Rename Bonita Canyon park to honor Paul...

Rename Bonita Canyon park to honor Paul Salata

Before the playing fields are officially opened, the Parks,

Beaches and Recreation Committee should rededicate and rename Bonita

Canyon Sports Park to the “Paul Salata Sports Park.”

The park is destined to be one of the major sports facilities in

Newport Beach and Orange County.

Currently, the park is named after a street on which it has no

entrance, and the street was named by the city of Irvine after a

place that no longer exists.

This park should be named to honor Paul Salata, a man that has

been in sports, is respected in our community and is involved in a

sport activity that has brought favorable nationwide attention to

Newport Beach.

There is local precedence for honoring individuals while they are

still with us at the time of dedication: Marian Bergeson Aquatic

Center; Laver Street; Roy C. Andersen School; Crean Library; and

Horace Ensign School.

It is time to stop naming most of our facilities after creeks,

canyons, streets, etc.

I urge everyone to unite and promote the renaming of the sports

park. Salata should be honored while he is still with us. There will

never be an opportunity like this.

RAYMOND J. ZARTLER

Newport Beach

Costa Mesa congressman should bite his tongue

In the wake of the President Bush’s ultimatum to Saddam Hussein,

the Daily Pilot reported that Rep. Dana Rohrabacher noted, “it is

time for those who have been attacking the president to quiet down,

at least for a few days” (“Bush ultimatum draws mixed local

response,” Tuesday).

Last I heard, this country wasn’t run by a dictator and we still

had the right to speak out in public. Any suggestion by public

officials that the American public should “quiet down” because they

oppose a preemptive, illegal invasion of Iraq is shameful and needs

to be addressed immediately.

Also, Rohrabacher added that “if our soldiers end up being hailed

as liberators, the left wing of the Democratic Party has much to

apologize for.”

I would remind Rohrabacher that war is not politics, but

bloodshed, and those American politicians, whether Republican or

Democrat, that voted for war will be held responsible for the deaths

of American troops and Iraqi civilians.

When politicians ask the American public to “shut up and get with

the program,” warning bells should go off in all our heads.

ROBERT FAY

Costa Mesa

Bell Curve just like ‘The West Wing’ -- fiction

Joseph Bell is an excellent writer, but his talent is wasted when

he spews and spins his left-leaning ideology. Proof he has gone over

the edge is evident in his column (“More than a hint of reality in

‘West Wing’ plot line,” Feb. 27).

I didn’t even bother reading further than the following

outrageously unfair, unfounded and underhanded attack on President

Bush that was disguised as a reason for Bell avidly watching “West

Wing”: “It’s the only place I’ve been able to find a president who

speaks in complete sentences, admits to being fallible, studies both

sides of issues before making up his mind, is steeped in history, is

highly principled -- but not beyond taking an occasional shortcut,

which he sometimes regrets -- has close friends who are not in the

Fortune 500 and reads a little more deeply than voter polls.”

Bell really needs to get a grip on his blatant liberal bias, take

a deep breath, force himself to be more objective, realize his

Hollywood friends are just actors and finally admit that “West Wing”

is not reality TV; it is just idealistic fiction -- just like many of

Bell’s columns.

CLAUDIA DOWNS

Newport Beach

Article fairly reported Eastside tract decision

Thank you for your fair and accurate article on the Eastside Tract

1154 overlay proposal (“Planners reject Eastside restrictions,”

Thursday). I especially appreciated the report that of those who

reside within the tract, supporters currently outnumber their

opposition by a margin of 3 to 1 (76 to 24) and that 90% of existing

properties retain the original tract layout of the front yard, house,

rear yard and detached alley garage.

Many of those who support the overlay proposal are original or

longtime owners in Tract 1154 and are of an age that they are unable

to attend public hearings held in the evening. They have done their

best, through letters, petitions and neighborhood representatives, to

make their voice heard to city officials.

It is unfortunate that some in opposition have labeled the overlay

proposal “anti-family.” With 60% of each property available for

two-story construction under the proposal, and only 40% restricted to

one-story, family homes of more than 5,000 square feet could be built

without disrupting the open-air back yards that have characterized

this neighborhood for more than 50 years.

NORMA WILDEBOER

Costa Mesa