Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to letters@ocweekly.com, or mail to Letters to the Editor, c/o OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.

RICHIE BITCH
David Silva's Sept. 7 article, "Desperate Homeowners," about Coto de Caza residents battling it out over membership, fees and such, prompted this response.

This reminds me of the Phil Hendrie radio-show guest "Bobbie Dooley." They live in the fictional "Western Estates" and always complain about people who aren't in their little group. It's quite funny that in reality, people are much worse.
Ellada
via e-mail

POETIC . . .
The following letter is in response to the March 2, 2006, edition of Gustavo Arellano's ¡Ask a Mexican!® that answers the question "Why do Mexican males dislikegabachos but will trade their mother, sister, wife and dog for agabacha? I can't say I blameustedes! Fair skin, blond hair and blue eyes beat the shit out of Mexicanputas any day."

Hey pinches, so-called gringos. Don't judge a book by its cover because a bullet sounds the same in every language. You know that we have people who can track you down. You pinches gringas that smell like tobacco in every single motherfucking way pendejos in all the corners of the street. Don't be hating our Latinas because you can't get like them, all pretty and beautiful. And you white PERROS HIJOS DE PUTA.

Roses are red, gringos are DEAD, violets are blue, negros are kool, but in this motherfucking world, MEXICANS RULE.
Miguel
via e-mail

TO HIRE OR NOT TO HIRE?
The following letter is in response to Charles Drengberg's letter titled "WE NEED ANY MORE INTERNS?" in the Aug. 31 Letters section, asking us to hire him because we "don't have the balls to include a conservative writer's point of view"

I think you should hire Charles Drengberg from Huntington Beach on a trial basis, and let's see what he has to say. If enough readers like him, he can stay. This way, you guys don't take the fall for the fact that we don't read the OC Weekly for just politics.
Jamie
via e-mail

SURFS UP!
Thanks for the glowing review [Luke Y. Thompson's SoCal Independent Film Festival review, "Surf City Celluloid," Aug. 31]. It's nice to see someone appreciates a good old-fashioned handjob.
Seth
via e-mail

CRITICAL
Great piece of criticism [Luke Y. Thompson's web exclusive, "Why Torture Porn Isn't: Notes on the contemporary horror movie," Sept. 7]! Did Manohla Dargis decide to quit The New York Times and return to Southern California?
John
Irvine

PUBLICIZING THE FREDSTER
Fred and Mary Willard came to Stages Theater yesterday afternoon to see my one-woman play, Barbie & Me. Joel Beers' article ["Fred Effing Willard!" Sept. 7] was taped in the theater window on display. They got the biggest kick out of it and were thrilled to be able to tell the MoHos about the great publicity for their show.

I can't thank you enough for helping to promote this event!
Cheryl Morenc
via e-mail

PATIENTS
I found your article on the attempted union organizing at St. Joseph's [Daffodil Altan's "A Union-Busting Habit," Aug. 17] interesting, but there was nothing in it as to why the employees want it. Are the employees being overworked or underpaid? Are patients being harmed?
Mark
via e-mail  Daffodil J. Altan responds: Thank you for writing, Mark. Here are a few of the reasons employees from the St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) gave me for why they want to unionize:

"One of our biggest reasons [for wanting to unionize] is to have a voice in staffing," says Priscilla Yaeger, financial counselor for Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (part of St. Joseph network). "We love our jobs at Memorial, and we love working for the people of this community. But we are overworked. We are physically and emotionally stressed. Staffing is a major issue for the millions of dollars this organization makes. When St. Joseph's cuts costs, they cut jobs. We are the hospital, we are the frontline workers, and we want a voice in some of these decisions. . . . It's a matter of security."

Mary Oberschlake, a registered nurse in the intensive-care unit at St. Joseph Hospital, says, "Different people had different issues and concerns. For some, there were concerns about wages; for others, concerns about retirement benefits. For me, it was concerns about patient/nurse ratios. . . . So if I'm one person or two people coming in, bringing up issues about retirement, health care, a defined benefit plan—that conversation doesn't go anywhere because I'm just one person. I'm not the only that's brought it up, but it's still isolated individuals bringing it up. I can't go in and say I represent all the nurses. Yes, they have an open-door policy. I can go in and talk about something, but what credibility do I have as one person? I'm just one person. Who elected me to go in there and say these are real issues for all of us? If we had a professional association, the people who would go to talk to management would be elected to speak on those issues and would have that credibility."