Mailbag - Aug. 14, 2001

Animal ordinance would be sane choice

Leave it to Chris Steel to make defamatory remarks concerning the wild

animal ordinance that he so clearly opposed and obviously doesn’t

understand (“Animal exhibits face new scrutiny,” Aug. 5). One shouldn’t

expect otherwise from a man who is under criminal investigation and has

publicly made less than tactful statements about certain “classes” of

people living in his city.

Can Steel explain how this ordinance would add to the Police

Department’s burden? Can he think at all? If anything, this ordinance

would alleviate the burden of the Police Department if or when the

seemingly docile elephant giving rides or parading in the circus decides

to run amok. Yes, this happens.

Forget about the moral and ethical concerns regarding wild animal

exhibits. Steel could not possibly comprehend anything of the sort. For

the rest of us, capturing wild animals from their native lands, beating

them into submission and toting them around in boxcars 50 weeks a year to

perform stupid tricks for our amusement is abominable. But to Steel, this

does not compute.

J.E. KELLER

Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa councilmen on right track

It might be simple to accuse the Costa Mesa City Council of being

dysfunctional (What’s Up?, “True problems beginning to show at City

Hall,” Saturday). Just look at the record, but is that what columnist

Steve Smith was suggesting when he called upon his friend Norm Fricker to

help him analyze current council actions?

Perhaps contacting the source and simply asking Councilmen Chris Steel

and Gary Monahan what they were thinking when they “floated” their effort

to add two additional council members and offer a plebiscite for an

“elected mayor” may have yielded better results.

Proportional representation, being a city of more than 100,000 and

having a chief executive that has been duly elected to lead the community

with an open agenda may have been on some council members’ minds. If

Steel and Monahan didn’t elucidate these concerns to their constituents

or fully explain the issues to other council members, surely they can be

faulted. However, responsive government during times of growth can be

quite contentious to the prevailing order of things and sometimes

difficult to explain diplomatically, even if the changes are needed.

So in the words of Robert Redford to Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and

the Sundance Kid,” let’s say to council members Steel and Monahan, as

well as Steve Smith and Norm Fricker, “Just keep thinking, Butch; that’s

what you do good!”

RON WINSHIP

Newport Beach

Landlord rule would go after wrong people

At a time when I seriously question all politicians’ abilities to

govern themselves and obey the laws they created, let alone govern their

own constituency, I read where the Costa Mesa City Council wanted to

order landlords to evict tenants who commit drug- or gang-related

offenses (“Council begins study of crime eviction program,” July 10).

I wonder if by “gang” they are also referring to members of labor

unions, Legionaries or a bicycle club. And by “drugs,” I wonder if they

include alcohol-related offenses such as DUIs or the abuse of

prescription medication, such as mommy’s Xanax or diet pills?

Councilman Chris Steel supports the eviction law (you know, the guy

who’s facing felony charges of perjury and election violations). I wonder

what Steel thinks about a law that deports crooked politicians?

J. SCOTT DAVID

Newport Beach