Forum Letters: Cows aren’t firefighters and Shutdown ICE detention
Cows aren’t firefighters
“Cattle might be secret weapon in fight against wildfires, experts say. Here’s how” (sacbee.com, Sept. 11):
It’s CalFire not CowFire, cattle are not firefighters.
The theory that more cows could mean less fires for California doesn’t hold water. The idea comes from an unpublished California Cattle Council study that hasn’t been scientifically reviewed. Cattle may remove some grasses but using bigger herds to mow down the state would wreak havoc on our environment and worsen the risk of fire.
Cattle spread highly flammable invasive weeds like cheatgrass, which replace native grasses that have higher moisture content and sequester more carbon. While the industry calls for doubling the massive number of cattle tearing up the land, we should remember pollution from cows is a major contributor to the climate-driven droughts and warming that are making California’s fires worse year after year.
Restoring native ecosystems harmed by grazing would be a better safeguard against runaway wildfires.
Jennifer Molidor,
Oakland
Trump’s recent visit
“Welcome to California, President Trump. Now face reality on climate change and COVID-19” (sacbee.com, Sept. 14):
Your editorial about President Trump’s recent visit to Sacramento does an injustice to the people in the Trump administration.
Not only them, but all of the people who worked tirelessly, for months, developing equipment, medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, tests and whatever was needed for the state governors. Vaccines might soon be available. This was not accomplished by rejecting a scientific approach.
It certainly wasn’t a “shameful coronavirus failure.”
James Peace,
Sacramento
Tragedy in schools
“‘I got into it because of the kids.’ Care for racial justice lies in the heart of Jessie Ryan” (sacbee.com, Sept. 14):
Marcos Bretón’s article on Jessie Ryan shines a light on the tragedy of Black males being suspended in area schools.
It is important to note that although the Sacramento City Unified School District may have been the worst offender, other districts are guilty of the same behavior. School suspensions are an abdication of the responsibility of our schools to educate all of our children. The recent remedial actions of the SCUSD are important first steps that should be emulated, but are only a start. Police officers do not belong in schools, students and teachers do.
Even in egregious cases that merit significant discipline, in-school suspension should be the maximum punishment.
Garrett Brewer,
Sacramento
Shutdown ICE detention
“Gov. Newsom can protect immigrant lives by holding ICE detention centers accountable” (sacbee.com, Sept. 19):
Thank you for the article outlining the need for Assembly Bill 3228.
For three years I visited people who were detained at the ICE Detention Center in Adelanto, California. This facility is operated by the private corporation GEO. I witnessed the abuse and neglect referred to in Sanchez-Ochoa’s article. What troubles me even further is that the people detained in these unconscionable conditions are often thought of as criminals.
The offense for which many are imprisoned is a misdemeanor, being in this country without documents. Still others have not even committed misdemeanors. They came to a port of entry, asked for asylum, and were detained by ICE. Sometimes for years. There are community based alternatives to detention and they have been successful.
Perhaps the end of detention in all states would be a resonable, humane and wise proposal.
Edith Salisbury,
Sacramento
Show up this year
“Kamala Harris was tough on Kavanaugh. How will she approach hearings on RBG’s successor?” (sacbee.com, Sept. 21):
Now that it appears Trump and McConnell will succeed in transforming the Supreme Court with three young right wing Justices — it is clear that the 2016 election was even more consequential than we could have imagined at the time.
Will so-called “uninspired” citizens who stayed home in 2016, and folks this year who demand purity on the left, finally wake up to the fact that divisions among progressives are paltry as compared with the mammoth threat of re-electing Trump and a Republican Senate? We may have already lost the Supreme Court for a generation. But will we risk losing our democracy this time? Or will the non-Trump majority finally wake up and fully support Biden-Harris? If we sit out another cycle, progressives will go down in history as Trump’s partners in crime.
Everyone vote!
John Adkisson,
Sacramento
Castro is the right choice
“Fresno State president named chancellor of California State University”
CSU’s new chancellor, Joseph Castro, PhD, is the right choice to bolster the system’s role in educating California’s future workforce and rebuilding our economy.
10% of California workers are CSU graduates, and more than half of CSU alumni stay in California. Coping with the pandemic, continuing quality instruction online and meeting the needs of first-generation and underrepresented students will be harder than ever with the downturn in state revenues. But as a former Cal Poly Pomona dean, I’ve seen how the CSU system’s unique combination of high quality and affordability break down barriers to entering professions such as architecture, engineering and the sciences.
From his childhood roots in Hanford to his academic career, Dr. Castro is well-equipped to lead the CSU system forward.
Michael Woo,
Oak Park
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.