Readers’ comments: December 19, 2025

A correction and a lovely story
Dear editor:
I read with interest John Neiuber’s Column, “100 Years Ago” in the December 12th edition of the Courier, where he reported on the dedication of Claremont’s fire hall in 1925. The picture of the volunteer firemen raises the inference the photo was concurrent with the dedication. Such an inference was misplaced. The photograph was taken circa 1947 or 1948. You ask how do I know? I was personally present when the photo was taken. I was standing off to the side. I would have been 6 or 7. I walked down the alley from the Claremont Community Church, now Claremont United Church of Christ, with my mother, and probably my older sisters Diana Holmes Napper (deceased) and Frances Holmes-Weigand (still living in Pomona) would have been there too.
My father, Manley Holmes, was a volunteer fireman. He appears in the far right, back row second from the left. I can also identify some of the others namely, chief Fred Kunkle first row left to right, first position, James Foster, first row, far left next to last, his daughter, Nancy Foster Goodman, who still resides in Claremont. Auggie Pierce, who ran a Union 76 gas station at the corner of Alexander (now Indian Hill Boulevard) and First Street is in the first row, fourth from the left.
After dad died in 1950, many of those volunteers took me under their wings, especially Fred Kunkle and James Foster, to whom I owe everlasting gratitude for their sound guidance and counsel.
Stuart A. Holmes
Claremont

El Barrio artists were treated unfairly
Dear editor:
We are writing in response to recent events related to the El Barrio Park public art project. We are dismayed about the treatment of the artist team of Alba Cisneros, Cathy Garcia and Athena Hahn, and fully support their difficult decision to withdraw from the selection process. We know each artist, all people with both professional and personal integrity.
The contemptuous process these women were subjected to in advance of the final decision by the Claremont Public Art Committee was unjust, unkind, and most unnecessary. Immature name-calling and base attempts to discredit the team along with one-sided reporting and the publishing of a Viewpoint rant against them in this publication were startling and disheartening.
To the individuals who chose these actions — you know who you are, as do we. We will not publicly attack and degrade you as was done to these artists. These actions have no place in any kind of community project and they do not represent the Claremont that we proudly call home.
Marka Carson and Brian Ruiz
Claremont

‘Thoughts and prayers’ aren’t enough
Dear editor:
To show true empathy in response to gun-related massacres in America, we should not just express “thoughts and prayers,” but pass legislation to end gun-related deaths.
Opanyi Nasiali
Claremont

Trump’s tender ego
Dear editor:
Recent behavior by President Trump is the epitome of his blatant abuse of the Constitution. His desire to insert himself into the merger deal of Time Warner so that can influence the buyer into being an organization that is controlled by his financial cronies so that he can shut down a news channel (CNN) that exercises its constitutional authority by being critical of the president, because CNN has been “unkind to him.” If that is not an admission of abuse of power, I do not know many better examples.
Juan Matute
Claremont