Robbers should have chosen tools of the...

Robbers should have chosen tools of the trade better

As I remain at the bedside of a critically injured old friend in

the neon wasteland that is Las Vegas, I’ve tried to stay abreast of

current events in the Newport-Mesa area by reading the travails of

our community in the online version of the Daily Pilot, as time

permits.

Today, as I perused articles describing, among other things,

post-Thanksgiving shopping, community angst about recent shootings

and Steve Smith’s rejoinder to the rebuttals of his recent column on

bullying, one lead line jumped right out at me.

In the “Briefly in the News” section, I read the following line:

“Two arrested after robbery with belt, fork.”

The accompanying short piece described a couple of real boneheads

who actually did attempt, unsuccessfully, to rob a man using the

above mentioned fork and belt as their weapons of choice. They, of

course, were apprehended after their failed attempt at armed robbery

-- if you can actually call it that -- and are presently in the

hoosegow awaiting their fate.

After spending nearly a month here, much of that time in the

waiting room of the trauma center -- watching what appears to be a

never-ending cavalcade of agony and despair -- I want to thank the

editors of the Daily Pilot for providing me with some much needed

levity.

Once again, they have provided us with a perfect example of how

the truth can be stranger than fiction.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa

Corona del Mar High School should be squeaky clean

I did a marathon reading of the week’s Daily Pilot articles

recently and just had to respond to the Mailbag article that talked

about the Corona del Mar High School campus (“Corona del Mar is not

the model of a clean campus,” Nov. 21). I attended Corona del Mar

High from 1979 to 1983. I had a fantastic experience and still keep

in close contact with most of my friends from high school.

I have been so excited at the thought that my daughter will be

attending Corona del Mar next year as a seventh-grader. We rode our

bikes to the school so I could show her around, and I was shocked and

dismayed at the condition of the school that greeted us. As I entered

the gate, all I could see was cement that was covered with gum,

trash, dirt and stains. The buildings were so marked up that it

looked like they hadn’t been painted since I attended Corona del Mar

20 years ago. The planters were hard mounds of dirt and thin shrubs.

What happened? Corona del Mar is a fantastic school filled with an

excellent staff, bright kids and very supportive parents. I feel that

the physical school should reflect the success that is within. I

whole-heartedly agree with Flo Martin that only then will the

students be able to take some owners’ pride in their school.

KELLI DAVISON

Newport Beach