Looking forward to cruising again

What a great opening night it was for Cruisin' Grand on April 3. There were a lot of great cars and a big, big crowd, providing something for everybody to enjoy. Thanks to the Downtown Business Association, and especially to Steve Waldron, who started this event 10 years ago. Thanks again, and welcome back, Steve. Looking forward to a lot of Friday nights cruising again.

Dick Pinta

Poway Cruisers

Poway

Dog rights versus human rights

We have a leash law in Oceanside: Does this not apply to beaches? Residents and tourists alike should be able to relax on our beaches without stepping on a dog's mess or having sand thrown in their face by a dog digging in the sand. Also, dogs carry diseases that can be transmitted to people. Even with a "poop scoop," not all contamination can be removed.

Unfortunately, a dog can't always discriminate between a small child running towards it in play and a child running towards it to do harm. That same dog may be friendly with children at home, but may not tolerate a small child's nosy approach at the beach. Many small children cling to their parents in fear of dogs running loose and possibly knocking them over.

And whenever you put two dogs together that don't know each other, the risk of fighting for domination is extremely high. Should a small child be anywhere near two dogs attacking each other, the consequences could be deadly. Is this danger to the general public worth it, just to please dog owners who have never learned how to care for a dog without a beach? I think not!

June Kristapovich

Oceanside

A heavy fine for reckless drivers

Last weekend, while in the Sacramento area, I saw a large sign along a stretch of road that could be attractive to drag racers. The sign said, "$2,500 fine for reckless driving."

Instead of using tax dollars to renovate the road, this could prevent more of the recent tragedies on our Highway 67.

Alice Kelley

Escondido

How about adopting here in the U.S.A.?

It seems to me that Madonna would try and adopt a child right here in America. You see, everyday, everywhere, here there are adoptable children in need of a home.

It makes me wonder whether Madonna is seeking attention and publicity?

Think about it, Madonna!

Patricia Goslin

Oceanside

Real Easter bunnies are not toys

Just as they do with toys, some children stop caring about live Easter chicks, bunnies or ducklings when it is no longer cute and new.

Thoughtless or unknowing parents and children neglect their need for warmth and food. Others cruelly abandon them in local woods or ponds, unable to fend for themselves, where they die.

It is illegal to buy these animals in many states and cities because they may carry salmonellosis, a severe intestinal disease that can infect people.

This Easter, surprise your child with a stuffed toy, or visit your local animal shelter to learn about the puppies and kittens waiting there to become a lasting member of your family.

Shirley Cameron

member, P.E.T.A. and Humane Society

Oceanside

A miracle at Tri-City Medical Center

Miracles do happen when the chips are down. The miracle does not necessarily have to come from our Creator; it can happen here on Earth if the right disciples are chosen.

Thanks to the newly elected directors and appointed CEO, we can now breathe oxygen instead of carbon dioxide exhaled by the eight … souls having now been removed and who are now in purgatory.

See, we really did not need to suffer from unwarranted sins with payments from our property taxes. That is, those of us who own property within a certain cloistered area.

We are now on the pathway of recovering our beloved hospital, the staff, the nurses and the doctors.

Let us all pray for the guidance that must be bestowed upon the remaining delusioners to help them to learn the truth about how to protect their fellow community members.

Best wishes to directors Reno and Sterling. They are kind of like our guardian angels.

James Crostini

Oceanside

Gunman had a good point

Re: "As gunman's life fell apart, he took others'," April 5: According to mass murderer Jiverly Wong, "America sucks." In many respects, while not an excuse to kill innocent people, he has a point.

A federal judge just dismissed the corruption conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens, citing gross misconduct by federal prosecutors. After so many regulatory and administrative failures at federal agencies like the departments of Justice, Interior and the FDA, the United States seems destined to become a failed state; not in the same league as our neighbor to the south or North Korea, which continually fail to meet the most basic needs of their own people, but a failure measured against the ideals of its founders who were committed to equality under the rule of law.

Maybe the problem is the political system that allows coddled brats to become president. …

Or maybe it's something that causes sane people to think irrationally, like a sage on the North County Times blog who, denigrating presidential candidate Ralph Nader, pompously quotes Voltaire declaring that "the perfect is the enemy of the good." Funny, I always thought it was the bad that was the enemy of the good.

Doug Bell

Rancho Penasquitos

Start investing in our country

Ever notice when our corporations lay off workers, it's always those in the U.S. and not their overseas employees?

Bring customer service and production jobs back into this country. To make this investment happen in our country, give tax incentives for those companies that do this according to how many jobs they create here with good wages and benefits. Those who keep their outsourced jobs outside this country should be taxed to the fullest. Stop making it profitable for them to lay off Americans. No more tax breaks. Any of them who hide their profits in tax havens in order to fraudulently escape taxes here should be penalized heavily.

Corporations are allowed to write off the cost of bringing new foreign employees to the U.S.and requiring its U.S.employees, as their last duties before being fired, to train the foreign employees to do their jobs.

What they are doing is immoral, unethical and an un-American slap in the face to American workers. Never forget that.

I salute Sallie Mae Corp for their decision to move overseas jobs back into our country.

Joanne Goodwin

Oceanside

New Renaissance should be goal

I must ask where Joan Horn received her education and what level she attained, as her facts regarding science and the Renaissance lack logic (Letters, April 1). By saying that "We should not trust science," but we should "hope for another Renaissance," Ms. Horn reveals stunning ignorance. Without 15th-century scientists pointing out the fact that the Earth rotates around the sun, the Renaissance likely never would have occurred.

