Ugly Comes And Goes

I really enjoyed Ollie’s article about the trailer park (“The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water,” Cover Story, September 15). I’ve lived in San Diego my whole life. I’m 56, and I’ve watched that thing come and go, and the story was just very humorous and very informative. Good job, Ollie. Way to go.

Dave Dinsmore
via voice mail

Yay, Seniors!

Let’s hear it for the seniors who put up with the gestapo tactics all these years and are still at Mission Bay (“The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water,” Cover Story, September 15). If the City had its way, there would be parking meters up and down the beach and redevelopment projects adorning the entire length of San Diego County. What’s scary is these people from the City represent us, the citizens. Excellent story!

Steve Kelly
Allied Gardens

Rebecca In My Crystal Ball

Re “The True Heart of Rebecca Zahau” (“City Lights,” September 15).

With my intuition and psychic knowledge, here is what I am fairly sure happened. Ex-wife! Dina, the second ex-wife, disliked Rebecca and was upset at Rebecca for even being around the kids. Still bitter over things with Jonah Shacknai when Max took that terrible fall and was in a coma, she blamed Rebecca for it. Dina thought if that horrible woman were not even around to begin with, Max would not have been hurt. The child passed away.

Dina then contacted two professionals who are connected to mafia-type goings-on. The two pros drove to the mansion knowing Rebecca was alone. They murdered her in the fashion we have all read about, and being the pros that they are, were able to cover up all traces of their being at the scene and doing the hit Dina requested.

The sheriff’s office and all law enforcement involved should be ashamed of themselves for being so quick with their conclusion of no foul play in Rebecca’s death. The sheriff should not get reelected for this; however, it could be that he doesn’t care one way or the other, for he has received enough under-the-table money to retire many times over! Nonetheless, I am fairly sure this is how it went down in Rebecca’s death. What the law wants to do from here on is on their own conscience. Each and every one of them.

Name Withheld
via email

How Could You?!

ARE YOU F SERIOUS? First of all, this article should NEVER have been printed (“Is Suicide Painless?” “SD on the QT,” September 15). I speak from experience. I lost my little brother last year from suicide. His best friend and I found him. His girlfriend was on the phone with him when it happened. How do I know this? She is in my support group. This type of article does a disservice to those of us who have had to endure the pain and wreckage that is left behind. Their decision to end their life is not an easy one. Perhaps if you read a few books you would know. Go to the afsp.org website for statistics. This is complete bullshit. YOU IDIOTS make it that much easier for someone who may be wrestling with this issue by telling them to “go ahead and do it” instead of seeking help from valuable organizations that are out there to help. I have to say that after this, I WILL NEVER read this piece-of-crap paper again. Before putting things into print, you really should think a little on how this might affect some in the community.

Nancy
via email

“SD on the QT” is the Reader’s “almost factual news” feature. — Editor

Bad Reader. Bad, Bad Reader.

While we understand the author of the article “Is Suicide Painless? Not Necessarily, Warns County Health Department” (“SD on the QT,” September 15) often writes in a satirical nature, this piece is highly insensitive and potentially dangerous.

Tragically, every minute of every day, someone attempts to take their own life, and every 15 minutes someone dies by suicide. From 1998 to 2009, suicide took the lives of 3991 San Diegans. Despite these alarming statistics, suicide continues to be stigmatized, and media portrayals that make light of suicide contribute to that stigma and misinformation.

We know from more than five decades of research that certain types of media reports about suicide can inadvertently be harmful to vulnerable individuals, especially youth, leading to what behavioral scientists call suicide contagion, or copycat suicide. To learn how media coverage of suicide can influence behavior negatively by contributing to contagion or positively by encouraging help-seeking, please visit afsp.org/media.

We urge the Reader to release a sincere apology to its readers and remove this article from its website to reduce further risk and harm.

We also encourage the Reader to join us on October 15 at the 2011 San Diego County Out of the Darkness Community Walk (outofthedarkness.org) to understand the enormous toll suicide has on surviving families, friends, classmates, coworkers, and communities.

As a community, we must work together to learn more about suicide and ways to prevent it. Together we can save lives.

Jessica van der Stad
Area Director
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – San Diego Chapter

Decency? No. Respect? No.

