Late start times are too late

Regarding the Vista Unified School District middle school start times. Why not start at 8 a.m.? That seems reasonable. It is too early to start at 7:30, as in the past. This age group requires more sleep for the amount of growth that is taking place in their bodies.

Starting at 7:30 at Roosevelt Middle School required many students to wake up before 6 a.m., depending on where they lived and traffic. Because Vista High and Guajome Academy also start at 7:30 a.m., the amount of traffic on Santa Fe meant greater traffic congestion and longer wait times at traffic signals. I had to leave my home before 7 a.m. to make sure my kids arrived by 7:15, which meant waking up no later than 6!

As more students participate in sports and extracurricular activities they are not getting the amount of sleep needed for the next day if school starts before 8 a.m.

Currently, Roosevelt Middle School starts at 8:45 a.m. An improvement, but why so late? There is no bus service for the middle schools so bus schedules shouldn't dictate what time schools start.

I think later is better, but 8:45 is definitely way too late. This district uses no common sense in its decisions, as further demonstrated by their decision to start school early this year on Aug. 17.

Yvonne Brunet

Oceanside

No nachos for Pluto

While Pluto was included in our primary planetary system, the mnemonic "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" was just as overstuffed gastronomically as was Pluto's inclusion astronomically. Now that Pluto has been dropped, along with its pizzas, a far more satisfying mnemonic emerges: "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos."

Bob Drew

Oceanside

We need effective rail lines

I live near Interstate 5. Every day there is noise, pollution and dust, which prevents me from opening a window on hot summer nights. And they want to expand the I-5 even closer to my home!

We are reaching a point soon, even with the recent gasoline price drop, when driving daily back and forth to work will be too expensive. SANDAG needs to step forward and lay down a reasonable recommendation. And that reasonable recommendation is not on the line of the Sprinter (walker) from Escondido to Oceanside. That's right, I said walker.

With every new housing project or mall or sports venue going in throughout San Diego County, SANDAG should tell the developers that there will be a rail line into the development, along with suitable Park and Ride lots. Also the rail time must be effective and responsible and inexpensive to the riders. Not quite like the Coaster, which now runs constantly late ("Coaster transition not so seamless," Aug. 1).

If Mayor Sanders, Councilwoman Frye, City Attorney Aguirre, other elected officials around the county and especially SANDAG officials rode the rails, we might have efficient, responsible, inexpensive and on-time arrivals.

John Kidwell

Oceanside

Escondido needs to clean up its act

Does Escondido think we want/need more businesses or complexes on every square inch of property in town? Don't we have enough industry? We certainly have more than enough condominiums/apartments in town now. We already have two major concrete facilities in town. We don't need another. Yeah, I agree, not in my back yard.

We are going to have to contend with a noisy train shortly. It has already been a nightmare with the constant whistle blowing at night. We have had our sleep interrupted for well over a year. We can hear the whistle all the way down to Mission and Woodland. You'd think that is loud enough. Now they want another large business to tie up the roads. I am getting really tired of Escondido's growth plan. Everywhere you turn, it is another ugly monstrosity.

The graffiti is bad, the weeds are bad, trash along the roadways are bad. I call up or notify the proper city officials, but even at that it takes far too long to get things cleaned up.

Then we have businesses that use our roadways for their loading docks. Some used forklifts at 5 a.m. in the morning to load trucks with no lights on a narrow road; they weren't made for this.

Cheryl Falk

Escondido

Immigration issue isn't council's business

Thank you, North County Times, for your very intelligent and reasonable editorial of Aug. 18 about penalizing landlords who rent to people who can't prove citizenship. This contemplated ordinance is the brainchild of our very own queen of mean, Marie Waldron, who obviously delights in trying to eliminate everyone in Escondido who is not her own mirror image.

Illegal immigration is not part of the Escondido council's agenda, nor is it as simple as some letter writers state. It is a very complicated problem for the federal government to solve, keeping in mind that these people are now a very important part of the very fabric of our country's economy. They do most of the child care for working mothers and housecleaning for those who need it, almost all of the gardening and landscaping labor as well as regular agriculture and farming labor countrywide.

We can't just throw them back over the fence and get along without them. That's impossible.

