Page One
Letters to the Editor
TOLERANCE
Editors, Daily Planet:
The efforts of Terry Doran and others to “model, teach and preach tolerance” (“Violence Has Become a Political Football,” Daily Planet, Oct. 28-30) are clearly crucial in creating a less violent Berkeley (I calculate that without their efforts, I might have been beat up and robbed even more often than I have been). But let’s hear some new suggestions also. Other cities have reduced crime and built community using neighborhood civilian patrols. Berkeley should consider this idea, and not just reject it out of hand as “how un-Berkeley can you be.” (Do Berkeleyans visiting Spain object to the Spanish “sereno,” the neighborhood night watchman?)
Al Durrette
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NO DIRE SITUATION
Editors, Daily Planet:
I am responding to the Oct. 28 Daily Planet article, “Rosa Parks Test Scores Lag, School May Face Overhaul.” This is my sixth year as a parent at Rosa Parks School. We have many dedicated, experienced teachers and great staff. I feel that my children and I have benefited from the educational and social/cultural experience the school offers. We are fortunate to encompass many types of diversity at Rosa Parks. While the Academic Performance Index (API) formulated from standardized test scores may be one indicator of academic progress, it is no more than that. The results of several weeks of testing during the academic year tell but one piece of the story. Is it fair to penalize a school based solely on this one measure? What good could come of a complete restructure of our school? Why does the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation not focus on what all children truly need to succeed academically, socially and emotionally? In fact, to not be left behind? Youth welfare, education and family support are not prioritized as they should be to promote optimum well being in our society. Rosa Parks does not face a dire situation—the Berkeley Unified School District does, the State of California does and the United States of America does. Who is the laggard here?
Rebecca Herman
Rosa Parks School parent
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ROSA PARKS NOT FAILING
Editors, Daily Planet:
I’m a parent of two students at Rosa Parks. My kids are doing great at this school, I mean great! They exceed the state standards and the national standards. They have friends of all colors, ethnicities, races. They get along well with the teachers and the students. Yet your article makes it sound like the school is drowning in chaos without any organized curriculum or commitment from parents, teachers or the administration. That is far from the truth. The whole issue over test scores and the “blame” that is being attributed to the school and indirectly to the teachers and Principal Shirley Herrera is completely out of line and misinterpreted by this article.
First off, I’ve been involved there for six years. My daughter is in fifth grade and my son in second grade. My kids are doing exceptionally well and are high achievers and get excellent instruction from very committed teachers. The curriculum is very good and if my kids do their homework (by the way that’s the key) they do well in the testing. One of the challenges at Rosa Parks is reflected by the diversity and complexity of the demographics of the school. We have kids from all over the world—Africa, Russia, Turkey, China, Iceland, Mexico, Brazil, Pakistan, Iran, India and I could go on. We have parents adapting to the educational system and culture all at once. We have some households that have serious economic and social problems that make it very difficult for kids in a learning environment. All these things come together in our little world at Rosa Parks. And, no simple out-of-the-box solution works for all these kids or their parents in an “instant mix formula.”
On top of that we’ve gone through four principals in six years. This is very difficult for the teachers, the parents and most of all Principal Ms. Herrera. It takes more than one year to build a systematic approach to teaching that focuses on improving test scores, which they are trying to do. And, all the issues can’t be blamed on the school. Parents need to be involved with their kids learning that’s where the difference is made.
The perception of the article written by Jakob Schiller, although accurate in the statistical facts, in no way reflects the parents who commit themselves to volunteer work at the school, to the hard work done by the teachers and to new approaches to teaching the curriculum that may have a significant effect on the test scores over a period of years.
To come in to the school now, disrupt everything by bringing in a “major administrative overhaul” is absolutely absurd and shows no in-depth knowledge of the situation. It will have no immediate effect except to set back the progress that is being made right now.
I encourage parents to check out this school for their kids entering kindergarten, to interview the teachers and talk with the principal you will see that this is a great place for an education and it’s only going to get better. What is needed is commitment and involvement, not broad, non-specific criticism based on statistics.
