Dear Editor,

From: Jennie Foley
Ohio

We found your lovely magazine through a Google search and just love it! My husband, Tim, and I visit Morro Bay and Cambria at least yearly. We hope to retire there in a few years. We especially love your Mike Stiles, Dr. Steven Sainsbury, the Great Shots guys, Sandra Beebe, Shana Ogren, George Zidbeck - oh, heck, we just enjoy all of the columns and news. But the topper in September was the absolutely beautiful baby picture from your surf writer, Paul Finley. It made my day! Thank you so much for giving us all of these wonderful people.

From:  Dorothy Cutter
Morro Bay

 Morro Bay has an important issue for the voters in this election in November.   It is the Waste Water Treatment plant and the cost of our future water bills. The Waste water treatment plant is the largest and most expensive project that the city of Morro Bay has ever undertaken and two companies would like to build it.

 On the one hand we have Montgromery Watson Harza that 3 members of our current council and city staff want.  This is the company that will not guarantee the final  cost of  the plant and have estimated a cost around 31 million dollars.  They use an old technology that will need a larger plant; will use old fashioned holding ponds which are not odor free and will release chemically treated water into the ocean.  This company  is being cited by the city of New Orleans for fraud and cost over runs.  There was a big article in the local paper about it several month ago.

 The candidates that have publicly endorsed Montgomery Watson Harza are Bill Yates for Mayor and Nancy Johnson and George Leage for council.

On the other hand there is PERC Water that will guarantee the cost of the plant and will build a smaller plant with the latest technology that is odor free and will produce tertiary treatment that can be used for irrigation by our farmers  We will not have to dump precious water in the bay.   They have demonstrated that they can do this in plants they have built in other cities.  The latest in the city of Santa Paula which came in on budget and on time. Their estimated cost for Morro Bay is at least 8 to 10 million dollars less then Montgomery Watson Harza. 

The candidates that have publicly endorsed PERC Water are Betty Winholtz for Mayor and Jack Smith and Donna Kennedy for council.

This issue is a no brainer for me.  I am unhappy about my constantly rising water bills and I do not like to see our precious water dumped into the bay.

I am voting for Betty Winholz, Jack Smith and Donna Kennedy.

Photo by Marlin Harms:
Night Painting

Photo by Judy Sullivan:
Morro Rock Morning

Photo by Marlin Harms:  
Marina Sunrise with Heron

Photo by Kevin Cole:    
 Setting sun in Baywood Park

Photo by Mark Williamson:
Gull at Sunset

Continue to Letters to the Editor,
Page 2

From: Adriana Wilson
Los Osos

Mike Stiles' column, "A Birds Eye View," is well written, informative and has given me the itch to get out and start learning more about the birds in my yard. Does he recommend bird feeders to attract them? A friend tells me that it is a bad idea, to just let nature take its' course.

Response from Mike:

Thanks for the nice words Adriana. I'm glad you enjoy the articles. I have fed the birds in my yard for years, as do most of my birding friends, though you certainly can attract birds to your yard without supplemental feeding. See my March article for some ideas.

From: Roger Ewing
Morro Bay

Why am I voting for Betty Winholtz? The answer is simple...honesty & integrity...both of which are sorely missing in our political discourse! As a City Council member for the past 8 years, Betty has repeatedly demonstrated through her voting record her concern for all our citizenry and local businesses alike. She is the most selfless human being I have ever met...she rarely, if ever, says "no" to a plea for help. Every parent whose child has been tutored by Betty over the years is truly grateful for her dedication to the well being & education of their children.

The nastiness, which has marked Morro Bay politics in the past, seems to be rearing its ugly head once again. It is obvious, judging by the spate of negative "letters to the editor", that  those who back Bill Yates and his politics have to create lies & distortions of Betty's Council decisions in order to make Bill Yates look good to the voter. Well, we've had three terms of Bill Yates as Mayor, and the lasting results of his tenure are well demonstrated by the empty, unsold mansions on undersized lots, the degradation of our City streets, our diminishing urban forest, and control of our City Government by a bureaucracy which answers to the City Manager rather than the City Council.

Everyone who knows Betty knows she tirelessly takes the time to investigate each issue that comes before the Council; she never hesitates to question Staff in search of alternatives that better suit our diverse population and economic environment. She has heart and she cares about people and their needs. At this time in our history, we truly need a leader who looks upon Morro Bay as a Community, rather than a self motivated politician who heeds only to the special interests of a few.

Betty Winholtz is my choice for Mayor, and if you care about the direction Morro Bay is going in, then I suggest you make her your choice as well...

Respectfully,
Roger Ewing  

Photo by Howard Ignatius:
Dredging Operations by Moonlight #2