What a headline
What a headline that was - "No obits" ["B.A.R.'s 'No obits' turns 20," Guest Opinion, August 9]. It was one of amazement and hope that, at the same time, reinforced our forever grief, drawing together a hopeful future with an unbearably painful past.
Vivian Imperiale
San Francisco
Texas, Tennessee mentality
The Board of Supervisors' recent decision to bar cannabis sales in Chinatown strikes me as representing a Texas or Tennessee mentality ["Supes 2, pot 0," Editorial, August 9].
In response to the 21st Amendment (the repeal of federal prohibition of alcohol sales) many Southern states authorized cities and counties to designate themselves as "dry."
Of course, this ignoble experiment hasn't worked. Folks in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and North Carolina just go to the nearest "wet" county to buy liquor. In TV world "Mayberry," moonshine was being sold rampantly and the town drunk was always drunk - in a "dry" county.
Do the supervisors really believe that Chinatown residents who want to smoke cannabis won't just take a bus ride up Market Street or down Mission Street to legal pot clubs?
I want to thank Supervisors Rafael Mandelman, Vallie Brown, and Hillary Ronen for their wisdom in rejecting Aaron Peskin's Texas-style legislation.
If cannabis legalization advocates are up to it, could I suggest a voter initiative to repeal the Peskin "dry district" law?
Arlo Hale Smith
San Francisco