MAILBAG:Taking bait doesn’t make sea lion a ‘thief’

It is unfortunate that the Daily Pilot report’s headline (“Stabbed sea lion is dead,” July 28) states that the sea lion “stole” the bait from the fisherman.

Wildlife on land and in the sea do not commit misdemeanors or felonies against people. That animal was not a “thief” but it merely tried to sustain its livelihood. Using the word “stole” might infer a justification for its murder by the cruel fisherman.

Clearly, your reporter was more sensible and wrote that the sea lion “...took the bait from the pole” instead of “stole.” My respect to your reporter, my scolding for the writer (and editor) of the misleading headline.

RICHARD FINN

Follow trend of call for Bush’s impeachment

The city of West Hollywood recently became the 70th city in the U.S. to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

This symbolic but far from meaningless gesture will hopefully continue a trend that will spark a groundswell of similar action.

I call on the Costa Mesa City Council to follow the example of West Hollywood and other like-minded city councils.

KAREN MCKENNA-JUERGENS

Banning Ranch, bridge are unrelated issues

Commissioner Hawkins (“Banning Ranch won’t use 19th Street bridge,” July 31) has a made a great start into politics. He took two unrelated subjects and wrote as if they had something to do with one another and then made a really rotten development deal seem like we will be fortunate that it will take place.

First, let’s face a significant fact. The Banning Ranch development project and a proposed, but unlikely bridge over the Santa Ana River are two completely different subjects. After going to all the trouble to connect those two projects in the mind of the reader, Hawkins admits that the traffic generated by a Banning Ranch development will not use a 19th Street bridge.

There is only one reason Newport Beach wants a bridge at 19th Street — to attract through-traffic away from Pacific Coast Highway. PCH is a state route, its function being to route traffic away from city streets.

Hawkins wants a Costa Mesa city street to divert traffic from a state highway. His claim that a 19th Street bridge would alleviate a terrible traffic jam at 19th Street and the 55 Freeway omits the reason for the mess at that intersection. It’s because Newport Beach convinced CalTrans that a jam at that intersection was preferable to one at the 55 Freeway and PCH.

The cities of Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa both oppose a 19th Street bridge.

Hawkins goes on to describe most of the Banning Ranch plan as open space. He lists 1,375 housing units, 75,000 square feet of commercial usage and a small hotel!

Tell me, commissioner, where will you put the open space, and how long will it last?

ALAN REMINGTON

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