Letters

No more political smoke
Republican Congressman David Dreier is playing politics with soaring gas prices while the rest of us pay at the pump. After voting against proposals to lower gas prices, he had the audacity to introduce a measure that would have allowed House members to discuss and vote on energy proposals from any representative.

This was just a political ploy to shift attention away from his own bad votes.

No one is being fooled by his smoke and mirrors. David Dreier doesn?t seem to care that the people he represents are suffering under higher gas prices. The record shows he voted against several renewable energy packages and voted against bills designed to stop big oil from imposing high prices on Americans. He attempted to use a procedural vote to make it look like Democrats are trying to silence debate on the issue.

With rising gas and energy prices, it’s time for America to declare our energy independence from big oil companies and foreign countries.  I support a new energy policy that invests in alternative energy like wind and solar power, which will save taxpayers money, clean up our air, fight climate change and create new local jobs.
RUSS WARNER
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
26th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

For those who have any doubts at all that secondhand smoke is harmful to everyone's health, including the smoker, our Surgeon General Richard Carmona said that “the debate is over” and “the scientific evidence indicates that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke.” Even brief exposure to smoke damages cells, beginning a process that can lead to cancer, and increases the risk of blood clots, which can cause heart attacks
and strokes.

“Secondhand smoke is a leading cause of preventable death among adults in the US and kills at least 50,000 people each year. … The strength of this movement is in the communities,” Carmona said.
Please, don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself and then write the Surgeon General, and tell him what you are telling your readers!

Your editorial on secondhand smoke is simply an excuse for you to thrash the City Council and other city officials. 

The council and our own Health Department are simply acting responsibly in trying to protect the health of our citizens and visitors who come to Pasadena. Not passing tougher bans on smoking is being reckless and irresponsible. 

You are misinforming your readers by stating that “in Pasadena, regulations against smoking are already some of the strictest in California.” On the contrary, Pasadena has a lot of catching up to do where indoor and outdoor air is concerned, compared with other cities. For instance, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica protect their outdoor diners, whereas we do not.
Please research your material more thoroughly next time you write an editorial.  After all, you are the “editor.”
NANCY SAGATELIAN
PASADENA

Step back
I am curious how Mr. Bernard Melekian could be a "top candidate" in a competition that has yet to begin, and in which he did not file an application (“Back to square one,” April 17).
The search for the city manager begins AFTER the application deadline has passed, not BEFORE!
With regard to Rick Cole, how, when and by whose efforts did he acquire the “inside track’ for the position in question?

We have read several articles, some in the Pasadena Weekly, touting Mr. Melekian for the job as Pasadena's new city manager. However, much as I respect the Weekly’s views, that hardly made Mr. Melekian a candidate, let alone the “top” or even the most qualified candidate since no one yet knows who the other contenders will be!

In addition to the above, I truly can't believe that the city of Pasadena will be unable to attract any number of well-qualified applicants from around the nation, no matter how many manager positions are vacant across the 50 United States!

Given the relationships between Mr. Cole, the Weekly, Mr Melekian and Mr. (Kevin) Uhrich, I have to wonder if this is yet another attempt to confuse and muddle the search process that has just commenced.

The collective musings of several “informed” citizens and former citizens does not constitute a “news item.” They may amount to some sort of a feature article, but we have already had several of those around this topic in recent weeks.

Since Mr. Melekian and Mr. Cole are not candidates for the position of our future city manager, then that’s NOT news. 

I also have complete faith that our City Council and the larger community have all of the necessary talent to make the final selection and that we can ALL look forward to another period of smooth running and efficient city administration.

In short, though, we can’t be “back to square one,” since we have not yet left it!
FRANK L. JAMESON JR.
PASADENA

Friends and others
OK, it seems Sen. Barack Obama has served on an anti-poverty board of directors with former Weathermen member Bill Ayers.

First, I’d like to say I’ve served on boards of directors with people who absolutely nauseated me, and was I polite for the sake of a good cause, in spite of a desire to lay the hands of enlightenment upon them. I expect others also so serve. I suspect Sen. Obama is likely such a person. Serving on a board of directors with someone is not necessarily an indicator of close personal friendship.

Second, it’s been a long time since 1969, when a young Mr. Ayers and some college friends conspired to build bombs. It is difficult to remember those times, painful for those who do. Mr. Ayers has since written extensively on the mistakes and arrogance of his youthful past and of the left in those times, as has his wife, Bernadine Dohrn.

Since they both came in from the underground and surrendered themselves, Mr. Ayers has become a leader in American educational theory and practice, and Ms. Dohrn has become an internationally known civil rights attorney who has been a visiting professor of law all over the Western world.
Both Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn had charges against them related to their Weathermen years dropped, due to massive illegal and unconstitutional prosecutorial misconduct.

The famous article published by The New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, was responded to by Mr. Ayers as a “willfully untrue” article in a letter that ran in that same paper on Sept. 15, 2001. Said letter is available on Wikipedia.

Finally, I have via telephone and email conversed with most of the surviving Weathermen over time, including both Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn, for a book project about the ’60s that I will probably never complete. Each and every single one of them regrets the violence of their past, considers it to have been immature, ill-informed, plain wrong and something they spend their lives warning others against and atoning for. They do not think of their time in the Weathermen as a shining moment, but rather a time of extreme hubris.
STEVE LAMB
MEMBER
ALTADENA TOWN COUNCIL

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kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com, joep@pasadenaweekly.com, andrec@pasadenaweekly.com,  carlk@pasadenaweekly.com.