By Robert Sepulvado

May the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ guide us in our relationships to one another.

I start this column out in this manner as a sincere desire to address the issues which I will bring forward in a Christian manner. By its very nature, an editorial is an opinion based on perception. Perception is more important than truth to most of us, however, we should always be ready to change our perception if we are presented with facts that show that our perception is flawed.

This country was founded on Christian principles and was guided by the Bible. If you go into a lawyer’s office, you will most often find at least one wall full of books on law. This, however, is not enough information so they have available a law library for reference. If you were to reference something in this vast amount of writing, you would also be obligated to check to make sure that it is current that is to say that it has not changed since it was put into binder. I purpose to you that all the information in all these books is contained in the Bible which has never changed. I am going to proceed under the assumption that this is true.

I say all this to say that I stand ready to be corrected if someone has a difference of opinion that can be backed up with facts. It is my intention to write several columns to highlight issues in which I believe injustices have occurred and need to be corrected. Most of these have to do with city government, which I believe has gotten out of hand because we the people have allowed it. We the people can change it if we so desire by addressing these issues to our city officials.

It is my opinion that elected officials have too often forgotten who serves who. They have at times become dictators who believe that their wisdom far exceeds that of the people that they serve. They make decisions based on their own beliefs or are influenced to a great extent by the lawyers they hire as a reference. The only time that they want the help of the people is when they need to pay for their decisions that have gone wrong. All of a sudden, these people become very important.

Realizing that we do not live in a perfect world, I would hope that this exercise could be used to not only correct past mistakes, but to insure that future decisions would be the will of the people. Future more, I hold the belief that the will of the people is the more important function of the government. Their only function is to do is the will of the people.

The original driving force behind my writing these columns were to correct injustices done by the city council of West Orange. There exists a more urgent need in the City of Orange which I feel needs to be brought to the attention of the public before it is too late to reverse it: this being the purchase of the bank on 16^th Street.

The Editor has asked me to limit my letters to between 500 and 750 words and to talk about this proposed purchase will take a sizable amount of room, I choose to devote the first letter after this introductory column to that topic. I would welcome comments both for and against this proposal in order that I might present a fair case for the public to consider in this matter. I would prefer to have an intelligent discussion rather than a passionate debate about all issues as I feel that this is a more productive way to reach a decision.

I honestly feel that we have good people who will reach good decisions if they understand the will of the people and all associated facts that are a necessary part of any good decision.

I am now close to 700 words; therefore I would like to give you my email address for your comments. Please note that I may print your emails and attach them to documentation which may be presented to the appropriate person for consideration. Please be kind and be gentle and most of all factual. Let’s work together to make our area a better place to live. My email is rmsepulvado@yahoo.com. Thank you for your interest in our community.