Reader: To The Bakersfield Enquirer,
I  am writing in regard to the  article about still
more animal horrors on April 7. It seems there is
no end.
First it was large pictures of dogs being put to
sleep. I am curious how many of your reporters
are animal haters.
I guess you never thought that small children
read the paper and of course this would catch
their eye. Some would even awake at night cry-
ing because of the nightmares about their own
animals. 
I say pass the needed law for required spaying
and neutering. Get this out of the children’s sight
and out of the paper. We have all kinds of fraud
and different illegal things happening here but
where are their pictures on the front page? That
is also news.
I hope sometime in the future you can adopt
some type of compassion.
—Patricia A. Bailey

Jenner:You’re right, we all hate animals here.
That’s why we go to such lengths to show the
public what REAL nightmares are occurring dai-
ly for animals at the Kern County Animal Control
Shelter, which is overrun by unwanted strays
that irresponsible people have failed to properly
care for.
Is it upsetting to children? Yes.
We foolishly thought it also would be upsetting
to adults — adults such as yourself who should
understand that by highlighting this problem, the
paper is attempting to motivate people to actual-
ly do something about it, rather than hide their
heads in the sand and ignore it.
For the record, we’ve put plenty of criminals
and fraudsters on our front page as well.
Our job is to inform the public about the real
world in which they live.
We’ll continue to do our best to do just that.

Reader: The Bakersfield Californian’s photos
and coverage of our county’s large number of
pets being euthanized has left a tremendously
sad impact on me, but I applaud your newspaper
for reporting on this desperate situation. 
Since your photos and articles carry such
weight, why not run daily or weekly “Pets in the
Spotlight” photos with adoption information
about dogs and cats at the shelters (as you once
published)?
There remains the goliath task of preventing
the overpopulation in the first place, but all adop-
tions save lives.
Hopefully, readers will see the photos of these
precious animals and adopt them, rather than
only seeing the sad newspaper pictures of ones
who have already said goodbye.
— Patti Heiser

Jenner:Thanks for the great suggestion, Patti.
Our ever-popular Pet of the Week feature will
return to The Californianon April 21, and will
continue every Monday in the Eye Street section.
Reader: I started to read with interest your
April 1 story by Jason Kotowski about “Thieves
Steal War Mementos from WWII Veteran” until I
noticed his name was changed under the second
photograph from Vilas Walhood to Vilas Vengas?
Under the third photograph: Vilas Walhood
when he was a young first Lieutenant with the
70th Infantry Division.
Reading the text of the story was painful.
There were unnecessary words or misstatements
(e.g., “A couple of things the thieves didn’t take
when they robbed Vilas Walhood’s home was his
Silver Star and Purple Heart medals.” The sen-
tence doesn’t even make sense.
What kind of editing/proofreading do your
reporters/editors do on your newspaper? This is
shoddy work. Shame in a story with some real
human interest and to honor a man who had giv-
en service to his country. Who bears the blame?
— Joanne Gartenmann

70th Infantry Division Assn.
Falls Church, VA
Jenner: The complaint you make regarding the
photo caption appeared in an online version of a
story, which was subsequently fixed. The error
never appeared in our print edition.
If you had read our print edition, you would
have found the story and photo front and center
on Page One.
I thought our presentation paid tribute to Mr.
Walhood’s sacrifice in a respectful way. And by
getting the word out about his loss, we might
actually help him get some of his collection back.
We work hard to produce an error-free prod-
uct. Our work is done by humans, not robots.
Now and then we make mistakes. When we do,
we correct them and work to avoid them in the
future. If we weren’t trying to serve audiences in
multiple platforms, we might have more time
and manpower to carefully proof every caption
with a fine-tooth comb.
But then, you would never have seen this story.
Reader:I am writing not about what you wrote
in your paper but what you are not writing.
Columnists Lois Henryand Marylee Shrider
both touched on the subject but didn’t tell it all.
I called Ms. Shrider and talked to her about
smart meters. She agreed with my thoughts and
told me they didn’t let PG&E change her meter
either.
Ms. Henry she stated that (TERN), whoever
they are, hasn’t had many complaints about the
smart meters — and that’s the problem.
We need your help and all the media to get peo-
ple involved. Everyone I talk to didn’t like the
smart meter program but they do nothing about
it. I don’t even know if they can interpret their
utility bill. They don’t like the high cost of the
energy, but they pay their bills and do nothing.
What has to happen is the people in Kern
County have to write the governor, state sena-
tors, and the state Assembly and let them know
just how you feel.  This gross invasion of privacy
has to stop. These government agencies won’t be
happy till they have complete control of our lives.
They even wanted to control our thermostats in
our houses.
We need to get rid of the rationing of the
amount of energy we use or pay a higher rate.
This is the PUC’s idea and I don’t think that is
their job. I thought their job was to protect us
from the utilities over charging us, but they
aren’t doing that, with them (utilizes) being
monopoly we need the PUC to protect us. Will
you help us get people involved?
—James Commisso

