Dear Editor,
From: Ed Benson
Recent transplant from San Luis Obispo
So the Coastal Commission stood up the Morro Bay's incompetent, morally bankrupt new "leadership" over the wastewater treatment plant. Good for them and shame on Yates and his pets for wasting time, money, and simple good sense on trying to push through a ridiculous system. Is there any chance saner minds will work for the good of the community and do the right thing? Yates III is going to be a long term. Again. Thank god we have a Coastal Commission!!!!!
From: John and Cecilia Harrison
Los Osos
We loved your video on the front page in April. Black Hill is a special place that holds lots of great memories for me, my family, and our many visitors over the years. Thanks to all of the good men and women who work to keep the trails cleared. You do a wonderful job with little recognition. Thanks for your dedication!
From: Diane and John Celenza
Cambria
Every month we go straight to Michele Oksen's column, Nature's Voice. What a gentle spirit Michele exhibits. We learn from her poetic voice and simple ways. Reading her words is like cuddling into a cozy windowseat and stepping into a tantalizing new world.
[Editors note: Michele's column is now called Coastland Contemplations.]
From: David Jenkins
Santa Barbara
Is your reporter, Jack McCurdy, the same one who wrote for the Los Angeles Times many years ago? If I remember correctly, he and his team won a Pulitzer Prize for something to do with the coverage of race riots in the 60s. From the depth of his research and analysis and the way he grabs hold of the salient points, I feel it must be him. Good to find one of the old guard, the greats of journalism. Way to go, Mr. McCurdy! You make an old man have hope.
|
From: Cindy Sage
Environmental Consultant
From Letter sent to Senator Sam Blakeslee
I have some thoughts for you, as you go after Diablo's recertification.
Let me tell you what it is like to fly from Singapore to Hong Kong to SF and back to SB in one day. Because of catastrophic radiation threats from 'the safest nuclear reactors in the world' in Japan.
Our daughter, her husband and 22-month old evacuated from Tokyo last Tuesday to Singapore via Osaka and Shanghai. They've lived in Tokyo for two years and the baby was born there.
I flew to Singapore for a week to help them. These are thoughts now, about California, coming back home.
Flying back over the green hills of SLO and SB counties from San Francisco, you think
"we don't even have 160 miles between us and Diablo". That is the distance between Tokyo and Fukushima's Daiichi nuclear plant that now has four reactors in partial meltdown and thousands of spent fuel rods in empty cooling ponds seeping and belching radiation directly into the air and the seawater. The government acknowledges this will likely continue for weeks and months to come. And, the threat of full meltdown of one, or more, of these four reactors and/or the cooling ponds for spent fuel is not ruled out yet.
Tokyo has thirty million people in one city alone that cannot be moved, or properly informed because they will panic and bring further chaos to an overloaded government.
One hundred and sixty miles away is less than one day's airflow up the SLO and Santa Ynez valleys to major population areas.
Remember the SB fires? Burning up slope and inland by day, and back down slope at night, carrying fire, smoke and ash in an endless zigzag pattern? Remember only the rain could really stop the fires? In Tokyo, the rain will bring down the radioactivity. During the Gap fire, we sat at Playa Azul at an outdoor table, and the ash fall was so thick it coated the food and floated black in the margaritas. We had to leave the food on the table and go because we couldn't breathe and couldn't eat it.
For a week, people in Tokyo prayed that 160 miles was far enough away. Heck, its the distance from Bakersfield to LA, right? I heard that from seriously smart, educated Americans, waiting it out.
But events have to unfold, and the chaos involved and unnecessary anguish are heartbreaking for the families. The slow leakage of information that prevents stampeding and improves the government's ability to control events also sacrifices many in the process. Read Rest of Letter
|
