Letters to the editor

Editor,

Help me. I was driving down El Camino Real two months ago, bypassing downtown San Mateo, when I looked east toward the Benjamin Franklin and saw something that broke my heart: Gang graffiti. To make a short story even shorter, I snapped. As a native son of San Mateo, I could not believe that this activity has finally hit my hometown. Boy, was that a wake-up call.

Then, the other day, I saw that these criminal "taggers” have hit the Central Park bleachers. I cannot stand silent while this vile pollution is being done to the city I have called home for 45 years.

Please let me know what concerned citizens like myself can do to combat these criminals from defacing our beautiful city.

Chris Conway

San Mateo

His dream

Editor,

He had a dream and oh, what a dream it was. A dream of equality, a dream of unity, a dream of solidarity. What a fight, what a battle, as the brothers and sisters lifted their arms, hands raised and clasped together to show their strength and unity and oneness. What a fight, as we marched and protested and sang our songs of triumph and spoke our words of courage. What a fight, as we lifted high the banner of equality — equal rights for all men and women, regardless of color. What a fight, as we suffered humiliation and setbacks, degradation and injustice.

But I ask you, has that dream been realized? Has that dream come true in your life? Has that dream been fulfilled? Or have our ideals and our aspirations fallen by the wayside? Where is the unity, the brotherhood, the oneness of heart and spirit? Where is the fighting spirit and the willingness to sacrifice and work hard, to lift up your brothers and sisters and make for them a better life? Look around you and see if his dream and your dream, our dream, has become a reality.

He now knows that this equality, this oneness of the races, this love between the brethren, this better world, this dream that we all sought so desperately, cannot be found only through the path. That this dream can only become a reality through love, the supernatural Love of God. This is what brings unity. This is what brings equality. This is what brings mutual respect. This is what makes a man willing to look past the color of the skin and see the heart and spirit, to see each man, woman and child as a creation of God.

Ted Rudow

Menlo Park

Retirement at 40?

Editor,

I am not sure Hans Slade is correct on item five of his letter about government retirement benefits ("Political questions,” Daily Journal, Jan. 15). He asks: "Will government employee lifetime retirement benefits always start after 20 years (when they are in their early 40s)?

Keep in mind, it was ex-governor and now Attorney General Jerry Brown that made state service a union shop and our inept politicians succumbed to the powerful unions that created this disparity in the workplace! Our local politicians also followed his lead!

California state employees can retire early and begin receiving lifetime benefits, you have to work five years to be invested in our state system and those benefits are usually not expended until age 50 for safety employees or 55 for other employees. (There may be some parity in other government retirement systems).

The amount of remuneration is dependent upon years of services, For non-safety employees that is a 2 percent credit for every year worked up to 30 years or a maximum 60 percent of your salary at the highest rate of pay, e.g., if you earn $100,000, that equates to $60,000 in taxable income; however, few rank-and-file employees in California earn that amount. In addition, most employees also pay into Social Security.

For safety employees, remuneration is generous, 3 percent credit for every year worked up to 30 years or a maximum of 90 percent of your salary at highest rate of pay, e.g., if you earn pay of $100,000, that equates to $90,000 in taxable income and they do not pay into Social Security. Rank-and-file in the Bay Area with maximum remuneration are approaching $100,000, but this may not be true of smaller counties.

To receive social security benefits everyone has to have 40 quarters or 10 years of work experience to qualify and few workers have that banked. However, the Windfall Elimination Provisions may reduce social security benefits to state employees once they reach the age to qualify for such benefits. You might only receive 30 percent of said benefits, if you have 40 quarters of work experience.

Lastly, most state employees do not spend 30 years in their career and therefore, do not receive maximum benefits!

Jack Kirkpatrick

Redwood City

Money well spent?

Editor,

I am astounded to learn about the tons of explosives and weapons that have been hidden in mosques and schools in Gaza by Hamas. I thought all the money we, Americans, gave to Palestinians was to be spent for the development of factories and such. And, come to think of it, if Palestinians had spent our money on roads instead of rockets, perhaps Israeli and Palestinian children could be studying their lessons in schools, not bomb shelters.

Scott Abramson

San Mateo

A test of teen principles

Editor,

The Saturday, Jan. 17 column, "High School is a true test of a teen’s principles,” by Alex Ewald and Grace Delia is one of the most honest and insightful pieces of writing to appear in the Daily Journal in some time.

In describing the challenges of all the interpersonal relationships confronting young adults in school and how an encouraging number of anonymous, selfless individuals choose to deal with them, the authors write with clarity, passion, and real life experience.

This column is absolutely a gem; one hopes that in recent days it has received wide circulation among both young and old alike.

Congratulations to the young writers for recognizing the unsung heroes among them and to those special, self-effacing young men and women they write about who perform little acts of heroism each and every day and truly understand what it means to live with grace, strength and love.

Michael Traynor

Burlingame