Letters to the editor — Nov. 23

Police deserve benefit of doubt

Day after day I read or hear on the news about our law enforcement officers and how out of hand and unjust they have become.

I have one question: When you need help who do you call? Do you dial 1-800-a-thug or law enforcement?

Our boys in blue or any color deserve the benefit of the doubt. They have a dangerous job and when you give them respect, you usually get respect in return.

If the teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, had treated the officer with respect and complied, he would be alive today. Just my opinion.

If I am stopped by police and refuse to cooperate, I would be made to comply and rightfully so.

Give them the respect they deserve. You may need their help some day.

Kay Fenn

Clovis

Downtown businesses, residents want post office

There is more and more hubbub about the Gidding Street building.

Curry County received the money it wanted for remodeling the post office building and for fixing the jail. I was for this; the county was getting what it needed and the taxpayers were not going to have to pay for a new jail they didn’t want.

Now county commissioners seem to think the post office has too much space and should move out of the Gidding Street building.

Have they forgotten the post office occupied that entire building not so long ago? The post office was willing to move into a corner, so to say, and let the county have the rest of the building.

I, for one, will be very upset if the downtown post office were to be closed. Downtown businesses and residents of midtown and the east side of Main Street have stated these same feelings at various times.

This is another example of the commissioners wanting what they want, regardless of the community they serve.

Just another reminder: The post office has problems enough making money to meet its budget without being inaccessible to customers.

The downtown post office needs to remain exactly where it is and offer all the window services that are currently available.

Speak up Clovis. The commissioners are still in limbo about what to do about the Gidding Street building.

Collene Baldwin

Clovis

‘Video generation’ may never grow up

Technology is exponentially growing, creating frequent changes in lifestyles and opportunities whose consequences may not be foreseen.

Television has become our baby sitter to generations. CDs and DVDs have only served to protract the effect. Cell phones further relieve us from our need to directly interact with one another. Video games allow us to withdraw ourselves even deeper, creating our own little world.

We as a nation have become obsessed with something borne of fantasy. For some there is a need for it to be real. With it, they will have a purpose.

We even have instructions on how to make our homes zombie-proof.

Give us another generation and some may have their wish. Many of our youth today have become deeply involved with “defending” themselves against zombies in video games. Marathon sessions with little or no food or sleep tend to blur the lines between fantasy and reality. As the games become more realistic, the deeper the paranoia.

Our most popular TV shows and movies amplify those fears and lend credibility for those who need it to be real.

It’s no stretch of the imagination what can happen. Our video generation will grow up to become adults and parents. Those habits of getting out of school (off work) every day and playing video games until they “crash” will carry over.

These “adults” will wake up at 4 a.m. with the controller still on their hand. They will then discover they haven’t eaten and there is no food left in the house. What does someone act and sound like when they are starving, exhausted and wearing clothing they may have been in for days?

You guessed it. The stage is set for tragedy because so many want zombies to be real.

Our forefathers would be so proud.

Mike Hess

Clovis