Apology

This is an apology: “I have offended the people of Glendale and I am sorry for this.” This is not an apology: “If I have not gone far enough, let me be clear: I apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my past comments. I'm truly sorry.” Councilman Zareh Sinanyan doesn't “maybe” offend the people of Glendale; he offends the people of Glendale. Sinanyan hasn't “maybe” gone far enough in his apologies; he's not gone far enough in his apologies. Any reparation Sinanyan has offered for his words and ensuing (non)

Now that Zareh Sinanyan has won the election to the Glendale City Council, he offers a heartless apology that rings as hollow as his initial denial. Sinanyan's history of hate consisted of more than five years of dangerously ignorant and threatening online language toward women, homosexuals and Muslims. He can't make this go away just because the story refuses to die. Vincent Frias Montrose

If the official election results have him remaining in the top three, I ask that Zareh J. Sinanyan's first act as a Glendale City Council member-elect be either an unequivocal and verifiable denial that the controversial online postings are his, or a sincere and contrite apology for them. Anything short of this leaves the city of Glendale in an embarrassing situation, under a cloud of hatred and ignorance. Roberta Medford Montrose

Gretchen Hoffman SOUTHEAST GLENDALE -- Glendale Police are looking for a man who tried to rob a man but then walked away, apologizing for having interrupted a conversation. The victim told police he was standing next to a car at Jack in the Box, 1131 E. Colorado St., at about 11:45 p.m. Thursday when a man walked up behind him, lifting his shirt to show a gun in his waistband. He demanded money but then apparently noticed the victim was talking to a woman in the car, according to a police report.

Tim Willert GLENDALE CITY HALL -- Several Glendale tenants facing rent increases and uninhabitable living conditions received some relief from their landlord Tuesday. Speaking at Tuesday's City Council meeting, a representative of the apartment complex at 504 Hill Drive apologized to the tenants and said he would return their May rent. The tenants, one of whom was forced to leave when her unit was yellow-tagged by the city, were profiled in a series of stories last week in the News-Press.

As a result of Paul Carney's Jan. 16 letter, he has become the whipping boy of choice for a rather large segment of the population of our fair city. I was pleased to read Mr. Carney's letter of apology regarding his offensive letter. He readily admitted his ignorance of the issue he addressed. It is refreshing, indeed, to have someone admit that they were in error and then apologize for offending a large segment of our population. This shows that Mr. Carney is mature enough to be teachable and is open to other points of view.

Re: Zareh Sinanyan. The story gets old and boring. We all make mistakes. The man is sorry and apologized. I, for one, can forgive and let Sinanyan do his job. He's a smart person and will bring good to the city. Give an apology a chance. I did and so did our friends. Helen K. Lucas Glendale    

Paul Carney is right in his letter of March 1. The man has made a mistake in his first letter to the Glendale News-Press (Jan. 16), has realized and admitted his ignorance of the subject and offensive nature of his letter and has offered his "heartfelt apology" for it in his letter of Jan. 26. That should be it. The Armenian community should accept his apology, forgive him and let him enjoy his life within the Glendale...

The Glendale News-Press has nothing to apologize for. The Community Forum page is just that -- a page where people air their opinions an voice their concerns. We may not agree on every issue and that's what makes the Forum interesting. The last thing we need is censorship of our letters. Paul Carney wrote an apology of deep regret for setting off such a barrage of ugly writings. His words should be accepted sow we can get on with making Glendale a new utopia.

The relationship between the city of Glendale and the Glendale Unified School District has been in the headlines lately (“No end yet for school board, council fight,” Thursday) as well as on the minds of the joint constituency, which these two organizations share. I commend the Glendale News-Press for its thoughtful reporting of this important issue. The overwhelming support from the city of Glendale, financial and otherwise, which is enjoyed by our Glendale schools, is, by comparison to many cities, as gratifying as it is rare.

Each week the Glendale News-Press, the Burbank Leader, the Pasadena Sun and the La Cañada Valley Sun invite a group of local clergy to comment on different issues. In late May, they were asked to comment on a recent State Department report documenting an increase in anti-Semitism. Why, they were asked, is anti-Semitism on the rise? The Rev. Bryan Griem of the Montrose Community Church began his comments with this dubious statement: “I can say with no anti-Semitic feelings that scripture said such would be the case.” Then he went on to explain that anti-Semitism is not only understandable but justified because Jews rejected Jesus.

