Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

Letters to the Editor

Comments (0) |

Two Olympic sponsors

Congratulations to Gina Miles and her mount, McKinlaigh, for winning the Olympic silver medal in equestrian eventing. I can only imagine the amount of hard work and time Gina has put into reaching this goal.

The downside, however, is that I have not heard in the last two interviews in The Tribune mention or thanks to the two people that made her dream come true — Laura Coates and Thom Schultz, owners of the Rainbow Ranch and McKinlaigh. I can honestly say they are two of the nicest people I have ever known. I really feel they deserve a lot, if not the most, credit for the success of this horse and rider.

Thom and Laura purchased the horse in Ireland a number of years ago. They have made it possible for horse and rider to compete in numerous places in the world. The last trip to England was a grueling test of the horse’s soundness before being shipped to China.

I praise Gina and McKinlaigh, but let’s not forget two wonderful people who made it all possible.

Gary E. Gordon

Creston

Thanks to San Miguel

This letter is to give credit where credit is due. All too often, we hear only the bad things that happen. I want to give praise and thanks to the people of San Miguel for their integrity, helpfulness and patience.

I was one of the contractors who built the apartments at 505 11th St. This was one of the best jobs I have ever worked on. Theft, vandalism and uncooperative neighbors, sad to say, have become the norm for construction projects. But this was not the case in San Miguel.

As an example, one Friday I was the last to leave. I drove off, leaving our container unlocked. When I returned on Monday, the container was locked in an unusual way. I knew someone had locked it for me. All of its contents were intact. Later in the week, after asking around, I found that Roy, one of our good neighbors, had noticed that the lock was missing and installed it for me.

Also, thanks to the good, friendly and helpful people at the San Miguel Community Services District for their support. And thanks to all the people in the restaurants, stores and motels who kept me from feeling like a stranger.

May God bless all of you.

Bradley Gilton

Gilton Construction Co.

Keeping SLO slow

Last week my wife and I visited San Luis Obispo for the second time in less than a year, flying from Miami to Los Angeles and driving north on Highway 101. Since visiting in August 2007, we fell in love with the town, the surrounding mountains, nearby beaches and local flavor.

While the natural scenery did not change, this year we saw a marked difference in the town of SLO. It seems that SLO is being developed at a rapid clip, with more major national chains pushing out local businesses.

It is our sincere hope that SLO does not make the same mistake as many other overdeveloped towns and strives to maintain the unique small-town feel that makes SLO such an inviting spot. The world has enough Banana Republics and Starbucks. It could use more Mission News and Sweet Shops and Louisa’s Places.

Christopher Spuches

Miami Beach, Fla.

Rate predictions off

It seems the city of Paso Robles was way off last year when it predicted $100- per-month water rates.

According to the figures provided and depending on how much water was used, the average water and sewer bill could be as high as $200 per month.

And the City Council is not following its own just released Urban Water Management Plan which recommends that the largest consumers of water (commercial, institutional, industrial) pay the largest per unit cost for water. They are being asked to pay a higher flat fee, which does not encourage conservation.

The City Council is also not following the recommendations of the Grand Jury, which requested that “participating agencies should ensure that their water customers can readily identify which portions of their utility bills are attributable to the project.” Not being done!

And California Elections Code Section 9241 states “If the legislative body repeals the ordinance ... the ordinance shall not again be enacted by the legislative body for a period of one year after the date of its repeal by the legislative body ... ”

The $60-per-month rate increase was repealed by the City Council in October, 2007. I suppose our City Council is ignoring the spirit of this law since it is now proposing a much higher fee ordinance.

Karen Reed

Paso Robles

Reduce fuel taxes

I have increasingly heard the mantra that record profits in the oil industry is one of the main culprits causing high gas prices. This is a common misconception.

If we take a look at profit margins (net income divided by sales revenues) of oil companies, we would find a surprising trend. As an example, ExxonMobil and Chevron recorded 10 percent and 9 percent profit margins in their Dec. 31, 2007 annual reports, respectively. In comparison to other industry leaders for fiscal-year 2007 (Microsoft: 28 percent; PepsiCo: 18 percent; General Electric: 13 percent), we find that the “big, bad oil companies” are in fact only reaping moderate profit margins.

Additionally, if we continue with our example of Exxon- Mobil and analyze what makes up the price per gallon of gas, we’d find that 13 percent went to various federal and state excise taxes, 8 percent went to the federal government in the form of income tax and 10 percent was retained by the oil company. Thus, “taxes” outnumber “record profits” 2 to 1.

We should focus our attention on reducing taxes, not profits, if we hope to have short-term relief at the pump.

Chris Delaney

San Luis Obispo

Algebra is necessary

In a column on July 29, Lon Allan addressed the state’s new eigth-grade algebra requirement. He implied that, in addition to being a burden to teach, algebra simply wasn’t necessary to his life.

However, what Mr. Allen fails to recognize is that algebra is not about teaching children how to compute the distance two opposing trains must travel before they meet. What algebra teaches us is how to think logically. How to look at a field of options, decide which are known quantities and thus determine what is the unknown, or X.

Just this morning, I applied that skill when I reviewed the progress of my patio remodel project, making lists of the things that are done and determining what needs to be finished. In other words, I solved for X.

Algebra is one of many tools to teach kids to think logically and critically—a skill we all need in life and one I am certain Mr. Allan employs on a daily basis.

Mary Corey,

Atascadero High School