Steven Donaldson
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REPORTING THE TRUTH
Editors, Daily Planet:
Good for you Becky, I am so glad you didn’t back down to the demands of Patrick Kennedy. But most importantly I’m glad that you are a woman standing up to an arrogant business man who thought he could use a few big words like “libel” and “falsities.” I want to encourage you to continue to report the truth and not allow big business men to intimidate you.
Sheila Goodwin
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CIRCLE OF VIOLENCE
Editors, Daily Planet:
This is pursuant to your front page article of Oct. 7 (and the ensuing letter to the editor of Oct. 28, by “Name Withheld”). The headline was “Telephone Bomb Threat Following Campus Debate” of Israel vs. Palestine, against a woman-journalist who was a Palestinian advocate. It specified “On Monday you better not be in your office...to kill everyone of you sons of bitches.” That Monday was Yom Kippur. Even a non-religious Jew would never plan to kill on the holiest Jewish Holiday, which, incidentally, is devoted to forgiveness.
The threat, therefore, was perpetrated by a non-Jew and was a device to garner public attention to vilify Israelis—and it was successful.
Do you remember the “Yom Kippur War”? It was on that special day that Arab countries made the surprise attack on Israel, which resulted in exacerbating the situation dramatically.
Violence begets violence, as we have regretfully witnessed. May the extremes on either side be laid to rest and not spill over the rest of the lands.
It is so deplorable that right now during the holy period of Ramadan the virulence of violence is not diminishing in Iraq.
Name also withheld
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ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
Editors, Daily Planet:
Thank you for running an article (“Racism Plays Role in Environmental Decisions,” Daily Planet, Oct. 24-27) that deals with the very important and underreported subject of environmental racism. The locating of hazardous sites in communities of color has existed for quite some time. Race and economic status continue to play an important role in an individual’s exposure to dangerous environmental contaminants.
Why is it that “the effort to be fair in locating dangerous dumps and factories is simply a low priority,” as quoted in the article? Why is it that important information on the subject can be kept out of sight? This kind of practice can continue so long as those responsible continue to avoid accountability.
With clear and sound policies explicitly aimed at eliminating these disparities there is hope that a solution can be reached. So that government agencies can no longer pass the buck, it is important that some agency or organization have both the ability to gather information and the authority to enforce regulations regarding the location of hazardous sites. The recommendation that the EPA broaden its authority in order to do this is one possible first step.
How can we say that we are a society that cares about equality and human rights when people of certain race and economic status are disproportionately targeted for the health risks associated with dangerous exposures to pollutants?
Michelle Loya-Talamantes
Student, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley
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STRAWBERRY CREEK
Dear City Manager,
The Friends of Strawberry Creek are writing to officials in the City of Berkeley to bring to your attention that any future construction at the current Berkeley Adult School (BAS) site on University Avenue must comply with Berkeley’s Creek Ordinance (Chapter 17.08 Preservation and Restoration of Natural Watercourses). We bring this to your attention because we have heard Michele Lawrence, the Superintendent of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), claim that the district is not subject to this ordinance.
As you may know, a culverted portion of Strawberry Creek flows under the property on which the BAS now sits. The Creek Ordinance acknowledges that channelization of Berkeley’s creeks has had negative impacts on the watershed and that “streams and their riparian environment should be held as an important public asset in an increasingly endangered environment that provides an unusual urban ecological habitat with recreational and esthetic value” (Section 17.08.020, F). The ordinance goes on to say that “[i]t is in the interest of the City of Berkeley to encourage the removal of culverts and channels…and to restore natural watercourses whenever safely possible” (Section 17.08.020, H).
The city has given meaning to these findings by stating clearly and unequivocally that it intends to enforce the ordinance. Section 18.080.50 states in pertinent part “it is unlawful for any person, organization, institution, corporation or the City of Berkeley (emphasis added) to construct any structure…within thirty feet of the center line of any creek.” The only exemption provided in the ordinance is to the owner of a single family home who wishes to construct an addition. And even in this case, the conditions under which an exemption can be granted are very narrow.
