Kudos for holding owners accountable for weeds
I was pleasantly surprised to see your article on the cover of
the (April 30) Pinnacle since the weeds in Hollister are taking
over. I was curious to know if the city was going to do anything
about the problem.
I am happy to know the city is holding the landowners
accountable. Not only do the weed make our city look ugly they
prevent us from using the sidewalks, especially east of Maze Middle
School.
I am a new mother and I love taking my baby out for walks in his
stroller. It is frustrating when the stroller doesn’t fit on the
sidewalk because the weeds are in the way.
Carolyn Rios
Hollister
Kudos for holding owners accountable for weeds
I was pleasantly surprised to see your article on the cover of the (April 30) Pinnacle since the weeds in Hollister are taking over. I was curious to know if the city was going to do anything about the problem.
I am happy to know the city is holding the landowners accountable. Not only do the weed make our city look ugly they prevent us from using the sidewalks, especially east of Maze Middle School.
I am a new mother and I love taking my baby out for walks in his stroller. It is frustrating when the stroller doesn’t fit on the sidewalk because the weeds are in the way.
Carolyn Rios
Hollister
Editors’ note: The following letters were written by San Benito High School journalism students in response to the controversy sparked last week when five Live Oak High School students wore American flag clothing to school on Cinco de Mayo.
Dear Editor,
I was reading stories and watching the news broadcasts about the Live Oak School walkouts and I had a lot of thoughts about it.
First of all, I do think it was rude that the five students decided to wear American flag apparel on Cinco de Mayo.Obviously, the kids didn’t “coincidentally” wear that on the same day. They wore it intentionally trying to cause a rise out of people. I do believe that it was wrong, but I don’t necessarily think they should’ve been suspended. I think they should’ve apologized or been made to wear different shirts. Why couldn’t they wear their shirts and shorts a couple days after?
Why that day? Why bring racism about in a country that is all about diversity?
The Mexicans attending Live Oak were obviously hurt and furious with the five students. But I think that a protest that almost got violent wasn’t the answer. What did it solve? Nothing. Instead, it just amplified the problem and made the school divide. Now white people are waving their flags in front of the Mexican’s faces and the Mexicans are taking it as a sign of disrespect.
I, myself, am half-Mexican. I can relate to both sides, and in my Mexican household, we are very prideful. Americans are the same way; they have a lot of pride for their country. I think that all this could’ve been easily avoided. This mess and whole situation could’ve been prevented if it weren’t for the five boys.
Alyssa Mansmith,
San Benito High School senior
Dear Editor,
Students at Live Oak High School shouldn’t have worn those clothes on Cinco de Mayo. They knew exactly what they were doing and they should have known better.
This started a huge controversy among students, parents, and all over the U.S, on whether or not the students did it purposely to offend other students of Mexican descent or if they did it unknowingly.
Some people think it was wrong, while others say the students were simply showing their pride for their country.
I think if they want to show their spited they should of done it another day, not when Mexicans celebrate a special day for they country. These students are in high school and therefore they knew what they were doing, and they likely meant for it to hurt others.
But we need to realize that it was just a few students trying to bring attention to them and we need to let it go and forget about it.
Ana Rosa Duarte,
SBHS senior
Dear Editor,
The controversy that has arisen around the Live Oak students’ wearing of the American flag is not an issue of racism or patriotism but of disrespect and immaturity. Granted, the intentions of the Live Oak students were disrespectful.
Wearing an American flag on Cinco de Mayo is not a crime, but the intentions of the boys were not good either. They knew what day it was and chose as a group to wear the patriotic attire. If any random student had unintentionally forgotten and worn a shirt with an American flag on it, that would not have been a big issue.
However, the group of boys went overboard.
Having patriotism is important and part of what makes the United States so great. However, having respect for everyone that lives in this country is equally important. The right to wear an American flag is not the issue. It is the boys’ lack of respect for others.
Their act could have been blown off as harmless and simply a group of high school students trying to draw attention.
That being said, the issue has drawn way too much attention. There will always be people that are disrespectful and will do anything for attention. The freedom of speech is a great thing, but people need to be wise about how they say things.
We all live in America, and there is nothing wrong with the American flag. The fault here is the intentions of the immature boys and their lack of respect for other people.
Chelsea Walker,
SBHS freshman
Dear Editor,
I believe that the students at Live Oak School were treated a little unfairly but at the same time I think they were a little out of line. This is our country and we should be able to wear our American flag. Also I think it was an insult to the students and to the country for the principal to tell the students to either take off their shirts or turn them inside out.
That is a bigger insult to our country than the students’ insult on the Mexican-American students. Our flag should always be respected. Even on Cinco De Mayo our flag should be respected.
America is as much our country as it is the Mexican-Americans’. America is their home, too, and they should show respect to their country’s colors.
I also believe that the students that wore the shirts may have been a little out of line in regards to Cinco De Mayo. It was a Mexican holiday and should be treated with respect even though we do not celebrate it nationally in our country.
The Mexican-Americans that live here celebrate it and they deserve the same respect we deserve on Independence Day.
Some people have very strong feelings about their heritage and demand respect. For some people it is harder to be respected in America because of their heritage. I think the Mexican-Americans were right to defend their heritage.
Any of us would do the same if someone was insulting America. The students that wore the shirts may not have meant any harm but the Mexican-American students took it offensively and acted on it. There are 364 days in the year to wear an American flag on a shirt. Cinco De Mayo was not the best day to wear it.
We may be free to wear what we like and say what we like because we live in a free country. But we have responsibilities to treat our fellow Americans with respect. Everyone deserves the same amount of respect no matter what heritage we come from.
We need to act with respect. If we do not, then we will not receive respect back from others. And if we cannot respect our fellow Americans, how can we respect ourselves?
Gianna Brigantino,
SBHS freshman
Dear Editor,
My opinion towards the controversy that happened between people was that they took it to the limits and made a big scene out of it. In a way I think it was kind of disrespectful because it was a thing they did on purpose just to get attention.
My only question for these kids are that why would they wear that shirt on Cinco de Mayo? They could have worn that shirt any other day but they had to choose that day to show off their pride.
In a way it’s not racist but I believe that they did that on purpose just to get attention. High school students are big enough and should know the things their doing and probably they knew what they were doing but what they didn’t know was that it was going to go this far.
Wearing the American flag is not a crime and students shouldn’t of had gotten punished for that because it’s America and you can wear whatever you like because you’re in your country. Probably principal Nick Boden didn’t want a scene to happen between two different races and go out of control.
Despite the controversy that happened between the students principal Boden shouldn’t of had made the students turn their shirts inside-out or had sent them home.
Oscar Martinez
SBHS senior
Dear Editor,
Recently, students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill wore American flag shirts on Cinco de Mayo. This started a huge controversy among students, parents, and all over the U.S, about whether the students did it purposely to offend other students of Mexican descent or if they did it unknowingly.
Some people thing it was wrong, while others say the students were simply showing their pride for their country. I don’t think that what the students did was wrong but I do think that they should have waited for another day to show their “pride” for the United States.
These students are in high school and therefore they knew what they were doing, and they likely meant for it to hurt others. I don’t think that the students should have been threatened with suspension or forced to go home for a shirt.
I do understand that Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated by people of Mexican descent, I am of Mexican descent, but I think that people are taking it way overboard. They need to realize that it was just a few students trying to bring attention to themselves and we need to let it go and forget about it.
Paulina Beltran,
SBHS junior
