{"id":223541,"date":"2016-02-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/letters-to-the-editor-feb-26-2016\/"},"modified":"2016-02-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:00:00","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-feb-26-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/letters-to-the-editor-feb-26-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the editor \u2013 Feb. 26, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

Response to letters about fire chief<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Volume 6, Issue 1 or bit.ly\/1QU6f43<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

The response\u00a0by\u00a0a writer\u00a0to a\u00a0farewell\u00a0for a retiring fire captain turns quickly to denigrating the risk [to] firefighters.\u00a0Comparisons of death rates of other occupations per 100,000\u00a0seems an\u00a0innocuous exercise until we look at the context.\u00a0<\/p>\n

True, there many dangerous jobs.\u00a0But when a roofer falls off a\u00a0building through accident or carelessness it is not the same as a firefighter falling through the roof of a burning building trying to save your\u00a0property or your life.\u00a0And we are fortunate that there are not more fatalities. But there are many less than fatal injuries suffered by\u00a0police officers and firefighters whose job it is to protect us. The one thing\u00a0where there is agreement with the previous writer is that, yes,\u00a0perspective is important.<\/p>\n

The second letter, same date, dovetails neatly with the first in a tag team attack on public safety employees by tossing out generalities and misinformation on their pensions. True,\u00a0it doesn’t make sense for a firefighter to work past 30 years\u00a0on the job, but for physical reasons mainly. The demands of the job and\u00a0injuries and operations take their toll. Disability retirement is not a slam dunk, but a process involving reviews and multiple medical examinations and hearings. Easier said than done.<\/p>\n

The last statement, “Yes most public safety workers in California are literally set for life \u2013\u2013 without putting a dime aside for retirement on their own,” is false. Public safety workers, like other public employees, match the employer\u2019s contribution for pension. Further, 60 to 70 percent of pension payments\u00a0come from interest earned\u00a0on contributions.<\/p>\n

As Oscar Wilde said: “Truth is rarely pure and never simple.”<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013Joe Flynn (not a\u00a0firefighter or policeman), San Diego<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Praise for La Mesa antique shops<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Volume 6, Issue 1 or bit.ly\/1o3wWYk<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

La Mesa Antique Mall is great. It’s where I go to relive my childhood and buy comics and toys from the \u201980s and \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013Brett Bretterson, via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

Love Park Estates!<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013Wilma Ross Cadice, via Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n

Whenever I visit my mom in San Diego, she insists that we go to her favorite shop. Nice to see La Mesa Antique Mall on the cover. Great shop, friendly staff. La Mesa Village has some very good restaurants, too. Sorry to see several other antique shops on the main street are now gone.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013James Earley, via Facebook<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Politicians not up for the game<\/strong><\/p>\n

The notion that tax-supported events are inevitably profitable is ill-conceived. There are enough savvy capitalists to seize upon a good deal if there is one; why have none stepped forward with the Chargers? Remember, it was the politicians of the 1990s that got us into this one-sided \u201cdeal\u201d with the Chargers.<\/p>\n

Instead of spending everyone\u2019s tax dollars on subjective entertainment, our politicians should be fixing pot holes and preparing for another round of El Nino, which affects us all. If we have extra money solely for entertainment, why does the city need additional sales tax to provide actual government services? It would be cheaper to erect statues for these self-promoting politicians than building a new stadium. Let\u2019s quit wasting valuable time and money on entertainment not enjoyed by all.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013Carlos Miller, La Mesa<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Response to letters about fire chief [Volume 6, Issue 1 or bit.ly\/1QU6f43] The response\u00a0by\u00a0a writer\u00a0to a\u00a0farewell\u00a0for a retiring fire captain turns quickly to denigrating the risk [to] firefighters.\u00a0Comparisons of death rates of other occupations per 100,000\u00a0seems an\u00a0innocuous exercise until we look at the context.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":222643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"Letters to the editor \u2013 Feb. 26, 2016","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548,11593,11552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier","category-no-images","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}