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Sound Off! calls published on June 3, 2009
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• Charter office changes

I want to ask what is the Ceres City Council going to do about the Charter closing its Ceres offices. The city will find a legal reason to do nothing about it. About eight years ago the conservative Republicans took the regulations of cable TV away from cities and placed it into the FCC in Washington, D.C. They said this would create competition for cable TV and lower prices. Well, where is the cable competition in Ceres? You can have cable TV as long as you buy it from Charter. This is competition according to to the conservative lifestyles, or as I call it monopoly. It's time to get some competition in cable TV.

(Editor's note: We understand that TV services are provided in Ceres through AT&T.)

• Honor an educator not Chavez

I agree with the tradition of naming new Ceres schools after well deserved local educators.

• Yeah, get rid of blowers

I'm a merchant on Fourth Street. I totally agree with the prior merchant who called in. How about fresh bark and some flowers on Fourth Street and yes, the blower does make dust and dirt on our windows and window sills.

• Thanks, Cheri Gibson

I am a substitute custodian at Don Pedro School. I'd like to they Cheri Gibson for all her effort and all her hard work that she has done throughout the years working with the kids, the dedication, the loyalty, the love. My kids would like to say thank you very much to Cheri Gibson. She's retiring and this is her last year at Don Pedro School. From Leilani Ramos and James Ramos Jr. We're going to miss you very much and thank you for doing an excellent job and being there for the kids.

• Encouraging Latinos

I think that Ceres is moving in the right direction and Walt Hanline couldn't have said it any better! We must send a message to our Hispanic students that anything is possible and it doesn't matter what your heritage or ethnicity is. The Ceres community must be informed of who Cesar Chavez is becuase even though there are many Cesar Chavez memorial names throughout the state, people still do not know much about him and the impact that he had in the Hispanic community. I'm glad that Ceres is willing to break a precedent otherwise we cannot move forward with our progress as a country. There is np lack of imagination here. Hanline acknowledges what many people choose to ignore. Hispanics are the majority now and in the near future this state and country will have a huge Hispanic population and again we must send a message to our Hispanic youth that anything is possible!

Look at the stats of high school dropouts - unfortunately many are Hispanic and we must do something to change that, even if it's something as small as namine a junior high school in order to give our youth hope and encouragement. It's not all just about Hispanics either; the community as a whole will have a better understanding of Cesar Chavez and the struggles, sacrifices, accomplishments and hope that he has given the Hispanic community.

We all have opinions and I respect yours and your opinion only encourages me to work harder in my community and encourage our Hispanic youth to get an education and get this country moving into the right direction.

I also hope to see more Hispanic columnists like Ruben Navarrette so that we also have a voice in the media and challange what people write.