Letter to the Editor -- Steven Paul

Let’s not let one -- let’s say bad apple -- spoil the whole cart. I

think it’s wrong to impose new laws and stricter coding for the situation

(“Rodman’s case for noise falls on deaf ears in Newport,” May 23).

Newport’s always been a tourist place ever since way back when my

grandfather first came there and got one of the first three lots on

Balboa Island. People have to understand that this was always the place

to go for fireworks on the Fourth of July when they were legal. I

remember as a child, bottlerockets all over the place, all around the

island, into the bay. It used to be a lot of fun.

It’s become really strict because of certain individuals -- like

Rodman -- who have ruined it for everyone else and made it unsafe and

made it kind of an unhappy place now. It’s always been a big family kind

of a town. It used to be just probably 25% of the people who actually

live here year-round. Now, it’s grown nearly 100% because of the value of

the homes and the inability for people to actually use a

million-and-a-half-dollar home as a guest house.

Let’s not let Rodman ruin it for all of us. He is a separate

individual who needs to be dealt with in a separate way. He’s a big star;

he was a very good basketball player. He is kind of a bad boy, very much

so; that’s his image. That’s too bad.

If there’s no drugs and nothing else other than just a loud party

atmosphere, then let’s deal with it in that kind of a way. Let’s keep

drugs and juvenile drinking out of our town, and if he’s adding to that,

let’s get him out of our town.

If he’s not, let’s just deal with it and see what we can do about

calming him down or asking him to move to a place where maybe it’s a

little bit less of an annoyance -- like out in the middle of the Sahara

Desert.

But don’t impose stricter things for those of us that are just

constantly having a job and family life and maybe have one little party,

and then we may be subject to these strict rules and codes.

STEVEN PAUL

Newport Beach