Jenner: Unlike our news reporters, our colum-
nists have a mission to express their opinions.
They’re welcome to urge readers to action.
And as a public service, we do run contact
numbers for companies and for government offi-
cials.
Beyond that, it’s up to the public to choose one
side, or no side at all, and to act or do nothing.
Reader: Your newspaper still has pretty good
circulation and you have the opportunity to reach
many people. You could be part of the solution by
exposing many of the fallacies in what is being
proposed today by the liberals.
If you look at the facts, this business about bio-
fuel being our future is nuts. As you should know,
it costs much too much to produce it. Also, this
hoax of global warming and the nutty idea of fluo-
rescent lighting being the way to go!
But as with so much of the media, they are
pushing these crazy ideas, trying to make the
American public feel guilty about our way of  life.
Surely you must realize these nutty ideas are
going to cost the taxpayer millions of dollars if
they are enacted.
Hillary’s medical program has so many falla-
cies, it is pathetic (as she is!) Obama is all words
and full of liberalism. McCain has a few good
points but also is much too liberal.
Our enemies are hoping that Obama or Hillary
get elected, as they will then have some close ties
to the White House!
Are you folks so busy doing nothing that you
can’t see what is going on in front of your eyes?
Or perhaps you all are liberal to the core!!
I don’t suppose I’ll ever get a true and honest
response! Could I be mistaken about you??
—Lynn Anderson

Jenner: Since scientists can’t agree about polit-
ically charged issues such as global warming, I
doubt we’ll be the ones to resolve it to everyone’s
satisfaction.
We’ve published wire stories about the high
costs of producing ethanol and what demand for
grain is doing to commodity prices.
We’ve written local stories on alternative ener-
gy as well; we ran a story on last Sunday’s front
page about how builders were experimenting
with selling solar-powered homes, but the high
price turned off many would-be buyers.
I do believe that energy awareness is a pocket-
book issue as well as an environmental issue. It
also seems to me that while “conservation”
shares the same root word as  “conservative,” it’s
neither a red or a blue issue, but a red-white-and-
blue issue.
As for the presidential race, we’ll do our best to
report the news of significance from the cam-
paign. We’ll run stories vetting the claims of can-
didates as best we can, but prepare yourself:
Election Day is  seven months away and you ain’t
seen nothing yet.

Reader: Breaking news: In her weekly column
— citing no proof other than her gullibility —
Californian Editorial Page Editor Dianne
Hardisty unequivocally declares “[e]lectricity
generation plants produce greenhouse gases that
cause climate change.”
So she turned off all her lights for one hour on
Saturday night in an infinitesimally insignificant
(and ignorant) display of affinity with the Al Gore
“climate-change” zealots.
That’s the elite mob willing to force compli-
ance on the rest of us — sitting and sweating in
the dark.
There you have it, folks! Even at this stagnant
backwater of the mainstream media, the anoint-
ed ... the benighted ... the “journalists” endlessly
push this demonstrably false tripe. How can you
believe one thing they write? Fact is, you can’t!
—Hank Londean

Dianne Hardisty responds: I’m sorry Hank
Londean missed the point of my recent column.
Rather than promoting Earth Hour, I made light
of it to make the point that whether or not you
believe in the global warming threat, there are
things we should be able to agree on — that we
should work to reduce pollution and that we
should conserve energy. Londean, who retired
after a career as the head of corporate public
relations for the former Getty Oil Co., seems to
disagree.