I am all for another Renaissance. Let's renew our thinking and open up to new ideas that shed light where darkness prevails. Let's take on becoming Renaissance men and women who delve into their interests with conviction. Let's witness bold individuals who step outside latent talents and pursue new interests. #…

The technology that led the way during the Renaissance was the printing press. Imagine what a Renaissance with today's understanding and technology would bring. Let's just keep the science in it. Otherwise, the return of the Dark Ages would seep into our existence as we complacently blame others for our own prejudices and our own weaknesses. I celebrate science and the enlightenment it brings. #…

Sarah Turitto

Cardiff

Glad that a nice couple found his wallet

I would like to say thank you to the nice couple who found my wallet in Jeffries Ranch on March 7. I didn't know it had fallen out of my pocket when my dad and I went on a walk. They made sure we could identify the wallet to make sure it was mine. I had money in it that I had just gotten for my 13th birthday, pictures and a gift card.

I am so glad they found it, and my family is, too. Thank you very much for being so nice and honest. I will make sure I carry it in my front pocket from now on.

Lane Schommer

Oceanside

Grizzly bear looks more like a boar/pit bull

The Valley Center Historical Society and History Museum has contacted the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger questioning whether the 250-pound bronze statue outside his office is truly a grizzly bear. A color photo of the statue was published April 8 in the North County Times ("Schwarzenegger buys grizzly statue for Capitol").

We suggested to the governor that his grizzly resembles a cross between a wild boar and a pit bull, and that if he truly wants to see an honest-to-goodness California grizzly bear, he should visit the Valley Center History Museum or the museum's Web site at www.valleycenterhistory.org, where the grizzly appears in full scope.

We also pointed out that the original 1866 name of Valley Center was Bear Valley in recognition of the taking of the largest grizzly in state history.

Robert Lerner

historian, Valley Center History Museum

Valley Center

Corporate names for sports stadiums

Thirty-five years ago, "Rollerball," a cautionary movie about the complete corporate takeover of sports, was released.

It has come to pass. Jack Murphy Stadium is now Qualcomm Stadium; the Padres play in Petco Park (I keep expecting to see Chihuahuas frolicking on the field!)

We, the people, do have some power here. Protest simply by refusing to call them by their corporate names. Whenever referencing the San Diego stadium, call it by its rightful name: Jack Murphy Stadium. Call the place where the Padres play Padre Stadium. I have yet to see dogs or fish playing there, so Padre Stadium for me it is.

Fight back!

Steve Stults

Carlsbad

Time to fix the health care system

Ellen Goodman ("Putting the 'care' in health care," April 5) concluded that "business models (of health care) don't touch the basic problem of an out-of-kilter system … " Polls show that most Americans agree. Bills in Congress and in the California Legislature look promising.

House Bill HR 676 (United States National Health Insurance Act) and Senate Bill S. 486 (Health Care Access for All America Act) expand Medicare, one of the best medical management systems in the world.

State Senate Bill 810 (California Universal Health Care Act) offers all citizens affordable medical care. Co-pays, deductibles, exclusions for pre-existing conditions and cancellations or denials for expensive treatments are eliminated. Under both programs, patients choose doctors and hospitals. These plans cost far less than our dysfunctional and extremely expensive private insurance system.

Insurance companies are fighting back, offering to stop exclusions for pre-existing conditions if all citizens are mandated to have insurance, if Medicare is not expanded to everyone and if costs are not capped. Their Band-Aids only continue our inefficient system.

It's time for citizens to decide what kind of care we want.

Zoltan Lucas

Oceanside

Marriage versus unions

I propose we concede and give gays and lesbians the word "marriage" to designate their unions. Then, to highlight the difference (and there is one), we traditionalists can adopt the phrase "heterosexual union." You see, as long as we're really just talking about "words," other justifications and arguments about what "marriage" is are meaningless.

Dolores Burwell

Carlsbad

Library will not work in arts center

I wouldn't want to be in the room when Escondido library planners get their directive from the City Council to move operations to the arts center.

Heads are likely to explode when they receive news that their new, politically inspired mission is to pound a square peg (e.g., library staff and collections area square feet) into a round hole (the bottomless cultural well into which funds disappear).

That memo might begin, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it â€"â€" but I'd think again about doing otherwise â€"â€" take a gander at the homeless out in the current periodicals reading room, will ya? â€"â€" is to …" Well, space and tact won't allow me to speak my mind. So far, the typically pusillanimous librarians have not dared speak out about this ill-conceived scheme, but they had better start doing so.

As a veteran facilities planner in an academic research library, let me tell you flatly it won't work to cram collections, staff, user work stations, etc. into architecturally non-conducive buildings. And convert Grape Day Park into a "cultural destination" for North County? Indeed. There are people trying to sleep there.

Paul Leverenz

Escondido

Tea Parties are just a cover for Obama-bashing

Re: a North County Times letter dated April 9 from Jean Carroll. Ms. Carroll appears to be unhappy with our new president, bringing up issues such as his gaffes (she obviously has forgotten the many times our former president embarrassed us), her indignation at releasing Gitmo prisoners into the U.S. (forgetting that housing them in Cuba allowed our former president to use torture) and her perceived outrage at administration tax dodgers (doesn't she realize that the mess the U.S. is in is because of our former administration's mismanagement of our national budget?). What hypocrisy!

Then Ms. Carroll has the gall to invite those "who love this country" to fight for it by attending the Tea Parties. I had originally considered attending, but not anymore. Based on Ms. Carroll's obvious dislike for President Obama, it appears that these "Tea Parties" are just a cover for bashing President Obama's efforts to right what eight years of our former President Bush caused.

Andy Pino

Escondido