Crack down is too little and way...

Crack down is too little and way too late

The Sept. 9 issue cites a “crack down” on store cart theft (“City

cracks down on store cart theft”). These are hardly appropriate words

for ignoring blatant theft for years and then finally arresting two

people “on suspicion” during a two-week period. Instead of protecting

the rights of property owners, as we should have all these years, we

now have a new law that fines the victims if their property is

stolen. This is ludicrous.

How about fining automobile owners if their vehicle is stolen? Or

a nice fat fine for any homeowner that allows his house to be

burgled? The logic is identical. Who do you think is paying for these

stolen carts that are littered all around the Westside between Harbor

Boulevard and Placentia Avenue? We are, in the price of bread and

milk. So now we should add the cost of fines to our grocery bill?

I suggest that the city should correct this mistake and take

responsibility for protecting private property. It doesn’t require

harsh punishment, but it needs to treat the whole problem, not just a

couple of symptoms. How about a practical “crack down” instead?

Simply require the thieves, all of them, to return the stolen

property to their owner.

DAVID C. WENSLEY

Costa Mesa

Appointing replacement is the right way to go

I recommend appointing a replacement for Newport Beach City

Councilman Gary Proctor for the remainder of his term. It would save

the city a lot of money, and we can see the nonsense in the state

right now, and who knows what that kind of activity will breed in the

mind of some of these deranged voters here in the local area.

PAUL CHRIST

Newport Beach