Letters

Race Cards
I am a student at Thunderbird High School and I am writing in regard to Paul Rubin’s article “Pride and Prejudice” in the February 4 issue of New Times. The article shocked and angered not only me, but the staff and students of Thunderbird High School.

I believe some parts of the article are false. For example, the fight between the Anglo students and the Asian students was not a “race riot.” It was merely two groups of teenagers that got into a quarrel and were using violence as their way to resolve the matter. Why must you bring up the fact that Loi Nguyen and his friends just happen to be Asian? If it were two groups of Anglo students fighting, I doubt that you would write a seven-page article on it. Yes, I will admit that racial slurs were, in fact, said, but people can say things that they don’t necessarily mean.

The way you perceived the staff of T-Bird was appalling. I do understand the inconvenience of Loi being put in the wrong classes because of his learning disability, but you need to realize that there are more than 1,000 students to register and deal with.

I send my regards to Loi Nguyen’s family and friends. Loi’s death was a terrible tragedy.

I love Thunderbird High School. There are no gangs and hardly any fights. Almost all the students there are respectable teenagers. Remember that.

Jackie Shue
via Internet

I read Paul Rubin’s article today and broke out in tears, overwhelmed by my emotions. At this point, I have not composed my thoughts enough to express accurately everything it brought up for me emotionally or intellectually, so I at least want to write and thank you for writing the story, for presenting and reporting it well. As an Asian American who has been here for 28 of my 31 years, it brought me full circle to experiences I had even in preschool and kindergarten. As a mother, who just moved from Chicago and is already wondering about the amount of diversity in this town, and about to send her multi-racial (multi-ethnic, really) child into preschool, it just sends my imagination in all sorts of directions.

Most of all, though, I feel for the family, and want to know if there is anything I can do, where I can send a note, or any organizations that I can support, specifically in the Phoenix area. It was inspiring to read of the devotion and care of a lot of Loi’s early teachers. That was reassuring. The lack of feeling on the part of the young Anglo boys says a lot as well as to areas that need to be addressed by all of us in society. Thank you for your writing and the service you provide in informing the community.

Anilyn Fabello
via Internet

In reading your article about the young man who took his own life, I became very angry. It was not because of the young children who teased him, either. My anger came from the fact that his entire family was allowed admittance to this country because the woman had spread her legs and got pregnant by an American soldier.

They come into our country, live here for six years and never bother to learn the language. The clincher is that they are living off of my parents’ social security as well as what is supposed to be mine when I get older. What has happened to the old America where we took care of our elderly people? I realize that their daughter works and bought them the house. That was very nice of her. It still doesn’t give them the right to dip their hands into something that is not rightfully theirs. They never paid into that fund. How do we change the laws to get rid of loopholes like the one that is allowing things like this to happen? Why don’t you do an article on that? As far as the kid’s suicide, I can’t feel sorry for someone who makes a concise decision to take his/her own life. I don’t care how far down you are, if you look, there is someone to talk to.

Mary Curfman
Phoenix

Paul Rubin did an excellent writing job on “Pride and Prejudice.” So many [idiots] passed the buck at Thunderbird High School. How do these people become in charge of anything? The one or two good teachers who tried to get Loi Nguyen into the right school program deserve a medal.

Kimberlee Ward
via Internet

I attended Thunderbird High my sophomore year. I am now 20 years old. I am friends with Brandy Walmer, the female mentioned in this story. I am quite upset and bothered by the fact that the Asian kids are being looked at as the fucking victims of this whole ordeal! They came here to learn our language and be more like us. They know it’s going to be really tough. That’s why you don’t see all of us Anglos going over to Asia and trying to make them accommodate our ways of living! If it’s that damn hard to learn our system and ways, go home!

As for the fight, if I’m correct, Brandy and the other two males I have met briefly end up in the damn hospital while the blankety-blank Asian kids go home unharmed! And why? Because they have to fight like pansy asses with nunchakus and metal bars while the little white kids get the shit beat out of them, fighting back with only what they brought to school, like their skateboards. I would have beat the Asian kids with a skateboard, too, if they were fighting with metal bars and nunchakus! I have never been in a fight in my life, but the Asian kids around here make me want to make them the first! They are rude and unappreciative to what we allow them to do by coming here! I am a nice person all around, but when you publish something saying how we need to pity these people for decisions they made in their own lives, no, I don’t think so! I may seem insensitive to the Nguyen family, knowing their son killed himself for one reason or another, but he was stupid and selfish for doing that! I know how it is–my best friend did the same thing, and I cussed him up one side and down the other. I still do, and it’s been years since he killed himself! You cannot put blame on anyone but Loi for what he did! It’s not Brandy Walmer, Joe Smith or Jonathan Duffy’s fault! Or any other person who may have upset Loi–even his own parents cannot be blamed!

