New Times / Letters to the Editor

Don't waste more of our money on this case

Leslie Ramsey - San Luis Obispo

Thanks for the article on Deputy D.A. Craig Van Rooyen (“D.A. dismisses Doobie Dozen defendants—for now,” Jan. 19).

Here is a guy willing to waste hundreds of thousands of public money to further his own career as a so-called tough-on-crime D.A. It has nothing to do with the marijuana and everything to do with his ego and arrogance.

Judge LaBarbera was the district attorney before he was appointed to the bench. I am sure he gave this case a great deal of thought before dismissing it.

So, Van Rooyen, it’s time to pick up your marbles and go home. You lost. Get a life. And don’t waste any more of our money on this. You should be ashamed.

Paso leaders have run the city into the ground

Gary Nemeth - Paso Robles

This Paso Robles council has gotten us into this mess by following App, voting in his recommendations and cuts in programs and services. The council’s No. 1 priority is to provide for the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.

If/when there is a vote of no confidence in the Paso Robles chief of police, it did not develop overnight. The entire council was warned about this over the last two election cycles, but they chose to ignore those warnings. The vote of no confidence would extend to City Manager App and the entire City Council when their public safety employees have nowhere to turn.

Trust and confidence are earned by listening to the concerns of the employees and citizens they work for. What do you expect? We now need 15 police officers, eight fire fighters, 20 general employees, almost all line-level and middle-management positions. Why did the Council/App agree to these reductions in your safety? Was it so you had no choice but to vote increasing taxes? Or did they not know how dangerous these reductions would be?

This council and city manager App have served long enough to have improved our city. Instead, they have run us into the ground.

Current candidates should focus on preventing World War III

Scott C. Presnal - Morro Bay

During this election year of 2012, I wonder if the Republican candidates or our President Obama know about the threat of nuclear war when it comes to Israel’s protection? I will not stand for nuclear war to happen, because of the peace stand I have as a Christian.

There is one song from Sheila Walsh’s Don’t Hide Your Heart (Sparrow Records, 1985) that I have at home in my collection of CCM, Contemporary Christian Music, and the song is called “Under The Gun.”

The United States should not back down when it comes to sanctions to Iran, if the consequences are true. Preventing World War III from ever happening should be the focus on this election year, and let peace prevail over warfare (Isaiah 2:4).

I'd like to call someone in my own country

George Robertson - Morro Bay

“[We] will send you a notice within 45 days advising you of the price increase,” the woman replied for the third time!

I asked, “if the price increase is effective on Feb. 15, it is already Jan. 30, and no notice has been received yet, how is it possible I will have a 45-day advanced notice?”

Then I asked, “Are you located in the Philippines?”

Has this ever happened to you while calling your insurance company, the cable TV company, or just about any provider of service and product these days? When was it decided that it was practical to send these jobs overseas? What convinced these companies that they would save money by transferring their customer service function overseas? And all the jobs lost!

Coming from sales and customer service in the semiconductor industry, I always believed that the best way to create customer loyalty and increase sales was delighting the customer by exceeding their expectations. Not just words—we had to work at it.

Today, it seems that companies prefer to focus on the bottom line, assuming that this will result in a satisfied customer, instead of the other way around!

Even though English is routinely spoken in the countries where the call centers are located, it does not assure that complex or compound questions are understood.

The example cited above actually happened to me. I was on the phone for more than 25 minutes, and I never did get a satisfactory answer. How can that save my insurance company money? If the call took five times the amount of time it should have taken, even if the cost is half or a quarter of what it normally would cost if the center is located here in the United States, how did they save money? And I can guarantee you I was not satisfied, nor will I possibly be loyal to this insurance company.

Perhaps there were other reasons for justifying the move of customer service functions overseas. I simply believe we need to overcome those rationalizations and create a climate for retaining these jobs here in the states. What do you think? Would you like to speak to someone who understands you, understands what you mean, and satisfactorily answers your inquiry? Only those who share your background, your culture can do that. This is not meant to be negative on the capability of those from another culture or country, simply a statement of fact.

Today, we need those jobs, and the companies we do business with need our loyalty!

An appeal for saving the eucalyptus

Anne Kellogg - Los Osos

I woke at 3:30 a.m. with thoughts of the trees in Sweet Springs. Aroused in the middle of the night, I wondered why I care about the eucalyptus trees—these non-native trees, an invasive species.

I’m told they’ve been there 80 years or more. I’ve only been here 10 years and not yet that age. I, too, am an invasive species enjoying the beauty and climate of sand, sea, and trees. 

All of us are non-native and an invasive species. I care about the trees because I have a relationship with them. I walk through them daily. They direct my eyes upward. They are tall and beautiful, with multi-colored bark and leaves. They provide resting and nesting for hawks, crows, egrets, and monarch butterflies. I have a connection to the trees. They are part of my community of living things.

It would be sad to see them cut down. Mary Oliver, the poet, speaks for me in her poem, “When I am Among the Trees.” I quote a few favorite lines:

“When I am among the trees [all trees] … I would almost say that they save me, and daily.” …

“Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, ‘Stay awhile.’ The light flows from their branches. And they call again, ‘It’s simple,’ they say, ‘and you too have come into this world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.