School made the right decision Thank goodness...

School made the right decision

Thank goodness sane minds prevailed at St. John the Baptist School

and that same-sex couples can visit the campus together. With all the

money the Catholic Church is paying out over the priest debacle, not

allowing adults to come to school to support the education of their

children was a battle they didn’t need to fight -- and lose.

MIKE BUETTELL

Balboa Island

Parishioners should live by example

I have been following the proposed ban on gay couples at St. John

the Baptist school, and I have to admit that I was disappointed to

hear how parents condemned these people. Under the almighty, we are

all sinners and require forgiveness.

As the crowd brought him a woman and attempted to test Jesus into

condemning her, Jesus said: If anyone here has clear consciences,

then he can cast the first stone.

As educators, church officials and parents, we are required to

deal with issues separately and not shovel problems into one bucket

and generalize the outcomes.

Thus, I ask my fellow St. John parishioners, please do not show

our neighbors and the world our weaknesses and shortcomings, but show

how it is to be a Catholic.

As Jesus has told us through his disciples, we should not just

follow him, but pick up our crosses and follow him.

ALEXANDER P. KUANG

Costa Mesa

Parents need to take responsibly for kids

Mark Gleason and Wendy Leece’s “Parents Talk Back” from Tuesday

states the obvious -- kids do dumb things, the majority of them have

cell phones, and word of any party that parents will not be at

spreads within minutes.

Gleason says he doesn’t “have much sympathy for any of those

involved.” How about no sympathy?

It has become far too common among our youth that parents spoil

their children long past the age when “they are just a child” is a

legitimate excuse for their behavior.

Parents don’t follow through with their threats of discipline and

then try to blame “those who want to permanently remove

Judeo-Christian values from public life” for the kids’ lack of

respect for people, property or values.

Jews and Christians do not have a lock on values. Muslims, Hindus,

Buddhists and just about any recognizable religion is based on the

precepts in Ten Commandments, regardless of how it is worded.

Having traveled the world, and having involved myself in numerous

diverse cultures, I have yet to come across one that shows the

disrespect and lack of honor as blatantly as our own Judeo-Christian

society.

When are parents and their teenagers going to accept

responsibility for their behavior?

They are society; they are the government; they are the

institutions that are blamed for the problems.

Have these teenagers been charged with the crimes they committed?

Are they going to be made personally responsible for the cost of

repairing the homel, or will they be required to assist in the

repair?

Will they be required to fulfill community service? Are there to

be any personal consequences for these kids that the parents won’t

buy their way out of?

If not, those kids will be “way cool” for having the best party at

other people’s expense.

I refuse to paint all parents or teenagers with the same brush of

selfishness and disregard for others, but until parents stop allowing

their kids to rule the roost, we will continue to see this type of

behavior.

ROSEANNE EICHENBAUM

Costa Mesa

Voters, right or wrong, have the right

“We probably get a better person appointed than we would elected.

We know what we’re looking for.” -- Tod Ridgeway.

This Daily Pilot quote attributed to Councilman Tod Ridgeway in

Sunday’s “Notable Quotables,” if true, would certainly seem to be a

depiction of the attitude of Ridgeway (and maybe the council too)

toward our long revered system of representative democracy in this

country.

One must surmise that Ridgeway, if the quote is accurate, has, as

an elected official, a consuming disdain for the electoral process.

I am driven to conclude that he would have all of the residents of

the city of Newport Beach blindly accept the edicts, picks and

appointees of the council rather than exert our efforts to have a

City Council made up of elected representatives.

Yes, we have had councils made up of less than “better” persons --

by whose estimate I wouldn’t know -- but like it or not, our system

is based on the will of the electorate, however flawed.

And to that we are entitled; for better or worse.

ROBERT E. BADHAM

Balboa Island

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert E. Badham is a former congressman who

represented Newport Beach.

Don’t judge a pothole without a winter

In his commentary, “Annexation, naught but a dream” on Sunday,

Geoff West wrote that Costa Mesa’s streets “are beginning to resemble

Third World cattle trails.”

In my recently enlightened view, Costa Mesans have excellent

reason to be grateful for said “cattle trails.”

I recently spent two weeks driving about the streets and freeways

of Montreal.

What hard winters do to roadways there is little short of

grotesque: potholes and ruts many inches deep, which stretch across

entire lanes and relentlessly follow one after another throughout the

city.

If potholes were sentient and could observe and comment, Costa

Mesa’s potholes would be weeping and wailing with envy.

DAVID J. STILLER

Costa Mesa

Church proposal needs community OK

The expansion and parking proposal by St. Andrew’s Presbyterian

Church is of grave community concern for the residents of the area

around the church and in the entire city.

I don’t live in that area, but this type of density and intensity

on our side of the bay would be ridiculous. It’s no different from

any other residential community. These types of uses need to be

reined in by this city.

The actions of the Planning Commission were very disappointing,

with only two commissioners siding with the communities.

Many are disturbed by these actions.

Cities are made up of their communities. The city officials need

to look to the community for this important decision, which will have

lasting effects.

I am familiar with the growth of this area, having taught at

Newport Harbor High School for a number of years.

The only way this church should be allowed to expand is if the

neighborhood gives its blessing.

We need to ask St. Andrew’s to improve its quality of facilities

and services, not its size.

The current conditional use permit should indicate that the church

is big enough.

BETTY ORBACH

Newport Beach