Readers take on public safety, desal and the Second Amendment.
Prove It
Re: “The Battle Over Santa Cruz” (Cover, March 6): I agree with the goal of improving safety, yet the discussion should be based in actual proven methods. The scapegoating of the entire homeless population and/or immigrants and Latinos is offensive, and unhelpful.
In addition, we need honest discussions about drug policy. You report without question the claim that measure K (marijuana enforcement reform) makes us less safe. Is there even a shred of evidence to support that marijuana usage has increased, much less caused a spike in violence and theft?
Moreover, even with genuine drug problems like meth and heroin addiction, criminalization has completely failed. We've had a war on drugs for 40 years, fueling a 700 percent increase in the prison population, making us the world's largest jailer, and disproportionately impacting poor and minority communities–and yet drugs are as widely available, used, and abused as ever.
It's time to stop knee-jerk reactions and invest in solutions that actually work.
Steve Schnaar
Santa Cruz
FROM THE WEB
Second Look
Though Mr. Lewis (Posts, Feb. 27) cites a bogus Thomas Jefferson quote to show that the original intent of the Second Amendment was to protect people from government tyranny, Mr. Lewis was not wrong in his assertion of original intent—just incomplete. The tyranny the framers had in mind was the right of Southerners to continue the use of slave patrol militias. Most able-bodied white males in the South were required to join these militias, whose purpose was to routinely inspect slave quarters to rid them of any weapons that might allow the slaves to rise up against their masters. (Discovery of such contraband was dealt with harshly, typically with 20 lashes for every slave on the plantation.)
Black slaves greatly outnumbered whites in much of the South. Only brutal suppression under a police state could keep slaves under control. Southerners feared that Article 1, Section 8 of the newly-proposed Constitution (giving the Feds the power to raise and supervise a militia) could allow the federal government take over local slave patrol militias and even induct male slaves into service (thus making them free men).
The original intent of the Second Amendment became obsolete when the South lost the Civil War. Current rationales for the Second Amendment are simply the fabrications of modern minds. Tom Tomorrow couldn't be more on target.
Stephen Williams
Yay For Ethics
Re: “Let’s Go Bowling” (Briefs, Feb. 27): I am very proud and pleased to see the UCSC ethics bowl team and philosophy department get the attention they deserve. This is a great group of very smart people and they should be applauded. I admire this publication for bringing their accomplishments to the attention of the public.
Benjamin Roome
Wrong Approach
Although the City of Santa Cruz and Soquel Creek Water District are partners on planning a desalination plant, the differences in their water policies are a cause for concern.
While Soquel Creek District has invested time and money on a Plan B in the event that voters or regulatory agencies kill the desal project, Santa Cruz has invested no funds in investigating alternatives since it settled on desalination in 2003.
While Soquel Creek District has had an award-winning water-neutral development program since 2003, Santa Cruz has allowed growth to diminish its drought security.
Soquel Creek District projects that their conservation efforts will result in a decline in water demand of 7 percent by 2030. The City projects water demand will increase by 8 percent during the same time frame.
The District has written to the Santa Cruz City Council asking to negotiate transfers of water between the agencies, and the City Council did not respond.
Rick Longinotti
DesalAlternatives.org
