Letter: Time for some taste

EDITOR,
I have been reading the Press-Banner for years, and during that time, I have often noticed the bad taste that seems to reign in your organization.
• In your most recent issue, an ugly cartoon depicts student protesters at University of California, Santa Cruz, in an unflattering drawing, then implies that none of them “care about war.” I’m sure this is not true: People can care about more than one thing at a time. They have a right to protest (but not to make such a mess; I admit that is one strike against them). But protesting against a huge tuition raise is, in a sense, a protest against elitism, and also against the idiots who mismanage our money in Sacramento.
• And then, another example of poor taste, you have chosen to publish the names, and in one case the photo, of several ordinary people (i.e., not celebrities) who have been arrested “on suspicion” of offenses. Charges against them have not been proven — in the one case, the police have notably not charged the young man, which means they have some doubt, right? In any case, publishing their names is a tabloid trick and serves no public interest.
• There was, in a past issue, a nasty and unwarranted generalization about the police, written by your regular leisure columnist.
• And then, yet another case of your poor judgment, there is the writer in your penultimate issue who jokingly refers to passing off her pooch as a service dog.
I could go on and on. Are there no decent, grown-up folks in your organization who could make responsible decisions about what you print?