Am I part of the problem?
This rioting is very upsetting. It’s disturbing to watch the fatal take down of George Floyd, but I’ve been on enough juries to know all the facts are not known. But let courts and juries judge the case, not mobs. We all agree that none should die at the hands of the police. But is the insane uncontrolled violent reaction justified?
What upsets me most is how Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo juveniles have reacted. Why has compassionate protest deteriorated to an anarchist mob whose goal is destruction and vandalism? Why do well intentioned youth allow agitators to kidnap and subvert their well-meaning message?
I propose it is because they have not been taught to respect themselves and others, nor take personal responsibility for their misdeeds. Is the problem the police? I think not. I attribute it to lack of what my mother would tell me in my formative years: “I want you to turn out to be responsible and respectful adult.” I confess I needed the occasional well deserved “whooping” to steer me back on course.
In my humble opinion, the core fault lies in lack of moral character-building parenting. It lies with the school systems that have handcuffed teachers from distributing well deserved classroom discipline. It lies with a legal system that fails to punish all criminal activity. It lies with progressiveness that refuses to recognize individual need to be held responsible for bad action; that punishment, not just forgiveness, is a tool to develop good citizens. Is this a new concept? No, it is the basic foundation of our country’s conservative traditional Judaeo-Christian heritage.
We need to return to the days when, whether red, blue, white, brown, yellow, or black, every person’s opinion can be heard and discussed, agreed or disagreed with, without shouting, name calling or violence. Otherwise we may slip back to a bad time when disagreements were solved with dueling pistols.
Look in the mirror and ask yourselves: “Am I part of the problem?”
Ted Suchecki
Lompoc
Thank you for replacing flag
I have lived in Santa Maria since 1961 and love our community. After reading the articles in the June 2 newspaper, I would like to thank the caring citizens who banded together to replace the flag at City Hall and assisted in the cleanup after the protestors/demonstrators tried to destroy our beautiful town.
Special thanks to Steve Baird and the Band of Brothers, Dan Hernandez and Larry Hislop for being such concerned citizens. Its people like them that make me proud to live in Santa Maria.
Diane Alleman-Stevens
Santa Maria
Reported attendance questioned
On May 16 a Freedom Rally was held in Lompoc on North H Street. The Lompoc Record-Santa Maria Times covered the event with a small article stating “dozens” of people attended. The crowd was much larger.
Actual counts by several individuals I talked to were between 120 to 170 people in attendance. Was the reported number intentional or purposefully understated?
The people at the rally were not demonstrating against all the COVID-19 shut-down rules but many government requirements had passed the point of making sense. There is no science showing it was safe to have Walmart, Home Depot, liquor stores, and pot shops open as essential businesses and close all the other types of retail. Ross, Marshalls, Big 5, other large and small retail stores, dine-in restaurants could have been open with the same precautions.
In the last several weeks the county has relaxed many of the requirements and the statewide protests may have influenced those decisions. The restrictions by the government show just how carefully we need to watch our elected officials as they control our freedoms and how much we need to be observant of how the media plays right along with them. Many people can still think for themselves rather than simply exist as sheep.
Jeff Bensen
Lompoc
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