Hammer supporters react to a recent article and other readers stick up for traditional family structure.
Unfair to Hammer
Re: “Hammer: No Pass” (Currents, Oct. 31): It’s a sad day in Santa Cruz when the Weekly publishes an attack ad posing as a legitimate article. You first endorsed Eric Hammer (Currents, Oct. 17), then slammed him, leaving him and your readers without time to respond before the election. Is that any way to treat your friends?
Mark Feldman
Santa Cruz
Eric Hammer and his campaign were contacted repeatedly for the Oct. 31 article, and their responses quoted in the article itself.—Editor
The Bishop Did Know Best
I wish to comment on the cover story “The Bishop Knows Best” (Oct. 17). Judith Dushku and Peggie Hayes may think that Mitt Romney’s viewpoint of discouraging single moms is only the “wish of the Mormon Church,” but single motherhood is an idea made up from women who are actually going against what nature intended in allowing children to have a strong foundation in life.
I come from a broken home where my parents divorced. I have never lost the feelings of heartache, bitterness, pain, loss of self-esteem and abandonment that have stayed with me all my life.
Those single mothers who feel powerful and superior because they raised children on their own often cause their children to have quiet lives of suffering, anger, feelings of incompleteness and loss. There are reasons why people marry and then have children. It is to protect the emotional, physical and mental strength of their children. The family (mother and father included) gives the children this secure foundation to meet the challenges of life.
These women, Judith Dushku and Peggie Hayes, are clearly women who have a disdain for men. Men in a marriage play an important and integral part in forming a child’s solid foundation so they can cope with the harsh realities of life.
Michele P.
Santa Cruz
Extras Wipe Out
Congrats to the cast and crew portraying Jay’s (and Frosty’s) life in Chasing Mavericks. My non-surfer girlfriend really enjoyed the movie along with myself, of course. We were amazed at the footage of Mavericks going off and the quality of the performances by Jonny and Gerry and the rest of the cast. I had one issue with the final product, however. Please don’t take this the wrong way, I am not criticizing the movie. As we all remember last year during filming, pleas went out for local extras to be in various scenes such as at the boardwalk and the famous paddle out event. We spent a lot of time and effort to film the paddle out scene, for example, yet you only really get to see a brief helicopter shot of it as the movies closes. As I was involved as a background artist in the film I am somewhat disappointed that a lot of those who took time off of work and school were excluded in the editing room from being in the final production. Of course that’s the way it goes in the film industry, I suppose. But part of the fun of having a movie shot in a particular locale, besides the well known landmarks, is seeing just ordinary locals appear in the film even for a brief second.
LJ Olson
Soquel
