Toast to a bar was politically incorrect
I have a problem with your lead article in the North County edition of May 20 entitled “The Kraken's ready to party.”
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You describe the place as a “drinking man's bar.” I hope that doesn't meet with the owner's approval.
I'm sure he appreciates the free advertising, but does he really exclude women who are “firefighters, stockbrokers, financial planners, and construction workers,” your description of the “daytime crowd.” How does he get away with that?
JUDITH BARNEY
Solana Beach
Ramona Chamber conflict
The Ramona Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has shown that it is not only weak and ineffective but open to no-vote, no-bid contracts in their own board members' favor.
In recent months, the Ramona Chamber of Commerce has handed out contracts (spending the membership's money) to board members without any board meetings being held, without any votes, without any quorums, and in some cases without any competing bids.
The chamber's bylaws expressly prohibit such practices.
Clearly, the board of directors does not care. The question is, does the membership care?
DOUG SOOLEY
Ramona
Yard signs are part of freedom of speech
We are upset at the individuals who deface property and signage – signage that does not agree with their beliefs.
Our country was born with the idea of free speech and to deface and destroy others' property is criminally wrong.
We live adjacent to an LDS Mormon Church property in a residential, rural area. The church has applied for a special use permit to build a large edifice in this quiet neighborhood.
The signs were placed on our property by a concerned group of neighbors to let everyone know just why we are against this large building in a rural area. On a continuing basis they are being destroyed and our property is trespassed upon.
People should be able to voice their opinion without fear of having their items or property vandalized.
ALLAN and CAROL LARNER
Fallbrook
Supervisor's race and Horn comments
The campaign for the county supervisor's 5th district seat is really getting to incumbent Bill Horn. He can't keep his story straight.
In a Union-Tribune article on May 6, Horn said, in referring to his challenger, “The best thing that ever happened were term limits because it got Bruce Thompson out of the Legislature.” But then on May 18, a mere 10 days later, Horn said “Term limits is the worst thing that ever happened to the state of California.”
Oh, but wait. In the latter article Horn was responding to a potential signature initiative drive aimed at putting term limits on our own county supervisors. I guess when it comes to Bill Horn, what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander.
LINDA PUPOLS
Oceanside
Supervisor Bill Horn's arrogance and constant scandal have grown tiresome. It is time for a change, it is time for new leadership, it is time to elect Bruce Thompson. I feel that Thompson reflects that values and enthusiasm that we as a community and county are seeking.
TIFFANIE RIZZO
Valley Center
Represent the people, not the pharmaceuticals
My family's local “representative,” Darrell Issa, has received over $90,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. Is it any wonder then that the Medicare Part D drug “benefit” plan actually benefits the pharma companies more than ordinary citizens in need of affordable drugs to sustain our lives?
If forced to “benefit” from Medicare Part D, my 93-year-old mother's monthly drug costs will double from approximately $500 per month to almost $1,000 per month. So, we have delayed incurring the extra costs as long as possible. But the May 15 Part D sign-up deadline – one day after Mothers' Day – means that her present from our government will likely be a diminished quality of life resulting from the cost of maintaining her life through needlessly costly medications.
The greatest country in the world should be able to elect a Congress that represents its citizens, not global corporations. I intend to cast my vote only for candidates who will listen to and represent their constituents, not their business interests. Maybe next year on Mother's Day, I will have something to celebrate with my mother.
ELLIE EBBS-BYERS
Oceanside
The meaning behind Arlington West Memorial
The San Diego chapter of Veterans for Peace has been presenting the Arlington West Memorial since the early months of the Iraq War. At those memorials, an individual Cross (or Star of David or Crescent) is placed for each US service person killed in the Iraq War and are arranged in the order of their death. Each marker bears the Name, Age, Rank, and Branch of Service. Part of the memorial service also includes the reading of each of name aloud. Sadly, it has become a huge undertaking, requiring several hours by a group of volunteers to set up, read the names, and then to pack up.
Veterans for Peace is composed of men and women from all branches of service; including those who served as combat veterans from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the Iraq War. We have members who were drafted, volunteered, retired career officers, and even an Annapolis graduate. Within the group there is a wide range of views regarding militarism, but we are unanimous in our opposition to wars of choice. We feel that wars are a reflection of failed policy. This is not to say that all wars are avoidable, but should always be the very last option.
People cannot win wars any more than you can win a hurricane or win an earthquake. The best that can be hoped for is to avoid a repetition of the same disaster and make the best of the aftermath. Wars are unnatural disasters, generally started by old politicians and fought by young men and women who wind up paying the ultimate price.
These are the things we talk about at our meetings and at rallies, marches, and outreach programs. However, at the Arlington West Memorials this is put aside with the hope that people will just reflect on the human cost of the Iraq War, in a solemn, nonpolitical setting.
