Mailbag - July 4, 2002

Helicopters are a nuisance -- not an aid

While the Independent had a really nice article about the new police

helicopter fleet in Huntington Beach (“A higher power,” June 27), I feel,

in the interest of good journalism, perhaps you should report on the

other side of the story.

Huntington Beach is the eighth safest city in the United States,

according to a recent report. Perhaps it is due to the helicopter fleet,

perhaps not.

I moved into the city last August, glad to be in a very safe

community. As a person who lives near Warner Avenue and Bolsa Chica

Street, in the new Summerlane development, I have to question why this

city needs three helicopters.

In particular, I have to wonder why every evening between 10:30 and

11:30 p.m a helicopter is flying low over my neighborhood. Correction, I

know why it is flying low, the fog bank is rolling in.

We all question why the helicopter is making rounds every night for

about 15 minutes, that late at night.

For a two-minute run across town, why are they hovering 15 to 20

minutes over this residential area? We aren’t getting any disturbances

from the Naval Weapons Center, the beach is a mile away and Bolsa Chica

Preserve is between us and the beach, the area largely residential.

People are in bed, their children safely tucked in, and the windows

and roofs are shaking, the noise in our second-floor bedroom is enough to

wake my nearly deaf grandmother. We have double-paned windows that reduce

noise and it wakes us up. What about all the people in the nearby

neighborhoods who don’t have that luxury? People have to get up early in

the morning to goto work. Even for the Long Beach Airport there is a

noise curfew. Those helicopters are definitely not quiet, contrary to

your article.

How about an article asking the police to restrict the helicopter

flights over residential areas to emergencies only after 9 p.m. so the

residents can get some well deserved sleep?

MARY FAIRFIELD

Huntington Beach

The EPA should demand full sewage treatment

The Environmental Protection Agency should demand that the Orange

County Sanitation District drop the waiver and go to full secondary

treatment of their sewage. Chlorination works better on full secondary as

does, ultra violate light, micro-filtration and all the advanced

treatment which will be coming down the pike.

The sanitation district must comply with the Clean Water Act, which

means chlorination with the waiver is not an alternative.

Chlorination is a bandage approach to the serious problem we have with

the pollution in the ocean.

Full secondary removes 99.5% of the bacteria.

What the sanitation district is doing now with their advanced primary

is removing 50% of the bacteria.

This should no longer be permitted.

The EPA should have them disinfect, preferably using ultra violate

light, until they get to full secondary. Full secondary may take three

years if they start now.

EILEEN MURPHY

Huntington Beach

Of course the Orange County Sanitation District must be accountable

for keeping the ocean clean. Even a common alley cat buries its mess. Who

are the people who oppose financing the sewage treatment?

Surely not the businesses Downtown who depend on beach dollars. Surely

not the families whose kids surf, swim participate in junior guards all

summer. Surely not those of us who enjoy a fish dinner and certainly not

any person who flushes a toilet in Orange County.

We are all responsible for our sewage and whatever it costs we must

clean it up now. If it isn’t the primary source of beach pollution now,

it soon will be. Must we wait for a tsunami of waste to hit us in the

face?

DOROTHY VAN EIMEREN

Huntington Beach