Letters for July 11, 2002

Keep the faith, get rid of the Legion

Re “Our Lady of Infinite Division” by R.V. Scheide (SN&R Cover, July 3):

Although I’ve no personal knowledge of the dispute at the center of this reportage, I am familiar with both Sacramento’s Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLG) on T Street and the article’s oft-referenced parishioner Senon Palacioz.

Seeing my old friend’s picture and reading of his role in this situation at OLG and his committed membership in the Guadalupanos of the parish, I am certainly inclined to believe that there is something seriously amiss in the Legion of Christ’s makeover of OLG. My lifelong experience with the deep faith, devoutness and humble disinclination to question Church authority among persons of Latin descent leads me to a not surprising or particularly astute observation in this matter. That is, that the “powers that be” in the Church’s hierarchy responsible for permitting the Legion of Christ into OLG originally, as well as authorizing their remaining there, appear to have mistaken historical devoutness in matters of faith and humility in submission to legitimate matters of Roman Catholic dogma for gullibility and subservience.

If so, this will prove a serious—and hopefully fatal—error in the instant case. The determination of Palacioz and Ms. Morales, as well as your informed publication’s article, will likely assist toward appropriate resolution of this unfortunate situation in our community.

James T. Donovan
Roseville

Smuddy waters

Re “Roiling on the River,” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Environment, July 3):

Cosmo Garvin’s outstanding article exposes the hypocrisy of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, supposedly an environmentally friendly, public-owned utility, allying itself in court with the Westlands Water District to stop the long-overdue restoration of the Trinity River.

The SMUD board members should be ashamed to be participants in a lawsuit contesting the Record of Decision (ROD) by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in December 2000. The ROD mandates the restoration of the Trinity River to 47 percent of its historic flows. By doing this, SMUD is opposing years of efforts by the Hoopa and Yurok tribes, sport fishing groups and environmental organizations to get the federal government to finally fulfill its original commitment to Trinity County residents that “no harm” come to the river’s fish and wildlife through the construction of the Trinity Project.

SMUD has in fact allied itself with the poster boy of Corporate Welfare and unsustainable agriculture in the Western United States—the Westlands Water District. Not only have these “welfare farmers” on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley decimated salmon and steelhead fisheries on the Trinity River to grow their subsidized cotton, but they have irrigated many thousands of acres of land that should have never been irrigated because of toxic, selenium-laced soil.

The state and federal governments still haven’t found an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the toxic waste water from these fields, other than to dump it back into the San Joaquin River and its tributaries, where it finally ends up in the food chain of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. There is no doubt that much of Westlands should be taken out of agricultural production because the continued farming of this land is unsustainable and environmentally destructive.

Every SMUD customer concerned about fish and wildlife restoration—and the utility’s reputation as a “green” utility—should call and write the SMUD board to urge them to withdraw from the lawsuit immediately. I also urge every member of the SMUD board to read the late Marc Reisner’s book, Cadillac Desert, which documents the environmental rape of the West through wasteful, unsustainable farming by corporate agribusiness interests like Westlands. SMUD’s dark alliance with Westlands must end!

Dan Bacher
Sacramento

The price of power

Re “Roiling on the River” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Environment, July 3):

Thank you for this informative article. SMUD must carefully consider its stance on this issue. The public utility has worked long and hard to gain a “green” reputation. Peter Keat was right when he said that they don’t want to be painted with the wrong brush. The energy crisis put a lot of pressure on SMUD to keep power prices stable. I hope that doesn’t lead to a decision that is detrimental in the long run.

Although the loss of the hydroelectric sources will be hard on SMUD in the short-term, it might lead to some needed changes. The utility may already be too dependent on water resources.

A move toward less climate-dependent sources may be a sound, affordable investment toward more reliable and possibly less expensive power in the future.

Paul Manansala
Antelope

You asked for it

Re “Kill Your TV” by Jim Evans (SN&R Cover, June 20):

Great piece by Jim Evans tying many disparate elements together on the TV scene. He had some excellent insight, and caught the core problem: the FCC’s changing regulatory role.

Megalopolies are a fact of life we in the media are adapting to, just as print media has had to diversify to survive. And any story with great video is going to play; we need the eyeballs. Occasionally an important story will have attention-getting video, like the Reno air tanker crash, and then we’re in heaven. But our job is to relate what is news, and what people will be talking about. Having anchored and reported all over the country, I have a respect for journalism and also have a pragmatist’s sense of reality. We can’t tell people what’s happening if the bills aren’t paid.

After working in Miami, where the phrase “If it bleeds, it leads” originated, I have an interesting perspective when people find out what I do and say, “Oh, God, I can’t watch that stuff. It’s all death, mayhem and depressing.” My answer is that it’s a good thing. Because it means it still is news. Most people are good, care about the family and friends, and live by the laws of society. Only a fraction live outside the norm, and that’s why it’s news when somebody does something strange.

Finally, I will agree that we go too far at times. The Chandra Levy coverage was a perfect example. After exhausting every detail and angle, one local anchor capped a report by saying “We’re aching for the family.” And where was the live shot that just aired? In front of the Levy family home, of course, at 11 at night, for the third straight aching night.

James Hill
Carmichael

Irony

Re “Kill Your TV” by Jim Evans (SN&R Cover, June 20):

I couldn’t help but notice the juxtaposition of “Sacramento’s local television news has little to offer except violence, sex, and commercials posing as news reports,” and the SN&R’s “Do guys who can pop wheelies on high-speed motorcycles get laid more often than your average schmo?”

Postmodern irony or smug self-importance? You be the judge.

Corey Okada
Sacramento

One nation under many beliefs

Re “Two Little Words” (SN&R Editorial, July 3):

We recently watched our granddaughter graduate from high school in Seattle. The school had a Protestant minister speak. Our family was surprised by this man’s constant requesting that everyone in the audience thank Jesus.

This is a public school with a variety of students, including followers of Islam. Our family went to dinner after the ceremony and discussed how uncomfortable the Muslim students must have felt. As atheists, my husband and I were very uncomfortable. This was grossly inappropriate and illegal.

We are so glad that the Court of Appeals found the Pledge of Allegiance, with its reference to god, unconstitutional in schools. As atheists, we feel like outsiders when we are forced into this ceremony at schools and union meetings. Good riddance to this illegal harassment, and shame on the politicians such as the governor and the president, who keep pushing it.

Linda Roberts and Rick Perry
Sacramento