Letter to the Editor:
As a Burbank resident I cannot help but notice that every week another local resident, Chris Spencer, is given a platform on My Burbank News in order to spew a lot of fear mongering nonsense about marijuana, the baseless assertion that Burbank is completely overrun with meth addicts, and just general nonsense that is easily debunked 99.9% of the time. One can’t help but wonder how much free time is spent griping about “reefer madness”— the mind truly reels. I’m not sure why this publication chooses to give this man a platform, a man who was soliciting volunteers to hand out anti measure I flyers via Craigslist and helped run a smear campaign against a local city councilman. I certainly wouldn’t. However, I do understand that MBN feels that that anyone can write in and be published as many times as possible, as long as they are a Burbank resident. Therefore, I feel it’s my turn to address this.
I believe this resident, Mr. Spencer, would be best served minding his own goddamn business, leaving the ableist and classist notion that only criminals smoke pot in the 1950s where belongs, and getting a free wordpress blog where he can rant about anything he pleases without making us, the readers, suffer. Every week he writes into MBN, and every week more people notice and make fun of him. Does this man have no spine? Does he not feel a sense of embarrassment? Perhaps if he put his fears of cannabis aside and smoked a joint, he would calm down enough to stop writing such stupid letters and making a complete and total ass of himself in front of the entirety of the town.
Kolleen Hoepfner
Burbank
Kolleen, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Bravo!
Kolleen, you won the internet today 🥰
Absolutely spot-on.
THANK YOU
I don’t know Kolleen, the guy makes a lot of good points and always backs up his statements with well thought out research and proof. Lots of people agree with his point of view on many matters. I know I do. And by the way, that councilman you refer to IS a poor example of a human being.
EVERY SINGLE WORD! End this nonsense, please MBN.
Thanks Kolleen!
Just one other thing Kolleen, if you take the time to read the police log that they publish here on a regular basis you will find the great majority of arrests ARE drug related.
Hello there Kolleen,
Thank you for using your real name and standing for what you believe in. No need for nasty remarks and ad hominem attacks.
As a military veteran and defender of the Constitution, I have fought for your right to say these things. Fortunately in America, unlike many other countries, you won’t be jailed or have your head cut off for having an opinion.
I am a facts-based person and 57% of Burbankers surveyed do not want commercial cannabis activity in Burbank. The big stack of petitions were signed by a huge number of your fellow Burbankers opposing pot shops and commercial cannabis delivery in Burbank.
There must have been something better about Burbank that attracted you to our town, right? It’s not like other places in LA County. We fight hard here to maintain a family-friendly and drug-free town.
And the good news is there are 57% of Burbankers who stand with me.
For your information and awareness, here is the letter sent to the United States Postal Inspection Service today: https://bit.ly/2YU9e9f
I am happy to respond to you, however referring to my position as “stupid” isn’t going to hurt my feelings or make me go away. I invite you to pursue the causes you feel are righteous rather than getting mean towards me. If you want something for your community, you can speak up too without engaging in ad hominem attacks. Put your facts out there. At the moment, I am standing with the majority of Burbankers in wanting pot and drugs out of our community.
Regards,
CMS
Thank you! My god enough already. Get a life CMS!
Dear My Burbank,
Please, please…pretty please…stop posting the rants of Christopher Matthew Spencer. You have editorial control and I highly suggest you use it to limit this persons opinions on your site. I love this website. I generally don’t like the musings of this person. Through the sheer volume of his postings he is becoming the de facto opinion voice of this website. That should give you pause and maybe give you a solid editorial foundation to stop posting his letters, if not altogether, then at least paring down the quantity. He seems unwilling to self regulate, which is unfortunate, so as a regular reader I’d suggest you do it for him. I, for one, would like to hear OTHER opinions and voices make their way into your Letters to the Editor forum.
Tammy, will your next request be to suspend the Constitution?
Why not post your own content by taking the time to write letters to the editor?
I would never in my lifetime ask anyone to shadow ban, cancel culture or censure you.
