Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to letters@ocweekly.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/o OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.

As a former resident of Irvine, I am appalled, though not surprised, at the recent goings-on of Mayor Larry Agran and his crew [R. Scott Moxley's ongoing coverage of the ENCO scandal]. One tries to hold onto the belief that citizens not concerned with their political agendas and helping to line their buddies' pockets occupy our local government. It takes former political allies to split to remind us of the ugly underbelly that exists within the city limits, especially one with such an overwhelming and powerful slate of council members. That said, kudos must go out to Councilwoman Christina Shea for standing up for so long against the machine that controls the Irvine dais and for waiting until another finally had the courage to help turn the tide. The final step will be in November when Irvine gets their chance to elect public servants again and remove political cronies. A new dawn will arise. I wish I still lived in Irvine.

Let me get this straight: a sick kid goes for treatment at Orange County Juvenile Hall Dispensary and is sexually molested by the (male) supervising nurse, Kevin Duane Van Otterloo [Gustavo Arellano's "Heavy Petting," Aug. 20]. Nurse Van Otterloo gets caught; pleads guilty to a lesser charge of "lewd acts," even though he's written the poor kid LOVE LETTERS; doesn't get fired; gets promoted; and goes to work in the county Health Care Agency's Animal Care Services. HELP! Child molesters to the left of me! Child molesters to the right of me! They're everywhere! There must be some sort of pedophile secret society at work! Either Van Otterloo is in tight with somebody BIG, or he is a Roman Catholic priest who moonlights as an Orange County employee.

Looking at this from Houston, the question in my mind is what does this guy know about whom?

It's funny that conservative Catholics and other assorted Latinos get so up in arms over the depiction of Alma López's Virgin [Gustavo Arellano's "Nuestra Señora de Censorship," Aug. 20]. They don't mind if she is painted on the side of liquor stores or on skateboards, telephone cards and—one of my favorites—fingernail clippers. I must admit she is my favorite goddess—I honor her in any form, especially the fierce way in which Alma presents her. And who made [Bishop] Jaime Soto the voice of the people? He's probably wearing little Virgin de Guadalupe bikinis under those silly robes.

In "Everything I Should Have: Pam Anderson comes to Costa Mesa" [Aug. 13], Maridel Reyes writes: "Chrissy Ware, 33, who brought her two sons to the book signing, said Anderson was a kindred spirit. In 1985, Ware was asked to pose in Playboywhile working at Hooters. 'They found her the same way,' said Ware, a housewife from San Diego. 'She followed her dream. She makes me think I should have, too.'" Might I suggest a follow-up article on Playboy's practice of asking 14-year-old girls to pose? I guess their excuse would be that they figured since she was working at Hooters, she had to be older than 14.

Regarding Gustavo Arellano's story about the Santa Ana Unified Bible breakfast club ["The Breakfast Club," Aug. 6]: Are you kidding me?! Do you really think this is big news? So what if they meet and talk about God? Is this so horrible? A little moral influence never hurt anyone. I teach in Santa Ana, and frankly, this doesn't sound so horrible. Anyway, I applaud them on meeting and discussing the Bible. It's been around for a while. Seriously, why is this a bad thing? Is it the on-work-hours issue or the "nepotism" factor?

Hey now, whassup with the review that Anne Beasley wrote about the restaurant Kill Devil's ["Pig Pickin' Paradise," July 23]? I'm a native cack-a-lack who hails from the beautiful Outer Banks—Kill Devil Hills, to be exact! How can another Carolinian not know that KDH has an "s" on the end? Plus, with the last name Beasley, she sounds as if she's from Colington (small island sorta in KDH) herself! Anyhoo, just wanted to set the record straight. Can't wait to check out the restaurant, eat some barbecue and see if the owner and/or manager know about what they're representin'.