Brockway will be sorely missed The nice...

Brockway will be sorely missed

The nice tribute to Connie Brockway for her 16 years as city clerk

was well deserved (“Farewell to a model city clerk” editorial May

27.) She will be sorely missed by all the people who live in the city

of Huntington Beach. A more loyal, honest and dedicated employee the

city will never see. What a loss to all of us who appreciated her

invaluable assistance.

Connie, you are truly loved and appreciated. Happy times in your

retirement.

EILEEN MURPHY

Huntington Beach

Cartoon misses the real problem: litter

In my opinion, your cartoon in the Independent (May 27) is missing

the point. The problem isn’t the smoke, the problem is the litter.

When I’m on the beach I see countless cigarette butts everywhere.

Sitting in my chair I dig my feet in the sand and come up with a

nasty cigarette butt between my toes.

Young children are picking them up and putting them in their mouth

before the parent can get to them. In the open air, secondhand smoke

is not an issue, but the litter certainly is. Unfortunately, the few

ruin it for the many; the few being the litterbugs who use the world

as their own personal ashtray.

ED GRAHAM

Huntington Beach

Beach smoking ban should be passed

I absolutely think there should be a smoking ban at the beaches.

My neighbor Linda and I have been walking at the beach for 27 years

and are always astonished at how noticeable and offensive the smell

of cigarette smoke is -- even outside and when the smoker is at some

distance from us.

LYNNE BAKER

Huntington Beach

I think there should be a ban on smoking on the beach and in

public. Nothing like spending a day at the beach, taking in the fresh

air and someone pulls up next to you and lights up. There goes the

fresh air! It angers me every time.

ARDEN DANIELS

Huntington Beach

I say yes to the ban on smoking at the beaches. Yes, we’re

outdoors and yes we have to draw the line at what the government can

and cannot stop us from doing to ourselves, but when my kids are

rummaging through the sand digging for ... whatever, I really rather

they didn’t find cigarette butts and use them as decorations on their

sandcastles.

Plus, there is just something not right about walking along the

beach, smelling the sea salt and Coppertone and suddenly walking

through a cloud of Marlboro exhale. Secondhand smoke isn’t good. If

you want to do stuff to yourself that others may feel should be

banned, that’s fine, go ahead. But when others are directly affected

by your choices, there should be limits to where you can perform

those acts. I think the beach should be one of those limits.

LISHA ORTIZ

Huntington Beach

Smoking ban is unenforceable

The Huntington Beach City Council should be more concerned with

pollution from the AES plant, the Santa Ana River and the proposed

desalination plant than smoking on beaches. Prohibiting smoking on

the beach is like prohibiting eating or drinking coffee on the beach.

Get a life! We are being regulated out of our basic freedoms of

choice.

RIC BUTTON

Huntington Beach

Ban on pier fine, on the beach forget it

I think that the proposed banning of cigarettes on the beach is

ridiculous.

I agree that banning butts on the pier is probably worthwhile

since smokers most likely toss their butts directly in the ocean. But

when the ban comes to the beach itself there are other

considerations.

1. Secondhand smoke? With our famous ocean breezes, I think this

is at a minimum.

2. Enforcement? Unless you are planning for a smoke brigade to

patrol the area, will individual guilt be effective? (Or are you

planning to use the local lifeguards who are already short-staffed?).

3. Does anyone seriously think that the air pollution caused by

cigarettes is anywhere near the pollution caused by the fire rings,

or the pollution caused by the cars that bring the beachgoers?

4. Will the local hotels be willing to display notices of the

smoking ban to their guests?

5. Will an inspection area be necessary before people are allowed

on the beach?

I think the anti-nicotine people go too far this time. Get rid of

the other debris left by beachgoers -- picnic gear, cans and bottles,

plastic everything -- before pointing the finger at smokers. The

negatives of this plan outweigh the positives.

JEAN RATAJCZAK

Huntington Beach

Huntington could do without helicopters

I hope the City Council and the citizens of Huntington Beach read

this and understand we can do without the costly operation of the

helicopters in Huntington Beach. This small city operates not one,

but three helicopters that cost more than $1 million dollars each.

Add that to the daily operational costs of six full-time pilots,

insurance, parts and maintenance, a full-time aircraft mechanic,

training, fuel and hangar facility at about $5,000 each day,

everyday.

Here’s the real insult: they can only fly on good weather days.

Days of overcast skies, fog, low visibility, cloudy, rainy or Santa

Ana winds, these guys can’t fly. What good are they then? Please

don’t tell the bad guys no criminal acts on bad weather days the

helicopter won’t be in the sky.

The money saved, and there would be a lot, could be better spent

on more needed things like roads, schools and infrastructure. Maybe

one day, Huntington Beach would look more like Fountain Valley, nice

roads, nice finished parks, good schools, little crime, and best of

all, no noisy helicopters.

JACK HARRIS

Huntington Beach

Close Main Street as soon as possible

I say yes, Main Street should closed to traffic -- as soon as

possible. I would like to see it closed year-round, or at least in

the summertime. Ideally, it should be built like Third Street

Promenade in Santa Monica with fountains in the middle.

Eliminate the parking. For business owners to complain that they

lose business, that’s false. Nobody driving a car can possibly buy

something from them, they have to park first and walk inside their

store to buy something. Have you ever tried parking on Main Street?

It’s just about impossible. Somebody’s there already. So, it’s a

lot more enjoyable to walk up and down the street, and eat at a

restaurant without smelling the fumes of cars. Also as far, as

cruisers are concerned, 99% of people have normal, boring looking

cars, the nice looking cars are rare, so there’s nothing to look at.

So that argument is stupid, too.

ROB NELSEN

Huntington Beach