MAILBAG - June 22, 2000

Whale bones at the beach? In my over 30 years living in Huntington Beach,

I do not recall any whales in the area. I never heard of any whales even

beaching themselves here. What next -- sea otters, walrus, polar

bears?Elephants in a Fourth of July parade? What do elephants have to do

with a celebration of our independence?

I think [Councilwoman] Shirley Dettloff and other members of the City

Council need to get out of their stuffy chamber -- take a walk on the

pier and breathe some fresh sea air. Their ideas are becoming more

bizarre every day.

Certainly there are better ways to spend our tax dollars, like fixing our

infrastructure.

Yes on library computer filters

When I participated in Youth in Government Day in 1998, we debated and

voted on the topic of the validity of filtering the library computers.

I was lucky enough to sit on the City Council for the day, taking the

place of one of the council members. I was surprisingly completely shut

down by the other student city council members and found myself to be the

only one in favor of installing the filter devices on the library’s

computers.

My thoughts were exactly the same then as what City Administrator [Ray]

Silver said recently. I believe that since we don’t offer access to

pornographic paraphernalia inside the library, a person shouldn’t be able

to stroll in and access it on one of our computers where other

unsuspecting people may be within eyeshot.

What people do in the privacy of their own homes is one thing, but when

they bring it into our libraries, and we do nothing to stop them, it’s

not a good thing.

Motor home owners need to store them right

We have a very large motorhome [in Fountain Valley] and feel it is

important to pay for the storage to park it off-site.

We pay $75 per month to store it, and it angers me, particularly as a

motorhome owner and mother, that people won’t pay to store them.

The emergency vehicle argument isn’t a good one. If, and when, an

emergency occurs, you can go get your motorhome and bring it back.

I believe the justification that people should park their motorhome in

front of their house on the off chance an emergency may occur does not

outweigh the danger these large vehicles pose to children and drivers.

We often pull our motorhome out of storage the day before we need it and

park it in front of our house. I feel this is acceptable, and I believe

our neighbors realize we are going on a trip or doing work to the

motorhome and won’t leave it there indefinitely.

With a 5-year-old at home, we have made the responsible decision to store

our motorhome elsewhere and pay for this service.

If you can afford a motorhome, I feel you can afford to store it. Stop

hiding behind the emergency vehicle argument, people see right through

it.