Thank you so much for seeing my side to this twisted story!
Brandy King
via Internet

Fab Five Forum
I am writing to thank Amy Silverman for the gutsy column titled “Fab Five Fib” (Wonk, January 28). I also commend New Times for carrying on the tradition of offering a forum for frank and honest discourse on these very real issues not so evident to the upper crust of our society. I am sure that I speak for thousands of individuals who have been living the nightmare this column focuses on–the challenges faced by women in Arizona.

The last dozen years I have been single-parenting a daughter, facing all the issues Amy writes about and then some. I went from traditional to nontraditional jobs in the maintenance field rather than settle for the typically lower wages of a clerical or manufacturing job. I feel fortunate to have obtained employment with a major municipality, which gives me a lot of security. They also have some benefits that contribute toward child-care expenses for the lower pay scales. I commend them for that as well.

But the average single parent not only has the surface-level stresses and expenses, in the back of their minds they have to worry about the stability of their employer and their job security. Home and family issues are complicated at best, and the Fab Five have a horrendous task at hand. It would be nice to know that they were put into office for their ability to trouble-shoot their respective departments rather than to just become the token women at the helm for political reasons.

The larger challenge is the daily struggle through that tangled web at the lower end of the food chain. Many of these people are hanging in there without the help of family or the absent parent. Many of them could survive without assistance, if they only had the child support owed to them. I have personally paid my own money for a lawyer for my court order in 1989, filed when the arrearages started to accumulate for a couple of months. The absent parent got more than $20,000 behind over a period of 10 years, and not a thing happened to this man. I eventually heard about an expedited enforcement hearing, which was held, but he still discontinued payments after a few months. Finally, a warrant was issued, and law enforcement agencies in three towns would not assist me when I called to say I knew where the man lived.

The effort is there to improve our lives, but let’s make the qualifying reasonable. To illustrate a point, I have often wondered why a working person must use the gross wage in the qualifying processes for many agencies. A worker does not see a large chunk of gross income. It would seem that a more reasonable thing to do would be to use the adjusted gross income. And if we happen to be fortunate to work for an employer who offers health-care benefits, there are even more deductions from the take-home.

Workfare should be placing people in programs with potential for earnings that eventually raise them above the need for assistance. Child care is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, but if this is worked out, at least the children will be squared away so the parents can begin to concentrate on bettering their education and other areas of their life.

I am proud to say that I am a single mother who is not on assistance, but I have been there. My fear is that many children catch the brunt of the hardships and frustrations experienced by the parents during the course of their day-to-day struggles. Many of these people are depressed and isolated and may not have the motivation to rise above. There are those who would have many meaningful suggestions and still have hope that government can and should work for us at all levels.

I would like to think that New Times will get a large response to this article. Maybe the legislators and agencies should spearhead a grassroots think tank embracing these issues and made up of the strong but weary individuals who have been living their real-world scenarios underneath the pedestals we’ve built for our famous women in office. With all due respect, networking should not only be done on a lateral field. Exposure to those on different levels will bring a new perspective to our efforts. Just as the Total Quality Movement has helped to improve our manufacturing icons, government should implement philosophies of listening to the people in the trenches about how they can improve. This will assure that success will come full circle and not stagnate at the top.

Name withheld by request

Let’s Play Canine
Regarding Amy Silverman’s “Pet Project” Wonk column in the February 4 New Times, I believe that I have a solution to the great dog quandary. I suggest that we seize the Encanto Park golf course and turn it into a local canine nirvana. We can ransack the clubhouse and use the golf equipment to form a fence and guard tower, or whatever Ms. Neuhart suggests for maximum puppy security.

