Boat launch a great starting point Great...

Boat launch a great starting point

Great concept, Mike Whitehead (The Harbor Column, “Get with the

program,” Friday)! Why build a hotel on our public land at the

trailer park?

I, for one, would love to have a small launching area once again

in the harbor. I remember the lovely afternoons of seeing the

brightly colored sails on the Hobies gliding across the water. Keep

the land public, and put it to use to, as you say, provide access to

the harbor.

P.S. Keep up the good work on your column.

SAM SWEENEY

Newport Beach

Reagans were warm, friendly to serviceman

It was 1951, during the Korean war, and I was on weekend leave

from my Navy base in San Diego. I was in Los Angeles, walking by the

Biltmore Hotel, when many well-known celebrities were just leaving an

awards ceremony. Among them were Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis; they

were not yet married, and it was long before he entered politics.

I got many autographs there, but it was Reagan and Davis who made

the most lasting impression on me. Here I was -- 1,600 miles from home in my sailor uniform, and the two of them were warm and

friendly, engaging me in conversation and inquiring about my service

and hometown. I’ll never forget their graciousness.

How would I know that I was talking to a future president and

first lady? I still have their autographs.

ELLIS JORDAN

Corona del Mar

Reagans were also quite the dancers

I went to Washington, D.C, to cover President Reagan’s second

inauguration for the Daily Pilot. And I sent several columns back,

which were published. I thought the Reagans’ warm, handsome and the

best dancers at the inaugural ball. I am grateful for President

Reagan’s life and especially for his diplomacy and promotion of world

peace.

BETTY PORTER

Newport Beach

St. Andrew’s plan right for community

We are for the expansion plan at St. Andrew’s Church. We are for

St. Andrew’s to improve our community and to help have the children

have a wonderful youth center.

We are really ecstatic if St. Andrew’s can undergo that plan and

complete its new facility. It would be great to have an indoor

activity center, and I think it would be a great future for our young

kids in the area. There are so many children that sit out on the

lawns at all these schools and wait for their parents to pick them

up, and St. Andrew’s would be a wonderful place for them to go.

MICHAEL and GABRIELLE ALEXANDER

Newport Beach

St. Andrew’s will be boon for the future

I am a resident of Newport Beach and a member of St. Andrew’s

Church. Even though I am 80 years old, I am really supportive of St.

Andrew’s building project.

Because of my age, I might not see the completion of our dream for

a youth center; however, I’m finishing up my three-year financial

pledge and will continue to give more money if it is needed. I’m

proud to be a member of a church that is providing moral leadership

for our youth -- not just for our church but for the community of

Newport Beach. Since I moved to Newport Beach more than six years

ago, I have volunteered one day a week at Wilson Elementary School in

Costa Mesa (Glenda Munson’s kindergarten class). I believe in

investing my time and money in the future of our youth, for they are

the future leaders of St. Andrew’s Church and in our community.

Our focus is on the youth center, but the neighbors near the

church also will benefit because of the enlarged parking facility

(150 additional parking spaces, which means these cars will be

parking on church property and not in front of our neighbors’

houses). Also, because of the plans for a soundproof gym, the present

outside activities will be moved inside, and it will be a much

quieter neighborhood.

Our building project is rightly named: “Building the future.” We

are building the future for the youth of St. Andrew’s Church and for

the future of the youth of Newport Beach.

ELAINE E. TILLMAN

Newport Beach