Readers comment on a gay-bashing column, tattoos in the Gilroy
High yearbook and the costs associated with the proposed bullet
train
Understanding difference between moral standards and hatred
Dear Editor,
In Lydia Eden-Irwin’s column of Nov. 2 (Reclaiming the Rainbow), she condemns the bigotry and name-calling often directed at gays, or associating the rainbow emblem with gay and lesbian behavior. I wonder if Ms. Eden-Irwin might also want to talk to those in the politically correct community who routinely place labels like “hatemonger'” or “homophobe'” on people whose moral or religious perspective is different from theirs. This sounds pretty intolerant and judgmental to me.
I’ve never had any inclination to make fun of someone sporting a rainbow emblem, and would be the first to step forward and defend anybody who was subjected to that type of behavior. Nonetheless, there are those of us in the world who understand the difference between moral standards and hatred; who are willing to state what our standards are, and who are willing on that account to run the risk of giving offense and being called names. Thus, I wonder if Ms. Eden-Irwin would also be willing to step up and defend people who are called “bigot'” “hatemonger'” or “Christofascist” by those who profess to believe in tolerance or diversity.
Sasha and Bill Kwapinski, Morgan Hill
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written letter.
Including tattoos in GHS yearbook a matter of ‘lowering the bar’?
Dear Editor,
Kudos to Alxys Fisher’s letter in Tuesday’s (Oct. 30) paper … not so much for Ms. Sandi Zappa. Gilroy High School Principal James Maxwell didn’t stand a chance with this issue. If he didn’t allow these pictures to appear in the yearbook he would have been accused of many other things.
I have mixed feelings on kids getting tattoos and hope that my children take my advice and realize it’s something that is permanent and shouldn’t be taken lightly, however, we don’t know that parents didn’t give consent for many of these students to have the tattoo so we can’t automatically think they are doing this illegally.
Is a company lowering the bar if they hire someone with a tattoo? Tattoos are a part of life and they mean different things for different people. Before labeling the student at GHS who have tattoos as “lowering the bar” maybe we should get to know them.
The yearbook is about GHS and the students, not who is popular enough to make the yearbook or what looks good on paper. So, to the kids at GHS who have a tattoo, don’t feel you are less of a person because your picture isn’t on a float, athletic field or hanging with the popular crowd … you’re just as much part of that school as everyone else.
Jody Swift, Gilroy
Spending money faster than a speeding bullet train – like the VTA
Dear Editor,
If the Bullet Train “pencils out,” I want to see who’s holding the pencils. If it is Valley Transportation Authority or a similar-type MPO (metropolitan planning organization), e.g., MTC, AMBAG, COG, SCCRTC, or any organization ready to make off taxpayers’ subsidies, we ought to see that they’re prosecuted and convicted the same as Enron’s top management.
While building the bullet train in California will please foreign tourists, it won’t effect companies like Walmart, and while prime contractor Bechtel Corporation will take in more than $80 billion to build it, if cost overruns are anything like BART’s or Boston’s Big Dig’s cost overruns, at least it will simplify Gilroy’s small business owners’ tax returns which, to pay for the bond debt and annual billion dollar operating subsidies, will become something like:
1. “How much money did you make last year?
2. and so send it all to your state government.”
Meanwhile, for example, since the Valley Transportation Authority got away with it after a scathing Santa Clara County Grand Jury report (and subsequent audits), and weathered the storm in local press, how much you want to bet that they plow ahead spending OPM (other peoples’ money) for BART to San Jose (or is VTA saying to us “BART or Bust!)?
I say, with BART it’s a bust for taxpayers, and VTA bus riders. Tourists rejoice at VTA “leadership'” but taxpayers shafted once again. How long do we take this abuse?
Joe Thompson, Gilroy
