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