Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/oOC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.
HAIDL
I have followed the case with a mild sense of urgency that John Q. Public, sitting on that jury, would do the right thing and burn those bastard children at the stake. I guess if you throw enough money, hocus pocus and greasy-attorney verbiage at a problem, it will eventually go away [R. Scott Moxley's “Unreasonable Doubts?” July 2]. Score one for the overprivileged, detestable embarrassment to society embodied by the Haidl camp. After returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom, I thought I had seen incompetence at its peak when dealing with a culture so confused it couldn't find its ass with both hands. Little did I know I would return home and find our own justice system had finally climbed to the summit of Mount Stupid.
A First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps
via e-mail
I have lived here my whole life, and yes, unfortunately, I knew a lot of guys like this who prey on girls like Jane Doe. It is soooooo easy, especially when your parents have a little money and you live in Newport Beach. It's really, really sad. I saw girls treated like shit all the time, but, of course, nothing to this extent. But despite the humiliation and abuse and lack of respect, many of them come back for more! How ironic that these immoral wankers were free to enjoy the Fourth of July—the biggest “party weekend” of the summer—once again. And how even more unfortunate that despite this case, there are still a lot of Jane Does out there who “can't wait” to have a lit cigarette shoved up their asses if it means a cool house to hang out at all summer. These girls need to do themselves a favor and just stay in the Inland Empire or get their money together and rent a house with girlfriends because obviously they don't have the law to protect them!
Noel
Huntington Beach
It's good to know that some universal constants still exist: shit will still stick to a blanket, crack still kills, and money will still buy the freedom of those who deserve it least. If “Hope” wasn't tattooed on my leg, I think I'd lose it.
Mike D.
via e-mail
HECKLE AND JEKYL
I just read Rebecca Schoenkopf's “Poor Pitiful Pearl” [Commie Girl, June 18]. I was at that show, and I don't know if she was at the same show I was at. I have to say there were some funny comedians on that night, and they were not the black ones (incidentally, I am black). Barry Weisenberg was very funny for doing one-liner jokes, and I enjoyed Henrietta, and they were both white. I take my comedy pretty seriously—I've been following it for the past 10 years. I would have loved to have seen you devote more space to the show, especially considering you were a judge. You should also tell your friends not to heckle the comedians. If you or your friends don't have the balls to get up onstage, you don't have the right to heckle, and neither do your friends. Hoping to see you onstage soon so I can heckle you.
Nikki Chenel
via e-mail
Rebecca Schoenkopf responds:Hi, Nikki. I don't want to knock your reading comprehension, but it must be the problem, since someone who's been following comedy for 10 years surely wouldn't take a column so literally. Point by point: I didn't say only the black guys were funny; I said the comics weren't necessarily funny, meaning not all of them were. I actually didn't think the black guys were that funny (very charming, though), and I'm with you on Henrietta. I wanted her to win. The guy who kept heckling wasn't a friend of mine. He was an acquaintance I haven't seen in at least five years. As for me? I was on that stage. I didn't write more about the comedy show because, again, most of the people weren't that funny. I could have been critical and pointed out all the lame jokes. I chose not to do that. If I had, you'd really have something to have hurt feelings about.
FORDFERNUGEN
Jim Washburn did a very nice job of responding to Rick Bash's e-mail [Letters, June 25]. Henry Ford owned and operated at least one motor-vehicle factory in Germany during the Nazi period. If a Ford factory was nearby in a bombing raid, neighbors would find shelter in it out of the expectation that it would not be bombed. Ford built military-transport trucks that were used against our own forces by the German army during World War II. Late in the war, the Allies finally bombed his holdings there. The Ford family was powerful enough, however, to get the U.S. government to pay for their bombing losses in Germany after the war was over!
Harleigh Kyson Jr.
Long Beach
“Every last Iraqi and his son has a gun.” Yeah, right! I have the greatest respect for Jim Washburn and his point of view, but on this, he appears to have been duped by the media that tends to only show Iraqi civilians who are running around with assault rifles. The guns we see on the news are obviously made available by subversive elements within Iraq and not because Smith N Wesson is doing brisk business there. Totalitarianism and armed civilians do co-exist in the world today—in a place called the United States of America.
Anonymous
via e-mail
SKRATCH THAT ITCH
I enjoyed reading Rich Kane's article about Skratch magazine and appreciate the opportunity to talk about my experiences as a contributing writer to Skratch [“Skratch Magazine at 100,” June 25]. However, I didn't think it deserved to be given such a negative tone. While I wasn't misquoted per se, I provided many positive experiences about Skratch that were omitted. Scott Presant has given many unsigned bands (including my own) an opportunity to broaden our fan bases, and I appreciate his efforts over the past eight years.
David Turbow
via e-mail
DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS
Skratch publisher Scott Presant says his magazine never went quarterly; has been a monthly for 100 issues; and is based in Orange. We reported otherwise.