Re: Zareh Sinanyan. The story gets old and boring. We all make mistakes. The man is sorry and apologized. I, for one, can forgive and let Sinanyan do his job. He's a smart person and will bring good to the city. Give an apology a chance. I did and so did our friends. Helen K. Lucas Glendale    

This is an apology: “I have offended the people of Glendale and I am sorry for this.” This is not an apology: “If I have not gone far enough, let me be clear: I apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my past comments. I'm truly sorry.” Councilman Zareh Sinanyan doesn't “maybe” offend the people of Glendale; he offends the people of Glendale. Sinanyan hasn't “maybe” gone far enough in his apologies; he's not gone far enough in his apologies. Any reparation Sinanyan has offered for his words and ensuing (non)

I voted for Zareh Sinanyan and two other candidates, all of them new, with the thought that new members are not yet contaminated with corruption and serving people is their motive to be elected. Of the three I voted for, only Sinanyan was elected; and under pressure from gays and Muslims, and also other candidates who have learned how to be politically correct, he apologized.  Sinanyan must always remember that people like me sent him to the City Council and none of them who were criticizing him wanted him to be there.

Glendale Councilman Zareh Sinanyan apologized for the first time from the dais at a council meeting Tuesday night for posting racist, homophobic and vulgar comments several years ago on YouTube. “It truly does not matter to me if you're Armenian or Latino or Anglo or Korean. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. It doesn't matter if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu,” Sinanyan said. “As my life experiences have shown, the only thing that matters to me is that I want to serve Glendale.” Last month, Sinanyan publicly confessed to making the comments , many of which were violent and centered around Armenia's geo-political enemies, to Glendale News-Press columnist Ron Kaye.

Now that Zareh Sinanyan has won the election to the Glendale City Council, he offers a heartless apology that rings as hollow as his initial denial. Sinanyan's history of hate consisted of more than five years of dangerously ignorant and threatening online language toward women, homosexuals and Muslims. He can't make this go away just because the story refuses to die. Vincent Frias Montrose

I read and reread Ron Kaye's article (“ Sinanyan faces the challenge ,” April 21) about Councilman Sinanyan's “regrets” but was unable to find any apologies to those of us that were insulted by Sinanyan's barbaric remarks. It looked like Sinanyan “regretted” that he was found out and this article appears to be a calculated attempt (one week after he was sworn in) by Sinanyan to get past this issue - but no apologies. I get that Sinanyan's family and people went through horrific times, but why on earth would he in turn denigrate others of us that have also been killed, kept down and also seen horrific times?

If the official election results have him remaining in the top three, I ask that Zareh J. Sinanyan's first act as a Glendale City Council member-elect be either an unequivocal and verifiable denial that the controversial online postings are his, or a sincere and contrite apology for them. Anything short of this leaves the city of Glendale in an embarrassing situation, under a cloud of hatred and ignorance. Roberta Medford Montrose

A week after Councilman Ara Najarian said the large pole signs of fast-food chains and strip malls weren't aesthetically compatible with Glendale, he found himself apologizing Tuesday to a crowd of people from the place he said they were ubiquitous: East L.A. Roughly 20 people from East Los Angeles showed up at City Hall to demand an apology for what they considered to be a slight to their community. “To utilize blight as the only characteristic of East Los Angeles is shortsighted and false,” said Omar Loya, owner of Cities Restaurant on East Cesar Chavez Avenue.

Four Glendale residents spoke during the Jan. 10 Glendale City Council meeting alleging that Glendale's self-appointed community watchdog, Barry Allen - aka Allen Silvarman - is the same Allen Silvarman who pleaded guilty to the charge of counterfeiting money. Another Glendale resident used the Internet to discover the newspaper articles about this. For years, Barry Allen has been beating the drum for transparency and more ethical behavior from local government officials. I am among the people who thought this was a good thing at first, but soon decided to keep my distance from him because I didn't like his anti-government campaign.