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1. If we want good schools, we have to pay for them

   By The Bakersfield Californian

   Sunday, May 20 2012 11:06 PM

   No, Inga Barks, you don't need to help your local school district unless you're interested in quality education for Bakersfield ("Do we really need this whopping school bond?," May 12). Barks chose the Panama-Buena Vista Union School District because of the good job the teachers were doing, but now they are asking about fixing up the buildings. Greedy, evil teachers!

   Never mind the glory days when Laura Ingalls was crunching numbers on her slate, or when Barks was sweating it out at Frank West. California shows what we value by what we are willing to pay for, like sports complexes in L.A. or perhaps a bullet train that promises to lose money. State parks like Fort Tejon will close and we send our kids to crumbling schools to show them how much we value education. After all, it's all about not raising taxes .

   I doubt that Barks used a 15-year-old computer to write her column, or failed to make needed repairs at home. Infrastructure matters and we always have to pay for what we think is important like the computers Barks and I use to share our opinions.

   She made my argument for me: "But really, is a few bucks a month for the sake of better schools, computers, bike paths and the recruitment of quality teachers such a bad thing?" The correct answer is not a multiple choice: No.

   We have to pay taxes for schools, parks and roads even if we want to pretend they are free.

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2. Two is a pattern

   Karen Goh isn't fooling me anymore. First it was signatures that were "mistakenly" gathered to help reduce her campaign costs for supervisor instead of for three-strikes law reform, as was represented.

3. She trusts Harrison

   I trust Monsignor Craig Harrison; I do not trust Karen Goh nor her minions. She has tainted this honorable man with her dishonorable tactics. I believe Monsignor Craig when he says he signed a document, trusting the person handing it to him, but instead he was deceived and signed a political endorsement supporting Goh.

4. Let's bust up the real union

   The one that has been the primary influence in local politics for decades.

5. Send McCarthy back to his deli

   The Californian recommends Kevin McCarthy, while at the same time telling us why we shouldn't vote for him ("Send Kevin McCarthy back to Congress," May 13).

6. No winners in death penalty

   After reading a recent letter writer's comments regarding Sister Helen Prejean and columnist Valerie Schultz ("Misguided compassion," May 17), I felt compelled to run to my Word program even before my second cup of coffee!

7. Everyone has to help bear load

   As the late, great Ronald Reagan would say, "Well, here we go again." Another round of budgets and deficits with all the crowing about cuts and where to make them, and to whom, and nary a peep about our legislative elite cutting their own lavish perks and benefits.

9. The deceptive tactics of Karen Goh's campaign

   Karen Goh is not the treasure she has been made out to be. She was given her position as a Kern County supervisor by a disgraced governor as a favor to political puppeteer Mark Abernathy.

10. President compromises his faith

    As a black pastor and former Kern High School District board member, I feel compelled to express my opinion on President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage.

11. Enough bike and pedestrian fatalities

    This year, we have had seven bicycle/pedestrian-vs.-auto fatalities and we are on the road to exceed last year's total of 12 deaths. Motorists need to understand they are not the only ones on the street and learn to not only look for other automobiles, but also for bicyclists and pedestrians. Law enforcement needs to begin ticketing and citing drivers as well as bicyclists and pedestrians for not obeying the laws.

12. Why bank's $2B 'gamble' is important

    Despite Jamie Dimon and the "free market" apologists, you should be concerned about what happened at JPMorgan Chase and the $2 billion "gamble" that went south.

13. When mental health aid was needed, the system failed

    My best friend had been suffering for quite some time from depression, mood swings and, most recently, thoughts of suicide. She tried several psychiatrists, which meant medications with side effects. She was hospitalized out of town, given several different medications over 12 days, then released in a worse state than before. She was very sensitive to the meds and they altered her behavior daily -- even her general practitioner was baffled. No one knew what to do.

14. A plea for Uri

    Our family pet has been missing since the evening of May 14. He is a beautiful gray pit bull named Uri. He has a tag with information on how to reach us and he is chipped. He has been gone long enough to make me think that possibly someone has found him and would like to keep him. I pray that this is the case and not that something bad has happened to him.