Opinion
Back in my day, the SAT was known for its puzzling questions and demand of unconventional vocabulary. I can remember my friends strolling the halls with homemade flashcards cramming words (that they might never use again) into their brains. ‘Capacious,’ ‘querulous’ and ‘sagacity’ come to mind. That outdated version of the test also introduced a […]
Not many people go on to become professional scientists, but most of us start out with a pretty active interest in why the world is the way it is. We look at the stars at night and wonder; we look at holes in the ground and wonder; we look at the life in our gardens […]
Bullying at CHS Dear Editor: As reported in the October 13 COURIER, Claremont High School is falling short of academic proficiency goals. In the same article, a school board member was quoted as being “delighted” with the decrease in reported cases of bullying. According to the article, “Just 18.4 percent of students reported being bullied […]
Water, traffic problems and sad goodbye For some time, I’ve knocked around the idea of launching a regular column as a way to give background to stories or insight as a resident who closely follows city governance. The format won’t be a traditional column on a single issue, but instead will ponder a few different […]
by Jim Belna On October 10, three years after the city council voted unanimously to take over our local water system from Golden State Water, the same five council members voted to accept a generous proposal by Golden State to put an end to the failed attempt. We can now definitively quantify the cost of […]
by Sue Keith, Citrus Community College District Board of Trustees California may soon find itself in the middle of a workforce crisis. According to the California Community College Task Force on Workforce, Job Creation and a Strong Economy, the state will have an estimated 1.9 million job openings requiring some form of postsecondary education by […]
by Debbie Carini Did you blink? Because if you did, you may have missed the chance to buy your Halloween decorations. We’re halfway into October and it’s easier to find a candy cane than a bag of candy corn. I always feel it’s a good thing that the “holidays” (as my family designates the period […]
Investigate water Dear Editor: The city council comments at Tuesday night’s meeting, defending its actions over the past several years in an attempt to take over the water system from Golden State Water Company, appeared to me both arrogant and shameful. The proposal from the audience for a blue ribbon committee to investigate what was […]
by Ludd A. Trozpek Attending last week’s meeting of Claremont’s Traffic and Transportation Commission, where the Gold Line and Metrolink dominated the agenda, it seemed like just another sorry chapter of irrelevance, reaction and submissiveness that has marked the city’s responses at every turn over the past two years. Recall that these matters boiled […]
by John Forney, President, Democratic Club of Claremont George Orwell, a keen observer of his corrupt and dissolute age, wrote, “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” Friends, these are corrupt times. I, like you, have never seen our society in such a sorry state when lies have become the […]
Our practice of conflict Dear Editor: Kris Meyer’s entire argument (COURIER, September 29) rests on a view that is undoubtedly correct: there is a “hierarchy” of governments and the laws of a higher entity “supersede” those of a lower level. But he implicitly adds to that view another very mistaken idea: that the lower governmental […]
A nation of laws? Dear Editor: The United States is a country of law and order; or at least we used to be. Federal law supersedes state law, state supersedes county law and county law supersedes local law. That is the way it’s supposed to work. It seems now that states have been openly defying […]
Anybody who knows me can vouch for the fact that I am not one to tell animal stories, dress dogs, cook pet food or, god forbid, push four-legged friends around in strollers. In fact, I have always found it downright annoying when people go on and on about their pets. This is why it is […]
What to do? Dear Editor: As bewildered as I was with Leslie Watkins’s letter last week, suggesting we left wingers want a “1984 Utopia,” etc., I was in agreement with Merrill Ring’s sardonic suggestion and with Elizabeth Tulac’s very thoughtful piece. But, I do have one complaint. Ms. Tulac besmirched Charlie’s (our Schnauzer’s) character. Charlie, […]
by Ivan Light Donald Trump is very wealthy. But wealth does not make him a successful business owner. In fact, Donald Trump’s record of wealth creation is mediocre. At age 21, he received a gift of $1.1 million from his father. If we calculate compound interest on $1.1 million over 50 years (1966 to 2016) […]
Erasing history Dear Editor: The claim is being made that removal of statues commemorating leaders of the Confederacy is an attempt to erase history or to forget something of our past. Those statues were erected during a time when the aim in the south was to keep freed slaves and their descendants in their place. […]