Letters to the editor
Paying it forward
Dear Edtior:
Last week you ran an article on the importance of early detection in surviving cancer and you featured an interview with me [“A Crucial Catch,” Oct. 15, page 10]. Thank you for highlighting the importance of proactivity in the face of this horrible disease.
It can be beaten.
I have been overwhelmed with the love and support that the people of Mammoth and the Eastern Sierra have shown me during these difficult months. As I prepare for my final surgery I wanted to thank all of you that have reached out to me. I could not have done it without you. Thank you a million times.
I would like to reach out to anyone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and offer my support. During these last 10 months, I found great comfort in talking to survivors, some I knew and others I didn’t. I was bowled over by these people opening their hearts to me and taking the time to share their experiences, fears and hopes. They gave me strength.
I would like to pay it forward, and encourage anyone who has been diagnosed and wants to hear another’s journey through cancer to contact me. I can be reached by email at rebeccagarrett@roadrunner.com. Please be sure to include survival in your subject line.
Thank you, all of you, for your love and support.
Rebecca Garrett
Mammoth Lakes
Elections office responds
Dear Editor:
Regarding the upcoming election on Measure S, a public comment was recently printed in which the author made disparaging remarks about the Mono County Elections Office (specific comments referred to voter registration, notices and deadlines for filing arguments against the measure).
It is important for all Mono County voters to understand that the Elections Office is obligated to follow the California Elections Code, even when some citizens disagree with that code.
Lynda Roberts
Registrar of Voters
Mammoth Lakes
Vote with your conscience
Dear Edtior:
Fifty-nine dollars for our schools. This is the yearly cost of the Measure S parcel tax. Not a tax for the airport lawsuit or for parking at the Village. Fifty-nine dollars per parcel that will add up to $650,000 a year to provide the best education we can for the young people in our community. They are the children of our police officers, store owners, dishwashers, nurses, Vons checkers, teachers and volunteer firefighters. Fifty-nine dollars! Don’t fall for the anti-tax, woe-the second-homeowner dogma. For crying out loud, It’s $59 for SCHOOLS! Vote with your conscience, because you know what this election is really about.
Jeanne Oakeshott
Third Grade Teacher
Mammoth Elementary School
A better mousetrap?
Dear Editor:
American ecologist and research psychologist John B. Calhoun, who studied population density and its effects on behavior, was best known for his studies on the overpopulation of rodents.
In the famous “mouse universe” experiment sanctioned by the National Institute of Mental Health, rodents were contained in a small space and allowed to reproduce resulting in an explosion of population while the available living space became rapidly depleted.
It didn’t take long for Calhoun to observe bizarre behavior created by this overcrowding. Among the aberrations: wounding of the young and their expulsion before weaning was completed, aggression and violence towards each other with a marked increase of violent behavior from the females, inability of dominant males to maintain and defend their territory, and a complete withdrawal from society where “the beautiful ones” spent their time eating, drinking, sleeping, and grooming themselves.
The conclusions drawn from this experiment were that when all available space is taken and all social roles filled, competition and the stresses experienced by the individuals will result in a total breakdown in complex social behaviors. It can be said all major social problems stem from overpopulation. Been to any big city lately?
As we relish the glory of the autumn shoulder season in a part of the world that is consistently being referred to as paradise or Shangri-La, some quiet time is now available to reflect on just how fortunate we are to call this middle-of-nowhere secluded Eden our home. There are still however, extremist groups today with an old school ideology that any community can only survive by building more and more structures and attracting more and more people from those overcrowded mouse universes that are clearly experiencing caustic downturns. Instead of butting heads with these foam-at-the-mouth “Right is right” types in this case, who will not rest until Mammoth resembles a mini-Los Angeles, we might instead cultivate degrees of compassion for our visitors as any intelligent resort community would do. And spend an equal amount of energy as well on the needs of the locals who are the backbone and blood of the community. A few days most visitors spend in our clear, thin mountain air is simply not enough therapy. A weekend or so in our comfy, liberal, laid-back community is not enough time for stressed people to decompress. A lot of them exhibit the wacky behaviors they have brought with them from the metropolises they have temporarily escaped from. You can spot them instantly by their ultra-serious mannerisms. The magazine smiles. The faraway looks. You know them by their habit of viewing the town’s residents as their employees. The most rebellious, most subversive thing we can do nowadays (in
hopes that the visitors might “get it”) is to smile, laugh and be the real-deal people we lucky high altitude folk truly are. And try harder than ever to accept the stressed-out and confused for what they are.
Dennis Kostecki
Mammoth Lakes
MUSD budget needs “S” renewal
Dear Editor:
Since I have been a trustee, the Mammoth Unified School District Board has cut nearly 10% of our budget to respond to the diminishing revenue sent to us by the state. Our best estimate is that the cuts are not over and the fiscal health of the state is still very much in jeopardy.
If the current, annual $59 per parcel tax were to sunset, the cuts would reach some 1.5 million dollars annually. There is no fat or pad in the budget. It is lean, and any further cuts will reach deeply into every classroom.
We have little or no say in what the state will do; all we can control is what happens here in Mammoth Lakes.
The parcel tax up for renewal on Nov. 8 amounts to less than $5 per month for every parcel in the district. This modest amount, however, will generate more than $3 million for our schools over the life of the tax.
This is desperately needed revenue and represents a critical investment in the educational future of our students.
I plan to cast my vote on Nov. 8 in favor of renewning this tax and hope you will join me in supporting our schools.
Jack Farrell
MUSD Trustee
Can we say, “lawsuit?”
Dear Editor:
I too, like Mr. Sauser, snowmobile and cannot get over the placement of these random SNOWMOBILE KILLERS that are now present at the front of certain roads (The Sheet, “Barricada,” Oct. 8). They seem to be just at the perfect height where a decent size early season storm would cover them completely rendering them sightless for the unexpecting snowmobiler, especially in the areas behind Shady Rest park which are often the riding grounds for newbies and kids, as it is close to the launching area.
Early season snowmobiling tends to be a “stick to the roads” type of experience in an effort not to hit objects such as downed trees and boulders. Throw that out the door!
Now everyone has to be leary of every road they turn onto because there is a possibility of a log strewn across it! I feel bad for the folks from down south as they will be in for an abrupt end to their day. Can we say lawsuit?
Dane Plock
Mammoth Lakes
Thankz
Dear Editor:
Thank you to zpizza for your amazing generosity to the Mammoth Middle School Organization. zpizza hosted Mammoth Middle School Dines Out on Oct. 3, and donated 10% of all proceeds to Mammoth Middle School Organization! In addition, zpizza donated an additional generous sum to total a gigantic donation of $500 to MMSO.
These funds are used to support our programs and curriculum at Mammoth Middle School, and to purchase supplies and other important educational materials. MMSO is part of what makes Mammoth Middle School a California Distinguished School.
We are very fortunate to have such generous businesses in town that help support our community.
THANK YOU ZPIZZA!
Connie Moyer
MMSO President
