Event lovely, but rather homogeneous
Committee for a Clean and Beautiful Glendale Chairwoman Margaret Hammond and her very dedicated volunteers are to be commended for a lovely evening enjoyed on July 21 in the Perkins Plaza ("City fundraiser cleans up," July 22).
You couldn't beat the $10 price and the need to support this worthy cause. However, the noticeable absence of a large segment of our community at this event leaves me with an empty feeling and grave concern for the future of Glendale.
Though a few Armenian businesses were represented and two of our three Armenian councilmen attended, one has to question how much effort is being expended on all sides to attain more optimal inclusiveness.
This was a perfect opportunity to bring the community together. The proprietors of Armenian banquet halls and restaurants should have had a presence to help build community solidarity and temper the divisiveness Glendale continues to experience.
My hope is that the aforementioned concerns will be taken into account in planning next year's event. Both the committee and the council have a responsibility to ensure that these types of events result in greater cultural exchange and harmony.
RICHARD A. LIEBOFF
Glendale
Columnist off track on global warming
I lived in Glendale for 12 years but moved my office to Burbank about one and a half years ago. Still, I patronize my favorite Glendale barbershop and cleaners.
It was while picking up last week's cleaning that I also found a copy of Friday's Glendale News-Press. There, at the bottom of the first page is Dan Kimber's Education Matters column, "Science versus politics."
There were no diamonds of truth contained in Kimber's propaganda piece. I call his stuff "Kimber-lite," since the rock kimberlite usually host diamonds.
Kimber seems to be ignorant about science. Trust me, I have a written a book (with two Europeans) on "Macro-engineering: A Challenge for the Future" (Springer, 2006) coming out soon, although it available online now.
Kimber picks a natural summertime heat-wave period to convince the soft-minded that he has it right. One of his questions really caused me to dissolve into helpless giggles: "What could [scientists] possibly gain from making that case?" (affirming global warming).
