RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail Story
Sound Off for June 1, 2008
| Saturday, May 31 2008 5:27 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, May 31 2008 5:31 PM
Reader: This week we received in our newspaper a very professionally done flier for Cliff Thompson.
The Californian goes to great lengths to make sure that everyone who is a candidate or an elected official must present all kinds of information about themselves and their clients, if they have any, any and all gifts and who their contributors are to their campaigns.
It would be interesting to know who paid for the flier for Cliff Thompson. Who are the contributors to his campaign?
-- Irene Edmonds
Jenner: When we saw the big Cliff Thompson flier, we too wanted to know who his latest campaign contributors were and how much they gave -- but we couldn't. That's because Thompson missed the May 22 deadline to report contributions and spending between March 18 to May 17 of this year.
Elections staff say they usually give candidates a 10-day grace period to turn in their reports. If they miss that grace period, candidates are fined $100.
Thompson told us this past week he forgot about the report deadline and was scrambling Thursday to draft his report and turn it in. We received a copy Friday. Contributions for the period ending May 17 for both Thompson and his opponent, incumbent Supervisor Ray Watson, appear in today's paper on this page.
We believe voters should know who's offering financial support to candidates and elected officials.
That's why we diligently published all contributions reported by candidates for local office. We've done this for the last 10 years now -- and we plan to continue.
Reader: Today I canceled the paper. Why? Because I have had enough.
There is a problem there in Bakersfield with your mailing out of subscriptions. Number One: For instance, the May 5 paper I got on May 12. There's no reason for this. Somebody is not doing their job.
What good is a paper that's a week old?
Why would I want to even spend the money when I can go online and get it for free?
So, Bakersfield Californian, you are losing money because of the ineptness of the distributor mailing out your paper. I have sent many e-mails.
That's it. Thank you.
-- Lauri Hayes
Jenner: There are a few parts of Kern County where we don't offer home delivery. Unfortunately, you live in one of them.
I agree that no Kern County resident should have to wait a week to receive a newspaper mailed from Bakersfield, but the "somebody" who's letting you down is not one of our carriers or employees, it's the U.S. Postal Service and its delivery contractors.
We do offer alternatives to mail delivery. You mentioned reading the paper online. You certainly can visit our Web site at www.bakersfield.com. There's a whole world of local news and information there, from breaking news to video.
But there are things in our print edition that aren't offered on our Web site, from world and national news stories to comics, puzzles and local display ads.
A green alternative -- a pdf version of the paper -- may be found at www.bakersfield .newsstand.com.
You can subscribe to this service at a much lower rate than home delivery (there's no newsprint or gasoline involved in production and distribution) and you can read the paper at the same time people in Bakersfield are reading it.
Reader: Why would you publish such a letter to the editor? This is the most racist thing I have ever seen. People are so uneducated about the United States and more importantly the state of California.
There is a reason that there are a lot of Hispanics and Mexicans in the state. People are quick to forget that this was once Mexico until it was taken away from the Mexican people.
Also I would like to add that many people have an issue with the fact that Spanish is widely spoken in the state of California. Well, if you look for the official language of the United States, we don't have one. Hmmm, maybe there is a reason for this.
I don't agree with a racist opinion like this being posted and I demand an apology to all Hispanic people for allowing this to be put in the paper. This says a lot about the character of those who are in charge of what makes the paper and what doesn't.
-- Ruben Gonzalez
Editorial Page Editor Dianne Hardisty responds: No apology is needed -- or offered -- for a letter to the editor criticizing the benefits received by immigrants living illegally in this country.
The immigration debate is a heated exchange between proponents and opponents of undocumented immigrants. Congress and the Bush administration's failure to implement necessary reforms has allowed this problem to fester.
While Ruben Gonzalez strongly objects to a critical letter writer, we receive many similar responses by readers to commentaries published that sympathize with the plight of those living illegally in the U.S. We strive to keep the debate civil.
But we allow the publication of strongly held views on all sides of this emotional issue.
Reader: I just wanted to thank reporter Louis Medina for writing the story "With me always: So many ways to memorialize loved ones."
My brother is Matthew Peppler and he has gone through so much over the past two years with losing our dad and then his little daughter, Madison. The best way he knows how to cope with tragedy is to get tattooed.
I just really appreciate your story because it gets the word out that people with tattoos have feelings and have a reason behind the ink. A lot of people cannot get that through their heads.
They just see a kid with a ton of tattoos and see him as a piece of trash. So again, thank you so much. This means a lot to me and my mom. We live in New Jersey and I was able to read the story on Bakersfield.com.
-- Kelli Peppler
Jenner: Thanks for your kind note, Kelli. Louis did a great job explaining how people follow a variety of paths to ensure their loved ones won't be forgotten.
Reader: What's on TV before 7 p.m.? A large number of people who are homebound with illness, disability, surgery recovery, you name it, would like to know. A supplement in the Sunday paper could list the programs for the coming week which includes daytime programs.
We used to have such a supplement and most papers in other cities of our size do publish daily schedules for the entire week.
Have mercy on the shut-ins who rely on TV to pass the endless hours.
-- Harriet Kellenberger
Jenner: A year ago we discontinued our weekly TV supplement. I know it disappointed many people who relied upon it, but it had become exorbitantly expensive to produce, and the alternative was making deep cuts to local coverage.
Our formats and our design continues to evolve, and if we find a way to list daytime programming that doesn't take up much space, we'll consider it.
But we have no plans to bring back the weekly section.