High
school errs in decisions
We are so upset that Mrs. Siegal won’t be teaching our children next year. I have a
daughter who just went through her class. She is very upset. She said that she
learned so much, and that Mrs. Siegal made English
come alive. My son will start ninth grade next year, and we are very upset that
he will not have the opportunity to have Mrs. Siegal
as a teacher.
I have also worked as a teacher’s
aide in the special education department. I brought students into her class who
had learning disabilities or who spoke English as a second language, students
who were frustrated with learning, and Mrs. Siegal
took these children and gave them the confidence to want to learn. She is also
very good at showing how important education is to children and very good at
helping them to appreciate that public education is a gift.
Also, because of budget cuts, my
son, who is college bound, cannot take a foreign language because he has a B-
in English, and they have a new standard that says students must have a B
before they can take a foreign language.
I find it absurd that we are helping
Spanish-speaking children learn English. We are practically bending over
backwards to learn their language. But my son, who may want a job that requires
him to speak Spanish or who will need four years of a foreign language to get
into a college of his choice, is being denied the opportunity to learn Spanish
because he has an above-average grade of B-. Both of these decisions will
greatly impact our lives and the lives of many children at our high school.
Chandra Romano, Los Olivos
Time
for change
Once again, “On the Ranch” takes a
broad assumption and presents it as a fact. You ask: “Why do Canadians
constantly come to the United States for treatment they cannot get at home?”
Essentially there is some truth to
that. Some Canadians who can afford it do come here for specialized treatment.
But the bulk of Canadians stay in Canada and get
excellent health care. And none of them, unlike Americans, have to declare
bankruptcy because of health expenses.
In the U.S., over 51 percent of
people who declare bankruptcy do so because of health care expenses.
The assertion that some bureaucrat
will make your health care decisions has long been the cry of the insurance
companies and conservatives. I might point out that under today’s system, an
insurance employee does that if your medical costs get to high or you get too
sick.
The United States is the only
industrial country that doesn’t provide health care for its citizens. For years
the conservatives have watched millions of families destroyed by excessive
medical costs. The health insurance companies spend millions each year to
defend their cash cow. It’s time to change! P.S. I am Canadian.
Ian Bernard, Santa Ynez
Please
be patient
I’ve been a local resident for
almost 30 years and a cyclist on our local roads for a good portion of those
years. I’ll confess right up front that I have made mistakes riding my bike.
(I’ve made more in my car and as a pedestrian!)
But what drivers need to understand
is that road rage or using a vehicle as a weapon is a potentially lethally
dangerous thing to do. A cyclist has no protection.
Contrary to the misconception that
there are “bike lanes” in the valley, the reality is that there are very few.
Where there is a paved shoulder, it
has usually not been resurfaced, is cracked and strewn with debris. Other roads
simply have no shoulder.
Please be patient. Even when I do
something wrong, that doesn’t justify an attempt to kill me. If I take up too
much road, I apologize. I know you’re in a hurry and it may take another 30
seconds to get from one end of the valley to another.
Mike Brady, Los Olivos
Spandex
envy
My heart aches for people who hate,
more to the point, those who hate cyclists. The thought of a 4,000-pound
vehicle “claiming” a cyclist riding a 20-pound bicycle, “in striking distance,”
scares the be-jesus out of me. The “innocent,”
referred to by the driver with repressed emotions is surely not an innocent
child on a bike!
Mention a cycling event in the paper
and the anti-cycling coalition goes ballistic.
Okay, so clue me, what’s really to
hate about cyclists? Someone agile and
able and fortunate enough to get out and hit the road with the wind at their
back, feeling free and easy, if only on their lunch hour?
And because the anti-cyclists only wishes it were they, they hate? I call it spandex envy.
As for all those misanthropies out
there, having blown their cover, their name in print, they forget to remember
living here in the valley, that they’ve known, more
than likely, every cyclist they hate.
Their next door neighbor, doctor,
lawyer, dentist, teacher, coach, middle-school, high school principal, the
butcher, baker and their friendly wine maker.
Their discontent is well-known. The
public they’ve reached?
Us! The cyclists
of the Santa Ynez Valley.
Ruth Allan Raymond,
Solvang