This golf course uses an ill proportionate amount of resources and space for a thin minority of the taxpaying population of Phoenix. Currently, we support a government-subsidized, expanded meeting space for underworked local executives. Meanwhile, dogs, runners, Frisbee players and other more deserving folks must cram into the overcrowded Encanto Park next door. Somebody threw us a bone when they laid out that arrangement.

Just an idea.
Ken Clark
Phoenix

Sexcapades
After reading the article regarding the city council’s decision on the (so-called) sex industry in the city of Phoenix, I felt compelled to respond (“Moral Sex,” David Holthouse and Paul Rubin, December 31, 1998). First, let me state I am an adult female. I am well over the age of 21, with earnings into the middle-income bracket, meaning that some of the taxes I pay are used to pay these same elected officials’ salaries. I am a college graduate. And, finally, I do vote in every election.

I attended the last of the four community meetings held in Phoenix on this issue. Reports that the opinions expressed appeared to be 50-50, at least in my experience, were grossly exaggerated. There was only one who spoke in favor of the ordinance. One meeting lasted more than two hours, and speakers included general citizens, business owners, a housing authority representative and a market research analyst. Speakers were limited to five minutes each, and, although there was one outburst of applause, the audience was admonished to refrain from displays such as that.

Copies of the drafts were available for all in attendance. I read through the drafts completely, and was appalled. These documents, in verbiage alone, were insulting and inciting. I was left with the impression that the city believed the public consists of undereducated, naive masses whose salvation could only be achieved by following the direction of these enlightened few.

As previously mentioned, in attendance was a market research analyst. The gentleman’s presentation was that of numbers and data. The purpose of this presentation, as the gentleman stated, was to familiarize city council members in attendance with what part of the population they were dealing with in relation to social clubs. This included age, gender, income, education and voting. The numbers were compelling. Overall, it appeared those randomly selected for this study were of late 20s to middle age, gender was a 50 percent male-to-female ratio, income was that in the low-middle to high-middle bracket, education was post-high school, and all voted the majority of the time, with women’s numbers being higher than men’s.

Throughout your article, mention is made that at no time was there any specific documentation presented by the city council to back up statements made and/or referenced in relation to the endangerment of public safety or health issues concerning “sex clubs.” This vote seems to reflect the mentality previously displayed by the city council, that the citizens of the city of Phoenix do not know what they want. Remember BOB!

Name withheld by request

I write regarding the article by David Holthouse and Paul Rubin titled “Moral Sex.” I felt that this article was well-written and showed both sides of the issue. I consider myself impartial and open-minded. On one hand, I think the Phoenix city council is right in enacting this law, because of the disease and crime that surround these places. I also think it is a good idea that women in dance clubs have background checks done on them.

But as for whether the “social clubs” encourage sexually deviant behavior, like sleeping with other people’s husbands and wives: People do not get into that sort of activity without agreeing to do it. They are consenting adults. Even though these people do these sorts of things, they are the ones who have to live with themselves later. If they do not like it, they have the choice to stop. That decision is theirs and theirs alone, not the city council’s. The fact that these clubs exist is irrelevant; the fact that these people do this sort of thing in a club atmosphere and not in quiet neighborhoods near children and schools is relevant.

If the people allow the city council to take this sort of action, it will give every Bible-thumping jerk the fire that he needs to close down an industry that has been around for years.

What the city council calls protecting the public interest violates the one thing that has held this country together for 223 years, by telling people what, when and where they are allowed to do what makes them happy. The foundation for the Declaration of Independence is “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as long as it does not interfere with the rights of others or break the law.

When the city council members had the hearing on this subject, they apparently didn’t want to listen to anyone. They had already made up their minds that they were going to approve the restrictions no matter what anyone said. The only reason the city council acted the way it did is because the members are a bunch of self-righteous, Bible-thumping, sexually inhibited and closed-minded morons that would not dare set foot in one of these places to begin with. These people probably still believe in the premise that sexual contact is for procreating the species and that any form of contact such as kissing, hugging, holding hands or touching of any kind in public should be considered illegal.

The Phoenix city council needs to focus on other things that suit the people’s best interest, like cleaning up the area between Broadway and Baseline; creating better, safer places for children to spend their time; what goes on in the schools, etc. If they have solid proof, and not some little trumped-up study and the words of a police officer and a preacher, then and only then can they go after the adult industry. But until they do, leave it alone! It’s not hurting anyone.

Name withheld by request