MAILBAG - April 4, 2000

Kudos to City Councilwoman Norma Glover, who said at the last council

meeting that perhaps the city should look at the possibility of living

within it’s budget and not planning on having more money from new

developments in the future.

New developments such as the Newport Dunes Hotel do bring in extra

dollars for the city budget, but a high cost to existing residents. I

think most of us would opt for a leaner budget instead of more traffic,

more density and more people in our city.

SUSAN SKINNER

Newport Beach

Community feels the loss of Hirsch

The passing of Newport Beach’s Clement Hirsch is a loss of enormous

magnitude in the life of the Orange County community. Clement Hirsch was

a giant.

There are few men of such kind and serious dignity who pass through

one’s acquaintance and have such an impressive impact. Clement Hirsch was

a gentleman of enormous proportion. He was among Orange County’s finest

citizens. In the decades that I had the privilege to know Clement

Hirsch, I experienced an extraordinary gentleman who extended the

courtesy of courtly and intelligent personal interest to so many who were

hardly his peer, but were each taken by his kindness. He made those of us

of far less stature and accomplishment feel important.

Clement Hirsch was a businessman of significant achievement. He was a

husband, father and grandfather of tremendous devotion. He was a friend

of the great and the unaccomplished. He treated people, both mighty and

humble, with a wonderful equality.

I will long recall the day Clement Hirsch introduced me to the

legendary Willie Shoemaker at Santa Anita. The great jockeyextended a

warm hand of welcome and courtesy. How good that felt to be with Clement

Hirsch, who everyone at the track esteemed and admired.

Clement Hirsch was a man’s man. He liked a good drink and a good

cigar. He enjoyed a good joke. He knew a good horse. He was a natural

with people. He made you feel welcome in his home and in any social

setting.

Clement Hirsch was wise, charming, dashing, energetic and intelligent.

He didn’t suffer fools, but he was good to young people and to those far

less fortunate than himself. He knew his mind and he was not afraid to

express it with candor and conviction. He knew money and he knew its

place. He was rich because of the love of his family, far beyond the

great fortune he so well earned.

Count Clement Hirsch among American patriots. He loved this nation and

he was devoted to Orange County. Count him among the good men who have

built what is good in our community.

Someplace up there today, is a relaxed conversation of old friends

like Jimmy Durante, John Wayne and General Tom Riley. Heaven is a better

place today. Clement Hirsch is there.

THOMAS A. FUENTES

Chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County

Keep old theater open, and clean it

Regarding your recent article on the Edwards Theater near Harbor and

Adams (“Curtain closing on city’s old theater,” March 28), it is a great,

large auditorium and should be a wonderful place to see premier movies.

We live nearby, but will not go there because the facility is dirty (the

restrooms are too filthy to use) and is in a horrible state of disrepair.

The Edwards family is notorious in the community for their lack of

maintenance of their theaters. They build fancy new places, but do not

care about the older ones. Yes, I’ve complained to their operations

manager (and they did send free tickets), but nothing changed.

If Disneyland can be neat and clean, why not Edwards Theaters?

DALE BRAUN

Costa Mesa

Lawsuits keep the legal system going

At the mere mention of litigation, the lawsuit-rednecks come out of

the woodwork with the same tired, old, pointless points. Heaven knew we’d

hear from Steve Smith (“Loss of child is painful, but so is lawsuit,”

Jan. 29).

We should fear a society that has too few lawsuits, than too many.

Lawsuits are an important part of the checks and balances that cause our

system to be near perfect.

If a lawsuit is frivolous, the courts will recognize it with little or

no input from a newspaper columnist. Why is that so difficult to

comprehend?

Vickie Bridgman saying that litigation is often the only way to get at

the truth is a powerful message (“Parent who lost child speaks out

against condemnation of wrongful death lawsuit,” March 28).

Who among us has not had a legitimate concern about some legal matters

and been talked down to, or treated as if we weren’t involved, by some

court or law enforcement official? One need not have lost a child, as the

Bridgmans have, to understand her thinking.

Then there is always the goofy argument that the whole motive is

“money.” So what. Everything else in life seems to be about money, why

are we so ready to treat someone as morally inferior if our motive is

money. Furthermore, why can’t someone have more than one motive for

filing a lawsuit. Monetary assessments are a powerful deterrent to crime,

or should be. (Dennis Rodman being fined $1,000 not withstanding.) GARY

DRIES

Costa Mesa