12 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY june 15-21, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Help Wanted The holes he left in people’s lives are not just limited to Billy’s family. As his daughter, I don’t agree with the decision to let him out (“A new law lets a terminally ill inmate out of prison to die at home,” May 4-10). Now I have to re-put him to rest, re-go to therapy, re-deal with all of it. He was supposed to be gone. Yet, here he is. Pretty messed up. Billy [Rajah] didn’t get to die at home with his family. He died in a hospital after getting run over several times over $40 in food stamps, and it wasn’t even the guy he intended on hitting. My father was lost long before he committed this crime. Ruined plenty of other lives along the way to this. The real issue at hand is lack of mental health services and access to drug programs. Compassion isn’t exactly the word I would use for what we need more of. Help is. Norah Constancio | Fresno ABC’s Thank you Chartwell for understanding and loving neurodiversity! You deserved this $45 million (“Chartwell School receives a $45 million gift, and plans to expand teacher literacy training,” June 1-7). Patricia Qualls | via social media Climate in Crisis So, fossil fuel fools think wrongly that electric vehicles are stupid, and that oil is the best fuel ever (“Letters,” June 8-14). First of all, lithium based batteries are going to be replaced soon enough with solid state batteries, and also soon enough, EVs are going to have much better mileage ranges, so they won’t have to be charged up as much. And what’s wrong with solar and storing solar? Nothing, but fossil fuel fools don’t want to ever admit that, nor that wind power is also a great source of energy. Regarding my own investments into using renewable energy, I have solar panels, an EV (four years already), and earlier this year dumped my gas-powered water heater and heater for electric ones! For four months straight my PG&E bill was this: $0! There’s another solution to climate change, which is very, very real: public transportation. From Santa Cruz to Monterey I see miles of unused railroad track that could be used; when is the Monterey Bay area going to get Caltrain extended to Salinas? It’s been over 25 years since that was promised! LD Freitas | Aptos In response to the Letters to the Editor (June 1-7) by Robert Vandevert and Norm Morris, they are obvious oil and gas industry shills who are willing to sell out their children, grandchildren, and so-on for short-term gain. It is 2023. The science is not in question, and frankly has never been. Why are we providing a platform for these lies and propaganda in our community? Henri Hazel | Monterey History, Revisited It is great to have Robert Louis Stevenson’s presence highlighted in this way (“A description of the Monterey Peninsula as it existed in 1879 reads like a long poem with prescient views about wildfires—and the author even started one himself,” June 1-7). Thank you, David Schmalz. However, the caption for the location and date of the whale skeleton photo is incorrect. This skeleton was not on the 17 Mile Drive in 1880. You can find an almost identical photo on page 91 in my book on Point Lobos. I personally obtained the photo from Cederick Rowntree who, in the photo in my book, is sitting on the jaw bone of that whale skeleton. This is a fin whale which washed ashore at Point Lobos around 1900. It was buried, and then unearthed, by Japanese divers who mounted it as a tourist attraction at the Cypress Grove at Point Lobos where it remained for many years. The Japanese, who were diving for the Point Lobos Canning Company, were living at Whalers Cove at Point Lobos between 1898 and 1930. This was a business which was owned and operated by my husband’s grandfather, A.M. Allan, in partnership with marine biologist Genosuke Kodani. Allan owned Point Lobos from 1898 to 1930. During his ownership he not only protected Point Lobos from becoming a town, but opened his property to visiting tourists and locals. After his death, his daughters sold a portion of the ranch to the state as a park. I have dated the photo in my book as circa 1925. Monica Hudson | Carmel Note: Hudson is president of the Robert Louis Stevenson Club of Monterey. Between the Lines Wow…Jane Smiley must live deep, deep inside Carmel Valley; deep enough to be quite insulated from the truth of the rest of the world around her. There is no “book banning” happening (“What are book banners afraid of? Young readers learning the truth about human nature,” June 1-7). Several conservative lawmakers have objected to written materials that are really quite pornographic that are being offered to children in their schools as “educational.” That is what the issue at hand really is about. But of course liberal special-interest groups like the teachers unions are spinning it around to make it sound like it’s Fahrenheit 451 come to life and books are suddenly outlawed. It’s so stupid, it’s laughable. Terry Kline | Seaside Burger Basics That was an interesting read lately on where to find a good burger in unexpected local places (“The all-American burger has found a home on many unexpected restaurant menus,” May 25-31). However, the best Monterey Peninsula bar burger around, hands down, is still to be found at Duffy’s Tavern on High Street in Monterey. No surprises there. And affordable, too! Robb Thomas Karman | Pacific Grove Correction Based on information contained in an archive, the location of a whale skeleton was incorrect (“A description of the Monterey Peninsula as it existed in 1879 reads like a long poem with prescient views about wildfires—and the author even started one himself,” June 1-7). It was not 1880 on 17 Mile Drive, but after 1900 at Point Lobos. Letters • CommentsOPINION Submit letters to the editor to letters@mcweekly.com. Please keep your letter to 150 words or less; subject to editing for space. Please include your full name, contact information and city you live in.
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