Think about that.
V/r,
CMS
Dear cms
Look up the definition of narcissist. You’ll find much insight into what’s been plaguing you your whole life. Give it a rest you crazy old coot.
I appreciate your comment as I do all comments. I do not feel the need to ‘mute’ someone’s opinions as long as they talk about Burbank issues. When I start excluding people’s comments then I feel I become the problem, not the writer. Slippery slope, I know.
Hello Mr. Sherwood:
You operate the most balance social media site I know. Thank you for allowing all opinions. Unlike Nextdoor, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube that all remove voices that do not align with the CEOs’ opinions, you never do that. Thank you for being a powerful force for the protection of freedom of speech.
CMS
Hi Joel. It’s not surprising that you are propping up Chris here since you’re the other person who took the residents’ email addresses and put them on mailing lists without their permission.
Hi Chris. I don’t take anyone who says “ad hominem” with the frequency you do seriously. This is not a letter of facts, it’s a letter of opinion, and my opinion is you’re annoying and I don’t like you.
Kolleen,
As an American, I am allowed to live in this country and not be liked. You’ve never met me yet you’ve made a summary judgment about me which I find curious.
I understand you do not like it here based on your comments on social media “Why do conservatives in this town always think I picked this town to live in on purpose? I live here because Fritz lives here, he lives here because he works here. If he had lived in Anaheim I would have moved there. Morons”
I do not consider myself a moron. I don’t attack you. Not sure why you attack others. No matter, it is America, you can say what you want.
That’s the blessing of free speech.
V/r,
CMS
I actually love it here. But I didn’t choose to live here for “family values”. I just think it’s bizarre that you’re obsessed with Burbank being chosen as a family town when you don’t seem to have a family of your own.
Worry about yourself and focus on sending your random emails to people who don’t want them and hate you for it. I won’t be responding to you further because I have better things to do than talk to you. Have the day you deserve!
Hey, Kolleen, maybe you should take your own advice and go relax by smoking a doobie next to your daughter in the kiddie pool. Sheesh.
Thank you Kolleen!!! As a resident of Burbank, I fully agree with you.
Thank you Kolleen!
Chris chooses to make this about you, but look at all the comments here and on Twitter from the many many folks who share this opinion.
God forbid you listen and get the message, Chris. I’m confident it’s not the first time you’ve been told how annoying you are.
Kolleen, you need to look up what phrases mean. Mr. Spencer obviously does have a spine because he submits letters in the face of hostile objections and ridicule like yours. If he didn’t have a spine, he’d be backing down. Enjoy your joint.
It is good to have this conversation. It’s not easy but I feel it is necessary.
As to Joel’s remark, here are the 9/11/2021 arrests just as an example: https://www.burbankpd.org/file.aspx?DocumentId=6593 (the word “narcotics” includes pot in this context)
Here is the page to find these reports in case you want to bookmark: https://www.burbankpd.org/crime-information/crime-statistics/
I appreciate Craig Sherwood letting everybody say their opinion on this forum.
As a Burbank resident of 30 years I think it is great that Mr. Christopher Matthew Spencer shares information with the neighbors.
Nice to see folks looking out for each other.
Lots of interesting points from various folks. As an aside, I looked up when “Reefer madness” was made. It was 1936 and basically, this film exaggerated the harm of the old time version of weed. But 1936 was a long time ago…and today’s marijuana has changed along with most things. The major health organizations in the US (that are running our Covid 19 response) have published warnings about today’s pot. The old film may be entertaining but not relevant to the discussion of “is this drug potentially harming people?”.
One of the things to watch for-who benefitted from the opioid sales? Not me and probably not you.
When Altria (Altria owns marlboro) is buying into Cannabis because their cigarette sales are down, I think we should be cautious. In the last two years, major studies have been done that show communities and individuals are harmed by strong THC concentrates/vapes. Do you believe the CDC or tobacco companies? Let’s demand honesty from this business.
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