Darrell Watkins claims Bruce Wells is the victim of abuse by “liberalism” in Clearlake (“A more common kind of abuse,” Your Opinion, June 10). Does he even know Mr. Wells and his family or have any personal knowledge of the events at issue? Obviously not. If for some reason he does, he should contact law enforcement forthwith.
We are further informed that the people of Wells” community in Clearlake “practice the new Godless religion of liberalism,” while Watkins suggests the hardworking teachers, staff and administrators of the Lower Lake School District are frivolous, incompetent or worse because they don”t share Mr. Watkins” brand of fundamentalist zealotry.
Actually, this is of a piece of the theme reflected in Mr. Watkins” numerous letters to the editor, which is an attempt to use religion to justify or trivialize serious social problems, whether discrimination against women here or in the Third World, substandard housing and even human slavery, on behalf of those who have traditionally benefited from that. This is part of his fundamentalist Taliban-like vision of turning the historical clock back to the “good old days” of feudalism.
Moreover, based on the shocking way that Mr. Watkins opened his letter by glibly mocking those who expressed concern over the cowardly, brutal beating of a 4-year-old that almost left that child dead, a victim who was truly helpless and incapable of self defense, I am very concerned that Mr. Watkins” obsession with ideological dogma has hardened his heart to the point that it has eviscerated him of any real empathy for suffering humanity.
Mr. Watkins knows or should know that many of the people of Clearlake are long-suffering, low-income persons living in sub-standard housing located on dilapidated roads, with limited access to decent jobs and quality health care; people who, except for the most hard-core news junkies, have little concern for wasting time contemplating “liberalism,” “neo-conservatism” or other intellectual doctrines, and who are as church-going and religious as people in any other rural town.
I don”t know if Mr. Watkins has children in the Lower Lake schools or not, but if he has specific concerns he should address them to the appropriate authorities and the school board. Otherwise we can only conclude that he is using a current tragic news story to demagogically take pot shots at people and issues he knows little about in a way that can only muddy the waters of a pending criminal court case.
Tom Quinn
Clearlake
