Letters, April 27, 2007


Editor,

We participated in the Christmas shopping spree last December by taking two young ladies from Santa Julia Orphanage out to the store(s) of their choice so that they could buy Christmas presents for themselves with previously donated money. This was an eye-opener for us and we had a very nice day, ending with a lunch together—our buy. We looked forward to the next such event, sponsored by Susan Sargeant at La Conexión, where we have our US mailbox.

A few of weeks ago, Susan told us there would be another shopping spree for the kids from all three orphanages due to a surplus in donations from Christmas! This time, the eventful day will be on Monday, April 30, which is “kids’ day” here in Mexico.

So, we are going to go shopping again, hopefully with the same two girls as last time, though that’s not a given.

We would like to thank all the people who have donated time and money to this event. Without them, neither of these shopping sprees would have been possible—and all of us would have missed out.

I would also like to encourage new folks to join in this fun and heart-warming opportunity to make new friends and to fill a need. These boys and girls need adults to drive and chaperone them, making sure that some essentials are bought, and not just toys and candy. Being bilingual is great but not a necessity. We found that our girls met us halfway in that regard.

Last Christmas, some adult volunteers simply didn’t show up and many kids got left behind. We would have taken more but we ran out of seatbelts. Mind you, you don’t need a car. You can partner with another adult who does, you can use a taxi, and I suppose you could walk, though I think a vehicle would be better for schlepping the goods.

Please participate and take a kid shopping. These girls and boys need a helping adult hand. It’s just a few hours and it flies! As someone said, “suit up and show up.” You’ll be glad you did.

For any adult willing to help, please contact Susan Sargeant at La Conexión, Aldama 3, 152-1599.

Kelly Gordon & John Normart





Editor,

I am writing this letter to warn the community about a popular valet parking service. 

Five weeks ago, I drove up to their kiosk and gave them the keys to my car. (Moments before, I had hidden my iPod up underneath my seat.) When I picked up my car three hours later, the iPod was gone.

I reported this theft to the night man, who told me to speak with the owner in the morning. When I showed up the next day, the owner greeted me and told me he had heard what happened. He seemed genuinely concerned and asked me to write down the details, including the value of the unit (US$350). He said he would not stand for stealing in his operation, that he was insured and would take care of me. He told me he was going to have a meeting with the police and all of his employees the next day, and asked me to call him in two days.

That’s the last time I have been able to speak with the owner of the lot. Whenever I drop by he is never there. I have left him several phone messages but my calls go unreturned. I finally wrote him a letter, asking him to at least offer a reward and volunteering to pay half of it should my iPod be returned, but I got no response. 

Recently, one of his employees called my house to tell me that the owner said there is a disclaimer on the parking ticket which states that they aren’t responsible for lost or stolen articles, so they weren’t going to do anything about my iPod. He offered to give me a list of employee names if I wanted to go to the police, who had apparently never been called in as I was told.

When I told a friend about the incident, he told me that he had been ripped off twice in the same lot—(M)once a small piece of music equipment was taken out of his trunk, and once his radio was removed from his dashboard, left hanging by some wires. (Obviously the thief had run out of time.)

I know I am at least partially at fault for leaving my iPod in the car, albeit hidden from view. However, the bigger issue is that if we can’t trust a parking service to simply drive our cars a few hundred feet without rummaging under our seats or in our trunks for something to steal, then it’s a service we can live without. I am as lazy as the next guy, but I’ve been doing fine parking a little further away. I strongly suggest that you avoid valet parking until they clean house.

Name withheld upon request




Editor,

We visit San Miguel several times a year and look forward to buying and reading Atencíon. When at home in Texas, we enjoy reading the paper online. We always are interested in current happenings in San Miguel and especially enjoy the column written by Charles Miller. It is very helpful as well as interesting and well written. Thank you for a good paper.

Janie Cuculic





Editor,

I read with interest the column “The Dangerous Precedent of Don Imus” by Jim Karger. I can’t say I agree with him. Maybe it’s that I have an ironic sense of humor and I enjoy seeing someone hoisted on his own petard. For example, when Bill Maher, who’s comedy I love, was fired from his show, Politically Incorrect, for saying something …well, politically incorrect, I thought it was funny. So did he. I’ve heard him make the joke that he was the only person fired for 9/11.

In Mr. Karger’s turtle analogy, Imus wasn’t fired for not being fast, he was fired for being too slow. Imus made a career out of being outrageous but when he became too outrageous and listeners complained to his sponsors, he had to go. As for the fact that MSNBC and CBS are “financial whores,” who would “fire their own mothers if they thought it meant a buck,” well, that certainly comes as a revelation to me. I’d always thought of them as altruistic, fearless crusaders for free speech.

But Mr. Karger and I are singing off the same page in the hymn book in our disappointment in the general public if, as I suspect, he means the 49 million voters who elected George Bush in 2004. These are folks that haven’t yet got mad about being lied to, about having their civil rights taken away, and about having their country go from the most admired country in the world to the most hated. They didn’t get mad while Halliburton made our oil policy, Archer, Daniels, Midland made our food policy, and Enron (remember them) made our energy policy. They mourned the victims in Virginia but I didn’t hear a single prayer for the 180 killed the same day in Baghdad. That they got mad about Imus’s comment when I’ve heard much, much worse is not surprising to me. These are the same good folk who got the aforementioned Bill Maher fired, and the Dixie Chicks banned from country music stations. That Imus hated the Dixie Chicks and had to grit his teeth every time he was forced to play their music, I found particularly sat
isfying. These folks know how to pick their battles. The income tax, global warming, and the baby seals...that’s way too much to hassle with, but Maher, Imus, and Chicks, you better watch your butts.

Let me say this. I don’t like the character Imus plays (and it is a character. A grown man who’s lived most of his life in the NYC area, going around in cowboy drag, while broadcasting from a studio in New Jersey. He’s not quite as authentic as Larry the Cable Guy from Nebraska.) but I found him amusing and I used to listen to him most mornings. Nothing he said offended me and I would tune him in again. If the worse thing that happened this month was Imus’s freedom to call a woman’s basketball team a bunch of “nappy headed hos” was violated, I think the Republic will survive.

What was restricted was not his freedom of speech. No one questioned his right to say what he said. This ain’t the Lenny Bruce case, where the government wanted to put the comedian in jail for saying a bad word on stage. What was restricted was his right to get paid millions of dollars to say it on TV to millions of people.

In spite of Mr. Karger’s hyperbole, no one called for Imus’s head, or the death penalty. They just wanted him fired. Therein lies the final irony. No one who has as many loyal listeners as Imus will be out of work for long. He’ll go to satellite radio, like Howard Stern, or HBO, like Bill Maher, and be back on the air and back on top before you know it.

Art Bone