Green Republican flier a disgrace In the...

Green Republican flier a disgrace

In the last few days before the Nov. 2 election, a slick campaign

brochure was mailed to select Republican households in Huntington

Beach.

It was paid for by the Republican Party of Orange County. The

headline on it reads: “Your officially endorsed Republicans are Don

Hansen and Joe Carchio for Huntington Beach City Council.” Below the

headline is a full color photo of mayor Cathy Green with the

Huntington Beach city logo and the Orange County Republican Party

logo. That’s all fine and dandy, except for the fact that City

Council offices are, for many good reasons, nonpartisan positions.

A letter from the mayor follows that says, “Over and over

Democrats continue to demonstrate that they are out of touch with the

voters in our city.” No one political party has a monopoly on values,

or vices for that matter.

Follow the money: Don Hansen who is the beneficiary of this

“official” endorsement was a strong supporter of Measure E, which

would have limited our representation on the City Council.

That defeated measure was authored by the current Orange County

Republican Party chairman, Scott Baugh. Hansen also supports the

unpopular desalination plant project, which would bring a huge dead

zone to our state beach.

Mayor Green’s letter is, at the very least, a violation of

campaign ethics in its attempt to bring partisan politics into the

local realm. Let us keep local government independent. Let the

residents of Huntington Beach decide what is best for our city

without outside interference.

MARINKA HORACK

Huntington Beach

Employees don’t make policy

I would like to respond to the commentary by Barry L. Williams

(“Cautious council denies fireworks, fun,” Sounding off Nov. 11)

regarding the Fourth of July fireworks celebration. It is not my

intent to take a position on the question of whether a fireworks show

should be allowed. That will be decided by our city leaders. In

Williams shotgun approach attacking our fire chief he also wrongly

attacked the dedicated employees who are merely in a position to

follow city policy not create it. Williams comments are disrespectful

toward the people who provide fire and paramedic service to our

community. These men and women are the “worker bees” who staff our

eight fire stations and respond to various fire, medical and

environmental emergencies throughout our community 24 hours a day,

365 days a year. These are not the people who create city policy.

Whether our city decides to have a fireworks show will be decided by

our city leaders and not the employees Williams attacks.

I would like to make one comment regarding public safety. After

more than 20 years in the fire service I have learned that when

people call 911 they expect and deserve a rapid response to their

call for help. I’ll bet Williams might not be so quick to ignore this

if it were his house on fire or his loved one in need of immediate

medical attention.

RICK FEE

Huntington Beach

Note: Rick Fee is the president of the Huntington Beach

Firefighters Assn.

They should leave fireworks at school

The last Fourth of July celebration at Huntington Beach was a

joke. I laughed at all the folks who paid big bucks for the privilege

of sitting on the pier eating their cold burgers while I paid nothing

and had my friends over and watched in my front yard.

Why are these things all for the folks who are considered special?

Do the residents of good old Huntington Beach know that the YMCA

Indian and Princesses aren’t allowed in the parade?

Why on earth do you have to be 18 years old to volunteer to help

at the parade? This leaves so many volunteers out of participation in

their community.

The parade seats were over sold.

If these folks want to have a pier fireworks show go to San

Clemente or Long Beach and lets keep the show at the high school so

the fire and police department are in control.

PAM ALLEN

Huntington Beach

Of course fireworks belong at the beach

Absolutely the Fourth of July fireworks should take place on the

beach. If not, we will go to another part of the beach and join all

the other Huntington Beach residents who are also leaving town,

thanks to the thinking of such City Council members as our mayor.

There were no incidents last year and the crowds were spectacular for

the merchants. We are a beach city and should act like one. Instead,

some of our elected officials still have their heads in the sand and

choose to pay no attention to the wishes of the people they

supposedly represent. They are too busy wasting millions of dollars

on fiascos like the sports complex and spending five years trying to

figure out how to accomplish automatic pay deductions for water and

trash. Let us hope the two new council members will join Debbie Cook

in doing better for those of us who live here.

CHLOE POLLOCK MIECZKOWSKI

Huntington Beach

Give me a break! Mayor Cathy Green and the police and fire

captains need to get with it. Our police and fire are paid to do the

job of providing security for our community and community events.

Large cities like New York and Chicago don’t seem to have a problem

moving millions of people around on event days. Gridlock is not a

reason to shut this event down at the beach. Holding the fireworks at

Huntington Beach High limits the amount of community participation

and is not fair to the citizens of this city.

Do the job or resign and let women and men who want to do the job

become employed.

Keep the fireworks at the beach! This was a terrific event.

DEBORAH JANUS

Huntington Beach