Vote

Friday I received my ballot in the mail and Saturday I returned it. That vote completed 60 years of never missing an opportunity to vote! I cast my very first vote in 1964. I had just graduated from the University of Nebraska, majoring in political science and embarked for two years in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. In the dark and cold of early morning I rode a bus from my mud hut village Adi Quala to Asmara and voted for Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater. I’ve never missed a vote since.

I believe voting is one of the responsibilities of citizenship with the obligation to act in concert with others to vindicate citizenship’s rights. Please vote.

— Bruce Hamilton, Pacific Grove

Prop 36

As someone who prosecutes cases daily, I can tell you that the current laws are failing to address the realities of crime in our community. I’ve seen how drug addiction fuels repeat theft, trapping individuals in a cycle of crime and incarceration. Proposition 36 offers a common-sense solution by focusing on treatment, accountability and public safety.

Too often, individuals struggling with addiction commit petty theft to survive. Under Prop 36, these offenders would be diverted into mandatory treatment programs rather than being sent back to jail repeatedly. This approach tackles the root cause of their behavior — addiction — while reducing strain on our courts and jails.

Prop 36 is not a free pass. It requires offenders to complete comprehensive treatment. If they fail, they will face legal consequences. But for those willing to turn their lives around, this measure offers them a real chance at recovery.

This measure will also allow law enforcement to focus on more serious crimes, while ensuring nonviolent offenders receive the help they need. We cannot continue to treat addiction with incarceration alone — Prop 36 is the smart, compassionate approach.

For the safety and health of our communities, I urge voters to support Prop 36.

— Jeannine M. Pacioni, District Attorney Monterey County

Teacher housing

I disagree with comments a recent letter writer made regarding the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s plan for teacher housing. I applaud MPUSD for actually trying to do something about the housing crisis facing middle-income people on the Monterey Peninsula. For all the talk by politicians and community leaders about the need to build housing for people with regular jobs (police, firefighters, teachers etc.), nothing has actually happened. Seaside hasn’t built a multi-family development in 20 years, Monterey built less than 10% of the units the state required in the last 10 years and the houses being built in Marina are mostly out of reach financially for many workers. It’s time to stop admiring the problem and actually do something about it. Count me as an enthusiastic “yes” for MPUSD’s bond to house teachers and staff. This should be something we all support given the alternative of doing more of the same, which is absolutely nothing.

— Gianna Holmstead, Seaside

Antisemitism

The Herald recently published a commentary by Marc Levine, a director for the ADL, decrying the increase of antisemitism in the world over the last year. That is a noble position, as racism and antisemitism should always be condemned.

Sadly though, Levine seems mystified as to the cause. The pachyderm in the room is apparently invisible to him. He does not even use the word Palestinian once in his entire post. And while he decries a “terrifying year,” Oct. 7 was just one day but over the entire last year it has been the Palestinian Gazans who have been terrorized, bombed relentlessly, had their infrastructure destroyed and forced to evacuate time and again. While approximately 1,200 Israeli’s were murdered on Oct. 7, 2023, at least 40,000 Gazans and as many as 200,000 have been killed by Israel in the last year. And now the Netanyahu government is expanding this war to Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen, all with critical support provided by US taxpayers. Criticism of the Israeli actions is not antisemitic, and the attempt to smear these criticisms as such is cynical in the extreme.

— John Zimmerman, Pacific Grove