On Memorial Day – Monday, May 29, the Democratic Club of Greater Fallbrook will host the San Diego Veterans for Peace Arlington West Memorial at Live Oak Park in Fallbrook from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Please join us, volunteers are welcome.
JON MONDAY
Fallbrook
Oh, go ahead – soak the tourists
Well, you got it wrong again (“Solana Beach tax would soak tourists – again,” North County Editorial, May 11). You are worried about a family from Arizona paying an extra 3 percent once a year for a vacation on the beach? If these poor tourists can pay thousands of dollars a week to rent a condo, another couple of hundred dollars is not going to deter them.
Many of them are here for the race season, and spending tons of money at the track every day. Guess what, if you go to a beautiful place, you have to pay for it.
JIM VELTMAN
Solana Beach
Early 'No' vote on school bond
Regarding “The wrong site, the wrong measure” (North County Editorial, May 17):
The misleading statements by the proponents for Proposition H, a proposed $44.5 million bond issue for a second school in Rancho Santa Fe, are disheartening, to say the least.
I sincerely hope that the residents who live in Rancho Santa Fe take a closer look at the information available to them and come to the same conclusion that I have when they cast their vote on June 6.
Why spend $44.5 million to build an elementary school on a site that is too small?
Why not choose an alternative site, which the proponents already know about, that is much more suitable for a school?
Look at the safety issues: No access roads!
Traffic, and more traffic. Yes, it would come.
Why do we need two schools? You either build a second story onto Roger Rowe to accommodate all the students or find a site to build a big enough school to house all the students in the new school.
NANCY SULLIVAN
Rancho Santa Fe
Rancho Santa Fe School District administrators have publicly stated that their first priority for a second school site is to keep the commitment they made to the RSF Covenant Board: Find a non-covenant site for the proposed school. They have publicly acknowledged that they are pursuing a site in Aliso Canyon because it is outside of the covenant and satisfies their political agenda.
The fact that the school board and superintendent are giving in to political pressure is bad enough, but their blatant disregard for the safety of students and residents is offensive and reprehensible. They are knowingly endangering students and residents by recommending a school site in a canyon with one access route: a two-lane road.
The district does not own the 7-acre property on Aliso Canyon Road. The deal is not done. Why spend $44.5 million when the current school “strongly supports teaching and learning through its ample classroom and playground space,” which is how the district itself describes the Rowe School in its May 2006 annual report to the community?
H. JEAN ZORZY
Rancho Santa Fe
With a school district that has adjacent land available to the existing school, is located in the heart of the community it serves, with police and fire stations only yards away from the campus, why there would be an issue as to where to expand is ridiculous. Why the Rancho Santa Fe School District would use eminent domain to destroy an adjacent, small, long-term established residential horse estate community is not only absurd, but against our social values, and an abuse of the eminent domain philosophy.
The answer to this “why” is clear. The school board is comprised of Rancho Santa Fe Covenant members whose vested interests do not reflect those of the general population included in the school district.
This situation is not new. There has been historically an ongoing battle between the Covenant and surrounding home-owner associations in the service district regarding almost every issue facing this unincorporated North County area.
Until the RSF Association representatives modify this elitist position and becomes a true working partner in the services district with other associations, such conflicts as the school battle, the horse trail battle and others will continue to exist.
MARTIN M. BUNCHER
Rancho Santa Fe
We care. But why do we care so much?
Because safeguarding our homes, our innocent children, and our helpless animals is our most important responsibility.
We have known for over a year that the concerns of the RSF Fire Protection District, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and the San Diego County Department of Planning and Land Use are real. Nothing has changed. There have been no solutions proposed to ensure the safety of the community.
We do no want a “disaster” to occur when it can be avoided. We cannot in good conscience condone poor planning and put people and animals in harm's way.
Lindey Delaney, RSF School District superintendent and former gym teacher, is the most strident proponent of the proposed school site. She has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the concerns of our community. A most recent example of this was her sworn statement about why she likes this site so much. She stated, “The properties are in close proximity to the district's present school (within 2.3 miles) which will facilitate the sharing of resources between the schools, and the ability for staff to travel rapidly between schools.”
This statement again proves how insensitive Delaney is to Rancho Santa Fe. The road she would travel “rapidly” on is Lago Lindo, a narrow, winding country road with a small one-lane bridge. Unfortunately, and heart-wrenchingly, Lago Lindo was the site of a recent fatal accident involving a school parent.
Yes we care. We care a lot about the safety of our community, all of our community. We will vote No on Proposition H.
ROBIN and GERRY PARSKY
Rancho Santa Fe
