Bring back the lighted flag We are...

Bring back the lighted flag

We are extremely disappointed to see that the beautiful projection

of the American Flag on the hillside across from [seven-degrees]

studios in the canyon has been turned off.

We inquired of the management at [seven-degrees] why they were no

longer presenting this beautiful and patriotic display and were told

that the city had made them turn it off.

We are dismayed if not infuriated. Here we are at war on many

fronts, losing people every day and the city denies these people the

right of free speech. It seems that this was a bureaucratic decision

by the city and not a City Council direction. We hope that the City

Council will take immediate action to demand that the city

bureaucrats allow these patriots to once again project the flag onto

the hillside.

Even those residents who are not patriots but who often are

concerned with the “Village Entrance” beautification etc. should

demand that the right to display the flag be restored.

Unfortunately, you can only see it at night, but how beautiful

it is for our residents and guests to it see shining on that

hillside as they enter or leave the city.

Here we are at the beginning of the tourist season when all the

people visiting the city and the art festival could see it, and its

off.

Everyone should encourage the City Council to take immediate

action to reverse this city action that prohibits the right of free

speech, especially patriotic free speech.

DAVE CONNELL

Past Commander

American Legion Post 222

Show of concern for those who serve

At the Memorial Day services conducted at Heisler Park (May 26), a

Marine firing team from Camp Pendleton participated with 10

volunteers.

As always, it has been our policy for one or more of our

Legionnaires to take these Marines to a local restaurant for lunch

after the ceremony. This year when it came time to pay the bill, the

restaurant manager told the hosting Legionnaire that a customer had

already paid the bill. As if this was not rewarding enough, we were

told two other customers came up and wanted to pay the bill. These

people probably hadn’t even seen the ceremony, but expressed

gratitude for the outstanding performance of Marines everywhere. We

also received a $100 donation from the exhibitors at the Laguna

Sawdust Festival, in honor of Memorial Day.

Finally as the Veterans Flag Team was taking down the 100 U.S.

Flags that they had posted along Laguna’s streets on Flag Day

(June 14), an unidentified woman stopped a Legionnaire and said she

wanted to make a donation in memory of her father, a WWII veteran.

She and her husband donated a $100 bill. All service personnel and

veterans should be happy to know that their service to their country

is appreciated by most of the citizens.

RICHARD L. MOORE

Commander,

American Legion Post 222

Shame on protesters for graphic display

Something happened today in Laguna Beach that has me very upset.

It started out very normal -- preschool drop off, numerous errands,

nap for my toddler and dinner preparation. The kids, my four-year-old

daughter and 20-month-old son, had been patiently getting through all

of my tasks in the summer heat in such good spirits that I decided to

round off our day with a drive down coast highway to see the water

and people playing at the beach.

We were on our way home when we hit the beginnings of peak hour

traffic in Laguna Beach and we inched our way through for quite some

time. I was trying to keep my kids amused with songs and pointing out

the various goings on of a busy coastal community when I noticed that

the intersection ahead of us had it’s usual quota of protesters. This

spot is a favorite with protesters because of the many people and the

traffic that has to endure their plights while they wait through

numerous light changes. We had been down this way quite a few times

and would see either the “Support Our Troops” or “Families Against

War” signs. Sometimes we would see both at the same time, each

staking out a side of the highway.

But today was different. Inching a little farther along and

starting to feel a little impatient with the wait, I hear my daughter

calling from her car seat in the back, “Mommy I see a baby, and I see

another baby and another baby ... “ She is all excited and I am

looking around trying to figure out where she is seeing all these

babies. Next thing I hear is my daughter crying hysterically, “Mommy,

what happened to that baby!” And suddenly I see what she sees.

There, among the protesters, are huge posters showing real images

of real aborted fetuses. The most graphic of these include a

completely severed and bloodied head held up for the world, and my

children, to see by a pair of medical tongs. Another shows an image

of body parts put back together like a puzzle. The images are

graphic, intended to shock. And they do. Both of my kids are now

getting an eyeful of these gruesome, larger-than-life images. There

is no escaping. They have all four corners of the intersection

covered, the traffic isn’t moving and we are stuck. I can’t shield

them, I can’t distract them nor can I comfort them from the obvious

terror they feel while I am trapped in my car. My daughter is

hysterically crying, and she echoes my sentiments exactly when she

tells me that she is going to vomit. I guess that this is what the

protesters wanted.

I have been fighting tears ever since this experience. But my

tears are not for the cause that these people fight, more power to

them for having such passion, my feelings about their cause are

entirely irrelevant. This is maternal. Today, somebody stole my

daughter’s innocence and my ability to protect her. While the

protesters likely went home feeling like they achieved something

great, I went home trying to explain to my child why they did it. I

told her that they tried to scare her with some scary pictures and

that was wrong because, as every four-year-old knows, it is wrong to

try and scare people. I put her to bed with a kiss and her favorite

teddy bear, hoping that that will be enough to quiet the nightmare

I’m sure will follow.

These people claim to love life, love children, so much that they

are willing to pound the streets with such violent imagery as to

invoke disgust in the hardest of adults. What do they suppose it does

to the children we already have? The very people who are claiming to

be protectors of children, protectors of life, are so forthrightly

abusive of the children who so innocently stumble across their

demonstrations. Because, make no mistake, this is abusive and the

ends do not justify the means.

As a mother I am angry beyond belief that someone can so casually

take away my right to protect and shield my child. At 4-years-old and

20-months-old -- you tell me, how do I explain it to them?

SONYA VERSLUYS

Irvine

Estate goes against nature of Laguna

I live right behind the proposed site of the Mar Vista estate. I

watched the City Council meeting and was completely disgusted. What

good is spending months and hours of tax payers money writing up a

mansionization ordinance and Hillside Protection Codes when they are

fully and totally ignored by the City Council.

How dare Councilman Wayne Baglin tell the community “you waited to

the last minute to appeal.” It should not matter. This is a

community, not a dictatorship. That is what an appeal process is all

about. Baglin’s argument that it is its own neighborhood does not

hold water nor does his statement that it is on such a big piece of

land it shouldn’t matter. From the projections provided by the

architect of what it will look like, everyone from coast highway can

look up to the hillside and see it.

It goes against all municipal codes put in place for such a

situation as this. It sets a wrong precedent for a city that is

supposed to be concerned with a “village feel” and not to mention the

destruction of the sensitive environmental landscaping and

displacement of wildlife.

This project needs to go back to the architect and have them work

with the neighborhood to come up with a better design. This is a

crime. I thought I was a resident of Laguna Beach not Newport Beach.

End the insanity or let’s get a City Council with a consciousness.

JAMES VAN PRAAGH

Laguna Beach

Corman belongs on

Arts Commission

I was surprised and saddened by the refusal of the City Council to

reappoint Joan Corman, one of only two working artists on the Arts

Commission. Has partisan politics at last reached into the arts

community?

Corman is not only a working artist, but also a concerned citizen

active in the cultural and civic community, a teacher of art, and an

involved parent. Her influence and hard work on the Arts Commission

will be sorely missed. Those council members who did not cast their

vote for Joan Corman should note that they will be seeking votes for

re-election and many more voters than I will consider their negative

action on this very important issue in our so called Art Colony.

GEORGE J. WOODS

Laguna Beach

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