Readers’ comments: January 24, 2025

Claremont should follow LA’s lead, enforce leaf blower ban
Dear editor:
I was pleased to see in the Courier that the Los Angeles County Department of Health banned leaf blowers for exacerbating the air pollution from the fires [“Fires compel county to ban leaf blowers,” January 17].
The question, of course, is if this ban will last. I hope it does not follow the fate of the leaf blower ban in Claremont. To its shame, Claremont City Council found it convenient not to enforce its own decision. The excuse was there were not enough police officers to enforce the ban. But in my written protest to the City Council, I offered a solution: fine homeowners who allow their “gardeners” to use the extremely loud and Earth-warming leaf blowers.
My anger with the continued use of leaf blowers in Claremont is based on science and the need to enjoy the quiet and beauty of the city. Scientific studies show that these machines are badly constructed, hence their extreme sound and heavy emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These emissions are added to the emissions of the cars and other machines, factories, tractors, airplanes, ships, missiles, and wars to the point that our planet and our health and survival are at risk. In fact, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres has declared a global emergency from the rising temperature of the planet. What happened in Los Angeles is a deadly warning to the rest of the country, especially to us, its neighbors.
The second objection to leaf blowers is that they have made my life in Claremont miserable. Each day I come across three or more gardeners using their machines, thus darkening my day. On hearing the sounds of those machines, I immediately do a U-turn. That’s not exactly what I expected to face in this beautiful city. Leaf blowers violate my right to enjoy my life. Leaf blowers have no place in a civilized society.
Evaggelos Vallianatos
Claremont
Vallianatos was a risk evaluation analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years,  and is the author of seven books, including “Poison Spring.”

CUSD: please improve privacy at Oakmont Elementary
Dear editor:
I recently sent this letter to Claremont Unified School District’s Board of Education:
My name is Stephen Zeller, and I am a concerned member of the Claremont community. My daughter attends Oakmont Outdoor Elementary School and I am the chairperson of the school’s site council. I am writing to express my outrage and deep concern after reading in the Claremont Courier about a man exposing himself to someone at Oakmont Elementary School.
It is deeply troubling that such a traumatic and harmful event could occur so easily on or near school grounds, where the safety and well-being of children should be an absolute priority. The fact that the individual was able to position themselves in a way to expose themselves to children is unacceptable. This incident highlights a critical failure to protect the privacy and security of our students and staff.
I urge the district to take immediate action to prevent future incidents. Installing a privacy hedge, a proper fence, or other physical barriers around school properties is a necessary step to ensure this kind of event cannot happen again. Proactive measures to increase security should be non-negotiable when it comes to protecting children.
Additionally, I am appalled that this individual was only charged with a misdemeanor. When schoolchildren are involved, the consequences for such behavior should reflect the severity of the harm and trauma caused. I urge the district to publicly advocate for stronger legal protections for children in our community and to work with local law enforcement to ensure these crimes are prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.
Our community relies on the school district to prioritize the safety of our children, and I am hopeful that swift action will be taken to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
Stephen Zeller
Claremont

Pardons for January 6 insurrectionists are outrageous
Dear editor:
I am writing to express my outrage that MAGA thugs who assaulted capital law enforcement personnel have been summarily pardoned from the crimes they committed on January 6, 2021. Hundreds of these officers were injured; some have died by suicide due to the psychological trauma they endured that day. All based on a pernicious lie by this president who sought to overturn a free and fair election with fake electors and mob violence.
Any officer now posing for a photo op with this felon who now occupies the office of the president is an abject disgrace to the uniform. Those GOP office holders who remain silent can no longer pretend to be the “party of law and order.”
John C. Forney
Claremont

