LETTERS

Involve the residents

To Altadena Town Council Chairman Gino Sund;

I have read about the recall action initiated against Herbert Simmons. I have read that he made some mistakes. However, he accepted responsibility for what he did. He apologized and took corrective action.

I think that any such attempt to recall a Town Council member should involve the residents of Altadena who voted this representative onto the council and that all allegations and charges should be made available to Mr. Simmons and to the residents of Altadena.

I do believe that actions that are being attempted are extreme and the Town Council would be a better body if they obtained input from the community.

~BONNIE BAKER, PASADENA

I first met Herbert Simmons when he walked our tract and introduced himself as running for Town Council. He was very enthusiastic and voiced great plans for us all. He wanted to improve communication and seemed more than willing to listen. He was determined to implement positive changes for our tract and the community at large.  

Herbert won by almost 2 to 1, which is very impressive. He continues to have a base of support, from what I can gather from the Town Council meetings and his Web site.

I first questioned his ability to lead when I attended the Altadena Sheriff’s Community Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting after the election. Herbert was also at this meeting. I realized that he was out of sync with what was going on at the meeting when the following occurred: Various members of the CAC gave reports and so did Capt. Roosevelt Blow. After the captain gave his report, Herbert spoke in a way that seemed to have an undercurrent of irritation and disagreement with what Capt. Blow had just said.

As best as I can recall it, Capt. Blow stated that he would not hesitate to make arrests of those who were committing crimes in Altadena. Herbert seemed annoyed that arrests were being made instead of jobs being created.

Granted, jobs for everyone would be wonderful, but 1) it is not Capt. Blow’s job to create employment for offenders, and 2) I could not understand why Herbert did not offer to help those in the room who were involved with helping educate and train young people in Altadena rather than taking offense at what Capt. Blow had to say.  

This has become a chronic approach on Herbert’s part. Rather than offering to help or communicate in a cooperative way, he is constantly on the defensive. It sounds to me as though he feels everyone is against him; that he is right and those who do not agree with him are wrong.  I find his behavior embarrassing and unprofessional.

He claims that he was never given the Code of Ethics and the Robert’s Rules of Order and that he had no knowledge that his request for donations to his Teacher/Student of the Month program was inappropriate. How can we know the truth of this when the Town Council states differently?  But in any case, if I was in his position, the first thing I would have asked for would have been the rules for the group that I was now a part of. It is publicly available to us all. Why wait?

I wanted to be fair and informed about his controversial Teacher & Student of the Month Award Program so I went to the assembly at Daniel Webster Elementary in early October. There were many awards and commendations given by the school itself. Parents of the awardees were present. It was a very upbeat experience. The assembly ended with Herbert’s awards.

The principal was delighted to have someone from outside of the school there to acknowledge the children’s and teachers’ hard work. He gave out T-shirts, certificates and bags filled with gifts from the community. Some (not all) of these gifts were from some of his free advertisers on his Web site.

My observations are that Herbert is well-meaning, but misdirected. I am afraid that if he is allowed to continue there will only be more of the same. I see no hope of any truce or meeting of the minds. The dissonance that has plagued this new term for the Town Council has proven to be unproductive.

We, as members of the community, have been presented with “he said, she said” from both sides. I feel the Town Council could have done better also.  But that is another matter.

I do not know what happens if Herbert is removed. This has all become much too complicated. I feel that we need to move on and deal with issues that concern the community, not the personalities on the Town Council.

I feel that Herbert’s removal is the only way this can occur.

~HOLLY RUNDBERG, ALTADENA

As a veterinarian, I am pleased that Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Berkeley, Beverly Hills and other cities across California are joining West Hollywood in voting on ordinances to outlaw declawing cats — a barbaric practice that is performed for the convenience of a person and never for the benefit of the cat.

Declawing is a severely painful procedure that involves amputating a cat’s claws, bones and cartilage. It scars many cats for life, both physically and emotionally.

Many of the rescue groups I work with have language in their adoption contracts that prohibits potential adopters from declawing a cat because they know that declawed cats bite more and use the litter box less. This is why declawed cats lose their homes more often than cats with their claws.

There’s no need to sacrifice cats’ claws to save the couch. Twice-monthly nail trims, providing plenty of scratching posts and temporarily covering furniture with plastic or double-sided tape until the cat learns to scratch in appropriate places will humanely and effectively discourage scratching.

I am grateful to the mayors and city council members of these municipalities who have enacted these bans on declawing cats; they have chosen the most compassionate action.

~JENNIFER CONRAD, THE PAW PROJECT
SANTA MONICA

The excitement over the Fork dovetailed into the Union Station Thanksgiving Day Dinner. Volunteers were seen gathering food donations from the many folks who found time to drop off contributions.

Amazingly, the Fork has aroused passion in some art circles. Perhaps now is time for a real Fork in the Road. 
That work created in Pasadena outshines proposed installations on the forecourt of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, namely a pile of hats and a lighted plastic wand group. This offering by artists from the big city, who command big dollars, demands further intense scrutiny.

Personally, I feel the steps of the Civic should be void of all distractions, but if something must be there,
I will settle for the “Winged Victory.” Anything else is just junk.

~JAMES E. BEHM, PASADENA