MAILBAG - Aug. 15, 2006

Newport’s rules are already enoughWe are against Greenlight II. We have an elected city council, a Planning Commission, a planning and zoning staff, a very thick zoning manual and Newport Beach will soon have a new General Plan.

We see no reason to add another level of rules and regulations just because a few of our activist/environmentalists wish to have their way.

When Greenlight was accumulating signatures for their petitions, we were practically accosted in front of Gelson’s to sign. There was no indication who was collecting signatures. We asked if it was Greenlight, and they said yes. We wonder how many residents signed without knowing what they were signing?

Dolores & Gene Kermin

Newport Beach

Global warming effects are chillingDana Rohrabacher’s assertion that rain forest termites produce greenhouse gas is continuing evidence that his head continues to migrate to extremely peculiar places — this time under very hot sand.

The recent heat wave killed more than 100 Californians before it burned its way east, sparking record-high temperatures in the nation’s midsection. It now tortures the Eastern United States. While heat waves in July and August are not unusual, the first six months of this year are the hottest ever recorded in the United States. This summer, according to National Climactic Data Center, more than 50 cities in the continental United States have set records for high temperatures. Of the 21 hottest years ever measured, 20 have occurred within the last 25 years. The hottest year of this heat wave was last year.

We are no longer waiting for the predicted tragedies resulting from extremely high temperatures, extreme weather events and storm surges. Remember New Orleans? What about the thousands who died of the heat in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest in 1995? How about the 35,000 who died in the 2003 heat wave in Europe? The extensive snows of Kilimanjaro are all but gone. Lake Chad in Africa, which was once the size of Lake Erie, has disappeared. We recently learned, because of unprecedented glacial loss, that Greenland is actually three islands, not one.

Who, but those who deny scientific and quantitative evidence of global warming for political purposes, ignores what is happening and the foreboding future if we do nothing? Most Americans want us to mitigate the effects of global warming. While it is more important for our leaders stop talking and start acting before it is too late, I accept Mr. Rohrabacher’s press release invitation to discuss or debate global warming — anytime, any place, anywhere.

Steve Young

Newport Beach