All those who have a debt to...

All those who have a debt to St. Andrew’s speak up

In response to your Forum section of March 5, the rebuttal

comments regarding the St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church building

project remind me of the story of the “The Little Red Hen.”

You may recall that the Little Red Hen asked for help to sow the

seeds, water the soil, harvest the grain, mill the flour and bake the

bread.

All of her friends refused, but she went ahead and did all the

work without any help. When it was time to slice the loaf, the smell

was so wonderful that all of the same friends came back to ask for a

piece of the delicious creation.

One of your readers commented that he owed St. Andrew’s a debt of

gratitude and gave them high marks for its sponsorship of a spring

Mammoth trip in which his daughter participated.

Almost every week, Newport Harbor High School makes use of some

facility at St. Andrew’s Church. Without St. Andrew’s it would not be

possible to hold any of our large events that require tables and

chairs. We only have portable No. 9, a room one-third the size of the

St. Andrew’s Derenfield Hall.

Those who take advantage of all the community services St.

Andrew’s has to offer need to give their help in return.

I know that the church expansion is controversial, but the nature

of that expansion is such that it merits our consideration. This is

not a business seeking to expand for profit.

This is a nonprofit entity that offers a huge variety of outreach

services to our community. Let those nonmembers who have enrolled

their children in its excellent preschool stand up. Let those Cub

Scouts who met every week in a church facility come forward. Let

anyone who has a child who has participated in a St. Andrew’s

sponsored youth project stand up to be counted.

In this time of budget constraints, tight spaces and building

closures, Newport Harbor High School needs friends such as St.

Andrew’s.

No other institution on the perimeter of the school provides as

many benefits to the school.

We owe it to our good neighbor to remember that St. Andrew’s has

given cheerfully, generously and consistently to Newport Harbor and

its students.

SANDRA SKAHEN

Newport Beach

Editor’s Note: Sandra Skahen is the president of the Newport

Harbor High School PTA.

Cox didn’t help anybody

but developers with auction

Nobody has benefited from Congressman Chris Cox having El Toro

auctioned off, except the local housing developers of course.

In fact, El Toro never should have been closed.

In an anti-El Toro newsletter (“Taxpayers for Responsible

Planning”) dated August 1997 is the following: “Congressman Cox told

those in attendance that El Toro was the only base in the United

States closed because of the value of the land, not because of

inefficiency or to save money. It was closed because the land is so

valuable that the federal government could sell it for income.”

That is not surprising, considering that his wife was on the base

closure commission. In the meantime, thousands of Marines have been

forced to live on the Southern California economy with substandard

wages.

As one can see, El Toro was not closed for strategic reasons but

simply to line the pockets of local developers.

Cox’s entire district has been harmed by his actions. Without a

radical reduction in local air travel consumption, then John Wayne

will be quite vulnerable to expansion as the caps expire in 2015.

Then, those who voted for the Great Park, have lost out as well.

They are not exactly getting what they were promised.

El Toro and Tustin are the only two out of 97 bases closed

nationwide that were auctioned off, as opposed to a public benefit

conveyance. As soon as the vote for a Great Park passed, Cox could

have easily arranged for federal conveyances to the National Park

Service, the Bureau of Land Management, etc. In fact, that happened

at the San Francisco Presidio and at Fort Ord in Monterey County,

which now make for very nice parks.

Instead, Cox insisted on an auction that took nearly three years

to conduct after the election.

In the end, John Wayne will face enormous pressure, and South

County will get stuck with even worse traffic than an airport would

create.

As for any public benefit from El Toro, forget it. Lennar Homes is

in business to make a profit, not to create parks.

Plus, a simple majority vote from the Irvine City Council can

always allow for more development at the so called Great Park.

REX RICKS

Huntington Beach