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Alameda County DAis coddling criminals
It should not surprise anyone that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price dropped special circumstances against David Misch, one involving his alleged kidnapping and murder of Michaela Garecht in 1988, giving him the possibility of being paroled, instead of serving life in prison.
Soon after Ms. Price was elected, she said she would “seek to remove all 41 local cases from Death Row and to resentence people who were sentenced to life without parole.” She also said her “administration will begin an era of change that ultimately will make us (Alameda County residents) stronger and safer.” I beg to differ, not with the likes of Misch running around.
The voters and residents of Alameda County are being introduced to a new form of criminal justice — one that, in my view, is not going to keep them safe and favors the perpetrator.
Ninfa WoodWalnut Creek
Quarry plan willundermine rural road
The EBMUD plan to fill in the old quarry on Lake Chabot Road, located on county land between San Leandro and Castro Valley, with soil excavated during pipeline maintenance proposes to run 60 to 100 dump trucks a day along Lake Chabot Road for 40 to 80 years.
That’s right. If anybody now alive is here to see it, the site and adjacent hillside will eventually be seeded and planted with native plants.
Lake Chabot Road is currently closed because of landslides and erosion that have undermined the roadbed. It’s doubtful that it will ever be able to support the constant dump truck traffic.
Gary SloaneSan Leandro
Agencies must makebetter use of tax dollars
Re. “Prop. 13 proves costly to government programs,” Page A8, Jan. 13:
I disagree with the notion that local and state governments don’t have enough money already from other taxes and bonds for impoverished schools, understaffed government offices and infrastructure.
Our property taxes are plenty high in California and enough businesses have been run out of the state. We don’t need any more lost jobs and tax base.
The real problem is not a lack of funding but how all of these agencies use the money they have.
Herman BetchartFremont
Recount cost is worthelection integrity
The article “Are Alameda County elections actually headed to a recount?” (Page B1, Jan. 15) regarding “voters confusion about everything from the results of certain races to the future of ranked choice voting” helps me understand why people might question election results.
The District 4 Oakland Unified school board “snafu” demonstrates that our election systems are not infallible. That said, I believe that the seeds of doubt this might have cast is very troubling. The cost of letting any doubts remain will be much more costly to our society in the long run than any monetary cost of a recount now. We should not put a price on maintaining faith in election integrity.
Dennis CarlisleNewark
Predicting climate changeisn’t settled science
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently stated to “Expect record-shattering hot years soon, likely in the next couple years because of ‘relentless’ climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.”
Last October, this same NOAA released its U.S. Winter Outlook. Researchers predicted that through February 2023, “California will still have to contend with the ongoing drought and won’t see much precipitation.” Wrong.
Scientists admittedly can’t predict hurricanes a year out with any accuracy, but they want us to believe they can predict global temperatures and sea levels years out. Real science is never “settled.”
Jon RegoClayton
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