However, we do have to stop the influx of many more. That is the real problem.

Congress must get off its duff and address this without delay, certainly not by making them all felons. That would accomplish nothing.

Virginia Carter Browne

Escondido

Law targets illegals, not immigrants

As a retired assistant sheriff, it is hard to understand that Bill Flores ("Escondido rental ban all about race," Aug. 22) does not appear to understand what illegal means. The council did not pass an "anti-immigrant" law, the council passed a law relating to illegal immigrants. Those are people who entered this country in violation of our laws and do not have any right to be here.

I doubt that the ordinance specifies any particular race or ethnicity, but only that people must be legally in this country.

If the community of Escondido is being torn apart, as Mr. Flores claims, I would suggest that the cause is the illegal aliens. If they were not here, the problem would not exist. Likewise, if it were not for people like Mr. Flores and others who encourage illegal aliens to demonstrate for rights they are not entitled to, the problem would not be tearing the community apart.

There is no doubt that the influx of illegal aliens contributes to overcrowding of houses and apartments, as well as schools and hospitals.

The proponents of illegal immigration always resort to screaming racism, because they have no justification for people violating our laws.

Frank Thurlow

U.S. Border Patrol (retired)

Vista

Column a good exercise for her ego

Brigid Brett says that "many white folks right here in North County would embrace the system of apartheid if they could get away with it" ("Rental law smacks of apartheid," Aug. 25). If she understood the problem of illegal immigration a little better, she'd know that the people she demonizes would settle for merely having their laws enforced # - laws that are the most generous in the world to people like herself who want to immigrate legally to the United States.

But it's obvious she'd rather indulge her own feelings of moral superiority by condemning her neighbors for their "subtle and not-so-subtle racism" than acknowledge that waves of illegal immigrants from Mexico are turning neighborhoods like Mission Park into crime-plagued, gang-infested slums.

Growing up with domestic servants in a country of very rich and very poor, Brett has much in common with Mexico's ruling elite who practice their own version of apartheid by marginalizing Mexico's poor, indigenous population, offering them the choice of hopelessness or emigration.

Brett's sarcastic squawking about Escondido's renter ordinance may be good exercise for her ego, but it does nothing to address the real problems she refuses to see.

Doug Bell

Rancho Penasquitos

Birds of a feather

Byron Slater (Letters, Aug. 17) responds to Lorri Greene's July 29 letter regarding her failure to meet with Rep. Brian Bilbray by suggesting that she didn't call first to make an appointment. He further states that when he travels to Washington on lobbying trips with Roger Hedgecock "almost every time we were welcomed."

Well, isn't that a surprise? It's been common knowledge that birds of a feather flock together or, in this case, lobbyists of like minds scheme together.

Edward Chacon

Oceanside

Is Iran the next country we will hate?

Alfred Marton, Jack Strumpf and Jay Burman (Letters, Aug. 22) suggest that Jews don't like Mel Gibson or the Lebanese. I suspect the feeling is mutual. I guess it's human nature to form groups that hate each other.

President Bush, a devout self-proclaimed Christian, appears by his actions to hate the non-Jewish indigenous populations of the Mideast. These people, in turn, hate the powerful Americans who financially and militarily support the Jews living on "their land." Surprise! Such is life.

Mother Nature deals with this behavior with the adage of what goes around comes around. We, the "good" Americans, including Jews, are now trying to destroy the "bad" terrorists. I think that President Bush now calls them "fascist Muslims."

I guess our Christian leaders believe that our current expensive and expanding war is necessary in order for us good guys to live in freedom without fear (or money) forever after. You voted for the current leadership. Are you pleased? Is Iran next? Want to buy acreage in Antarctica?

Tony San Miguel

Vista

Bush no longer fooling most of the people

Mike Freeman (Letters, Aug. 17) accuses "the angry left" of "irrational hatred of President Bush."

He uses the phrase "angry left" thrice while irrationally criticizing those Connecticut Democrats who recently voted for Ned Lamont instead of Bush-hugging Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman. Mr. Freeman, it's called democracy.

