Letters for January 22, 2015

Re “The Playlist Issue” by Brian Breneman (SN&R Cover Story, January 8):

Call it Woodstockian sticker shock. I couldn't wait to read SN&R's “Playlists” issue. All those Doors and Stones and Beatles and Dylan, etc. But bury my heart at Yasgur's farm, only Styx—who stink—and Dolly Parton on the list, all the rest completely unknown to me. “This is the end …”

William J. Hughes

Sacramento

Drunks love vice and laziness

Re “Guide to vice and laziness” (SN&R Feature Story, January 15):

I’m writing this drunk and hungover. I haven’t read the issue yet, but I wanted to tell you a story that isn’t really a story, but I don’t care. I am very happy right now.

I woke up this morning, after getting about three hours of sleep to a knock on the door. Some guy wanting a blow job. Actually, not just some guy, but a guy I regularly hook up with, but he was about an hour early. … After that I went to my local corner store to buy some beer. Well, I don’t think I’ve laughed, genuinely laughed, in the almost 10 years I’ve lived in Sacramento until I saw the cover of your most recent issue.

Thank you! I love the cover! … I just wanted to thank you for making me realize that, at least for the moment, I don’t absolutely hate and despise the place where I live. Please continue to challenge yourselves and produce the kind of happy weirdness I saw on that cover. It really made my day.

Thanks. And please remember I’m drunk.

Name withheld

via email

SWAT at the door

Re “The standoff” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R News, January 8):

In light of recent events and the militarization of our own police department, you must understand that you needn’t do something wrong for SWAT to show up at your house. Apparently, they are now available to serve search warrants.

We challenged the Department of Utilities around their practice of charging for services they either fail to deliver or cannot possibly deliver. We expected due process. An independent hearing was a travesty, and when the City Council refused to serve in their capacity as an appellate body, the situation escalated.

A customer-service supervisor at DOU filed a false complaint with the police, setting in motion a search warrant served by two tanks (ironically called Peace Keepers) and 21 SWAT officers (ironically called Peace Officers) fashionably attired in the latest Kevlar with assault weapons locked and loaded.

Imagine being thrown face down onto concrete with a boot on your back, being handcuffed with unforgiving plastic ties like a common criminal. Nothing of interest or relevance was found or seized during the two-hour defilement of our home, and yet we had the dubious privilege of a 12-hour accommodation in county jail for delaying an investigation.

Sadly missing from this painfully objective article was the human element: I believe it is impossible for someone who hasn’t experienced this degree of indignity to understand the lasting psychological effects. There is an irrevocable loss of trust in the very people who are there to protect you, and an irrepressible anger. May you never get your morning wake-up call by SWAT!

Melissa Andrews

Sacramento