Do Kings a favor: Trade Cousins

Re "Cousins sent home before win" (Sports, Jan. 2) Please do the Sacramento Kings and the fans a favor, and trade spoiled brat DeMarcus Cousins.

The last thing the team needs in the locker room is a non-team player who takes up valuable coaching time from the rest of the teams. So open up a spot for someone who has matured and has the desire to be beneficial. Oh, and when you trade him, trade him to a construction company so he can dig ditches to make a living instead of play basketball, for crying out loud, for a ridiculous amount of money.

Of course, his co-workers will get tired of him whining down there in the ditches, so he won't make it there, either.

– Jim Meeter, Herald

Voisin is a meddler

Re "Situation is 'tip of the iceberg,' coach says, so where is the rest?" (Ailene Voisin, Jan. 2): I request the executive editor to ask Ailene Voisin either to focus on providing useful insight or to move her opinions to the editorial page with the rest of the pundits that generate bias only to stand apart and sell papers.

One day, Voisin hints of firing the Kings coach because of poor play, then she immediately has a new agenda when the Kings have internal personnel issues with DeMarcus Cousins.

The Bee doesn't publish its internal spats, so why does she think coach Paul Westphal has to provide more information? Was Voisin a basketball coach, team owner, or personnel manager in her former life? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but she is much better at meddling and fueling controversy than providing insight. I prefer insight.

– Patrick Stiehr, Roseville

Tax the political pastors

Re "Local pastors take on politics," (Page A1, Jan. 2): The free participation of citizens in the political process is an essential component of a successful representative democracy. We should be cautious about imposing limits on such participation, even in the case of church pastors and other religious leaders.

I think they should have the same rights and privileges of political involvement as any other American citizens. Let them play on a level field. All I ask in return is the revocation of their tax-exempt status.

– Anthony Barcellos, Davis

Redevelopment is a scam

Re "State has new chance to do redevelopment the right way," (Editorials, Dec. 31): Thanks for getting the public's interest against redevelopment agencies right.

Your editorial describes the fawning development of the unblighted Stock Ranch in Citrus Heights for sales tax revenue to a T.

The city dodges questions about the $80 million it is blindly rushing to spend to "redevelop" Auburn Boulevard from Silvan Corners to Interstate 80.

The Bee unwittingly continues its former misplaced lionization of Citrus Heights finances, how-ever. I went to the City Council budget workshop announced in The Bee where there was no discussion of or information about even one penny of either city or redevelopment financing.

– Michael Garabedian, Citrus Heights

Bee wants to let illegals vote

Re "Voter ID laws continue an assault on democracy," (Editorials, Dec. 30): Here we go again. The Bee is so afraid of legal voting. What is wrong for a "registered" voter to show a valid ID to vote? Does the law require the person to show a state-issued driver's license? It can be a valid ID of any kind, just as long as the person presenting it is who it says it is and is here legally. What is wrong with that?

Does The Bee want illegals to vote and vote often? Is that the way The Bee wants a president elected? Is that the president The Bee wants to be the leader of this nation? The Bee keeps trying to point the finger at conservatives as the problem. The Bee needs to look in the mirror as the problem.

– Bill Moore, El Dorado Hills

GOP wants to suppress vote

Disgracefully, the GOP's effort to prevent "voter fraud" is a ruse to impose de facto segregation. For example, Wisconsin's governor closed several DMV offices in minority neighborhoods where non-drivers could obtain state IDs. But in some mostly white suburbs, he extended hours. In mostly all-black communities in rural Tennessee lacking public transportation, there are no DMV offices. If voters don't know someone who'll drive them to a city, good luck obtaining that state ID.

In other states, the GOP is targeting the working poor and elderly because most vote for Democrats. In Maine, voters recently overturned a Republican-sponsored law banning same-day registration, which had been in effect for years and crucial to Mainers, especially those holding several jobs and living in rural areas.

And have no doubt, if today's GOP could require literacy tests, poll taxes, and land ownership in order to vote, they'd be enacted. Like right now.

– Jack Pelletier, El Dorado Hills

Stop rousting the homeless

"Homeless forced out along the river," (Page A1, Dec. 29): It is a tragedy that the city of Sacramento has found no better answer to the problem of homelessness than to criminalize it.

As executive director of JERICHO: A Voice for Justice, a statewide interfaith nonprofit dedicated to raising a voice for people who live on the edge of or in poverty, I can tell you that treating the homeless as criminals does nothing but worsen the lives of those unfortunate people at a time when facilities to accommodate arrestees are sorely impacted, and it reduces the likelihood that these individuals will find the means to support themselves.

We encourage the Sacramento city government to work with us and the many other organizations who are seeking to improve the situation, rather than wasting taxpayer resources while increasing human misery. There are good approaches to reduce homelessness, but criminalization is not one of them.

– Judith Larson, Sacramento

Coupal should be a pariah

Re "Anti-tax warrior keeps sword sharp, (Capitol & California, Dec. 29): There is no question that Proposition 13 has ruined California financially, and those who have benefited most from it have been multinational corporations who happen to own real estate in the state to the tune of billions every year. Individual home owners have received a relative pittance.

Jon Coupal and his organization are ideologues and mindless servants to the upper 1 percent. He should be seen as a pariah in the halls of the state Legislature.

– Don Knutson, Sacramento

Just what I needed on Jan. 1

Re "2011 Countdown: Top 10 Crimes," (Our Region, Dec. 30 and 31): Thank you so much for reminding me that, along with all the other top 10 crime stories, most involving murder, violence and mayhem, No. 1 was about a woman allegedly killing her child by microwaving it. That sure made my New Year's Eve coffee and breakfast break with my morning Bee enjoyable and festive.

– David A. Sauve, Placerville

Give us some good news

I have a novel idea. Instead of listing the top 10 crimes of the year, why not print the top "good-feeling" stories of the year. Instead of ending the year on a down note, why not have a story that leaves us all feeling good about mankind.

– Gary Francis, Sacramento

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