Helping hand saves the day
I carelessly left my purse on a bench outside city hall today
and by the time I realized what I had done, it was gone. By the
time I returned to my office, I had a voice message waiting for me
from Tammy, the wonderful person who found my purse. She refused
all offered rewards and was simply glad that she had been able to
find me. Thank you, Tammy, and all the rest of us out there who do
the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing.
Christine Copeland
Hollister
Helping hand saves the day
I carelessly left my purse on a bench outside city hall today and by the time I realized what I had done, it was gone. By the time I returned to my office, I had a voice message waiting for me from Tammy, the wonderful person who found my purse. She refused all offered rewards and was simply glad that she had been able to find me. Thank you, Tammy, and all the rest of us out there who do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing.
Christine Copeland
Hollister
Palin would stay the course
Sarah Palin believes with all her heart that the Bush/Cheney 8-year program has been good for America. This is almost as frightening as the thought that John McCain, who voted for the program 90 percent of the time and has now reversed his stand of 10 percent opposition, will undo the debacle that the program has brought our nation. Sarah is a hockey mom and loved Governor of Alaska and John is a likable Vietnam War hero and senator. Pray that American voters have the wisdom to allow these two good people to continue working where they are, while electing Barack Obama President of the United States of America.
Frank Crosby
Morgan Hill
Watch out for student drivers
Please be patient and courteous when you see a student driver on the road. They are just learning to drive and are often nervous and unsure of themselves. It doesn’t help when other drivers blow their horn at them – think back to when you were first learning to drive and how you felt. Often other drivers fail to see what the student is observing during their driving experience. For example, another driver blew their horn when a student was making a right turn and the light was green. The other driver failed to see a pedestrian was crossing the street in a crosswalk and the student was waiting for the pedestrian to safely cross the street.
Another example is a driver who blew their horn and stuck three fingers out the window (which I guess meant 30 mph) when the student was driving 25 mph in a 30 mph zone.
As a licensed driving school instructor, I ensure the student is thoroughly familiar with the vehicle and has spent an adequate amount of time in a large, empty parking lot learning to control the vehicle and perform fundamental driving routines. However, for a student to gain the practical experience needed, they must practice their driving on the streets of the community if they are to acquire the necessary experience and skills to become competent and safe drivers.
The city of Hollister and surrounding communities can be proud of the young students who are seeking to become responsible and safe drivers. All they need is a little patience and understanding from their fellow drivers.
Norm Gent
Hollister
Facts about nuclear arms
I don’t want Marty Richman, an actively involved contributor to The Pinnacle, to think I am picking on him. So I should be remiss if I did not compliment him on his guest view article of July 25th. In my humble opinion it was a well written and thought provoking article. I certainly agree with him that “previous development has been haphazard and has not brought the desired economic prosperity, but to do better we must answer the critical question ‘why?’ not just give up.” And I also agree that Mark Dickson’s recommending we just” continue the failed policies of stuffing more unplanned communities and sprawl into Hollister” is a bad idea.
In reply to his recent letter about our reduction of our nuclear arsenal, I did find some interesting facts. Mr. Richman is correct in saying we have been reducing our nuclear arsenal although congress has not yet ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996. According to the Arms Control Association Report, we have only slightly modified previous Cold War targeting plans and policies. The number of deployed nuclear weapons were trimmed, but the force is still enormous. The 1994 nuclear posture review endorsed a force reduction from 3,500 deployed strategic warheads to 2,500. Bush’s 200l review called for a force of 1,700 to 2.200 by 2012. Needless to say, one or two of these plutonium bombs would destroy life as we know it on earth.
In December President Bush asked for $98 million for new nuclear “replacement” warheads and an additional plutonium pit production facility to help build them. This was voted down by congress.
I don’t know exactly how the pentagon defines “hair-trigger alerts” but given the number of “orange alerts” we have had to endure at airports, and the paranoia surrounding “terrorist attacks” in this country, I would not want to have a president with his hand on the nuclear trigger who did not have a very cool head and a non combative attitude.
Natasha Wist
Hollister