It is the position of the Friends of Strawberry Creek that, should new construction take place on the grounds of the BAS, every effort should be undertaken to “daylight” the culverted portion of Strawberry Creek and that in no event should the BUSD be allowed to place any new buildings over the creek.
Sincerely,
Janet Byron, President
Friends of Strawberry Creek
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HEALTHY FORESTS
Editors, Daily Planet:
As the fires in Southern California demonstrate, it is critical that we focus scarce federal resources in the areas where they will protect communities at risk. Unfortunately, President Bush’s so-called “Healthy” Forests Initiative, which the Senate may vote on this week, fails to adequately protect communities at risk from forest fires.
It places the care and upkeep of our National Forests in the hands of the logging industry, rather than our National Forest Service and the public, calling for fire prevention management by said industry.
Will they really do the job, or simply log the biggest, oldest, most profitable, AND most fire-resistant trees, rather than the smaller unprofitable underbrush and saplings. The management of our forests cannot be placed in the hands of those who profit greatest from it; that makes no sense at all.
It also weakens environmental protections, interferes with the independent judiciary, and undermines public participation in decisions that affect our public lands. But the worst is that it authorizes logging of old growth fire-resistant trees, whose thick bark can stop fire. We need these old growth trees to act as a bulwark against catastrophic wildfires.
To protect lives and communities at risk from fire, Senators Feinstein and Boxer should vote against this deal and instead focus federal funding and resources on protecting communities at risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Sierra Barnes
Oakland
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MARTYRDOM A CRIME?
Editors, Daily Planet:
The currency of journalism is clear language. But clarity of language requires clarity of thought, a fact that seems to have escaped the attention of many journalists. Euphemisms like “collateral damage” abound. Self-absorbed bias—friends are killed but enemies lose their lives—and fuzzy categories like “supporters of the former regime” may be unavoidable but should be kept to a minimum.
“Terrorist” is one of the most used words in journalists’ lexicon. A terrorist act is a crime and so we are led to believe that a terrorist is a criminal. Are journalists self-serving, servile or just plain lazy to habitually refer to suicide bombers as terrorists? Such labeling inexcusably denies the fact that to his countrymen the suicide is a martyr.
Why is martyrdom ennobling for us but impossible for our enemies?
If a person wants to spread fear then suicide is an extreme and stupid way to do it. Suicide is not done solely for the purpose of terrorizing. Were it so we’d have to interpret Patrick Henry’s famous cry, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” as an endorsement of terrorism.
Finally, referring to suicide bombers as terrorists implicitly ignores the central fact of Jesus’ life. According to St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 15, verse13, “Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
Marvin Chachere
San Pablo
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XXXXXXXXXX
Editors, Daily Planet:
The depth of the tragedy in Southern California cannot be imagined. Thousands of homes destroyed. 17 people dead so far. Governor Davis is doing everything he possibly can to help. Where is Arnold? According to Yahoo News and Alternet, he is in Nevada congratulating Mr. Olympus and in Washington congratulating Mr. Shrub.
Most of the communities destroyed by this horrible plague apparently voted overwhelmingly for Schwarzenegger. Why isn’t he out on the front lines a la Mayor Guiliani—consoling his fan club and urging the sleep-deprived firefighters on? Apparently, Arnold prefers to hobnob with Republicans in Washington, the same people who are now infamous among firefighters throughout America for slashing “big government” aid that would have kept our fire departments strong. Bush and Co. have made every effort in the past two years to downsize the very firefighters who are now California’s front line defense against the “worst natural disaster of the century.”
And these are the people that Arnold is asking to aid us now?
The results of the California recall elections aren’t all that set in stone. They have not yet been certified and are, in reality, uncertifiable until the Secretary of State can examine Diebold’s software for irregularities—an act which Diebold has declared to be a felony activity. (Since when has vote verification become a felony?) In addition, at least 9% of L.A county’s punchcard ballots are questionable.
As a citizen of California, I demand a recount. And I also demand that Arnold Schwarzenegger stop fiddling around while SoCal burns!
Jane Stillwater
