Tom Lamb

Dear Editor:

In last Saturday’s paper, there was an advertisement seeking applicants to fill a vacancy on the Planning Commission. I think it is important to note the sad reason we have a vacancy: the passing of my fellow commissioner Tom Lamb.

Tom and I came to the Planning Commission at the same time. We came from very different places when we joined the commission. He brought a lifetime of experience in planning issues I brought the hope I could eventually learn what all this planning “lingo” meant. Over the years we served together, I learned much from Tom, not just the lingo, but how effective city planning should proceed. 

Tom could be blunt and politically incorrect. I occasionally cringed at the way in which he phrased a question during a public hearing, but I also knew that Tom’s question was important.

Tom would bore through the staff reports and the applicant’s presentation and raise insightful questions. He refused to accept “that’s just the way we’ve always done it” for an answer.  The process and the commission’s decision was always better for it.

Tom will leave a void on our commission. We will miss his commitment, insight and humor. Claremont was lucky to have him as a public servant and I was fortunate to have him as a fellow commissioner. He will be missed.

Jeff Hammill

Chairman, City of Claremont

Planning Commission

Claremont and the Fourth

Dear Editor:

 It was so good. So much to do and see. So many free things for kids to do, and music and food. We are so lucky.

A great day for all. Thank you Claremont Fourth people who gave us so much.

Lorraine Freese

Claremont

Religion at community events

Dear Editor:

 So, there I was on a Sunday evening, sitting at the Claremont Depot, enjoying—along with several hundred other people—the concert by the Pomona First Baptist Church; while silently thanking the city’s Community and Human Services Commission for approving the event request. I recall thinking at the time, maybe there’s more right with the world than I realized.

 Sadly, though, that reassuring sensation was not to last, because…then I picked up the Saturday, July 7 COURIER, only to be very unpleasantly reminded of what is not so right with the world—in this case, the intolerance and bigotry of some people from the radically secular Left toward any expression of religion.

 First out of the gate was Jerry Feingold, who declared, “I felt offended for anyone in attendance who didn’t agree with the views being thrown to us…” Now, exactly why he takes it upon himself to be offended for other people is not quite clear.  

Nevertheless, if one is voluntarily attending a free event that one finds offensive, then, as a matter of common sense, there has always been a very simple solution: get up and leave.

 Next up was city commissioner Maury Feingold, who said, “It puts the [Community and Human Services] commission in a bad light, and I don’t think we deserve that.”

Actually, Ms. Feingold, you’ll be glad to hear that it puts the commission in a very good light, whenever the commission recognizes that all citizens have a right to express themselves in the public square.

For context, you may want to recall the recent months-long encampment on our city hall steps by the “occupy” protesters—although, I don’t recollect that they sought the commission’s approval for their…er…event.

Finally, George Roleder treated us to excerpts from a screed prepared by an organization calling itself “Americans United for Separation of Church and State.” (As an aside, and for the sake of truth-in-advertising, this group really should change its name to “Intolerant Americans for the Persecution of Christianity.”)   

Without exception, every one of the proffered points regarding separation of church and state evinced an astonishing ignorance of our own American history.

Douglas Lyon

Claremont

Easiest vote reply

 Dear Editor:

After reading the letter from Pam Stevenson, titled “Easiest Vote” and  taking into account the vast range of failures and radical policies of this present administration, it’s hard to believe anybody would want 4 more years of it. Monumental hypocrisy, disastrous debt, historic continuous joblessness, unbelievable class warfare and envy that have divided this country yet  are inexplicably spun into virtues by the writer….thus her implied choice for Obama. Amazing, absolutely amazing. 

One paragraph  states “Obama wants all to pay their fair share,” meaning taxes, and eliminate tax loopholes that gives corporations, “billions of dollars” in avoided taxes. Isn’t Obama’s closest ally in the corporate world Jeffery Imelt, CEO of General Electric, whom he was so smitten with that he named him head of the Jobs Council, whose company pays no taxes and recently off shored an entire  Xray Division overseas…bye, bye jobs. And Obama is her choice? Wow!

 Then the paragraph about teachers and firefighters….and how she writes, Romney wants to eliminate them. What? If the writer had her facts straight, she would have said that Public Unions representing them have broken the financial backs of cities and town all over the country. It’s  the gouging these unions represent to public treasuries, he wants to eliminate, like Gov. Scott Walker did in Wisconsin, not the teachers and firefighters twisted and spun words to arrive at Obama as a choice? Nah! Doesn’t work for me.

The other candidate,  Ms. Stevenson writes,  wants to eliminate the EPA, rules for financial institutions, and  put restrictions on energy sources. She means the EPA, that put a moratorium on the Gulf Oil drilling for more than 6 months after the spill was contained and only lifted it after successive court orders to do, losing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the meantime or who would not support the Keystone Pipeline, throwing countless more jobs away. That EPA? Or the Dodd/Frank banking regulations that are crippling the recovery by preventing what banks do best, “invest.” Gee, we need more of this, right, Ms. Stevenson?

How can we forget that Obama wants growth and innovation and at the same time make “rules of the road” that protect Americans from corruption and greed (and favoritism). Breathlessly she has conveniently forgotten Solyndra, which, at the onset of their complete financial collapse on 1/2 billion government backed loans, allowed the corrupt realignment of “private investors” (and Obama financial bundlers) in that company be paid off first over taxpayers….ummm, we really need more of this, too.

 I agree, the choice is easy, if you have your facts straight!

Chuck Blood

Pomona

Honoring graduates

Dear Editor:

Karen Nutt is right when she asks that we honor all graduates and their future plans. My son graduated from Damien in 2010. As each graduate accepted his diploma his future plans were announced. The loudest applause was for the young men who were going to the armed services. The crowd roared for them. Those young people, men or women, who are willing to stand up for us should be honored. Their responsibilities will be far greater than what the average college student will face. 

My son went to UCLA. Recently he told me that when he meets veterans who have returned from service and are now in school he is blown away by them, by their maturity, their focus and their abilities. He acknowledges that he does not think that he could have done what they did. But they are now doing what he did.

This country will have a stronger economy and a more stable workforce when we acknowledge that many jobs require training that is not found in a college classroom. The appropriate trade school can be an outstanding choice for a student who wants to have a marketable skill. I know this from experience. I work as an administrative law judge for the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. 

In my work I have learned about hundreds of jobs that I did not even know existed. Workers who have learned a trade often fair better in the job market than someone with a college degree. Many ultimately own their own businesses. When reviewing the wage history for a claimant in one of the trades I often want to say, “You make how much? Doing that? That’s more than we make as judges.” 

Education is essential for job security and income advancement.  But we need to stop defining education as college. Going into the military, law enforcement or to a trade school provides a person with a different kind of education.

We have all kinds of people in this country. We need to use everyone’s abilities in the best possible way, for the individual and for the community. We need to accept that all work contributes to the whole of who we are and recognize the honorable choices our students have made. These students deserve to be acknowledged at graduation and in the COURIER.

Nora Quinn 

Claremont