Mailbag - April 1, 2000
I am an 80-year-old English woman raised in the Church of England, now
Episcopalian Christian. I lived through the horrendous World War II in
England. I drove an ambulance in the emergency medical corps. We were
sent to the south of England to pick up Jewish survivors of the Holocaust
and take them to hospitals around England. What I saw shocked and
distressed me and for a moment I was unable to move. Then I rushed with
tears streaming to this poor soul who was skin and bones. I think he was
a young boy, it was difficult to tell, I held him in my arms and he clung
to me and would not let go, even when the stretcher board arrived to put
him in the ambulance. I drove him to the hospital; I did not see him
again. Never will I forget how he tried to smile or how easy it was to
pick him up.
I cannot ask God to forgive the evils that the Nazis committed. I try
to remember words that I was taught -- vengeance is mine said the Lord.
So do not try to change history and do not tell me there was no
Holocaust. I was there!
If both Christian and Jewish people will pass down the truths, as I
have to my daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter, then the
others who dispute history will find all their efforts futile.
GWEN GREATOREX
Newport Beach
You are what you eat
I was overcome with a deep sense of joy as I read “First-graders: how
to eat lunch,” March 28. The article was crowned with a portrait of a
precious first-grade girl adding ketchup to her cheeseburger during
lunchtime at Kaiser Primary Center.
Innocent enough, it seems. But I am baffled. Knowing as much as we do
today about saturated and trans fats, high sugar and salt diets and their
detrimental effect upon our health, why are we so unwilling to cut the
umbilical cord of the 1950s? Hurray for the salads, yogurt, fruit, baby
carrots and the chicken tostada. Even bean and cheese burritos can have
nutritional value. But strawberry or chocolate milk, honey roasted
peanuts, frozen juice bars, grilled cheese sandwiches, barbecue beef
ribs, pepperoni pizza, cheeseburgers?
American children were prescribed antidepressants -- i.e. Prozac --
1,664,000 times in 1998. Thousands more are on Ritalin for so-called
“behavioral disorders.” Child obesity and its corresponding health
problems, heart disease, diabetes, etc. continue to rise. The computer
society has a mantra: “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Do we expect anything less for our children and the intricate human
machine?
This is the new millennium. We can do better.
DR. CHERYL J. KETNER
Newport Beach
Only federal law can stop John Wayne growth
I haven’t seen the new math nowadays, but a 20-year extension on the
John Wayne Airport agreement that expires in 2005 puts the new expiration
date in 2025, not 2020 as reported in the papers. However, if El Toro is
permanently not going to be an airport, then the John Wayne cap agreement
should also become permanent. There is currently federal legislation
being crafted to create a permanent cap on John Wayne. Hopefully Tom
Edwards and the cities of both Newport Beach and Irvine are working with
the local congressmen toward this goal. That way, when future generations
in Orange County want to expand John Wayne to preserve their lifestyles
at the expense of others, it will take an act of Congress.
MARK BURY
Newport Beach
Streets, too, need improvements
We read that the city of Costa Mesa is funding repairs for the San
Diego (405) and Costa Mesa (55) freeways. We are upset that the city does
not consider major repairs and resurfacing of our city streets to be a
priority. Placentia Avenue, Fairview Road and Baker Street -- to name
just a few -- are in deplorable condition.
I can’t understand why there is not more of a complaining hue and cry
from our city travelers. These streets are hazardous! Are they waiting
for a vehicle to fall in a hole before there is something done about it?
SIDNEY TRIGHER
Costa Mesa
City is anti-business in cutting back Dunes project
The decision of the Newport Beach Planning Commissioners to
drastically cut back on the proposed Newport Dunes resort is just the
latest example of the anti-business attitude of the City Council.
We are a resort town, and this resort will bring in money-spending
visitors and $1.4 million in city revenue. How many times do we get to
shoot ourselves in the foot before we shoot the foot off?
GRANVILLE KIRKUP
Balboa Peninsula
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