Molly Graece’s letter (“Let’s all do our part and clean up Auburn”, Auburn Reporter, Sept. 27) prompts this letter, but this is directed at the Reporter itself.

Several years ago I represented a person who literally lost her home due to City fines for not mowing her yard. She had suffered a debilitating disease, leaving her bed ridden for months, unable to even answer her phone.

In my opinion, an un-mowed yard does not a slum make.

The inference by proximity in Ms. Graece’s letter then is that Mexican mercados, i.e. Mexican merchants, do create a slum. Such a reference is designed to distinguish a group of people by race and then to subject them to general outrage by the community. While I defend Ms. Graece’s right to think what she might, I find the inclusion of it in our newspaper to be similar rubbish.

– John Torres