Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.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.
ALL TOLL'D
While those ignorant ass-clowns at the OC Register are publishing error-filled articles supporting this asinine toll road proposal through a state park, I just knew I could count on the OC Weekly to set the record straight [Alex Brant-Zawadzki's “Toll Road Rage,” Dec. 2]. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a mega-highway through a beautiful and popular state park is a really, really bad idea. I'm glad the OC Weeklyhas the balls and the brains to stand up for what's right. Thanks, and keep on raging!
Geoff Rizzie
Via e-mail
My children and I have been going to San Mateo State Park in San Clemente since it opened, 16 years ago. We have watched rabbits and quail and hawks. We have hiked the river channel, enjoyed the beach and, perhaps most of all, enjoyed watching the trees grow. “See this tiny sycamore,” I once said to them. “We'll watch it grow, and one day this whole park will be shaded by trees.” My children have grown beautifully, and so have the trees. I don't want to ever have to say to them, “Uh, we can't go to San Mateo anymore because they tore out all of those trees to build a freeway.”
Joan Dunning
Bayside, California
The environmental uproar over the 241 covers up a larger issue: the TCA's “network” was flawed from the start. Relieving freeway congestion with underused toll roads—the agency's stock-in-trade—is a demonstrable flop. Has the 73 freed South County drivers from jams on the 405? Hardly. Remember the '90s and the rancor surrounding the 73? What if the money and political will that both sides poured into that route had instead been spent on improving the 5 and 405? What if Measure M money subsequently used on those freeways were added on top of that? Drivers would have the 21st-century freeways we deserve right now. But instead OC highway planning has been dominated by a self-serving agency whose crowning absurdity is a road to nowhere: 241 South.
Pete van Nuys
San Clemente
SEXICANS
Gustavo Arellano's answer to Jizz Omelets Today Only regarding the horniness of Mexican males shows a remarkable understanding of the Mexican male mystique [“Ask a Mexican,” Nov. 25]. It took me a while to get accustomed to the uninhibited and rampant sex here in Mexico City when I moved from Orange County years ago. Gustavo really put things in perspective, and I appreciate his talent as a writer and student of human nature even more now.
Wayne Valin
Mexico City
I'd like to comment on something in Steve Lowery's Diary of a Mad County column. It was the item where a contractor said he used Mexican workers not because they were cheaper but because they worked harder [Dec. 9]. Maybe people thought that was said tongue-in-cheek; I'm here to tell you that it's the truth. I'm also a contractor, and, just like the guy in Steve's column, I resisted using Mexican workers for years, thinking it un-American. That is, until I finally came to my senses and realized that most Americans just don't want to work—at least young American males who work in construction and think they've put in a full day by showing up late, leaving early and drinking a lot of beer. I'm in my late 50s and always believed in an American work ethic; it's just that the only people I see living up to that work ethic are Mexicans.
G.K.
Via e-mail
FILM CRITICS
I don't know if I'll go see Brokeback Mountain, but Ella Taylor's review was stunningly good [“Lonesome Doves,” Dec. 9]. I wish I did something, anything, as well as she writes.
Tom Chambers
Huntington Beach
In Ella Taylor's review of Walk the Line she comments that she has no idea whether “Cash really proposed to [June] Carter onstage, which seems uncharacteristic of this famously reticent man” [“Back in Black,” Nov. 18]. It's something I had wondered about myself after seeing the movie. I Google searched and found that, in fact, he did propose to her onstage in London, Ontario, Canada. This fact was included in several obituaries I found online, including one from the BBC. I think it took me all of about five minutes to check that fact, something your writers might consider doing themselves. I know that “criticism” and “journalism” are two different things, but I don't think it would compromise Taylor's artistry to check a damn fact every once in a while.
Matt Helgeson
Minneapolis
I read the article on the Chronicles of Narnia and found it disappointing [“The Good Book,” Dec. 2]. It was obvious to anyone who has read C.S. Lewis that Greg Stacy hadn't done his homework. It was also apparent that Greg has difficulty writing without letting his prejudice dominate his views.
J. Morris
Via e-mail
BETTER RED
Second week in a row, and I'm disappointed again . . . No “Red Meat” comic! “Red Meat” is one of my favorite things in the Weekly. Please tell me you'll be bringing it back so I can have some Max Cannon laughs. There's little enough in this world to chuckle over in the newspapers. (Absolutely nothing in the Register.)
Paul Kornely
Orange
Editor responds:Not only are we bringing it back, it never left. It's just that every now and then we have to cut something for space, and “Red Meat” drew short straw. But reading your letter makes me think that instead of straws we should just hold the stuff nobody reads—you know, anything by Theo Douglas. Thanks!
