Opinions
CONT’D
letters
Education Flip Side
ments will also be welcome. (No alcohol is permitted.) Looking forward!
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he November 21 cover story on Santa Barbara schools [independent.com/schoolsurvey], while informative for the majority of students, failed to mention anything about special education or S.B.’s population of students with developmental, intellectual, and emotional disabilities. This is a small population, yet there was no mention of any program that provides individualized instruction and help for these students and their families. The Santa Barbara Independent missed an opportunity to shed light on a side of education that many people ignore or don’t know about. A growing number of students have disabilities, including autism. This sensitive issue needs to be reported on because families are looking for support, guidance, and resources to best help their children. GATE programs, AP classes, Engineering Academies, and college counseling are imperative to ensure the next generation of grads is successful. However, some students out there will never be in GATE, or enroll in an AP class, or graduate from a university. They are equally deserving of an education, and their families should have choices, too. The Independent is a progressive publication, serving a progressive community, and should be more responsible in covering the whole picture. — Emily Murray, Goleta
Yo, Canada!
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take exception to the editorial cartoon published on page 91 of your November 21 issue. It is unfair to cast aspersions on Canada and all of her citizens because of the repellent actions of one seriously ill, wacko politician. I happened to be traveling in your area recently and came upon this edition in a local coffee shop. It should have been beneath the dignity of your publication to have printed this gross insult to myself and all my fellow Canadians, the vast majority of whom are, like most Americans, law-abiding and decent people who are somewhat astounded but mostly appalled at the behavior of this unfortunate caricature of a human being. To have disgraced the Canadian flag in this
manner is simply unacceptable; imagine the outcry of all Americans if a Canadian newspaper used the antics of an American petty criminal disguised as a politician to disgrace your flag and anthem. I recognize free speech, but I think you grossly overstepped the boundaries of good taste. — Mark Charlton, Victoria, B.C.
InvitEighty
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n Monday, December 9, I will turn 80 years old. To mark the occasion, I am going to assume the role of a Wise Old Man of the Mountain, and I invite you to make a unique pilgrimage to visit me in person, if you can. Overlooking Santa Barbara is a range of populated hills we call the Riviera, at the very
— Ashleigh Brilliant, S.B.
No Exit
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top of which is a lovely but little-visited public property called Franceschi Park. That is where I will be waiting to greet you on my 80th birthday, between 1 and 4 p.m. (Dorothy will be there, too, and since her 82nd birthday happens to be the previous day, this will be a shared event.) In this beautiful setting, I will be freely dispensing wisdom, in answer to your questions on any appropriate subject (one question per person, so please think carefully!). Once you find Franceschi Park, it will be easy to find me. Just follow the short road from the entrance to a spot with parking, benches, and picnic tables. But the main attraction (apart from this rare announced presence of yours truly) is a spectacular view out over the city and the sea toward the distant islands. Since no RSVP is required, this will be something of a surprise party, with the surprise being just who will show up. Most of you receiving this message will, I realize sadly, be unable to attend. But you are all invited. Any potluck style refresh-
magine that helpless feeling at 30,000 feet as you are unpleasantly held captive to the airplane cell phone yapper? Help me, Rhonda. I am now stuck in a seat never made for a person my size or height; I have excellent hearing, and unnecessary human noise offends me. Most people carry on dull, meaningless yammering palaver just to be connected, in my humble non-cell-phoneuser opinion. And now in flight I am a quarter of an inch from the yapper. This is really a detestable proposal. Nothing, nothing is that important. Okay, okay, if the plane is going down, I give you that. Please save me from the cell-phone users of any stripe on the airplane. Profits for the airplanes and the wireless companies are the only reasons for this vast intrusion. Remember how well the smoking sections worked? Write by December 12 (or call on your cell phone while grounded) to the FCC or to your airlines or to your mother and have them all stand their “ground” on no-cell-phone talking at any altitude above sea level. — Jane L. Benefield, Carpinteria
Political Gaming
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he news report about the government sex scandal [11/22/13, cont’d p. 25
1722 State St. Suite 101, Santa Barbara, CA
december 5, 2013
THE INDEPENDENt
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