Church expansion is for valuable service I’d...

Church expansion is

for valuable service

I’d like to express my support for the St. Andrew’s Church

expansion plan. I’ve grown up in this area and attended Newport

Harbor High School. St. Andrew’s has been a fixture of the local

community for as long as I can remember in the 1960s and it performs

a valuable service there.

So, I hope the City Council, Newport Beach and the Planning

Commission will approve plans to expand and to add a youth center to

their church.

JOHN DRAKE

Costa Mesa

New center plan goes beyond indoor sports

I just wanted to come out in favor of the approval of the St.

Andrew’s improvement plan because it addresses a dire need in the

immediate area around St. Andrew’s.

About half of the kids that participate in the St. Andrew’s youth

program are from homes with single parents, and the expanded facility

will provide after-school activities, not only indoor sports but

computers and other such supervised activities these kids otherwise

wouldn’t have.

MIKE LEWIS

Newport Beach

New center would be a ‘support’ for single parents

I support St. Andrew’s youth-improvement construction. I feel

strongly that this is a community service badly needed in our

community because of the number of homes with one parent supporting

the children. Many of these parents, because of divorce and high

housing costs, have to work. The result of this is that some children

are left unsupervised from 3 to 6 p.m., and statistics show that is

when they frequently get into problems with drug abuse, teenage

pregnancy and other mischief. I think the church could be an enormous

support for these folks and I want you to encourage the City Council

to approve their program.

JOHN APPLEGATE

Costa Mesa

‘Cycle of violence’ burdened by Isrealis

Gwen Johnson’s letter, “‘Theory’ not reality in Middle East

argument,” on Saturday unfortunately shows a clear lack of

objectivity and understanding regarding the Middle East, a clear lack

of appreciation of the value of human life and a lack of

understanding regarding terrorism and the necessary response to

terrorism.

First, Johnson needs to be reminded that in 1999, President

Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered Yasser Arafat

and the Palestinians virtually the entire territory claimed by the

Palestinians (outside Israel) in return for a lasting peace. In

return, Arafat rejected the peace offer and declared war on Israel.

What ensued was a Palestinian terror campaign and the death and

maiming of thousands of innocent Israeli civilians in places like

pizza parlors, buses, shopping malls and schools. These Israeli

citizens were engaged in the normal activities of daily life, much as

3,000 murdered Americans were on Sept. 11, 2001, before they were

murdered. Johnson does not think the Palestinian declaration of war

on Israel is worth mentioning when talking about Israeli attempts at

self-defense. This is a clear lack of objectivity.

Merely three weeks ago, Palestinian terrorists murdered a pregnant

Israeli women and her four children. Two weeks ago, the Palestinians

killed 11 Israeli soldiers in their armored vehicles. These murders

and savage acts are not mentioned at all by Johnson. Where is the

appreciation of the value of human life, or at least Israeli life?

Terrorists who are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to

murder enemy innocents cannot be negotiated with. There is a war in

the Middle East, just as President Bush says we are at war. Johnson

says, “ ... the Palestinians suffer more than the Israelis.” The

objective of any war is to win. Following this logic, the U.S. should

have stopped fighting Japan and Germany in World War II, because

after Pearl Harbor, certainly the Japanese and Germans suffered much

more greatly than Americans.

The point is there is an easy way to stop all the Palestinian

suffering. Palestinians need to stop the terror war against Israel.

Johnson’s arguments are reminiscent of those who decry the “cycle of

violence” in the Middle East. The sooner the apologists and appeasers

of terrorists realize the folly of their arguments, the sooner we

will have victory for peace, freedom and democracy for more people on

this Earth.

ARTHUR YELSEY

Corona del Mar