Flawed mainstream contemporary opinion is that governments controlled by Republicans are better able than governments run by Democrats to protect our nation from terrorists. How we forget: Conservative Republican Ronald Reagan was president when 247 U.S. servicemen were killed by a suicide truck bomber in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 23, 1983. In a bizarre response, two days later Reagan invaded the small Caribbean island of Grenada.

No more than 40 percent of Americans now fully support the Bush presidency. More and more people have become aware that the ballyhooed post 9/11 war on terror principally is a bloody, costly and senseless war against hapless Iraqis. Our fiscally and legally reckless president is no longer fooling at least 60 percent of the American people, including millions of Republicans who voted for him in November 2004.

Harold Weber

Oceanside

Cross represents all religions

The cross on Mount Soledad was approved by the people's majority vote and, now, thanks to former Congressman "Duke" Cunningham, our liberal representatives and the president, it is federal property.

I just find it a load of chutzpah for the ACLU to continue to sue about it. That memorial represents all faiths beyond the Christian belief, and our fallen brethren on the memorial are well represented.

Seeing that the vast majority in this population are the nice, Old Testament-minded Christians, the cross is indeed a representation that is not (G-d forbid) overriding other religious beliefs in the memorial.

Besides, if the ACLU claims that all religion is bad to show in public, why is a Buddhist temple in perfect operation nearby, as well as slogans from Muslims and Jews well-circulated around Balboa Park?

Surely, the Christians have the same First Amendment rights as others. They've helped us through hard times and, thus, a favor must make its due for them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a Jewish Sabbath (on Saturday) to sanctify.

Jacob Alter

Carlsbad

Israel's racist foundation

Do you remember the plaintive question, why do they hate us? You have to be pretty ignorant not to know the answer, and just plain stupid to accept the official one ("our freedoms"). It's a non sequitur, and, besides, our vaunted freedoms are shrinking by the day.

Scratch the surface of our terrorism problem and you'll find Israel, or U.S. support for it. Before Iraq, most of the world's terrorism generated from its cruel mistreatment of people under occupation, in total disregard of international standards. But, it's OK, the apology goes, because Israel faces enemies who don't recognize its right to exist. It has as much right to exist as any place created by conquerors, for example the United States.

To find out what all the complaining is about, perhaps we need to examine Israel's racist foundation. Think about the meaning of a Jewish or Christian state. Maintaining one leads inevitably to either ethnic cleansing (running people off the land), or second-class citizenship. We've seen both in Israel's case. And that's why, boys and girls, Israel has what they call a demographic problem today.

The foundation is rotten, just like it was in South Africa. It's time to divest Israel.

Brad Dre

Vista

Doulas are not midwives

I appreciated the article on doulas for the military wives, but was sorry to read in the subtitle the word "midwives" substituted for doulas ("Nonprofit takes care military wives don't give birth alone," Aug. 15).

I am proud to be a certified nurse-midwife and enjoy working with volunteer doulas at UCSD Birth Center.A midwife is educated beyond the RN and works in offices, hospitals, birth centers or homes.Most have a master's degree and take a national exam for certification.

The midwife not only provides prenatal care, delivery of the baby and postnatal care, but also routine gynecological care for all ages of women. An ob/gyn doctor is consulted for abnormal care or emergencies beyond what the midwife can handle.Many may be familiar with a nurse practitioner who does similar work although is not licensed to attend births. There is no doctor present when our clients give birth, as we work independantly.

A doula is not a medically trained person although she can provide emotional and physical support that is very helpful to a laboring woman.

Gail Spence

Oceanside

Bible, Quran easily quoted out of context

Andy McIntosh ("Islamic history, words at odds," Community Forum, Aug. 24), posed questions to Muslims, and I am more than happy to respond, in efforts to dispel myths about Islam and counter ignorance and Islamophobia.

The Quran, like other scriptures, cannot be understood except within its context. A verse in the Quran that Mr. McIntosh quoted specifically refers to Muslim armies involved in a defensive battle.

Similarly, one verse in the Bible can easily be taken out of context. It says, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep…" (1 Samuel 15:3)

Islam forbids aggression and, like Christianity, has rules for a just war. Those rules are limited to self-defense or protecting people who encounter injustice, as stated in the following verses in the Quran:

"Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities. Lo! God loves not aggressors." (2:190)

Additionally, the Prophet Muhammad said, "Do not kill women or children or noncombatants and do not kill old people or religious people. Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees and do not poison the wells of your enemies."

