Mailbag - Nov. 4, 2000

According to the Daily Pilot, Costa Mesa police have sent letters to

four businesses accusing them of being “fronts” for prostitution.

Ah yes, the ages old debate about morals and what has been called the

world’s oldest profession.

Growing up in the Newport-Mesa area, I have been told about and seen

these “fronts” come and go. I am sure most of us have. But prostitution

is here to stay, in whatever form it presents itself.

This business that the Daily Pilot reports on is not going to go away

nor will the ads in the Yellow Pages for escorts or modeling agencies. I

believe we should regulate and tax such businesses in a way that provides

a safe and rewarding experience for clients, while addressing the

concerns of neighbors in a prudent way.

The police should expend their energy and enhance their policies

regarding victim crime, theft, domestic abuse, gang shootings and, very

importantly, white-collar crime.

PAUL JAMES BALDWIN

Newport Beach

Closure of Buzz can be justified

If an establishment refuses to act responsibly in relation to its

neighborhood, it deserves to be shut down.

When the Corona Cafe was in existence, from Thursday through Saturday

our lives were miserable.

Its replacement, Bandera’s, is at least as popular, but because it is

more compatible, the impact on those of us nearby is not nearly the same.

NANCY GARDNERNewport Beach

Involvement, not charter schools is the best answer

The problems that I’ve got with charter schools is that financially

the school’s need help. Also, parent involvement needs to be there, and

charter schools to me are nothing more than just a way of people being

able to avoid having to get involved in their schools.

To get involved in a school and to help a school is more important

than trying to create another problem. Let’s fix all the schools that we

have now and make them better, and our students will do better.

If the parents would step up to the plate and get involved, instead of

just wanting to drop them off and pick them up, we’d probably find our

system 100% better.

PAUL DAVIS

Newport Beach

Tolerance doesn’t apply to everything, does it?

Steve Smith, I want you to tell me that you don’t tolerate pedophiles

and women abusers and murderers and thieves and such as the like.

Please, please, call me up and tell me that you don’t tolerate people

that beat up old men and women and throw them out on the streets, and

that you don’t tolerate hunger in children and all this type of stuff.

Steve, I invite you to read the Bible. And I invite you, before you

read the Bible, to ask God to read it with you and perhaps you’ll gain a

new insight.

I hope you don’t tolerate any of those things that I talked about.

JIM SANDERSON

Costa Mesa