Opinion

by Sue Schenk, Claremont Garden Club Without being deliberately planted, “volunteers” appear in our gardens from seed released by plants we did intentionally introduce, blown in by the wind, spread in compost, buried by squirrels, sneaked in by neighbor’s vines that root along the ground, or dropped by one or the other ends of birds. […]

by Mike Boos With the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a national debate is raging over what to do. Is it possible we are truly ready to enact meaningful gun control laws and move beyond patronizing thoughts and prayers, and feigned references to mental health? The political odds are still stacked […]

A message for the public Dear Editor: 17 more victims. 17 more innocent children. 17 more incredible, future contributors to our crumbling nation. The list of the lives taken from a single gun, the AR-15, grows too rapidly. On February 14, 2018, yet another school shooting took place in Parkland, Florida, where a handful of […]

by Mellissa Martinez My friend Marilyn and I met at Chaparral Elementary School in the 1970s. Every day, we walked to school together, and on weekends, we hopped our backyard fences to meet in the strawberry field (now the 210 freeway). We spent summers skateboarding down Claremont streets, playing foursquare at the top of our […]

CHS students speak out [Editor’s note: The following letters were submitted for publication by two Claremont High School students. Newspapers are probably the last medium a teen would use to send a message, so I’d like to extend my gratitude to Matthew and Yi for taking the effort to leave Twitter and speak to us—the […]

Lesson plan Dear Editor: Substitute lesson plan for teacher Mrs. XYZ: Period 1, 2, 3: Spanish 1. Continue with chapter on food and cooking: verbs and nouns for restaurant ordering and custom of who pays when a group of school friends eat out together. Period 4: Prep period. Lunch. Period 5 and 6: Elective PE—volleyball […]

By Peter Weinberger It’s been a decade since the perfect financial storm hit, when a recession and changing readership habits started the avalanche of falling newspaper revenues. The net result caused companies to continually reduce personnel in an effort to sustain profit margins. Even though there are numerous opportunities in the digital world for reporting […]

by Amy Croushore Writing this is not going to make me very popular. But having three young people end their lives in recent weeks, including Emma Pangelinan—a talented 13-year-old softball player whose body was found in a Mission Viejo Park—I am going to say it. I don’t know the reasons that prompted Emma or Tyler […]

by Jennifer Stark Last week, the COURIER printed two letters to the editor and one viewpoint about a very important issue—the new police station bond measure that will be on the June 5 ballot. One of the letters criticized the funding mechanism and the other was focused on the imperative of passing the bond. The […]

A call for help Dear Editor: So what about this Pomona man, Allen Perez, who according to the COURIER Police Blotter is arrested time after time after time for public intoxication in our fair city? I keep thinking about the 19-year-old murderer in Florida who clearly needed help and the horrific acts he committed before […]

by Jim Keith As a member of the Police Facility Ad Hoc Committee, we questioned all expenditures for the new police station so that we could minimize the overall cost to Claremont. We overwhelmingly agreed that regardless of how it would be financed, we saw the urgent need and we would vote for the new […]

Water shutoff Dear Editor: Tuesday around 10 p.m., my husband heard a noise by the front door. Curious to see if it was caused by an animal, he opened the door and found a bottle of water and a note from Golden State Water Company stating that it was unsafe to drink the water if […]

by Debbie Carini The true crime journalist and author Edna Buchanan is said to have coined the phrase, “friends are the family you choose.” She also said: “If kidnapped, ask for fried chicken when your captors offer food. The FBI will find your fingerprints in the hideout, even if they never find you.” I raise […]

After extensive analysis and review, the Claremont City Council has placed a general obligation bond measure on the June 5, 2018 ballot to fund a new police facility. The new police station would replace the existing substandard station on Bonita Avenue. The proposed police facility is significantly smaller and less expensive than the concept presented […]

Water outage [Editor’s note:?The following letter was sent to Golden State Water Company and the Claremont City Council, with a copy forwarded to the COURIER for publication. —KD] Dear Editor: It is a temporary planned water outage if: 1)?One knows that before one gets out of bed in the morning and logs on to the […]

It wasn’t that long ago when Claremont, like other cities in Southern California, made drastic plans to cut water consumption because of a lengthy drought across the state. At that time we were dealing with water restrictions, brown parks and extreme fire danger from parched land in every direction. Now in 2018, with no winter […]