some of his collection back.
We work hard to produce an error-free product. Our work is done by humans, not robots. Now and then we make mistakes. When we do, we correct them and work to avoid them in the future. If we weren't trying to serve audiences in multiple platforms, we might have more time and manpower to carefully proof every caption with a fine-tooth comb.
But then, you would never have seen this story.
Reader: I am writing not about what you wrote in your paper but what you are not writing.
Columnists Lois Henry and Marylee Shrider both touched on the subject but didn't tell it all.
I called Ms. Shrider and talked to her about smart meters. She agreed with my thoughts and told me they didn't let PG&E change her meter either.
Ms. Henry she stated that (TERN), whoever they are, hasn't had many complaints about the smart meters -- and that's the problem.
We need your help and all the media to get people involved. Everyone I talk to didn't like the smart meter program but they do nothing about it. I don't even know if they can interpret their utility bill. They don't like the high cost of the energy, but they pay their bills and do nothing.
What has to happen is the people in Kern County have to write the governor, state senators, and the state Assembly and let them know just how you feel. This gross invasion of privacy has to stop. These government agencies won't be happy till they have complete control of our lives. They even wanted to control our thermostats in our houses.
We need to get rid of the rationing of the amount of energy we use or pay a higher rate. This is the PUC's idea and I don't think that is their job. I thought their job was to protect us from the utilities over charging us, but they aren't doing that, with them (utilizes) being monopoly we need the PUC to protect us. Will you help us get people involved?
-- James Commisso
Jenner: Unlike our news reporters, our columnists have a mission to express their opinions. They're welcome to urge readers to action.
And as a public service, we do run contact numbers for companies and for government officials.
Beyond that, it's up to the public to choose one side, or no side at all, and to act or do nothing.
Reader: Your newspaper still has pretty good circulation and you have the opportunity to reach many people. You could be part of the solution by exposing many of the fallacies in what is being proposed today by the liberals.
If you look at the facts, this business about bio-fuel being our future is nuts. As you should know, it costs much too much to produce it. Also, this hoax of global warming and the nutty idea of fluorescent lighting being the way to go!
But as with so much of the media, they are pushing these crazy ideas, trying to make the American public feel guilty about our way of life.
Surely you must realize these nutty ideas are going to cost the taxpayer millions of dollars if they are enacted.
Hillary's medical program has so many fallacies, it is pathetic (as she is!) Obama is all words and full of liberalism. McCain has a few good points but also is much too liberal.
Our enemies are hoping that Obama or Hillary get elected, as they will then have some close ties to the White House!
Are you folks so busy doing nothing that you can't see what is going on in front of your eyes? Or perhaps you all are liberal to the core!!
I don't suppose I'll ever get a true and honest response! Could I be mistaken about you??
-- Lynn Anderson
Jenner: Since scientists can't agree about politically charged issues such as global warming, I doubt we'll be the ones to resolve it to everyone's satisfaction.
We've published wire stories about the high costs of producing ethanol and what demand for grain is doing to commodity prices.
We've written local stories on alternative energy as well; we ran a story on last Sunday's front page about how builders were experimenting with selling solar-powered homes, but the high price turned off many would-be buyers.
I do believe that energy awareness is a pocketbook issue as well as an environmental issue. It also seems to me that while "conservation" shares the same root word as "conservative," it's neither a red or a blue issue, but a red-white-and-blue issue.
As for the presidential race, we'll do our best to report the news of significance from the campaign. We'll run stories vetting the claims of candidates as best we can, but prepare yourself: Election Day is seven months away and you ain't seen nothing yet.
Reader: Breaking news: In her weekly column -- citing no proof other than her gullibility -- Californian Editorial Page Editor Dianne Hardisty unequivocally declares "[e]lectricity generation plants produce greenhouse gases that cause climate change."
So she turned off all her lights for one hour on Saturday night in an infinitesimally insignificant (and ignorant) display of affinity with the Al Gore "climate-change" zealots.
That's the elite mob willing to force compliance on the rest of us -- sitting and sweating in the dark.
There you have it, folks! Even at this stagnant backwater of the mainstream media, the anointed ... the benighted ... the "journalists" endlessly push this demonstrably false tripe. How can you believe one thing they write? Fact is, you can't!
-- Hank Londean
Dianne Hardisty responds: I'm sorry Hank Londean missed the point of my recent column. Rather than promoting Earth Hour, I made light of it to make the point that whether or not you believe in the global warming threat, there are things we should be able to agree on -- that we should work to reduce pollution and that we should conserve energy. Londean, who retired after a career as the head of corporate public relations for the former Getty Oil Co., seems to disagree.