Madrid and companion are dragging city down
Regarding “Madrid case investigation shrouded in secrecy” (East County Editorial, May 3):
How sad! Two well-meaning, but naive, officers probably thinking to protect the reputation of the mayor and the city take two drunks home. As a result, their law enforcement careers may be in jeopardy, the reputation of a city department is dragged through the mud, precious tax dollars are spent with no discernible result, the governing council's time is wasted and community members are driven apart with petty squabbling over who did what and when and with whom.
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How pathetic! The public official and public employee whose reckless behavior caused this whole mess will not act like adults, fully confess in a spirit of humility and contrition, and simply accept whatever comes by way of civil authority and the ballot box.
Those two individuals do have the ability to relieve us of this burden, should they choose to do so.
SCOTT KIDWELL
La Mesa
The real source of desert water stations
In regard to your recent article “Border Angels founder to get honorary degree” for “installing 340 water stations in the Imperial Desert” (Short Takes, April 21), I would like to set the record straight about the water stations Enrique Morones is claiming credit for.
I am the founder and president of Water Station Inc. Our first stations were installed in July 2000.
We have had many dedicated volunteers install and service several hundred water stations every year from 2000 to the present in the Imperial Desert and Anza Borrego. They are intended to save the lives of desert travelers during the summer months.
The work is controversial and we do not advertise for several reasons. One is we do not want to encourage immigrants to cross the desert in the summer since it is extraordinarily lethal, even though we probably save some lives each year. The second reason we don't advertise is due to racially motivated vandalism, which includes impaling rabbits on our flags or shooting, burning or stealing the stations. Morones' bald attempt to take credit for our volunteers' work forces me disclose the following facts.
The “340 water stations in the Imperial Desert” that Morones advertises on his Web site are actually our stations. We install them every spring, maintain them with water through the summer and remove them in the fall. They can be identified with their blue and orange flags.
I naively appointed Morones president of the water station program during the 2002 summer, but we soon voted him out. Enrique then founded Border Angels in 2003 (not 1986 as he misrepresents).
I share some of his sentiments regarding the immigrant hardships on the border. However, he does none of the work on the water stations we maintain nor is he allowed to.
Morones is not part of our organization. The Border Angels have no stations or even Bureau of Land Management permits in our sector. This can be verified by talking to Bureau of Land Management in El Centro and the Anza Borrego ranger station in Borrego Springs.
Our water station volunteers over the last nine years have been people who performed works to help others they would never meet. They have shown selflessness without desire for public recognition. Many thanks to them.
JOHN HUNTER
President
Water Station, Inc.
Lack of school nurse
puts disabled at risk
I am the mother of two disabled children in the Cajon Valley Union School District. Currently my children attend Chase Avenue Elementary.
One child has pulmonary interstitial disease with multiple life-threatening food allergies and asthma. The other has pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and takes low-dose chemotherapy.
At least one of my children will not be able to attend school next year. I would be negligent as a parent to knowingly send my child to school. My daughter's sudden signs of anaphylaxis are so unnoticeable that I fear the signs would not be caught in time by a busy school secretary.
Obviously, not having a health aide impacts my children's life. My greatest concern, however, is all the other children in the Cajon Valley Union School District.
Parents should know about Section 504, which allows certain accommodations to be made for a child with a hidden disability – physical or mental impairments that are not readily apparent to others. Allergic, asthmatic, diabetic and other children qualify for a section 504.
The 504 Plan lists and explains the formal accommodations and modifications that will be made to the public school environment to ensure the least restrictive learning environment. That environment must provide equal opportunities for children protected under Section 504 to the maximum extent possible.
Here are two examples of how a 504 plan will help keep children safe without a school health aide:
One: A child is severely allergic to peanuts, even by contact. After recess and lunch, all children coming into the classroom must wash their hands. A 504 can accommodate this.
Two: In the case of a child who has a severe bee string allergy, the school could be required to have a trained recess monitor, carrying epinephrine, on the playground at all times.
If a parent does not ask for a 504 plan, the district is not required to make the accommodations, and even if the school decides to provide the accommodations, it can withdraw them at any time. The 504 plans ensure that the accommodations are met at all times and the district is federally accountable for ensuring the provisions are met.
TRICIA R. VALVERDE
El Cajon
