That's where you come in
Feedback from our readers
By Aaryn Belfer , Our readers
A day without vomit
I want to thank Troy Johnson for his fair and funny piece about the Padres' Pride event ["Music," July 18]. My husband and I were among the many "supporters" who sat in the LGBT section. It was, not surprisingly, a typical day out at a baseball game.
Apart from the Padres losing, nothing negative happened. Just a bunch of Padre fans having a good time. In fact, there was a lot less profanity and drunken awkwardness than we are used to seeing in our regular season-ticket-holder seats. Not one single person in our row threw up on themselves, which, of course, happened at one Saturday night game at the beginning of the season for loads of children to witness. Save our kids, indeed.
Karen Ellis,
Normal Heights
Whodunit?
Re: your open letter to Mayor Jerry Sanders. Can you tell me who the letter-writer to Airport Authority Chairman Alan Bersin was? Sanders never claimed to write it, just that it was his signature--but he doesn't remember signing it.
Was it Fred Sainz?
Was it Jim Waring?
(Was it maybe the ghost of Rosemary Woods, finally recovering the eight-and-a-half-minute gap on the tape?)
Sainz blames Admiral Ronne Froman for giving "bad information" to the mayor. What's so "bad" about saying "I quit, you stupid, corrupt sonsabitches!" when this rancid scenario was posited by Sanders and his ever-accommodating flak? Froman has an impeccable reputation to uphold--why should she blemish it by taking the fall for this putrid Sunroad scheme?
(On the other hand, it only adds luster to Sainz's rep that he would come up with this stranger-than-baloney tale. As ever, Freddie's the master. Not many guys this creative around, so Fred will always get work.)
Just what kind of an "investigation" can Jo Anne SawyerKnoll mount? Require statements under oath? Dust for fingerprints? Ask for the latest fairytale?
What the city's report doesn't provide is this: who wrote (typed/keystroked) the letter Sanders signed? Was it dictated to Sanders' secretary? By Sanders or someone else? (Anybody dust it for prints? Or is this the Immaculate Conception of official correspondence?)
There should be no mystery involved in checking whose city computer generated the hard copy (and the early drafts). Does Sanders dictate and does his secretary take dictation? Where are the steno pads? Ought to have a secretary's initials at the bottom of the letter. Anybody quiz the secretary? Was it dictated? Was an early draft written by somebody else on staff and forwarded by--whom?--to be tweaked and then signed by Sanders?
Who dat?
How many official letters did Sanders sign that day, that he could be oblivious of the contents? One hundred or more? Or maybe, one or two? And how many hours did he spend in his office at the time?
I know letters are not always signed the day they're laid on the signer's desk. So, let's look at a three-day span. Anybody have the envelope, with postmark? Letters don't get staler than three days.
Sanders keeps a calendar--as, I assume, his secretary does. What compelling activity took place at that time that blanks out the mayor's memory? The event was not that long ago. City computers retain all the information and can be plumbed.
And lastly, can't these bumblers and truth-stranglers come up with something more creative than "I got it! Let's blame Aguirre!"
Well, Jerry Sanders can always fall back on "You know, I'm not taking a salary," which proves to the taxpayers, once again, that you get what you pay for,
Patsy Fritz,
Pauma Valley
More about 'Enoch'
Re: your July 11 "Front Lines" story about the name Enoch Light. In Hebrew, Enoch means "initiated," "consecrated" or "dedicated," and it is thought that it suggested an initiation into a sacred rite where secret knowledge was taught. Enoch is considered by many Jewish and Christian theologians to be the "Father of Wisdom."
Enoch, being inspired by the Most High, and in commemoration of a wonderful vision, built a temple underground and dedicated it to the Lord God Jehovah. His son, Methuselah, constructed the building, although he was not acquainted with his father's motives for the erection. The temple consisted of nine brick vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other, and communicating by apertures left in the arch of each vault.
Sal Danna,
Spring Valley
We're lesbians
Thank you for your article on leadership in the LGBT community ["Cover Story," July 18]. However, I wish that you would have used the word "lesbian" more often in your writing. To be correct, our City Council member, our state senator, our district attorney and our CCDC board member are lesbians. Just as women lose visibility when the word "man" is only used, lesbian women frequently lose visibility when the word "gay" is the only one used.
We lesbians have fought for this visibility throughout our movement and yet, we still continue to need to remind people that we are also here. Many of our rights are indeed the same as those of gay men, but many are the same as those of the feminist movement. And some of our needs are unique to just us.
So thank you again, and please don't forget that we too are among you.
Gloria Johnson,
Ocean Beach
Published: 08/15/2007
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