Just as the Bible has been abused by fanatics to justify the Crusades, slavery and the Holocaust, so have fanatics abused the Quran to further their murderous agenda.

Islam, like other religions, teaches respect, peace and tolerance for everyone. I also wish peace on Mr. McIntosh and followers of all faiths.

Hussam Ayloush

Executive director,

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Southern California

Support for opponents

Murrieta resident Bob Swannie complained in his letter dated Aug. 24 about my "support of the proposed quarry."

What?!

My only letter on the subject was in staunch support of those opposing the quarry. I respectfully suggest that Mr. Swannie may want to read more carefully in the future so he can know who his friends are.

Mark Cloud

Murrieta

Web site tells story of hydro plant project

While attending the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District board meeting Thursday, I was made aware of a new Web site, www.cleanupevmwd.com, sponsored by candidates Chris Hyland, Doug Pinnow and John Lloyd. It is very interesting. If you would like more information on the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage project and where these candidates stand, check it out. You will get the side of the story that EVMWD never tells. These candidates are interested in keeping EVMWD a water company supplying the best water to the community at the best price, not turning it into a power company. I urge everyone to go to this site and also to vote for these candidates in your respective districts.

JoAnn McCracken

Lakeland Village

How can a quarry be beneficial?

Walking my dog daily around our beautiful greenbelts in Temecula and enjoying the cool breezes and sometimes strong winds blowing in through the Rainbow gap, I cannot believe how anyone in their right minds would think that the fumes from hundreds of trucks and machinery operating in the proposed Liberty Quarry would not have a detrimental affect on this area.

There would be a lot of noise borne by the wind from the blasting and grinding of rock for most of the day and night, but worst of all the minute particles, silica, invisible to the eye but very harmful to our health, being carried by these enjoyable breezes throughout the valley.

There is no way that this operation will not be dangerous to our health, especially the younger ones, who will have to breathe this air for most of their lives.

When I see the commercials on TV about how beneficial this quarry would be to this area I get very upset, because it is such a blatant lie. We are surely inundated with these ads on TV. I suppose they think, if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.

Erika Hornisch

Temecula

Birdsall was a true hero

Pat Birdsall was a wonderful lady with a huge heart for serving others. When my husband, who was a Temecula Police Department officer, was shot and killed in the line of duty, Pat was so kind to our family. She showed us, through her compassion, that the city of Temecula really cared. I am so thrilled that a park has been named after her. She is a true hero. Our family will never forget her. May God bless the Birdsall family. We love you, Pat!

Linda (Hintergardt) Soubirous

Riverside

Web Comments:

Illegal immigration protest

Some readers reacted to an article Sunday about a rally held Saturday in Old Town Temecula to protest against illegal immigration and the hiring of illegals.

Not in Temecula

So stupid!: It's obvious that illegal immigrants aren't going to stand on the corner where the Temecula Police Department regularly checks IDs. These guys are legal and simply looking for work. The protesters need to go focus on a place where REAL illegal laborers gather, and I'll tell you right now, it's not in Temecula. …

Great rally

Jeff: … What a great rally to wake up Temecula and the surrounding communities to the growing day laborer problem. Our open-borders President has told Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol to "stand down" on sweeps of day-labor sites for the past three years, so they naturally act as a strong magnet for unemployed illegals …

Send Fox the bill

Taxpayer: Check the IDs of everyone there and see how many of the protesters are illegals, then ship all the illegals on both sides of the issue back to Mexico and send Vicente Fox the freight bill.

They're everywhere

To so stupid: You are so wrong. They are in Temecula. They are everywhere. Good for you protesters!

