Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jul 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Jackie Gay Wilson
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n330/a08.html

FOCUS ON ISSUE, NOT THE KID

Debra J. Saunders ("Cannabis summit doubles as day care," July 11) 
has demeaned herself. She is a supporter of drug policy reform, which 
is a pressing topic. So why on earth would she choose such a 
backbiting, irrelevant theme for her purported report on this very 
timely conference?

Dale Sky Jones was called to the dais at the last minute, and had not 
brought along a nanny. Why should a child not be present at a public 
event that he is not disrupting? What does this remotely have to do 
with the "judgment" of what she calls "marijuana advocates?" The fact 
that Saunders was so "distracted" by the harmless, quiet activities 
of a toddler is probably due to the kid's natural charisma and the 
columnist's apparent conflation of a sober meeting about drug policy 
with a weed-smoking party. In any case, Saunders' coverage of the 
event was poisoned by her inappropriate preoccupation with the child. 
I would have loved to read an account of what was said at the 
meeting. I hated reading Saunders' mean-spirited, irrelevant comments 
about the kid.

Jackie Gay Wilson, El Cerrito
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom