Letters

Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.com, fax to (714) 708-8410 or send to Letters to the Editor, c/oOC Weekly, P.O. Box 10788, Costa Mesa, CA 92627-0247.

MELEVISION

Your article on the impending sale of KOCE (“Barney the Dinosaur? Meet Jan Crouch,” Aug. 29) was so full of factual errors I hardly know where to begin. Furthermore, reporter Anthony Pignataro ascribed to me motives, attitudes and schemes without ever attempting to contact me for the truth.

KOCE's targeted and tailored programs provide almost 12 hours per week of local, Orange County programming. Were the station a “dead zone,” KOCE would not have been the fastest-growing station in audience size during the past two years. Our shows cover important local issues, including five recent Real Orange segments on the potential sale of KOCE to televangelists.

The notion that I am willing to risk killing the station to save it is ludicrous. Some time ago, the Coast Community College District trustees publicly stated their belief that the station was not critical to the mission of the community college district. At that point, it was inevitable to me the station would be sold to another institution or to the KOCE Foundation. I have always opposed hiring a broker to seek buyers from among the televangelist rankss.

About 4.5 million different individuals tune to KOCE each ratings period for the best in televised science, art and truth. If the Coast Community College District trustees choose to accept the bid for the KOCE Foundation/KCET consortium, that commitment to Orange County will continue.

It will work. I support it because it is the one available option that will save for the people of Orange County the only broadcast medium that pays attention to our issues and needs.

Mel Rogers
President
KOCE TV

Anthony Pignataro responds: After asserting that my 1,800-word article was “so full of factual errors I hardly know where to begin,” Rogers identifies just one relatively irrelevant mistake: KOCE did, indeed, mention the proposed sale on air. But Rogers' claim that I didn't call him for comment is simply wrong. I did—at least twice, according to my notes. I don't blame him for failure to return reporters' calls, just failure to check his facts.

IDOL THREATS

We received another dozen or so angry e-mails regarding Rebecca Schoenkopf's review of theAmerican Idol show at the Anaheim Pond (“The People Love Loud,” Sept. 5). Here's a bunch mooshed together:

I would say you pretty much insulted everyone. . . . Who do you think you are to be calling people fat, and gay? . . . What planet are you from? . . . You must have had a terrible childhood. . . . Those kids worked their tails off and gave it their best. More than I bet anyone can say about you. . . . Your writing disgusts me. . . . Can you imagine the world full of people like you? It would be a sad place. . . . I am praying for you. . . . Were you possibly a little high on drugs/alcohol and thereby couldn't really pay attention. . . . I guarantee none of the Idol fans are happy with you. . . . We know good singing when we hear it, and how Ruben won, well, let's say the only thing that stopped Clay's fans from pursuing the obviously rigged voting was he asked us to. . . . You have such a negative attitude. . . . You must be a Ruben fan—nothing negative about him or his fans, huh? . . . You have a warped sense of humor. . . . Your article belongs in the toilet, and you should be there cleaning it. . . . I'm 24, and I'm not fat. . . . “Get with it,” as they say. . . . You need to give up your day job and start cleaning toilets. . . . You are disgusting, and I cannot believe you would find anybody enjoying your filthy work. . . . What a shame to have to sit next to you at a concert or anywhere for that matter. . . . You must be a very lonely, unhappy person. . . . Oh, aren't you ultracool? . . . If your aim was to piss people off—congratulations. . . . I RESENT YOU IN THE WORST WAY. . . . Go get a Clay fix.

SORRY SOMEHOW

Advice for Ali Kachueian: Take your 15 minutes of notoriety, your four Trader Joe's apologies (including the one in writing on company letterhead) and your free publicity in OC Weekly (Nick Schou's “Attention Shoppers! Apology On Aisle 7!” Sept. 12), and do the smart thing: quit milking your victim status and write your own apologies to Trader Joe's for dragging their name through shit. After reading about your bizarre demands for reparation, it would be beautifully ironic for someone to stand outside your store for a year with a sign asking customers to boycott your business until you apologize to Trader Joe's. Any volunteers? I'll take the first shift.

John Stephens
via e-mail VERIFIES ROCKIBILITY

You move from Long Beach: that's a stick to my ribs. You date that Republican: knee to my nards. You go roller skating [Rebecca Schoenkopf's “Warriors Come Out to Play,” Sept. 12) and write such beautiful prose, and I don't even know you outside of your well-crafted column, your love for your buttercup and praise for Commie Mommie. Nevertheless, you rock.

Howie
via e-mail CRUZ GETS BRUISED

I thought Gustavo Arellano's article on Bustamante (“Fear of a Brown Planet,” Sept. 5) was very one-sided. Gee, maybe because the author was Chicano. The three- or four-page story failed to mention the reason why conservatives view MEChA and Bustamante as racists. Their motto or slogan: “Everything for the race; outside the race, nothing.” How convenient. I guess that would have screwed up your left-wing propaganda. I fear all racists and can't believe you employ one.

Rich Zaydel
via e-mail

After 10 years as an importer of Mexican textiles, I have reached several conclusions. One is that Mexico's indigenous peoples are perhaps some of the hardest-working, family-oriented and decent human beings I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Another is that Mexico's bureaucracy is rife with Cruz Bustamante: self-serving political slicksters of partial European/Castilian descent who prey on a mostly undereducated constituency to ply their way into office for the benefit of no one but themselves. Bustamante offers Californians nothing more than the same tired policies delivered in a beige wrapper instead of a white one. And, of course, he's already played the victim race card. What's so inspiring about that?

Wes Kelley
via e-mail