Mailbag: Laguna has bigger fish to fry, so to speak

Editor’s note: The following letter was addressed to the Laguna Beach City Council.

Unless you are going to spay/neuter sea lions, seals and sharks out of existence because you favor certain types of sea creatures over others or surround the ocean with a very large type of gill net, you cannot stop the taking of fish from the local waters.

I would hope that even those striving to out-do all others in being the most “politically correct” would admit the utter futility of trying to keep out all sea lions, seals, sharks and other larger fish that are going to eat those smaller than themselves and/or are on the wrong end of the food chain.

As an alternative, I have not heard what it would cost to fashion and maintain such a net that could conceivably keep out the “bad” fish while not killing them in the process.

I also find it hard to believe that by surf or rock fishing or acquiring my dinner by skin-diving instead of buying it at a store or in a restaurant (thereby cutting down on transportation and preparation pollution) I’ve left the ocean in a worse shape.

While I am not an economist or someone who makes my living in public relations, I can’t think of a lot of reasons why banning fishing and skin-diving would be beneficial to the city’s economy, but I can sure think of a few that would impact the city in a very negative way.

If you don’t have enough to do, I would suggest that you tackle the problem of all the vacancies in the commercial real estate in town (and hopefully that would include increasing the number of resident-serving businesses than is currently the case).

You might also wait on the fishing ban until Laguna no longer has the reputation as being visitor un-friendly due to the attitude and aggressive glee that the meter maids have because they single-handedly act as though they will solve the city’s financial crunch all by themselves.

I have lived in Laguna Beach since 1945 and the change of attitude at some departments of City Hall leaves a lot to be desired.

CRAIG DUSENBERRY

Laguna Beach

A slaughterer by another name

In the July 17 issue it was reported that Mayor Kelly Boyd said that Arnold Hano called him a “slaughterer.” Arnold Hano, a well-respected member of this community for many years, has avowedly denied it.

I believe Hano because Hano, who has a better command of the English language than anyone I know, would not, could not, use such an inelegant and technically unsuitable term for Boyd when there are other and more descriptive adjectives available for this purpose.

However, if the appellation was strictly in relation to fish, certainly “fish killer” or “fish slayer,” possibly even “perpetrator of fishicide” would have been more apropos.

In any case it would seem the mayor exhibits an abnormal sensitivity for one in public office. But then maybe the inflammatory rhetoric of the consumptive mindset which believes the establishment of a reserve will result in the end of civilization as we know it, and incur the coming of the Antichrist distorts one’s perception.

Even if it were true, fish being on the lower end of the evolutionary scale than mammals, it still beats being called a goat-hater who parks their car on the sidewalk.

CINDALEE PENNEY-HALL

Laguna Beach

Women’s Club food drive a success

The Women’s Club of Laguna Beach wants to thank our community for their many donations of food to our Friday food drive.

Also, the advance publicity provided by the Coastline Pilot contributed to the success of the event.

Sande St. John and her daughter lugged more than 100 bags of donated groceries to the local Resource Center and restocked their pantry shelves. Donations will be distributed to families in town who are facing financial difficulties.

ANNE JOHNSON

Laguna Beach

Editor’s note: Anne Johnson is a member of the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach Board of Directors.

Kelp beds don’t need human help

Norman Cole’s long dissertation “Kelp beds need time rest and grow” (Mailbag, July 31) trying to justify closing off our coastline to fishing had only one really correct statement: “Kelp forest do grow larger, shrink in size, and occasionally they disappear due to various changes in the marine environment.” Kelp is one of the fastest growing plants and does “not need a rest.”

Where it grows and how fast is dependent on water temperature, sunshine, nutrients, etc. and nothing man does, short of mechanized kelp harvesting, has any significant impact.

Our coastline, along with the La Jolla coastline, are prime areas for fishermen. People fishing with hook and line from the surface have no meaningful impact on fish quantities because all the Fish and Game regulations have been enacted and gill net fishing prohibited.

Fishing, as now established, is a boon to the economy and creates a lot of jobs. While fishing on the boats out of Dana Point and Newport I am always meeting people from all over the states and inland counties. This is as true for the winter months as it is for summer.

Maybe many of them don’t come just to fish, especially in the winter, but it is another irreplaceable item that attracts tourists and visitors. Closing off areas of our coastline, other than tide pools, is neither necessary nor warranted. Current regulations are working very well for both fisherman, fish and the economy. I strongly recommend that the environmental extremists back off and find something else to destroy.

DAVE CONNELL

Laguna Beach

Greywater permits no longer required

Our current drought and ongoing water challenges has brought enlightenment to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which on July 30 passed an emergency greywater bill.

Starting Tuesday, using household greywater from washing-machines and shower drains for landscape irrigation will no longer require a building permit in California.

Systems will still need to meet minimum plumbing code, keep water on site, not pond, and deliver the greywater with at least two inches of mulch, rock, soil or a shield above.

Inspired by the need for water conservation around the state, the new rules eliminate the need for a permit, underground installation, and extensive filtering for greywater systems. Reusing greywater can help reduce water bills by up to 50%, according to calculations by the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The old California Plumbing Code is “overly prescriptive and antiquated, and not readily usable” by people wanting to install greywater systems for water conservation, according to the department’s Finding of Emergency for greywater standards. That fact has led to “thousands of unpermitted greywater systems in use around the state.”

Laundry detergents recommended for greywater systems are: Alfa Kleen, Bold, Oasis Bio Compatible, Bio Pac, Ecocover, Shaklee Basic L and Sun Ultra.

For more information on greywater systems, see www.OasisDesign.net.

Chris Prelitz

Laguna Beach

Don’t miss a jolly trolley ride

People singing, riders waving to people they’ve never met, old friends, children on the street making a motion to trolley drivers to ring the bell “” it all happens on our summer trolleys.

Take a trolley south to Wesley Drive and walk through beautiful Treasure Island Park which has several picnic benches, a dirt pathway at it’s northern-end four beaches, including two intimate coves, to write home about or even better come after dark and see the ocean lit up by flood lamps.

Go south to the hospital and walk two blocks to Thousand Steps beach at Ninth Street or go north in South Laguna village and explore Secret Cove beach, (off South Table Rock Drive) or Table Rock and West Street beaches.

Stop at Eaglerock and walk one block east and one block north to the Village Green park where shaded picnic tables and barbecue braziers are “” and for something totally different, get off at Aliso Beach and walk to the golf course and watch people teeing off.

Take the north trolley and get off at the north end of Heisler Park and walk south, by Diver’s Cove, Picnic Beach, with new restrooms and plants, Monument Point, Rockpile beach and end your Heisler tour at the gazebo where it always seems 10 degrees cooler.

Keep walking south to our new boardwalk and sit near the old main lifeguard tower, the most photographed thing in town, and if you want to walk on the beach, go south to the Oak Street overlook. The trolleys are fun and a great convenience for locals and visitors.

ROGER CARTER

Laguna Beach