Forum Letters: Potential Olympics boycott and Misleading pay cuts editorial
READ MORE
Broken Home: How Sacramento’s largest group home failed its kids
Why have problems at the Children’s Receiving Home festered for years? Will new reforms make a difference? Read The Sacramento Bee’s investigation:
Expand All
Avoiding power outages
“California is rushing to add solar power. Did recent blackouts just shade our green future?” (sacbee.com, Aug. 23):
California could have avoided blackouts, but our failure to invest in large scale energy storage projects left our grid vulnerable.
As California transitions to an all renewable grid, new energy storage that can provide large amounts of electricity back to the grid will be critical to keeping the lights on. While batteries are one part of the solution, the multi-day heatwave that engulfed the western United States proved that we need longer duration storage to avoid blackouts. While some long duration technologies are in the nascent stages, others liked pumped hydropower have been used successfully in California and globally for decades. There are shovel-ready projects that could have provided enough electricity to prevent the outages if built. The California Public Utilities Commission has acknowledged the need for long duration storage to keep the grid reliable but has been slow to act.
Action is needed immediately.
Julia Prochnik,
Sacramento
Misleading pay cuts editorial
“California’s Democratic and Republican legislators dodge pay cuts, unite in hypocrisy” (sacbee.com, Aug. 26):
I don’t normally discuss my charitable giving but in response to the misleading August 26 editorial “California’s Democratic and Republican legislators dodge pay cuts, unite in hypocrisy,” I am making an exception.
I am a member of the California State Board of Equalization. The Bee noted that I am not volunteering to take a 9.23% pay cut but did not bother to learn of my preexisting plan to donate at least 9.23% of my salary every month to charities in my district, on top of my regular giving, directly helping those most in need. The state has many avenues to close its budget deficit, from economic recovery bonds to deferrals to pay cuts to increased federal aid. Charities, which provide a helping hand to our most vulnerable, can be completely dependent on donations to survive. They need our support.
I encourage everyone to invest in our charities and help our neighbors in these challenging times.
Senator Ted Gaines,
Shingle Springs
Shame on Becerra
“Police reforms face defeat as California Democrats block George Floyd-inspired bills” (sacbee.com, Aug. 27):
After reading this article, I definitely will not vote for Xavier Becerra.
Shame on him for failing to support the police reform bills. My heart dropped while reading this. I likely will not vote for his opponent either unless he comes forward with full support for these very necessary reforms during this tumultuous time.
I thank those who proposed these bills.
Martha Gonzalez,
Fair Oaks
Potential Olympics boycott
“NBA champion Matt Barnes proposes Team USA Olympic boycott for Black Lives Matter” (sacbee.com, Aug. 27):
Matt Barnes’ call for an American basketball player boycott of the 2021 summer Olympics opens the door, and perhaps a Pandora’s Box, to a much broader conversation that such action might trigger.
Might all American basketball players who may play in the summer Olympics boycott in support of Black Lives Matter, therefore resulting in no American basketball team competing in the Olympics? Might other American Olympic athletes who are not basketball players boycott in support of BLM? Might athletes from other countries boycott in support of BLM? Could this boycott snowball and blow up the 2021 Olympics? That would really be a powerful statement.
But I’ll tell you this, if some American basketball players initiate a boycott, it’s not gonna stop there!
Clyde Froehlich,
Davis
Don’t blame social services
“Runaways, prostitution and a girl’s death. How Sacramento’s largest group home failed its kids” (sacbee.com, Aug. 29):
I am dismayed at how often social services are blamed when bad things happen to the children in their care.
Here, the Children’s Receiving Home is criticized for the death of a child in their care. Every child under the care of a social service agency is there because their parent(s) failed them. The people who work in social services deal daily with abused and neglected children who are often angry, belligerent, oppositional and rebellious all due to the lack of responsible parenting. It may be true that the parents themselves did not have the best role models for parenting.
Regardless, social services are not responsible for how children are raised — they just try to deal with and possibly heal the fallout.
Mary Bane,
Sacramento
A heartwarming goodbye
“It’s time to bid farewell — and say thank you” (sacbee.com, Aug. 30):
Kevin McClatchy’s recent article in The Bee was heartwarming, sentimental and brought back many fond memories of working for McClatchy newspapers.
I am a second-generation McClatchy employee, my dad, was an editor for The Sacramento Bee and The Amador Ledger Dispatch and I worked in sales and marketing for The Sacramento Bee and The Newspaper Network. Both of my brothers worked their first job as a delivery carrier for The Bee. Working at McClatchy was one of the best experiences of my life, the McClatchy company has an outstanding reputation for quality journalism, high standards and integrity and it was an honor to be a part of such a talented team. It was a family business and you felt like you were a part of the family.
I hope the new owners will embrace the McClatchy family legacy and exceed their employees’ and readers’ expectations.
Karen Evans Hardison,
El Dorado Hills