Opinion

Making a case for Blotter Dear Editor: I am Toby Jackson, an eighth grader at El Roble. I am writing to tell you that I really like the Police Blotter. I like to read it because it keeps me informed about all of the crime in Claremont. Also because it’s interesting to hear about what […]

by Mellissa Martinez When teaching English to foreign students, I sometimes play clips from President Obama’s speeches. The goal is not to influence learners’ political views or even to educate them on our current state of affairs. No, my goal is simple—I want students to hear how our president frequently changes his register from relaxed […]

by Devon Hartman It’s official—Claremont has been accepted into the Georgetown University Energy Prize competition (GUEP.org) for the opportunity to win a $5 million prize! Having successfully completed a rigorous application process, Claremont (the only city accepted within Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Santa Barbara and Orange counties) will compete against 50 other cities nationwide […]

Traffic concerns [The following letter was sent to the Claremont City Council with a copy forwarded for publication.]   Dear Claremont City Council: One of the most fundamental tasks of our police department is traffic enforcement. It is my opinion that the streets in this town are becoming less and less safe due to lack […]

I made an innocuous post on Facebook this week after the South Coast Air Quality Management District asked residents to not burn wood in fireplaces on Tuesday and Wednesday because of a high concentration of fine particle air pollution. Considering we live in a warm climate—even our coldest days don’t compare to those on the […]

by John Neiuber Some years ago, when visiting Chicago, my wife and I decided to take a small pilgrimage to mid-state Wisconsin to visit my cousin who still resided on one of the family’s dairy farms. As a child, our family had visited Wisconsin many times and I had fond memories of the family farms. […]

by John Pixley I’ve been enjoying this winter break. It has been nice having some extra time. It has been nice having more time to think about pears poached in sherry. Or was it port? I’m sure I can find it online. My mother once made a recipe like this, so I’m sure I can […]

by Bill Lesher Dr. Diana Eck is professor of Comparative Religion at Harvard University and director of the “The Pluralism Project.” Ms. Eck always expected to have a sizable number of international students from various religious traditions in her classes on World Religions. But, in 1991, that expectation took on a new twist. The number […]

by Debbie Carini The first time my father left his home state of New Jersey to travel outside the New York metro area was courtesy of the United States government. In 1958, Uncle Sam was shipping him to Aberdeen, Maryland. He was then transported to Fort Polk in Shreveport, Louisiana (on a train that was […]

By Peter Weinberger Blaming the media for society’s problems is a time-honored tradition reserved for people who are usually in trouble, cannot take the heat of their own actions or simply are angry about an issue. Whether a politician, sports athlete or even a movie star, it’s common to point fingers at an easy public […]

JFK, Churchill, Roosevelt Dear Editor: Such mortification! I am embarrassed by my error in my letter printed in the December 5 edition of the COURIER, in which I (hopefully not too smugly!) corrected the COURIER’s error of November 28. The reporter stated that Ambassador Edward Marks, in a talk at Temple Beth Israel the previous […]

by John Pixley “Were you at the C. folk festival for this?” This was in the subject line of an email I got last month from my friend Drew in San Diego, except that there were no capital letters. Curious, I opened the message and found a YouTube link. That’s all. That’s all that was […]

By Peter Weinberger Over the years the COURIER has received numerous awards for stories, photos, design and advertising published in the newspaper and website. During my seven years as publisher, part of those honors has been accepting awards on behalf of Martin Weinberger. As editor and publisher of the COURIER for 53 years, Martin touched […]

by Debbie Carini Everyone thinks Santa’s job is close-to-impossible; all those houses, chimneys and cookies in just one night. It’s a globe-trotting and gastronomic feat and he deserves the veneration we accord him (carols, lighted plastic look-alikes, tree-toppers, movies and Bass and Rankin stop-action animation). But really, when you think about the work load, it’s […]

[Editor’s note: We had a speech in 1933, then another in 2014. But somewhere between, things got muddy. It was a misquote, then an incorrect correction to the misquote and now some correct corrections to the double misquote. Let me simplify it by saying, “We really flubbed this one up.” Apologies to Ambassador Marks and […]

by John Pixley Sometimes they haven’t been there, but most of the time they have been there. Now I wonder if I will see them as I pass by, going up College Avenue. I suspect they won’t be there in a few weeks but, for now, until the Colleges go on winter break, they are […]