MAILBAG: Proud of Prop. 8 march through Laguna

Although Proposition 8 passed, the battle is clearly far from over. I took part in the Marriage Equality rally Saturday evening in downtown Laguna, and I came away with two observations:

First, the Laguna Beach Police Department deserves recognition for helping make this peaceful protest safe for everyone.

We acknowledge that 1,200 yelling, chanting people marching down Broadway to Main Beach and back must be a pain in the neck, but the force was with us. Thank you, LBPD, for your help and cooperation as we exercised our 1st Amendment rights to peaceful public assembly and free speech.

Second, I felt proud and optimistic to be one of the throng. I marched with gays, straights, teenagers, soccer moms and dads, doctors, artists, lawyers, Realtors, women in tutus, grandmas, grandpas, families with babies and children, recent and long-ago immigrants “” all of these people felt strongly enough about the civil rights of other Californians to spend part of their Saturday night expressing their view with others who felt the same.

This diverse crowd gathered because we all agree that Proposition 8 is a dangerous step in the wrong direction. Any measure that removes existing constitutional rights from a specific group of people is discrimination, no matter how its proponents justify it. Remember that racially mixed couples were prohibited from marrying in most states not that many years ago.

Further back, women could not vote or own property. And we all know what black Americans endured.

Progress is marked by difficulty and setbacks along the way, and Proposition 8 is a big one, not just for gay people but for us all if we aspire to live in a country that treats all its citizens equally.

BARBARA MCMURRAY

Laguna Beach

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Ashamed of tactics used in the election

Editor’s note: The following was addressed to the citizens of Laguna Beach, regarding current election climate, prior to the elections.

I returned from my get-away place in Idyllwild, where I had six days away from phone and Internet to find e-mail, news advertisements and articles, and unsigned letters that made me ashamed of this wonderful village, Laguna Beach.

They were filled with hate, untruths and exaggerated misconceptions.

Think about who we are as people of Laguna and what our responsibilities are as citizens.

Why are we led to believe that the members of the Taxpayers Assn., with their goal for fiscal discipline, don’t care about maintaining the village atmosphere that makes Laguna Beach the outstanding community in Orange County, the envy of other municipalities? And why does rhetoric in the letters and advertisements trumpet the idea that an organization like Village Laguna has no concern for long-range fiscal discipline?

We are all citizens of Laguna. We all care about fiscal responsibility, about maintaining our infrastructure, about clean air, clean beaches and sustainable environment. The differences among us lie in methods and priorities.

We should reject giving credence to any of the last-minute negative information we are receiving so late that public response is impossible. We should make our decisions based on accurate knowledge and our own values about our priorities for this great city.

All of us love Laguna. Keep it special.

JEAN RAUN

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Rollinger victorious over sleazy tactics

“I don’t care what you say about me as long as you spell my name right.” This is a phrase sometimes attributed to P.T. Barnum.

It is advice that sometimes works for circuses and city council campaigns that are the equivalent. In that regard the ringmaster of the campaign run against Verna Rollinger cannot be faulted for lack of effort.

To be portrayed as an illiterate, goat-hating, code violating, pro-wildfire, anti-public safety advocate who parks her car on the sidewalk takes some imagination.

The only thing left out was the palling around with terrorists, although the palling around with those radicals from Village Laguna comes close.

This strategy, although ultimately ineffective, was also aided by that pillar of local journalism, the Coastline Pilot.

This publication (owned by the Los Angeles Times) who in its continuing quest to reach the lowest common denominator among us, printed a story that was an obvious and sleazy plant.

You would have thought the anonymous quote as related by one of the Kinsman campaign fundraisers would have been the tipoff. Not to be topped however was the cheesy and cheap political attack ad placed by one of our own sitting council members. We can all raise a glass to that model of professional courtesy.

We residents of Laguna Beach have not seen the likes of this kind of sliming since the days of Arbitech and their late night phone hissing implying one of the candidates then running was a convicted felon. It is too bad that after eight years in public office this will be the legacy remembered.

That this malicious campaign strategy failed is a testament to the intelligence and wisdom of those voters who did not fall for this muck.

For that I commend you, Laguna. Rollinger is a committed public servant who will represent you with honor and distinction as she has served our city for so many years. We can now open the door and let the sun shine in. We have needed to open this door for way too long. My congratulations to her and to us all. We finally have the council member we deserve.

CINDALEE PENNEY-HALL

Laguna Beach

? Correcting the facts about Bear Stearns

I wrote that Goldman Sachs had acquired the investment banking firm Solomon Brothers with the assistance of the Treasury and Federal Reserve, while allowing another investment banker, Lehman Brothers, to go into bankruptcy (“Economic panic will lead nowhere, so calm down,” Nov. 7).

The statement was not totally correct.

It was Bear Stearns that found itself in difficulty and was ultimately acquired by Morgan Stanley (at a bargain price and with the urging of federal agencies).

My main concern was (and remains) that Goldman Sachs has a prominence of high ranking political appointees in our Treasury Department, and in other federal economic agencies.

The advisability of a great number of “economic advisors” coming from one source is highly questionable. One investment banking house does not have a monopoly on the financial community’s executive talent.

Let us hope that the president-elect many see the wisdom in having greater diversity of financial business experience in the selection of those who will become his economic advisors.

DON KNAPP

Laguna Beach

? ‘Education’ ad an embarrassment

Regarding the Paid Advertisement “Town Deserves an Educated Council” (Oct. 31)

I hope Mayor Jane Egly and Mayor Pro Tem Cheryl Kinsman feel appropriately embarrassed by the ugly, cowardly and comically ungrammatical attack on their opponent’s level of formal education.

Formal education is not synonymous with intelligence. If it were, Egly and Kinsman would not have allowed this ad to go to print.

I had been a little unsure which City Council candidate to support.

Thanks for making “the challenger” an easy choice.

NANCY S. GRANT

Laguna Beach

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There is much to remember on Nov. 11

Nov. 11 this year was a special day of remembrance, in observance of the Armistice of 1918 (the Allied Victory and end of World War I) and the 90th anniversary of this historic day.

There is the annual Veterans Day, which recognizes the more than 43 million men and women who, since the Revolutionary War, have defended our freedom in a time of war. More than 1 million veterans have purchased this freedom with their lives.

Also, recognized was the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the American Memorial Chapel in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

This chapel, a gift of the British people, contains the Roll of Honor of 28,000 American airmen who died in World War II while they were based in Britain.

KEN ANDERSON

Laguna Beach