Congressman Valadao only half right with his concerns about forest health | Opinion

Use of fossil fuels threatens forests

Thanks to Rep. (David) Valadao for sharing his concerns for forest health.

He highlights human mismanagement of our shared forest resources. His four points of focus on forest management practices promise some mitigation of wildfire risk, but miss a larger human contribution to the intensity and frequency of wildfires, namely human-caused climate disruption.

Wildfires and the negative health consequences of smoke are a challenge not just for California, but plague the world. New York choked in Canadian wildfire smoke this summer. Wildfires in Europe killed dozens this year. Over 100 died in Hawaii’s Lahaina wildfire this summer.

Predictably, global climate change, primarily the result of human combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), is leading to conditions favoring more intense and frequent fires.

In California, our fire season is getting longer, our forests, rangeland, and scrublands drier. The Bee’s front page on Sept. 3 reported on the crisis of insurers leaving markets where climate-driven natural disasters can be predicted to occur with increasing frequency and increasing costs. Hurricanes, tropical storms, and wildfires literally top the bill.

We must increase our focus on climate mismanagement — the tools are increasingly available to us — if we are to restore forest and human health.

Alex Sherriffs, Fowler

Need Bulldog games in English

The recent Fresno State football game was sold out, yet it was broadcast solely on a Spanish channel. While I believe the Spanish broadcast was a great achievement, leaving out the majority of fans who don’t speak Spanish was a big mistake.

Yes, it could be streamed via the Mountain West Conference app, but the majority of the people I spoke with had difficulty with that and resorted to the Spanish channel with subtitles.

I watched the game in person while my Spanish-speaking wife watched the game at home. She said she would have preferred watching it with English commentators, since much of the Spanish-language football lingo was difficult to follow.

I think it is a good thing to get more Spanish-speaking people interested in Fresno State football, but not at the expense of the main fan base. I am sure a stadium renovation fund raising campaign is on the horizon, but now is not the time to alienate any fans.

I am not sure if the ratings of the Spanish broadcast warrants another game. If it does, the administration (President Saul Jimenez-Sandoval and Athletic director Terry Tumey) need to make sure it is simulcast in both Spanish and English.

Jeff Davis, Clovis

Trump is one of the fascists

Donald Trump cannot commit truth to memory when he spoke to new “Meet The Press” host Kristin Welker due to the fact that he may have added fascists to his list of hate.

But the fact is that fascists including the one percenters, the Oath Keepers and The Proud Boys have supported his 2023 presidential candidacy because he is one of them.

The KKK, neo-Nazi organizations and other white nationalists support him because they claim he is one of them. He wasn’t honest about his ties to white nationalist groups because he should never have made his third White House bid with that kind of record.

What Trump told Ms. Welker was fake news because no one did well under him economically. But what Donald said is all hogwash because no one remembers the good economy under him. They instead remember COVID, as he accomplished the deaths of so many people.

Mr. Trump has no heart, nor no sense of what he said.

John Huerta, Merced

Teachers’ strike in Fresno may happen

Fresno Unified seems to be concerned about the potential strike. As they should! Parents are fed up with our children arriving an hour late to school or two hours late home because they can’t get transportation under control.

Prospective employees wait multiple months after hiring to actually sign their contract and get a school assignment. Once they do, they’re beaten, attacked, bitten, cut, bruised, and expected to handle threats of suicide, self-harm, and terrorism by themselves, without any administrative intervention. There isn’t enough special education staff to go around.

Fresno Unified’s school board has let our district fall apart so that a select few could make big bucks off of our children. It’s time we put our foot down and pull the pawns away from FUSD’s financial game of chess.

I’ll be supporting the Fresno Teachers Association and all other staff unions in the district if they choose to strike.

Kathleen Osle Eugene, Fresno

Why won’t elected officials respond?

I have come to the conclusion that people in government really don’t care about the people they are supposed to serve. There are only two ways to reach them, and that is by email or regular mail. I’ve come to the conclusion if my note doesn’t have a check enclosed, then it goes into the trash.

I wrote to Gov. Newsom, suggesting “Desalination Plants.” No answer. I wrote a letter to the mayor of Fresno, Mr. Jerry Dyer, asking him why the city doesn’t get rid of the highly costly buses? All I see is maybe three people riding them at any one time. Sell the old and get smaller electric ones. No answer.

I’m 91 years old; should I care?

Ted Maltin, Fresno

Cal State tuition hike will hurt students

The editorial, “Cal State universities should approve tuition increase,” by McClatchy California opinion editors, advocates for the tuition increase. It fails to address the livelihood of students. As a current senior at Fresno State, this tuition increase will not affect me, as I will graduate before this act is implemented. But it will affect many students across California.

Without a doubt, costs impact the direction in which students pursue their education. For example, students have turned down opportunities to attend institutions like UC Berkeley or UCLA because they must incur a financial burden of thousands of dollars to afford such prestigious universities. These students turn to the CSU system to access high-quality education at an affordable price.

This article states that tuition increases will not affect students who receive scholarships and financial aid. However, this is far from the truth because many students who are in need do not qualify for financial assistance. Not to mention, paying tuition is not the only expense students must carry; it is also housing and board.

This editorial fails to address the perspective of the directly affected students and will further reduce the affordability of the CSU.

Simran Kaur, Sanger

Politics is not suitable topic in schools

Public political views should not be taught or talked about in public schools. Public schools are filled with all different types of kids, from kindergarten through high school, there are all different types of ages. Everyone comes from a different background, has different morals, and overall just has different views.

These views or political opinions should not be shared in a public school setting. Politics are relevant these days, but do not need to be relevant in a public school setting. This can make kids feel bad about themselves for feeling different, or just thinking that their own opinion is wrong.

But that is not the case, everyone is entitled to have their own opinion and their own thoughts. But it just should not be expressed in a public school setting.

Sydney Daily, Fresno