Letters to Editor
Editor:
Thank you for the front page article concerning speeders in LW. This is a major problem and seems to be getting worse.
However, the photo included in your article is not representative of the speed radar signs in LW. The sign pictured is the type of sign I’ve seen at several locations on Lampson Avenue and Seal Beach Boulevard and in Los Alamitos. The radar signs in LW do not have a posted speed limit. This is a problem. The signs in LW only display the speed your vehicle is traveling.
Anyone can tell that by looking at their speedometer. Why isn’t the speed limit of 25 posted above the signs?
I do quite a bit of walking and frequently pass by the radar sign on St. Andrews between Golden Rain and the St. Andrews gate frequently. I’m amazed at the number of vehicles I’ve seen driving 45 mph and higher. This is almost double the speed limit.
I certainly hope that your front page article will have an effect on at least some drivers.
Please slow down. Robert Dufney Mutual 1 Editor’s Note: A stock photo was used to best illustrate the story. The LW signs in question do begin flashing as soon as drivers exceed 25 mph. Editor: On Feb. 21 about 9 p.m. my wife, Pauline, my dog Marley and I were out for our prebedtime walk. At night, I wear a hat with bright lights on it, and I scan our route looking for coyotes. Pauline and Marley walk ahead of me.
As I was scanning, I saw a coyote staring back at me. I yelled to Pauline, and she reached down and grabbed 10-pound Marley and scooped him up. This time, it was me, not Marley, chasing the coyote. He was safe in Pauline’s arms leaving me to chase the coyote, which was five times as big as Marley.
On our morning walks, it is just the two of us, and I wear a yellow cap so drivers can see us when we cross streets.
Most drivers stop to let us cross. There are a few that look like they want to run us over. I take a snapshot of their license plates with my cap camera.
Barry Allen Mutual 10 Editor:
What an astonishingly hatefi lled letter from Brian Harmon in the Feb. 22 issue. To liken a generation of young people who are desperately trying to better their future through education to frivolous, fun-seeking swine at the “trough” is absolutely atrocious, in my opinion.
If education had not turned into a for-profit industry, investing in arms and oil and enabling administrators and football coaches to become millionaires, these loans might never have been necessary. But, of course, that would have obviated the profitable student loan financial enterprises, exemplified by the family of our former Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.
More insidious than the attack on the students though is his list of “not-so-useful subjects,” which I believe is similar to lists Nazi Germany and Mao may have used in eliminating the intelligentsia, hence potential dissidents, from society. Journalism is on his list, Trump’s “enemy of the people.” History “not so useful!” Mind boggling! Ethnic and gender studies a la Ron DeSantis’ war on woke.
I wonder if he thinks removing books on these subjects from the shelves would make for a more “useful” education? I wonder if ROTC might be near the top of his list of “useful” subjects?
Lee Hoyt Mutual 11 Editor:
I find it particularly odd that the LW Republican Club has deigned to add “America First” to its name. The phrase is an old, familiar one, dating back to World War II, when a large segment of the American electorate was strongly against participating in the fight against Hitler and his horrible attempt to destroy all the world’s Jews.
President Roosevelt felt it was important to support Great Britain and other democratic countries against Hitler but was stymied in these attempts by the Republican Party. It fought every action that Roosevelt tried to apply, saying it was not our fight and that we could not afford it. They prevented him from sending American troops overseas.
FDR managed to support Great Britain by sending ships, planes and munitions to Winston Churchill’s military. Doing so made a huge difference and eventually helped them defeat the Nazi scum.
My mother had gone back to Wales to visit her grandmother in 1939. At that time, the War was being fought in Europe. Mam returned to America just as Great Britain was bombed by the Nazis. And so she was there when London, other parts of England, as well as Wales, were bombed. She had a fiancee who was an RAF sergeant pilot who bombed Germany. Sadly, he was killed in September 1939.
“America First” may seem to be a patriotic slogan, but those of us old enough to remember what the GOP tried to do the recognize it as a phrase that does not deserve to be used again. It is a misguided GOP attempt to sound patriotic.
Lynne Burt-Jenkins Mutual 7 Editor:
I noticed something in a recent letter (Feb. 22) on student loans. I’m not looking for a debate on that topic (and I’m not a “woke” advocate either).
The letter said subjects like history, philosophy, etc., are “fun, not-so-useful subjects.” Writing as one who has learned history in and out of classrooms and used it in workplaces, I have this response. An old proverb says those who learn from history yet repeat it, lose an eye; those who don’t learn from history and repeat it, lose both eyes. Those who learn from history and avoid a repeat, keep eyes. Or “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
H. Broadbent Mutual 17 Editor:
Israel has a population of 9 million; the U.S., 340 million. Disregarding the factor of scale: 1. Assume we shared a border with an aggressive neighbor (perhaps valid complaints of aggressive incidents from both sides of the border).
2. Assume that for years our neighbor has vowed to wipe us off the map.
3. Assume our neighbor invades our border and savagely kills 1,200 of our civilian citizens and takes hostage 250 men, women and a few children.
Given the above, what would be your reaction and what response of our government would you demand?
As you determine your personal stance, do not fail to recognize the barbarous details of the Hamas attack (mutilation, rape, murder). War is not a sport subject to a reasonable expectation of adherence to the rules. When most seriously aggrieved, will you (and me) not resort to kicking and biting?
Stan Verdi Mutual 2 Editor:
When I read Brian Harmon’s classifications of “useful” vs. “not useful” majors (Feb. 22), I had to ask myself why I found the terms so objectionable in regard to academic majors.
To be sure, universities and colleges were never, for the most part, intended to be trade schools. Those institutions serve a purpose of their own and do it well. For me, the university was a place to learn how to find, weigh and apply knowledge and to evaluate research done by others.
For these purposes, majors and subjects given such short shrift by Mr. Harmon, such as history, philosophy, journalism and anthropology actually were invaluable.
In such a wealthy country as ours, I believe we should give students as much assistance as possible, including the paying off of part of some crippling loans. Educated citizens make all of our lives better.
Betty Buldan Mutual 15 Editor:
A recent MSNBC analyst (Democrat) summed up Christian nationalism perfectly by stating that “the thing that unites people as Christian nationalists is that they believe that our rights as Americans, as all human beings, don’t come from any earthly being. They don’t come from Congress. They don’t come from the Supreme Court. They come from God.”
Yes. That is exactly what I believe. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson penned: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.”
Our Constitution and Bill of Rights do not grant us these rights but affirm rights that are inherent to all of mankind.
In this, America is exceptional, not as Barack Obama asserted when he said, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”
America’s exceptionalism is not because we are great, like other historically great nations, but because our country was founded on the principles of self-determination and limited government, established to serve the “will of the [whole] people.”
Conversely, there are non-Christian globalists (Soros, Schwab, Kerry, Legarde, Bergoglio, etc) who see America as an impediment to their quest to rule from Brussels, Washington and Rome.
I strongly believe in the principles established at our founding and will work diligently to defend said principles (and sovereignty) from enemies foreign and domestic, on behalf of my children and grandchildren.
Earwick Ward Mutual 7