Progressives: Google ‘Charlottesville hoax’ for tips on tolerance
Dear editor:
Willful ignorance, failure to think critically, emotion driven decision making, cult worship, too lazy to keep learning, and/or constant organized brainwashing — all of these keep readers buying into the years of hateful Democrat brainwashing from left-leaning media. Curing these traits is hard but necessary if we are to heal our country’s political divisiveness.
Hopefully readers like M. Boos and Pam Stevenson [Readers’ comments, January 17] will see themselves and make the needed changes.
For instance, in what truly was the start of the death of our democracy, Kamala Harris allowed unknown and unelected political reprobates to direct world affairs under Biden’s name, and then endorsed “Hitler” to become our next POTUS with nary a whimper!
Instead, M. Boos parroted the media driven “Charlottesville hoax” to give credence to leftist mind reading and crystal ball warnings of hatred being encouraged by Trump’s reelection.
Ms. Stevenson provided condescending snark to declare her pride for higher gasoline prices, her desire to spend your tax dollars so California can remain a world leader in fighting climate change, and to swallow smarmy Newsom’s Wizard of Oz reality while never coming close to a thoughtful response on how to deal with destructive progressive government values [“Gas prices are outrageous: vote out all Democrats,” January 10] — other than commanding those that don’t feel like her to “move to Oklahoma!”
Here’s a start. “M” and like-minded people could avoid further embarrassment by simply typing “Charlottesville hoax” in an internet search and use the new knowledge (for them) to spur a reassessment towards tolerance and the real world.
Leslie Watkins
Claremont

When will Californians stop electing Democrats?
Dear editor:
California’s Democrats fail … again, and again, and again, from one end of our state to the other.
Let’s review just a few of the many egregious examples:

1. High-speed rail — In 2008, voters approved Prop. 1A’s $9 billion in bonds for a high-speed rail connection between LA and San Francisco. Seventeen years later (yes, 17 years), not one foot of actual rail track has been laid, but billions of dollars have been spread around. And projections for the total cost now far exceed $100 billion (yes, $100 billion). It’s time to cut our loses and scrap this Democrat boondoggle.
2. Homelessness — Statewide, annual government budgets advertised to fix or alleviate homelessness run into the billions of dollars. Yet every year, there are more “homeless” people than the year before. That looks like quite a lucrative racket for a small cadre of politically well-connected cronies (developers and NGO’s) who are the recipients of our budget largess. They collect boatloads of money, yet never fix the problem.
3. Water storage — In 2014, voters approved Prop. 1, which allocated $2.7 billion to expand our state’s water storage capacity (new reservoirs, etc.). As of today, 11 years later, California’s Democrats have actually built, as usual, nothing. Most of last year’s near-record rainfall was lost, squandered, or mismanaged. And so the fire hydrants ran out of water in Pacific Palisades.

When will a majority of Californians finally wake up to realize that they have been putting Democrats into elective office who are incapable of accomplishing even the most basic of government functions and that they must start voting for people other than Democrats? When? Very soon, I pray.
Douglas Lyon
Claremont

Let’s pretend!
Dear editor:
The January 17 Reader Comments of Pam Stevenson and Don Linde, responding to Doug Lyon’s January 10 letter, “Gas prices are outrageous: vote out all Democrats,” were insightful and thought provoking. Pam’s letter clearly identified the continuing child-like behavior and lack of critical thinking skills of many MAGA Republicans while Don was able to entertain us with his idea of a TV show called the “Blame Game,” using our incoming president to serve as an outstanding example of a model contestant.
I would like to follow up on their contributions by suggesting another TV show called “Let’s Pretend.” In this show the contestant would win points by how quickly they could distract the audience from acceptance of a scientifically supported fact by creating a mythical alternative explanation. The only stipulation would be that this alternate reality would have to be understandable by an elementary grade child.
Everyday examples we might recognize could be, “Let’s pretend our global ecosystem is not being dangerously effected by atmospheric buildup of CO2 from burning of fossil fuels.” Or how about, “Let’s pretend that corporate focus on obscene wealth for a few has nothing to do with environmental and social degradation negatively effecting millions of people.” After the recent election season, I’m sure many other good examples come to mind.
Unfortunately, self-deception and denial are a human trait not confined to the naive and gullible, though they seem to suffer the most from them. Hopefully Pam’s letter was simple enough for Mr. Lyon. As far as my suggested TV program, I’m not holding my breath. Why replicate something so obviously and painfully prevalent in our everyday life?
John Roseman
Claremont