Letter: Reader impressed with teenage guest writer’s observations

In addition to the very thrilling reports of Hollister’s baseball playing youngsters and their moves toward regional championships, the July 10 issue of the Free Lance was filled with many other relevant and timely articles of interest. Although I usually start with the sports page and then consume anything written on the subjects of local or state government and the criminal justice system, I was stopped by hitting a brick wall by the opinion page article written by 16-year-old Nicole Huxtable.
Joe Thompson’s letters also always cause me to pause and reflect and even to sometimes pray that he really doesn’t mean what he writes. He must know that Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin are all long dead as is their Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic, and that they never really made much of an impression on Americans. Also, I can’t believe that anyone with Mr. Thompson’s intellect could really think that our Eden-like community could be “one of the worst counties in the USA”.
But back to the very enlightened and encouraging words of Nicole Huxtable and our county’s young people. Nicole very cleverly recites the concerns and critical remarks of two lovely (“air-freshener scented and perfumed”) ladies talking negatively about today’s generation of kids. We are then treated to a series of positive accomplishments and are also given a powerful inside view and lesson of the motivation and fearless determination of the majority of today’s young students who were raised and taught by parents and teachers of Mr. Thompson’s generation.
As I sit here in our one and only Ding-A-Ling Cafe enjoying a cup of coffee and slice of apple pie with some of my fellow San Benito High School grads of the 50s and 60s (scented Old Spice) we are not fretting, Nicole. We are actually confident and looking forward to the promise that you will make us proud!
Frank Valenzuela, Hollister