To the Editor:
This letter is in response to Mr. Sanford Sr.’s Letter to the Editor in last week’s paper. I appreciate your point of view, but let me offer mine. Let’s begin with the ‘large body of research that appears to show that sexual orientation is largely genetic.’ Each and every scientific study to prove there is a ‘gay gene’ has been deeply flawed and has not proved anything. I refer you to www.trueorigin.org/gaygene01.php , which lists each study and what their problems are. In the event you do not want to take that author’s word for it, here is another article written by someone who is either gay or is a supporter of the homosexual lifestyle. www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/20/the-problematic-hunt-for-a-gay.... You’ll notice in both articles that the major studies have been found to be greatly flawed, offering no proof whatsoever that a gay gene exists. In other words, people are not born that way.
Next let’s talk a bit about history. Historically, one of the reasons nations have fallen was a decline in ethics, morality and values. The values, ideals, customs, traditions and institutions of this once great country have been on the decline for years. Now I know you want to get up in arms because I have just insinuated that homosexuality is immoral and has caused a decline in the institution of marriage (as well as having gone against the tradition and ideals of the USA). From the beginning of this country, it was so. It’s only in recent years that it’s been on the course to becoming ‘normal,’ and thus moral. Now it’s imposing itself into our definition of marriage. In normalizing homosexuality, our society is decidedly turning away from the religion this country was built on (separation of church and state was meant to keep the state from dictating how the church [the people] was to worship). A turning from religion is another characteristic of the decline of many great nations in the past. These are only two factions of the decline in morality, ethics and values in the United States. (Since we are only talking about legalizing gay marriage, I will not delve into any other factions.)
As to your second paragraph regarding the ending of slavery and such, being “accompanied by deluges of hysterical rhetoric predicting the end of civilization as we know it,” it didn’t take our country long to figure out slavery was wrong and so it did what needed to be done - abolished it. The same is said of the Jim Crow laws, “separate but equal,” etc. However, unlike gay people, black people had no say over the color of their skin (unless you were someone like Michael Jackson). Our constitution guarantees that we are all equal: no black, no white, no yellow, no red in the sight of our government and our country. However, remember, that when the constitution was written, homosexuality was immoral and marriage was defined as by one woman and one man. And again, refer to the previous paragraph regarding factors that led to the decline of great nations in the past. What 5 of our Supreme Court Justices have done is re-define what our founding fathers stated and what their intentions were.
Now to your comment about someone wanting “to live in a society governed by strict adherence to religious law:” why would you choose a religion that does not honor human life in the first place? Regardless what ‘haters’ of Christianity might say, Christ is about love and loving each other. He suggested that if someone were to slap you on one cheek, turn the other cheek to him so he could slap that one as well. He promoted love and forgiveness. He told us that to be angry with someone was the same as murder, because it’s in your heart. Doesn’t sound like someone who would even insinuate you should kill another person because of their sin. Unlike in Iran, as you suggested, where their ‘bible’ tells them to kill all ‘infidels.’
However, would I want to live in a society governed by strict adherence to Christ’s laws? Yes. Yes I would. Does that mean everyone would be perfect, without sin? No. None of us will be made perfect until we see Jesus face to face. That means, in a society governed by Christ, we would all strive to love one another, forgive each other, build each other up, help our neighbors when they falter, support each other in our struggles and show compassion, knowing we are no better than they. We would each strive to not give in to our sinful nature, of which we all have. I know you think that Christians are not compassionate towards homosexuals; that we don’t love them. But let me ask you this: if you believed with all your heart and just KNEW hell was real, would you want anyone you love to spend forever in those flames? If we, who know hell to be a real place, approved of practices the Bible refers to as sin, we would essentially be condemning people to this place of eternal torment. It is because of our love for others that we do not want to see anyone suffering in the lake of fire for all eternity. Therefore, it is because of our love for our fellow man/woman that we cannot agree with this ruling.
I’ll leave you with an inspirational quote from Jesus, “If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” - John 12:47
Mikki Hall
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
Hope you all had a great 4th of July! What a wonderful thing it is to have so many freedoms.
Well you all know that the long awaited ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) health report has been presented and it is now time for any one who wishes to comment on it by August 31, 2015. The report is on line at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/pha/HCPHA.asp?State=CA. Or the City Clerk’s Office or Fillmore Library.
Not that you are asking for it, but here is my opinion on the report. The repost has a lot of information but what concern me are a few things. A majority of the report is based on information, data and documentation they received from Chevron. In the past Chevron has reported update information to me and others who attended meetings vague information, incorrect information and in some cases did not report things that were of great importance to others. So you can understand my distrust for what they say and how that makes me feel about the reports credibility.
Another thing that makes me wonder what they are thinking is that to my knowledge no one from the ATSDR interviewed/contacted neighbors, teachers or family’s with students at San Cayetano about how they are or were feeling during the clean up time. How can this accurately be deemed not a problem if no one ever talked with those living/working /learning directly next to the Chevron Pacific Coast Superfund Site. In the report it states that ATSDR conducted several outreach activities”. I would like to know when that happened since I and others never heard of these activities.
Through out the report words like “maybe”, “unlikely”, propably are used to describe the possibility of the contaminates becoming a problem to our community’s health. For me those words are not good enough. I would have to counter with it is “unlikely” that we are getting a straight or accurate report. I know for a fact that on at least one occasion I found a machine not properly working, so how does that occurrence fit into the report?
Lead samples were not taken from neighborhoods and the school’ because they were built during a time that lead based paints were used commonly on houses constructed before 1978.”Are you kidding me? I feel these are the places that should have been tested since we have our families and our kids in these locations and would have liked to have the peace of mind of knowing they are safe form the contaminates.
Right about now you maybe wondering if you have been exposed? Well on a few occasions yes you were exposed to higher than normal levels of some of the contaminates over there, but of course…it is highly “unlikely” you will have any long lasting affects if you are healthy.
I find the report interesting, sad, and some what a joke on us the city of Fillmore if we believe it, but some will. O.k., to each his own.
My last thought is no one should work on this site. If it is not clean enough for schools, hospitals or residential use then we should not allow any one over there. It is in the fault zone and it is recommended that people working in the buildings be located 100 ft away from the fault line. It is in the flood zone. How many more strikes do we need before we realize that this is NOT the best idea for Fillmore to get involved in. Guess we’ll see.
Thanks again for you time,
Kathy Pace