Mailbag - July 11, 2002

More stringent requirements are needed

The Environmental Protection Agency should place more stringent

requirements on the sanitation district.

Obviously the current methods are not working. And everybody seems to

forget that while providing new revenue to Huntington Beach through room

taxes from the hotels springing up along Pacific Coast Highway, every one

of those hotel rooms has a toilet and every one of those toilets will

contribute more waste to be sanitized.

If the city is counting so much on the benefits hotels/meeting centers

will bring to the city, wouldn’t it be embarrassing to have the beach

polluted?

JEAN RATAJCZAK

Huntington Beach

Chlorine’s a dangerous quick fix -- do it right

While there is no question that we should be looking to improve the

quality of Orange County Sanitation District’s releases into our ocean

waters, it is also important to fully consider the effects of this new

proposal to treat the sewage with chlorine -- a known toxic substance.

The danger lies in the fact that several hundred homes near or

downwind of the plant, some of which are currently subject to its

chemical air emissions and odors, may now be at risk of exposure to

chlorine.

People seem to be overlooking the impact of this growing sewage plant

on the humans living in the area. The plant currently emits more than

40,000 cubic feet of smelly chemically enhanced gas per minute. Will

these emissions now offer our lungs a dose of chlorine, or what if there

is a spill? There seems to be a rush to appease the EPA,

environmentalists and the city with a Band-Aid of a politically

gratifying, cost-effective solution while still ignoring the humans who

live, breath, and vote in southeast Huntington Beach.

Do it right. If it costs $400 million to fix the pollution, for the

fish and us humans breathing the air in Huntington Beach, then pass the

cost on to the rest of the county. Let’s not deal with these shortsighted

solutions that will harm us in the long run.

JON ELY

Huntington Beach

Tunnel proposal a good one

Dave Sullivan’s suggestion of installing a underground tunnel from the

ocean to the wetlands makes perfect sense to me. This approach would

allow sea water to revitalize the wetland and save the beach. The other

plan would require a bridge over the channel and scar an unbroken run of

beautiful sand. The technology is available to accomplish the task

without cutting up our shoreline. Dave Sullivan and Danette Goulet’s

thoughts merit a second look at correcting a problem that may or may not

be damage our delicate shoreline.

RICHARD MCGRATH

Huntington Beach

City should reopen upstairs of Newland House

Should the Newland House Museum’s second floor remain permanently

closed because one senior lady fell down the stairs a year ago?

Of course not. What on earth is wrong with this city, and with society

in general, for that matter? One accident in 20 years and they want to

punish everyone by not allowing upstairs visits anymore? And why did the

woman’s daughter see fit to sue for $382? Whatever happened to personal

responsibility? If the lady fell down, it was probably her own fault. I

can’t imagine suing anyone for falling down the stairs because I was

clumsy. If the stairs were in bad repair and caused the fall, that’s

another story. In which case they should be repaired and the second floor

reopened.

On another matter, just saw “Surfhenge.” It’s hideous and an absolute

waste of taxpayers’ money. Boy, what a boondoggle.

MICHELE BURGESS

Huntington Beach

Cartoon suggests something false and dangerous

Steve Bolton suggests in his cartoon (Forum, July 4) that it is legal

to use firearms to celebrate the Fourth of July, while it is illegal to

use sparklers. It is my understanding that it is illegal to discharge a

firearm at any time in the city of Huntington Beach. There is an inherent

danger to this activity that should be obvious.

DON LA BARE

Huntington Beach

Let’s be humane and ban circuses with animals

Maybe she should go behind the scenes of a circus and see what is

going on these days. It is sad to see a majestic animal like an elephant

beaten into submission to stand on his head. Pushed by years of cruelty,

animals often lash out against their captivity. In the circus industry

this results in animal attacks and rampages. It is not bread and butter

for their owners anymore, they can get so many out of the wild now that

it doesn’t matter if a few get beaten to death. Regarding pony rides,

they may look harmless. But those animals have to go around all day

without a drink of water so they wouldn’t urinate in front of the

children who are riding them. Let’s make Huntington Beach a humane city.

EVELYN OYNEBRAATEN

Huntington Beach

Districting is less democratic

The initiative to place districting on the ballot in November makes

the argument that council persons elected from districts will be more

representative than the current method of electing them at large.

Under the provisions of the initiative, a voter will only cast one

vote for a person to represent him once every four years. Under the

current system, which is supposed to be less representative according to

the backers of the initiative, a voter gets to cast votes for three

candidates and two years later for four to represent him. It seems that

seven votes in four years are much more democratic than only one vote in

the same four years.

The initiative is just a formula to disenfranchise the voters of

Huntington Beach by only allowing them to vote only once every four

years.

GERALD L. CHAPMAN

Huntington Beach

Strange things happening on 17th Street

You may notice a street sign on 17th Street that provides a phone

number and a web site that seems to indicate it refers to the Huntington

Beach Rebuilding effort. It’s interesting to call the number, where the

person answering the phone doesn’t know anything about the phone number

or the web site, or any rebuilding effort in the city. Is this our tax

dollars at work again? Wonder when they will clean up the mess that has

been made of the roadway on 17th Street over the past 10 years.

B.J. HADELER

Huntington Beach