The decent thing is to resign

I don’t want to assume that you know all of the bad examples that our

leaders are setting for our kids, so here’s a brief recap:

Responding to a proposal to expand the grassy areas on Newport

Beach beaches, City Councilman Dick Nichols told the Daily Pilot,

“With grass, we usually get Mexicans coming in there early in the

morning, and they claim it as theirs, and it becomes their personal,

private ground all day.”

My take: Nichols has way too much time on his hands. How else can

one explain how he has time to check the identities of everyone

spending the day on the grass at the beaches of Newport?

It’s really remarkable when you think about it. Perhaps Nichols

has missed his calling and should be conducting time management

seminars and selling time management books and tapes.

Or maybe Nichols was born with “Mexdar” and he doesn’t need to

check identifications. He has a sixth sense.

Nichols claims that a) his comments were taken out of context; and

b) he was just “being honest.”

Well, let me say this about that. Unless he was quoting someone,

his comments were not taken out of context.

And since he was just “being honest,” and everyone likes being

honest, I’d like to be honest, too: Nichols should not be a member of

the Newport Beach City Council. There is a big difference between

being honest and being out of touch.

Nichols is out of touch. In a county that hatched John Schmitz,

that finally got rid of ex-Congressman Bob Dornan and is only now

being thought of as something other than a haven for rich white

Republicans, Nichols has set the clock back about 10 years.

And just who are these people Nichols claims are planting flags

and claiming the land for their king? They’re your friends and

neighbors. These are the people whose children go to school with your

children, even at -- gasp! -- Newport Harbor High School. They’re the

people whose children play soccer and baseball with yours, whose

children have the same hopes and dreams as yours and who are decent,

law-abiding people, just like you and your children.

Oh, and by the way, one of these “Mexicans” just bought the

Anaheim Angels from Disney.

For Nichols, however, none of that matters. What really matters is

the color of their skin, and if it isn’t pasty white, they’re

Mexican. Or “oriental,” or black, or something. All he seems to know

or care about is that they aren’t white and therefore, they don’t

belong on his beaches.

Isn’t that it, Nichols? I mean, as long as we’re being honest --

and how refreshing this is -- isn’t that really what you meant?

But why stop at claiming they’re Mexican? Maybe they’re gay, too.

Maybe these people are Democrats. Maybe they’re Muslim. And maybe,

just maybe, they’re from another planet. When you think about it,

maybe Nichols is on to something. Maybe the grassy areas of Newport

are overrun with gay democratic Muslim Mexicans from Mars who are

trying to colonize Earth.

Well, I’ve got my own bone to pick. Here’s what I’ve noticed: I’ve

noticed that during the rush hour, the cars on the freeway are filled

with Americans. I mean, it’s despicable. These darn Americans take to

the streets and claim our highways as their own personal, private

roadways.

Then there are our business leaders. I’ve noticed that they’re

Americans, too, and they are claiming our pension funds as their own

personal, private piggy banks.

How about those Americans in the California legislature? Those

Americans are set to triple -- triple, I say! -- the car tax in this

state simply because they squandered a multibillion dollar surplus

and can’t manage our money, which they’ve claimed as their personal,

private pork barrel.

About 10 days ago, I had the pleasure of hearing radio talk show

host Dennis Prager give a speech about ethics. I’ve heard Prager

offer some of the same comments on his program, but in the context of

the evening, an event at the Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach that

honored ethics in business, they were gems.

Prager quoted author Victor Frankel, who was in a German

concentration camp during World War II and lost his family to the

Nazi gas chambers.

After the war, Frankel was asked if he hated the German race.

Frankel’s reply was that he did not look at race. To him, the world

is divided into two types of people, the decent and the indecent, and

that both types appeared in every segment of every population all

over the world.

And of trying the find the answer to why they were sent to

concentration camps, Frankel wrote: “Our answer must consist not in

talk and medication, but in right action and in right conduct. Life

ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer

to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for

each individual.”

Nichols, be a decent person and distance yourself from your

indecent comments. Do the right action, take the responsibility and

set an example for our children that is sorely needed: Please resign

Monday morning.

Thank you.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.