Opinion
by Debbie Carini The true crime journalist and author Edna Buchanan is said to have coined the phrase, “friends are the family you choose.” She also said: “If kidnapped, ask for fried chicken when your captors offer food. The FBI will find your fingerprints in the hideout, even if they never find you.” I raise […]
After extensive analysis and review, the Claremont City Council has placed a general obligation bond measure on the June 5, 2018 ballot to fund a new police facility. The new police station would replace the existing substandard station on Bonita Avenue. The proposed police facility is significantly smaller and less expensive than the concept presented […]
Water outage [Editor’s note:?The following letter was sent to Golden State Water Company and the Claremont City Council, with a copy forwarded to the COURIER for publication. —KD] Dear Editor: It is a temporary planned water outage if: 1)?One knows that before one gets out of bed in the morning and logs on to the […]
It wasn’t that long ago when Claremont, like other cities in Southern California, made drastic plans to cut water consumption because of a lengthy drought across the state. At that time we were dealing with water restrictions, brown parks and extreme fire danger from parched land in every direction. Now in 2018, with no winter […]
Making the Gold Line golder Dear Editor: As a student without a car, I utilize public transportation to explore places in LA County and would like to share my perspective on the Metro Gold Line construction. First, Metro should end the line at Pomona instead of Montclair. Overlapping the Pomona to Montclair stretch that Metrolink […]
Over the course of our lifetimes, most of us witness significant change in the world around us. In the late 1800s, travel across the country became more accessible with the completion of the transcontinental railway; in the first half of the 1900s, electric grids connected houses and telephones made communication easier. In second part of […]
Rationale or magical thinking? Dear Editor: Matt Magilike’s Readers’ Comment in the January 19 edition of the COURIER clearly pointed out a significant flaw in the city council recommendation of a general obligation bond to fund the new police station. The council has not presented rationale arguments stipulating why commercial property owners get a tax […]
Resolutions, resolutions…ah, the dreaded New Year’s resolutions through which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve his or her life. Every year, my weight-loss, exercise, reading Moby Dick, learning-how-to-blow-glass resolutions pile up like the packing peanuts that cradled many of the Christmas gifts we […]
Tis the season Dear Editor: Last month, Republicans in Congress delivered a big, sparkly, $1.5 trillion Christmas gift to businesses. At the same time, they filled the stockings of many individuals with coal. Big, beautiful lumps of clean coal from West Virginia, of course. Not to be outdone, the Claremont city council, in recommending a […]
As I write this, exactly one year ago tonight, January 8—right now, in fact—I was holding my mother’s hand in her bedroom. Her cancer had recurred in August. She didn’t want chemo-therapy. She just wanted to be comfortable, and out of pain. As her heartbeat gradually slowed over those few hours, I told her how […]
Paying for police Dear Editor: In his letter published January 5, Tony Nelipovich asks, “Does Claremont need its own police department?” I do not recall this coming up for consideration at any time over the past years, while the cost of a new police station was being considered and debated. The Los Angeles County Fire […]
Rev. Mark Wiley, Claremont United Methodist Church We are well into the new year. But they left their Christmas lights on. They were the only house in the neighborhood with lights still twinkling. Well, several neighborhoods really. Maybe even the last Christmas lights in Claremont. Most homes were dark. Most folks had taken down […]
I grew up in an interesting household. Until I was 10 years old I lived alone with my mother, who was half Jewish (mother’s side) and half Italian Catholic (father’s side). My father had moved to New York. My mother remarried when I was 10 and we moved from Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley. […]
Paying for police Dear Editor: Does Claremont need its own police department? The Claremont Police Department is the largest expense category in the city’s annual budget. Claremont spends more than 50 percent of its annual income to fund police, and the amount keeps growing. The CPD has hired more staff and acquired more equipment. The […]
By Peter Weinberger I think most of us can agree we have a nation divided in many ways. But on the local level, Claremont continues to prosper, with engaged residents willing to get involved to strengthen our community. People actually care and want to help. Of course that doesn’t mean Claremonters agree all the time. […]
by Peter Coye and Freeman Allen As we know, the Chinese government is extremely interested in the future of renewable energy and has put enormous emphasis on support for the solar cell industry in China and its competitive advantage around the world. In fact, right now, three out of every five solar panels in […]