FROM THE OTHER SIDE

AT ISSUE: South County readers react to Bonnie O’Neil’s pro-El Toro

column (“Initiative plan isn’t what South County says it is,” Nov. 13).

If residents of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa want to stop the expansion

of John Wayne Airport, they should fight that issue on its own. Don’t

pass on an airport problem to your neighbors if you cannot accept that

problem in your own neighborhood. “Do unto others as you would have done

to yourself.” We all want a nice home to raise a family. An airport near

homes just doesn’t mix; not at El Toro or John Wayne. No matter how much

it is wished upon, El Toro will never be the best site for an airport.

Let’s join forces, stop all airports near residential zones, and look for

a site we can all be happy with for years to come. Don’t be fooled into

thinking there will be no homes or schools affected by El Toro. I live 1

1/2 miles away from the north runway and there are four schools less than

a half-mile away from our home.

CYNDIE SOO

Irvine

Bonnie O’Neil’s rant in your Nov. 13 edition is a disgrace to your paper

and journalists everywhere. The Safe and Healthy Communities Initiative,

of which she is so terrified, will indeed protect Newport Beach from

expansion at John Wayne. Only the county can opt for expansion and the

initiative will force this to a vote, which a two-thirds majority of

county voters will have to approve before any changes can be made. Is it

O’Neil’s fear that they have enraged so many voters over their shabby

treatment of the affected cities around El Toro that these cities will

vindictively force expansion on John Wayne Airport? Maybe, but the fact

remains that most of us in South Orange County sympathize with her plight

and feel that John Wayne’s current capacity is more than adequate to

serve us into the future. Statistics also seem to validate this

assumption. The wheels are coming off the county’s plans to rape the

south and your only protection lies within the Safe and Healthy

Communities Initiative. Though it will mean the loss of a big payday for

your cronies, it is what’s best for all concerned.

DON DUCA

Laguna Niguel

Besides the fact that Bonnie O’Neil is hopelessly biased and ill-informed

on the El Toro issue, why should any newspaper accept only one-sided

arguments on anything? Do you people have any journalistic integrity at

all? How about a regular rebuttal column? This is a disgrace to the news

business.

RICHARD SODEN

Lake Forest