Sales taxes paid

Helloooo: Last time I checked, we pay taxes on almost everything we buy. So the myth that they pay no taxes at all is false. Granted they do not pay income tax but who has not worked a side job and got paid cash. Do you consider yourself a criminal? We should be looking at the businesses that are hiring the illegal immigrants. …

Advantage illegals

To Helloooo: Sales tax does not support our system. … The people who live in that city (and state) create a tax base … used for roads, schools, public services, etc. Then you have Illegal Aliens … immediately … eligible to use the roads, move into housing, send their kids to public schools, use the hospitals and draw on social services, even though they have never paid one dime in Federal, State, or Local taxes. …

Survival motive

Jake: … Only about 90 miles south of us in Temecula are people starving, and we get all up in arms and so righteously indignant at their attempts to simply survive, calling them criminals and rapists, instead of calling them what they really are -- desperate, poor and out of options. …

Prohibit hiring

Another View: Street demonstrations thankfully keep the issue of illegal immigration and its negative impacts in the public eye. The U. S. Congress could resolve the problem of illegal immigration by passing a law, with teeth, prohibiting employers from hiring illegal aliens. …

Migrant workers face evictions

Readers respond to our story on hundreds of migrant workers being evicted from makeshift camps in McGonigle Canyon between Rancho Penasquitos and Carmel Valley.

Illegal to hire illegals

Al: "Monsignor Frank Fawcett asks why aren't the employers providing housing? Because it is ILLEGAL to hire ILLEGALS Monsignor!"

Blame lies with officials

Decades?: "Home to migrant workers for decades." DECADES? Why have these illegal camps been allowed to exist for so long? Why were the inhabitants not "evicted" (now there's a laugh !I thought that eviction was something a property owner did to tenants who fell behind in paying their rent - you know, people who at least at one point in time had PERMISSION to live on another's property) sooner? I lay the blame for this sorry situation directly at the feet of code/law enforcement, the INS and all of our elected county authorities who looked the other way and did (and DO) NOTHING about these camps."

What nerve

Patty: "I wonder what my employer would say if I told her she should provide for my housing! What nerve!"

Churches must house them

Church Residents?: "The church has a duty! It must house, feed and clothe all these men! Open up your churches! Let loose with your money! After all, you have plenty of bread and wine!"

New home

WunderingKid: "Just wondering, is Vista, Escondido, San Marcos, all going to be the new homes to these illegals? "

What a great crowd

Too much time on your hands: "You all must be the great crowd. LOL that showed up in old town Temecula this weekend. Why don't you senior citizens spend your time in a positive way volunteer at a school, pick up trash, anything would be better than the hatred you all spout."

Senseless stupidity

Man: "You people's remarks are some of the dumbest I've ever read. Senseless stupidity just about sums them all up."

Sheriff's department stepping up recruiting

Readers respond to our story on a push to fill about 300 vacant deputy positions at the San Diego County Sheriff's Department

Deputies in Fallbrook

Ray: "Now we might some deputies here in Fallbrook."

What's up with this?

Interesting: "My husband applied a year ago. The last we heard was that they were doing the background check on him. That was about six months ago! He would be a perfect candidate as he is squeaky clean and has a four-year degree! No one has even called him to give him an update?"

Won't hear from them

To Interesting: "If he has not heard by now, he will not. I went through the process a few years back and I was in lie detector testing following the background check."

Pay them more

Tyotyiroiterutweriotu: "You 'll never get good applicants when you are paying your guys about $15,000 less than nearby Orange County cities! Wake up, county Board of Supervisors and pay your guys what they are worth, before they all leave!"

Oceanside makes no decision on view protection law

Readers respond to our story on a proposal to create a law protecting Oceanside homeowners' views from being blocked by trees.

Do something

Paula: "As a homeowner who wrestles with neighbors who let bushes, weeds and ground cover encroach on my property, as well, as block my view and provide a habitat for coyotes and other animals, I want the City Council to do something about this matter. The fire officials tell us to clear brush within 30 feet of our property, but the neighbors refuse. "

Not the council's problem

Not The Council's Problem: "I can't believe the City Council is still messing with this one. The people who are complaining about their vanishing views (that some say they paid extra for) need to take up this issue with the individuals they bought their homes from, not the City Council. Why did the sellers accept extra money for a view that they had no intention, or more importantly, no power to control? There's the problem."

Aptly named council

James: "I live in the U.K so this does not affect me. I am just intrigued that the council members who decide on this 'TREE' issue are aptly named 'Feller & Wood."

More stupid laws

StupidLaws: "More stupid laws, who needs them? More people wanting things their way? Worry about your property not others."