Tax increase should always require voter approval
To the Editor,
Vote yes on Proposition 6 and repeal the fuel tax voted on by the State Legislature. Yes, voted on by the State Legislature, not by the voters.
Proposition 6 requires the Legislature to submit any measure enacting taxes or fees on gas or diesel to the voters for approval. It is as simple as that. Any increase in taxes should always require voter approval.
I am fully aware that we need to spend money on infrastructure and would probably be willing to vote on a fuel tax increase given the opportunity to vote. Vote yes on Proposition 6 and give the people the right to vote on tax increases.
The “Vote No on Prop. 6” committee is being untruthful when it says “California voters approved Prop. 69 in June.” The voters were never given the opportunity to vote on this tax.
Judy Doering Nielsen
Corralitos
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Poor choice of editorial cartoon
To the Editor,
I was surprised to see Jerry Holbert’s editorial cartoon in the Oct. 5-11 edition of the Pajaronian. I usually find his cartoons humorous or at least thought-provoking, but the Kavanaugh cartoon printed was quite irreverent and insensitive toward any woman who stepped forward, claiming to have been sexually assaulted by the man who is our next Supreme Court Justice.
No one came out and accused Kavanaugh of anything but an alleged rape and drinking. Holbert’s cartoon implied that an array of irrelevant accusations took place.
Let me remind the editor that sexual assault is nothing to laugh at or dismiss as Grassley, Graham and McMeel did. I have a circle of friends with whom I have known for over 58 years. Of the seven of us, three suffered sexual assaults — that’s 42 percent. This is not a random number, but a very serious statement about attitudes toward rape in our so-called civilized country where the number of women assaulted ranges from 33 percent and up.
Do you have a daughter, a wife, a granddaughter? If she came to you and told you she was molested and feared for her life during the excruciating act, would you dismiss her and just brush it off by saying she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, she probably drank too much, or she was dressed provocatively? Obviously you haven’t seen the physical and mental results and scars of rape? They last a lifetime.
Since there were so many other editorial cartoons out there, perhaps you should have thought about it a bit longer and chosen one that was a bit more accurate in portraying the political and misogynistic debacle that took place last week.
Julie Hanks
Watsonville
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The computer behind self-driving vehicles
To the Editor,
Computers that control autonomous vehicles will provide benefits (many not yet appreciated), yet they will have limitations. To think of them as human beings behind the wheel would be a big mistake — giving them too much credit for having any genuine intelligence and yet not giving them enough credit for performing simple repetitive tasks again and again without error.
The world is a very complicated place and until the simple step to ensure that roads are computer-friendly is completed, it would be risky to depend on total self-driving vehicles. (Please Google “Make All Roadways Computer Friendly.” Without this guaranteed assurance, imagine being suddenly blindfolded while driving 70-plus MPH. Then in less than a second having to depend upon clues from someone speaking a foreign language to solve an unexpected anomaly not already in your memory bank).
Some think that total self-driving vehicles should be limited to “closed” communities where everything is within a controlled environment. Once all roads become “Computer Friendly,” this restriction can be eliminated, because self-driving vehicles would then still be exposed to only a simple environment which they totally “understand.”
This very simple process should have been done yesterday, but the world is slow to catch on and still not fully aware of the advantages and limitations of computers. In the meantime, accidents will continue to unnecessarily mount from distracted and impaired human drivers as well as human carelessness.
Please communicate to our government to actually become useful by helping to ensure that all roadways are “Computer Friendly.” Let’s then all embrace self-driving vehicles. Please don’t judge competent computer applications by incompetent computer programming. Once properly programmed, a computer is guaranteed to repeatedly perfectly perform millions of mundane tasks in seconds, whereas the best human couldn’t approach this perfection in lifetimes of redo.
Let’s not make it more complicated than it needs to be to ensure confidence that self-driving vehicles can consistently safely traverse a path from one’s origination to one’s destination.
Bob Fifield
Aptos
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Tank cars have become a political football
To the Editor,
Permit me to offer a rebuttal to the assertion by Mr. Greg Becker that Progressive Rail is responsible for the rail tank cars being stored on the Santa Cruz Branch rail line outside of Watsonville (Pajaronian, Oct. 5-11). They are not!
The Iowa Pacific Railroad, which was suffering from financial issues, brought these empty tank cars to Watsonville with the intent of storing them to generate revenue from their owners. However, Iowa Pacific failed to take into account the political climate in Santa Cruz County and the hornet’s nest they would stir up despite the misinformation spewed out by people like Becker. Sadly, like the Santa Cruz Branch Line itself, these tank cars have become a political football.
Our new railroad, Progressive Rail/St. Paul & Pacific inherited the tank car problem when Iowa Pacific defaulted on its contract with the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission. Keep in mind Progressive Rail is working hard to get these tank cars off the property as soon as possible and return them to their rightful owners.
Respectfully, Mr. Becker should get his facts straight before spreading erroneous information about the tank cars.
Gary V. Plomp
Gilroy
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Voting for Jimmy Dutra
To the Editor,
I’ll be voting for Jimmy Dutra for supervisor. I’ve known Jimmy’s family for many years and Jimmy has proven to be a young man who is extremely passionate about our city and who gets things done. He’s determined to work hard for our South County area, which has been ignored for far too long. I know Jimmy will do a great job for us and will always have the best interests of Watsonville at heart. Go Jimmy!
Jodi Steenstrup
Watsonville
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What is Newsom hiding?
To the Editor,
I recently received the official California General Election Voter Information Guide. In it I noticed the statements of people running for elected office. It was helpful. The only exception was Gavin Newsom. He did not submit any statement. Seeing as how he is running for governor and looking to be elected, does he not want the general public to know his positions on issues? What is he hiding? Just asking.
George Limburg
Watsonville
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The Kavanaugh confirmation
To the Editor,
I’m not certain that I’m living in the country I grew up in. Senate Republicans who railroaded Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court showed little or no interest in the facts or truth as evidenced by their shamefully unquestioning acceptance of the severely limited scope of the FBI investigation. The way they conducted the hearing is nothing short of a travesty. They didn’t want the truth. They wanted their boy on the Supreme Court.
The FBI failed to bring forth any corroborating evidence owing to the limits placed on them by the criminal in the White House. They interviewed nine persons who were either involved or not.
The guilty lied. It’s what they do. Others who did not want to be involved just claimed innocence. They did not interview the two people who know what happened.
One opinion expressed by a person on TV is that “It’s all over but the shouting.” Don’t hold your breath, fella. This thing is far from over. Senator Collins may have sealed her fate while trying to cover her hindside, saying that Kavanaugh’s lies outweighed Dr. Blasey Ford’s truth.
I am incensed, flabbergasted by the way Congressional Republicans have lined up behind the criminal occupant of the Oval Office. Why anyone would think he has any business expressing his opinion of Kavanaugh escapes me. He has, what, no less than 19 accusers himself and is a self-described sexual molester who has described his favored method of attacking his victims.
Republicans leaders have become so snarky, so petty, referring to their opposition as the “Democrat Party.” It is the Democratic Party! Individual members are Democrats, members of the Democratic Party.
Thomas Stumbaugh
Aptos
