New subjects for...

On Aug 27, 2015, at 10:50 AM, Dale Hileman (<[email protected]> and apparently don't care who knows it) wrote to OpEd of Victorville, Ca Daily Press:

“Letters to the editor sought” Aug. 27, soliciting “…on any topic…” (emphasis mine, a surprise because over the past 19 years (judging from how many got rejected), I had always assumed I was contributing to your OpEds’ already overstuffed Inbox. But most glad to oblige:

Though politics and religion of course qualify as “…the free flow of ideas….,” I’ve oft reflected that your Daily Fourth Estate ought to address more everyday or less controversial issues, encouraging a compulsive Letters writer like me to comment upon their scarcity. Thus, first of all, let’s have more Letters, like this one, suggesting new sorts of Letters topics.

A pet peeve for instance: (1) What’s recyclable and what isn’t: Here an occasional rundown might be appreciated by many of us--and I’ll bet, also to those wasteyard guys busily re-sorting before transfer to a specific kind of processing facility or dump--a critical issue but still a mystery to most of us:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/13/home/la-hm-dirty-mrf-20110813


While your recent article the bottom of page 6 in fact did readdress the matter, it only repeated what we already know, never quite sure what’s recyclable and what isn’t. Sure, larger dirty old “home appliances,” eg, vacuum, aren’t; but how about the floor fan, mostly recyclable plastic? Thought maybe so, but my Better Half (who I’m sure you’d agree is much smarter than I) agreed; so I’m wondering--in the LA area alone-- how many thousands such gadgets every day get tossed into the wrong bin?

Briefly, ‘cause I’m “…encouraged to limit them to 200 to 300 words….” I’m tempted to submit an endless list of other such potential topics; including (2) any with clever ideas how to save water or power. (3) Suggesting ways health care and dentistry could be made cheaper (myself full of DIY ideas for snap-in teeth). (4) Hello you Daily Press OpEd fellas, why not expanded Letters typseset for occasional emphasis. (5) While my BH suggests, “New books to read…."

(Wish I were the reader she is. Instead I’m continually dashing off stuff like this.)

….while (6) Owing to the reporter’s more complete background, missing detail or summary in the typical news story (Not just DP but AP as well, almost every day). ”The big story," says BH, " that doesn’t tell you what happens at the end.”. (7) …though I see under “STATE DIGEST” with many thanks (in spite of a lingering software problem) that you had responded to an earlier letter, satisfying a need for more and better paragraphing, with more carriage returns and indents...

….Still, (8) with most abject apology to so many readers bored to death my my contributions: Anybody—help! Why so hard to get word count in Mac Mail?


Dale Hileman
Apple Valley