MAILBAG - Dec. 14, 2007

Take a walk into the wild, locally

I saw the movie “Into the Wild” and got wanderlust. I decided to drive up to Casper’s Park, eight miles from San Juan Capistrano on the Ortega Highway. It’s beautiful and sort of exciting, because when you enter, they give you a notice that says “Entering mountain lion country. You are entering a wilderness area.”

On Dec. 5 the view of the big waves was awesome from Treasure Island Park, where legend has it that pirates may have buried treasures. Treasure Island, Main Beach, Hiesler and south Laguna’s Village Green are my favorite parks, but friends love to go to Bluebird Park for summer music fests.

Alta Laguna in Top of the World is super for picnics, walks, tennis and offers big tables and small ones with great views from it’s eastern edge. From Crescent Bay Park, on the north side, you can see and hear the seals on Seal Rocks, and two great picnic parks can be found at Treasure Island and the Village Green, the last of which has barbecue braziers. Our tiny parks are great too; the old Playhouse park in downtown Laguna and the tiny park near Top of the World Elementary school. Moulton Meadows park really makes you feel like you are on Top of the World, but actually you are in Arch Beach Heights.

Whatever you do, visit a park. Have a picnic and walk Laguna. It’s one of the most beautiful places to take a walk, because each person’s garden is as different as their DNA and don’t miss tiny Brown Park, up the hill from Hotel Laguna with it’s super ocean view platform, comparable only to Oak Street Park, which has another ocean viewing area, and did you know that Lang Park in South Laguna not only has a giant field for play, a huge and smaller community room, a pre-school, a play lot, half court basketball and one tennis court.

Walk Laguna, and try walking an alley. They are fun, and on a evening walk you can see all the Christmas lights and may even meet a neighbor, friend or pooch with his or her Christmas coat.

ROGER CARTER

Laguna Beach

‘Christian nation’ is far from united

America is a “Christian Nation.” How many times have you heard or read that statement? I’ve heard and read it 688 times, and that’s just this year alone. But hey, who’s counting?

I’m concerned that if it is repeated often enough, people will begin to believe it. Sure, America has a Christian plurality, but that does not necessarily make America a Christian Nation.

Thinking like that makes Utah a Mormon state and federal prisons overwhelmingly Christian prisons.

Why doesn’t the majority in this “Christian Nation” share the country with the minority citizens who also have been bestowed with inalienable rights? Sounds like the Christian thing to do, no?

Now let’s look at how unified this “Christian Nation” might be.

It’s divided into red states and blue states. What, no white states?

And how indivisible is this one nation, under God? Let’s see, there are Catholics: Roman/ American/Roman Catholic Womenpriests; Baptists: Southern/National/ Conservative/American Methodists; Lutherans: Missouri Synod/Evangelical; Presbyterians; Pentecostals: Church of God in Christ/Assemblies of God/New Testament Church/Church of God/United Pentecostal Church/United Gospel Tabernacles; Episcopal: Homosexuals tolerant/ Homosexualsintolerant; Mormons: monogamist/polygamist; Church of Christ; Disciples of Christ; Independent Christian Church; Christian Science; Church of the Nazarene; Christian Reform; Church of the Brethren; Assemblies of God; Congregational; Full Gospel; Foursquare Gospel; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Seventh Day Adventists; Eastern Orthodox: Russian/Greek/ Armenian/Bulgarian/ Romanian; Evangelicals; Mennonites; Dutch Reform; Apostolic: Old/New; Quakers; Salvation Army . . . Enough already!

A united and indivisible “Christian Nation” indeed! Why the confusion over what America is?

I believe, oops! I mean I think (there is a difference between them you know) that the matter has become muddled since Congress tampered with the nation’s motto replacing “E Pluribus Unum” with “In God We Trust.”

NIKO THERIS

Laguna Beach