MAILBAG - Nov. 13, 1999

I read your article dated Oct. 28 (“Bewitching our children into

reading,” by Steve Marble). I was delighted to read the beginning of your

column, feeling happy that your words on the front page would enlighten

other parents about the dark side of “Harry Potter.” Why would any parent

want their child to read about beatings, abuse, neglect, casting spells

and darkness when there are so many wonderful written words out there?

Do we not have enough real atrocities in our world that we should rave

about infiltrating more negatively into our children’s minds?

What “Harry Potter” is really doing is sending subliminal messages to our

children about becoming witches and warlocks.

The side note about not sending “mean” messages to their Web site really

scared me and I even hesitated to write this to you. These folks would

love to have our children join their dark forces. Have you ever heard of

the Wicca religion?

It is a reality and I personally do not want my children exposed to their

beliefs. I am raising my children with Christian beliefs and do not worry

so much about them. It is the children with no beliefs, no foundations

laid at home that I am concerned about. It is a much wider issue. My

fears are for those unfortunate youngsters without any foundations who

will fall into the realm of darkness. These children are easy prey for

these dark cults. They are the prime target.

Let us not be fooled by fantasy and freedom of speech. This is a very

dangerous place for our children to go. Let us all work toward bringing

our future generation of leaders into wholesome, healthy and right

living. There is so much violence that they are already exposed to that

my daughter wishes to be taught at home for fear of being gunned down. I

would hope writers could have more positive things to fantasize about.

Thank you for taking this in a positive vein.

SUSAN PROSTOR

Newport Beach

Sports coverage was biased

I am writing to you again after many years. I am in total disgust. It has

been many years since we have subscribed to your newspaper and never will

again because of your total bias.Today (Oct. 27), I was anxious to read

how you reported Newport Harbor High School’s four fabulous wins in

girls’ tennis, boys’ water polo, girls’ volleyball and girls’ golf. I

found it most disturbing that you would print the girls’ field hockey

team’s first loss on the front page of the Sports section and the four

other winning teams on the inside pages. I cannot believe that you would

consider putting a loss before a win. I do not find this out of character

for the Daily Pilot. Our daughter and sons played tennis and water polo

for Newport in the 1970s. If Newport Harbor won in any sport, they were

almost totally ignored, or they might get very small print in the inside

of the section. Corona del Mar always got top billing. Newport won a few

but never received the print it deserved. Congratulations Newport Harbor

High on your wins. As I see it, some things never change, and never will.

BETTY DAVIES

Newport Beach

Eating disorders not contagious diseases

Perhaps the next time we have an outbreak of head lice at one of our

elementary schools, we should just advise all parents to remove their

children from the school and close it down (“Second thoughts,” Sept. 27)

This would be consistent with Tony Dodero’s opinion of what to do if a

few students reportedly suffer from an eating disorder -- to quote

Dodero, “One parent was paying attention (to an article on teenage eating

disorders in the Aug. 28 Daily Pilot) ... she took her children out of

Corona del Mar High School.”

It would appear that Dodero concludes that this will solve the parent’s

concern over eating disorders. Have you studied the disease? Do you know

the relationship of cause and effect? You don’t get it at school and it’s

not contagious. Taking a child out of a school will not preclude her from

contracting an eating disorder -- eating disorders are complex

sociological, psychological and medical issues. Family discord has long

been considered an important risk factor. Highly trained counselors,

psychologists ad psychiatrists typically treat eating disorders. Perhaps

Parent X would be better off examining her relationship with her

children. Dodero notices the absence of a public display of concern by

school and district officials. He never thought to talk to someone at

Corona del Mar High School to find out why we do not discuss this issue

publicly or why we do not reveal the number of students we are helping

with their personal and/or emotional problems. The Rights of Privacy Act

and the Education Code of the state of California prohibit school

personnel from discussing confidential matters with the press or public.

Is the school district concerned with the health and welfare of our

children? Of course we are. Schools do more for families and children

than any other institutions in our society. We care about our students

and their welfare, but we cannot violate the confidentiality of our

students. The answer lies in educating our society about the causes of

this disease, not in removing students from their schools in the hope

that they won’t be tainted by exposure to societal problems. Schools do

not create society’s ills, they combat them. It takes a whole village to

raise a child -- it also takes a whole society to create the pressures

which lead to emotional diseases. On second thought, maybe you need to

conduct some research before you write.

DR. DONALD K. MARTINPrincipal, Corona del Mar High School

El Toro matters when election rolls around

Anyone who is not strongly in favor of turning El Toro into a commercial

airport is someone who I would do everything I can to take off of the

council or make sure they are not reelected (“Residents fume over lack of

action,” Nov. 4). Anyone in favor of having El Toro converted and

therefore prevent the expansion of John Wayne Airport will be someone for

whom I will do everything I can, including contributing money and time,

to get them elected. I think it is rather appalling that the council

members of Costa Mesa have let the West Side of Costa Mesa deteriorate

because of absentee landlords and nonenforcement of housing laws. Now we

have the threat of an expanded Orange County airport totally destroying

the East Side of Costa Mesa, which is where many of the people from the

West Side have migrated. It will be shocking then that both sides of the

city, for different reasons, will have their lifestyles completely

destroyed. You can revitalize the West Side by tearing down all of the

structures and stores and so on. But with the airport, once the expansion

starts, there is no way to revitalize the area because of the noise and

pollution. The number of flights will totally ruin the environment and

everyone’s living conditions in the area.

ROBERT ZIMMER

Orange County