What happened to manners (“Is Suicide Painless?” “SD on the QT,” September 15)? Politeness? Class? I get that the column is supposed to be a satire, but it’s just not humorous. It lacks any decency or respect for those that have been affected by suicide. There are topics that, no matter how talented you are as a writer, will never be funny. Suicide, September 11th, the Holocaust, cancer, war, murder, child abuse, to name a few. I can come up with more if needed, in order to hit one that Walter has been affected by and to which he would be sensitive. See, there’s always something in one’s life that is so profound, you, too, will not think it’s funny. And it’s because we all have that Achilles’ heel and can be made vulnerable that we should try and respect others. Which, ironically, is my definition of manners.

As someone that volunteers my already-limited time to suicide prevention, I’m offended. It’s a tough reminder that there isn’t enough time (or effort) in the day for all the work that needs to be done in this area.

Glen Wellbrock
via email

What The H...?

Spelling correction: Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park is spelled Mingei, not Minghei (“Home Is Where the Art Is,” Art, August 18).

The collection from Corrine Riley of African American quilts has nothing to do with the quilts from Gee’s Bend. The Gee’s Bend quilts have their own look and are not a part of the Corrine Riley collection. The author is uninformed.

Name Withheld
via email

W.S. Di Piero replies: The author confesses to being an iffy speller. “Mingei” is, of course, correct. The author is not uninformed, since he wrote: “Hers [Corrine Riley’s] is a ‘beyond Gee’s Bend’ collection.”

Road To Nowhere

I just came across something that you guys posted in your August 18 Reader about Hot Springs Mountain (“Roam-O-Rama”), and I was just kind of curious as to whether or not you had even called the number that you posted at the end of the article. Three years ago I found out the hard way driving out that way that that reservation is closed off to nontribal members, so I don’t know if you’re sending people on a wild goose chase with these things or not. It might be a good idea if you guys checked into these things before you posted them. As far as I know, you can’t get on that reservation anymore.

Name Withheld
via voice mail

According to Los Coyotes Band of Mission Indians, whose phone number was listed in the article, the road up Hot Springs Mountain, called Lookout Road, is open to nontribal members. — Editor

Red-Faced On Facebook

I saw a link on a friend’s page to a photo illustration of a set of freeway signs, and in accordance with good internet etiquette, I attempted to find a credit for its creator. Several steps led me back to the Reader.

I so enjoyed the Reader’s Facebook content — both because I’m an ex–San Diegan and because it’s filled with fun — that I browsed through a good whack of the Reader’s Facebook content. I was disturbed to find a lack of creator credit for the majority of entries and a tendency to present “historic” quotes without researching their provenance or credibility. Neither is difficult to research.

If this occurs in print, it’s considered shamefully horrible journalism; why is it anything better if it’s perpetrated on Facebook — particularly when the account represents the public internet face of a print media institution? Why does the Reader allow its reputation to be so publicly besmirched and presumably by its own employees?

I suggest applying the same standards to all of your online content as you would to your print edition — that is, if you care about your future identity as journalists.

Gregory Hayes
via email

Talk With Us — We Know

I always like to read “Sheep and Goats.” I’m a Jehovah’s Witness, and anytime when I read the column it’s always the same question that you ask the church leaders: “Where do you go when you die?” And everybody has a different story. Some say you’re going to hell or you’re going to heaven. Some say, “I’m don’t know, I’m not quite sure” or there is a life after death. And it’s kind of very funny, because we as Jehovah’s Witnesses go door-to-door preaching about God’s kingdom, which is a real government, a heavenly government, that will take over the earth and make the earth a paradise, because we are meant to live on earth.

Sheol is a human common grave, and our loved ones are still there awaiting resurrection. About hellfire, I think it is an absurdity because it is unthinkable to see a loving God burning humans for eternity, whatever can be their sin.

And I just want to say thank you very much for the fact that you guys ask the question to all these pastors and church leaders.

Henri Ba
via voice mail

Diva Takes A Dive

As a longtime reader of “Diary of a Diva,” Barbarella might consider taking a sabbatical from her column for a while, as the material this past year has gotten pretty thin.

I really don’t need reminders that she is medicated, her “beh-beh” David is an established photographer, and regular destinations include Martha’s Vineyard and France. This would open up pages for more plastic-surgery and pot-dispensary ads for a while, and she could return with some fresh subject matter.

Mike Loflen
via email