Mailbag: Law enforcement employees earn their pensions

Re. “Police chief’s pension is near $185,000, Costa Mesa officials say,” (Dec. 5): Reporter Jeremiah Dobruck writes of the chief’s retirement income and combines it with the salary he will be receiving in his new job with the Port of Los Angeles.

What point is the reporter trying to make? Is it that Tom Gazsi should either return his retirement pay or work at his new position voluntarily? Or is it that his retirement is too much and he should return a part of it? Maybe it is that Gazsi is viewed as double dipping. Whatever it is, Dobruck should at least have made us aware of the objective of his piece.

I am a retired law enforcement employee. I retired as a sergeant. I worked over 20 years in the private sector, so I am also eligible for Social Security. However, since my retirement employment was through civil service, my Social Security benefits have been reduced from more than $1,000 a month to $320.

During my employment, I made substantially below what I could have earned in the private sector. I remained in civil service primarily because of the security I was promised. And guess what? You, the public, made those promises.

During my tenure in law enforcement, I was injured several times. I lost too many friends to violence during their service to the community. I — and I am sure this goes for the chief and every other cop — am not asking for gratitude, praise or anything other than recognition that I earned my retirement pay.

Edmund S. Rodriguez

Irvine

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Check out the good work in the Equestrian

Re. “Carnett: What’s in a name? Years of devotion. Bring back the Hitching Post,” Nov. 28:

Concerning columnist Jim Carnett’s issues with the change in the name of the Costa Mesa High School student newspaper, Kent Paul, graduate and former teacher at the school, is right about one thing: “Good writing makes a good newspaper, not a name.”

That is exactly what the Equestrian is today.

The Equestrian went 100% online. A name change distinguishes it from the print version, which lost all funding in the economic downturn. The teacher, by the way, is a top-notch, highly motivated instructor who I’m sure Mrs. Nina Hardy — a former journalism instructor — would have highly approved of for the job.

I encourage Costa Mesa residents to go to the newspaper’s website, and see what great things Mustang students are writing.

Kirby Piazza

Costa Mesa