MAILBAG - Feb. 17, 2006

Laguna Beach High School lost its heart when Nancy Blade resigned as principal this week.

The high school students will be the ones who suffer the most from this avoidable loss. She attended their performances, cheered for their teams, tutored them at school, and visited them at home when they were sick. She was always on their side.

When my son Max died, no one came by our home to grieve with us more than Nancy. Because of her courage, she was not popular with those who wanted to put their interests ahead of the students. It is sad that her dedication to their welfare was not fairly valued. The students will miss having a leader who cared for every one of them.

Many of her students would not have graduated from high school if it had not been for her love and support. Nancy has spent her entire adult life doing what she has been called to do: Caring for the education and welfare of young people. She is a special soul who has served her community with passion, wisdom, and virtue. Thank you Nancy Blade for a job well done. We will miss your devotion to learning and all of those homemade cookies.

JAMES SADLER

Laguna Beach

Skate park a healthy option for kids

Re: “Does Laguna need a skate park?”

Laguna Beach doesn’t need a skate park, a baseball field, a Girl Scout house or a Boys and Girls club. But does it benefit the community when these healthy options are provided to young people? Absolutely. Skateboarding is at a big disadvantage due to many people’s antiquated and false perceptions of what skateboarding is and isn’t. If you don’t like skateboarding, chances are high you probably haven’t seen the faces of the kids who enjoy doing it.

Skateboarding provides a healthy, active and fun way to express one’s self. I’m shocked when looking at the latest statistics on childhood obesity, average number of television hours watched and the rising popularity of video games. As a father of three sons, a local basketball coach and a surf-school operator, I can tell you when the subject of skateboarding, surfing, or wakeboarding comes up, it’s all smiles and excitement.

Ask your kids, grandkids, and young neighbors what they think of skateboarding. It’s popularity is growing. Let’s work to provide another great option for our kids, their dads/moms, everyone.

If a 17,000-square-foot house can get built in Laguna, we can make a modest skate park happen.

CHRIS WILLIAMS

Laguna Beach

Minuteman Project sending a message

The judge got it right. The attorneys got it wrong.

Last week, an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Laguna’s Patriots Day Parade organizers were not required to honor a request of the Minuteman Project to participate in the parade. He opined: “A parade is a speech really, an expression ... They have a right ... to put on any parade they want to go on.”

The Minuteman Project’s attorney claimed the parade is openly discriminating. Indeed it is, but that is the prerogative of the parade organizers and entirely legal. Under its bylaws, federal and California law, the parade can discriminate based on anything except race, religion, disability, age, sex, national original and marital status.

The parade’s attorney opined the suit filed by the Minuteman Project is without merit, was done to get publicity and that the organization is offensive. Indeed, the suit is without merit and publicity clearly the organization’s intent. However, labeling the organization offensive is not reasonable.

The Minuteman Project’s mission seeks to raise national awareness of the disregard of US immigration law enforcement and the consequence of turning a blind eye toward illegal immigration.

Indeed, actions taken by some members of the organization to accomplish its mission are offensive. At the same time, i’s disingenuous not to recognize and acknowledge that those actions are born of the frustration caused by local, state and federal governments ignoring immigration law.

CHRISTOPHER TOY

Laguna Beach

Ban smoking at Festival grounds

Last September, I proposed to the Festival of Arts Board of Directors that they make the Festival grounds a non-smoking facility during the summer. They said they would look into and discuss it at a later date. This past Wednesday (Feb. 8), the issue of making the facility a non-smoking venue during the summer was on the agenda. A motion was made to do just that. The motion failed. A subsequent motion was made to “keep it as is” or more appropriately, let the non-smokers suffer. One board member stated that he believed 85% of Orange County is non-smoking. So why should 85% of the visitors, volunteers, artists, and Festival of Arts members be held hostage by 15% of the population?

Even our Pageant of the Masters director, Dee Dee Challis, admitted that the young children and other volunteers are forced to inhale carcinogenic second-hand smoke while they are in the patio area behind the stage waiting to participate in the show.

The Irvine Bowl has been a non-smoking area at the Festival of Arts grounds for many years, so why shouldn’t the same courtesy be extended to others throughout the entire facility?

If you are a Festival of Arts member, artist or concerned citizen and you agree or disagree with making the Festival of Arts a non-smoking facility, please let me know. I can be reached at JLCInsurance@MSN.com or 247 Forest Ave. No. A, Laguna Beach, 92651.

JOHN CAMPBELL

Minuteman Project misrepresented

I am disgusted with reporter Barbara Diamond’s inaccurate and biased reporting when she calls the Minutemen an “anti-immigration group.” (February 10-16, 2006, Page 1, “Minutemen can’t march in parade”).

As I understand it the group is against illegal immigration. Either Diamond doesn’t understand the differences between the two or she is promoting her own personal agenda. The fact that the Coastline Pilot’s editor permits this kind of sloppy and inaccurate journalism is in my opinion why the readership and circulation of the L.A. Times has declined.

STEPHEN A. FIELD

Laguna Beach