Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

No legislating our way
out of climate change

Re. “Tahoe becoming too warm to host Games,” Page A1, Jan. 29:

This article should have been in the comic section instead of the headline of the front page. This newpaper’s fear-mongering about things we have virtually no control over needs to stop. It seems intended only to prevent us from concentrating on the shortfalls of our current government at all levels.

Do we see fires, droughts, hurricanes and tornadoes? Yes, we do. 500 years ago we also saw those same events. Is the climate changing? You bet (we went into and out of the last Ice Age 15 millennia ago without help from humans). The fact that our world leaders, however, believe they can control future temperature changes by signing an accord, only speaks to the megalomania pulsing through their veins.

As human stewards, we should continue to innovate toward a cleaner planet. If we try to legislate our way, the Olympics will be only a distant memory by 2080.

Craig Bates
Hollister

Individual right to own
guns not guaranteed

Re. “S.J. gun law is ripe for defeat in court,” Letters to the Editor, Page A8, Jan. 28:

“A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The preceding sentence is the entire text of the Second Amendment and there is nothing in there about the right to own guns. It does reference the right to keep and bear arms, but a private citizen does not “bear arms”. Even the police or hunters who carry guns do not “bear arms.” In fact, the Second Amendment clearly defines who does have the right to bear arms and it specifies a well-regulated Militia.

The only Militia in the United States, well-regulated or otherwise, is the National Guard. “People” (We the People) does not reference the individual or the NRA. While I recognize that some people want to own guns, they need to understand that it is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

Jerry Gudeman
Santa Clara

New structure for
solar fees must be fair

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Gov. Gavin Newsom will soon decide on a new cost structure for residential rooftop solar systems. The current structure helped launch the household solar industry, taking pressure off the grid and reducing the use of fossil fuels. Now California’s big three utility companies want the CPUC to swing the cost structure pendulum to the opposite extreme.

Rooftop solar and battery customers ease the burden on the grid by generating and storing electricity where it’s needed. This saves the cost of transporting electricity hundreds or thousands of miles and reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfires that utility customers and shareholders must pay to extinguish.

I urge the CPUC to establish a fair cost structure that acknowledges the public benefits of rooftop solar, with its infrastructure funded and maintained by homeowners. Please don’t kill the household solar industry and penalize homeowners for “going green.”

David Noel
San Jose

Gilroy has chance
to tell diverse history

Re. “Despite protest, Gilroy erects California ‘mission bell,’” Jan. 28:

As a visitor to Gilroy, I would be interested to learn that the Amah Mutsun people have lived here for thousands of years, and still live here. That was news to me not so long ago. I can see they would like that history depicted more accurately in any new monuments and many of us would like to learn more.

The tribe has offered to help develop a more historically accurate monument, and I think they should be invited to do so. It’s important to learn all about the past and how it lives in us today. The Mutsun people live with us and deserve to see the full story told.

Colleen Cabot
San Jose

Breakfast gives
your day a boost

Everyone lives a busy life these days. We are constantly on the go, and our minds are going a million miles a minute the second we wake up. We think about how we will get the kids to school on time or that we have to jump on a Zoom meeting, and so many other thoughts.