The gift of kindness

Editor: There are still nice people in Lodi. I would like to thank the generous lady who paid for my “mink” coat at the Goodwill store. It was a great gift. I'm 91 years old and have never had such a great gift in my life. Thank you again and God bless you. J. PARSON Lodi

A wall will not keep out crime

Editor: It is understandable how a wall along our border would limit the numbers of immigrants and refugees coming into the United States illegally. How will a wall keep out gang members, human traffickers, and cartel drug dealers? It will take more than a wall to keep out this type of character.

JOHN SLAUGHTERBACK Lodi

Check the facts

Editor: The writer of Jan. 1 letter calling President Trump a “bilious wanna-be-billionaire” should check his facts.

“Wanna-be-billionaire?” He is a billionaire, so I’m lost on your description. As for Trump calling most federal employees Democrats, all you have to do is follow the money. Government employees overwhelmingly donate to Democrat politicians, so commonsense dictates that they are donating to their party.

Commonsense is sadly lacking in both parties, but especially in the Democrat Party.

The writer says, “Certainly the Democrats’ principled opposition to Trump is partially why his wall’s plans have come a-tumbling down.” A wall that is overwhelmingly desired by the American people, but what is the origin of this “principled opposition”? Certainly not the Constitution of the United States.

Democrat “principles” espouse sanctuary states/cities; rights that undocumented immigrants do not have under the Constitution, over that of citizens.

As for abused pubic employees. A workforce that is almost impossible to fire and who are accountable to no one … abused? How has this shutdown effected you? Just like the 20 or so shutdowns since the mid1970s, it has had little to no effect. Non-essential employees have been furloughed and they will be reimbursed in the end.

Unlike non-essential employees in the private sector which means unemployable. According to data nonessential employees in government is between 80-95 percent. Non-essential doesn’t mean unnecessary but with so much staff in government agencies deemed non-essential by their own departments, commonsense begs the question, why have them in the first place?

Add over $200 billion in fraud/theft by government, we could build a wall that makes the Great Wall of China look like a fence. RON PORTAL Lodi

Letters invited

The Lodi News-Sentinel welcomes opinions from its readers. Letters must be signed and include the writer’s address and phone number for internal verification purposes. All letters are subject to editing.

Letters from local readers dealing with local issues are given priority. Letters from outside the local area are published at the editor’s discretion. Letters longer than 350 words will be cut to fit or returned to their writers.

There is a holding period of 30 days between publication of letters by the same person unless no other letters are queued.

Send letters to P.O. Box 1360, Lodi, CA 95241-1360; or email to