mailbag - July 5, 2002

To the mayor:

Are you trying to cause more congestion or just heighten the risk of

car accidents?

Was there not another possibility to control traffic without making it

a struggle for locals to drive home from the Downtown area?

I cannot envision one good reason for the new lights installed at

Broadway and Beach Street. I have already witnessed two near miss

accidents on Broadway and lower Cliff Drive.

You have endangered the tourists who don’t know where they are going

and increased the inconvenience of living near the Downtown area.

It’s unbelievable. Where did common sense go?

LYNN EPSTEIN

Laguna Beach

Good ol’ reliable Penny de Ford

This is our home delivery carrier for the Coastline Pilot as we on

upper Moss Street, Laguna Beach have become the forgotten ones for home

delivery by regular car and driver and thrower.

“Penny” de Ford is a very diligent and conscientious Black Golden

retriever as well as delivery girl for your much-prized publication.

Penny purloins her “catch of the day” from driveways, under bushes and

other obscure locations where the paper was previously thrown. Some

copies are wet, some moldy and others in pretty good, a little sun faded,

out datedcondition.

“Good Girl, Penny!”

This just proves that there is more than one way to get home delivery

of “All The News That’s Fit To Print.”

Keep up the very good work with your newly revised publication.

We can’t wait for our home delivery of Fridays.

ANNIE DE FORD

Laguna Beach

Not enough help from 911

I am disappointed with the way 911 handled my requests for information

during the recent fire in Laguna Canyon.

They couldn’t tell me how close, how big, if it was under control or

what, if anything, I should do to protect my family and my home, etc.

I’m very happy the fire was contained as quickly as it was, but I

would think that after what happened to us all in 1993, there would be

some plan in place to inform and direct residents that may be affected by

the fire.

I understand that emergency personnel are busy but designating one

person to help alleviate the fears of those of us who are still a bit

shaky from what happened last time would be a great public service.

PAULETTE CULLEN

Laguna Canyon

Thanks for the beautiful parks

My wife and I have been residents of Laguna Beach for more than 20

years. Four years ago we moved to North Laguna on Cliff Drive.

We face Heisler Park.

The city takes great pride in their parks and well they should.

Even after weekends, when hundreds of people spend all day Saturday

and Sunday there, the park is immaculate on Monday morning.

Periodic changing of plants and flowers provides a panorama of colors

and beauty for all to enjoy.

We wish to thank the city and all the park employees for their

dedicated service.

ALICE AND CARROLL BRYANT

Laguna Beach

There’s trickery afoot with new owner

My wife and I were recently in Rome and happened on a large street

fair.

Right in the middle of this unexpected look at Italian life I came

upon a “shell game.”

Yes sir, that 5,000-year-old con is still alive and well in Rome. I

even took pictures of it and was able to spot one of the shells.

Lots of money was changing hands faster than the con was able to palm

the little black ball. Now you see it, now you don’t.

When I read about the Treasure Island change in ownership, somehow the

shell game scenario came back to mind. Maybe it was the fact that the

president of Montage was a former vice president at the Bellagio in Las

Vegas, or that his liaison was named Snavely, as in Snavely Whiplash,

TV’s Rocky and Bullwinkle’s old nemesis.

With all these five-star hotels going in on the Orange County “gold

coast,” is a gambling casino under one of those shells? Does this new

Montage group have a hidden Indian background? Will we soon see a request

for a license to put in gambling in San Juan near the Mission? How about

in San Clemente by the pier or by the old theater on Coast Highway near

the train station?

San Clemente could get that Mission Viejo mayor to promote that venue

now that the Festival is off the table.

My pick is to reopen the casino on Catalina and shuttle all those big

business men out there so they can lose more of their stockholders’ money

in private.

What’s under those shells? Who’s doing the con and palming what little

black ball? Is Fuertsman really an ancient Arapaho name? Is Sheri

Butterfield behind the loss of our flood control project? Will Snavely

saw Rocky in half before Bullwinkle can rescue him?

JOE GIORDANO

Laguna Beach

Not sold on flood control turn down

Evidently the 76-degree ocean temperatures which we’re experiencing

indicate an “El Nino” condition. So we very likely can expect huge rains

later this year.

I didn’t take a position regarding the proposed storm drain until I

learned about the possible rains. Thus, I must disagree with all those

who oppose the project. When the City Council reversed itself and

canceled the drain, they allowed the merchants to choose sandbags over

sense. I certainly hope I don’t have to say, “I told you so.”

One thing is for sure, no matter what size our next rain is,

contaminants, including fertilizers, animal wastes, pesticides and auto

residues are accumulating on inland streets and yards waiting to be

washed into our ocean in runoff, and still we wait for something to be

done about the poisons.

Swimmers beware.

In a related matter, it will be interesting to see whether Gov. Davis

will sign Assembly Bill 1969, which would require the clean up of the 240

million gallons of sewage Orange County dumps in the ocean each day.

After reading the Laguna Beach County Water District Water Quality

Report, which I received the other day, I wondered if perhaps we didn’t

need an Erin Brockovich investigating just what this report means and, in

particular, how the Environmental Protection Agency arrived at what safe

levels of contaminants are?

Their chart shows our water contains four radiological, 16 chemicals

and eight other minerals etc., none of which sound edible to me. No

wonder so many people I know drink bottled water. I wonder how much of

these contaminants is carried over into the food we eat from agricultural

watering, and are they even more concentrated in our food supply?

ANDY WING

Laguna Beach