Doctors don't understand needs of autistic

According to experts, "self-injurious behaviors occur among low functioning autistic individuals, and include hand biting, head banging or scratching that causes physical damage." No kidding. Indeed, witnessing a child injure himself is a traumatic event. Most parents try anything to stop this madness. Yet even protective devices, such as skin shock, aren't the total cure. Indeed, we are talking behaviorally fragile persons where even tiny discomforts trigger brutal self-injury. Consequently, controlling behaviors is challenging. Malaise must be prevented, detected and treated.

Sadly, doctors don't understand autistic children with self-injurious behavior. All they do is push pills. And since parents can't order body scans or blood tests, we must advocate for tests. Often, tests are denied. Meanwhile, more than 500 studies have been published on the condition; and there are books, conferences, seminars and symposiums. Enough with the seminars. Forget the fundraisers. Cancel the golf games. Start helping.

The bottom line is, autistic children with self-injury are a chronic medical emergency. Writing and talking about it isn't helping people thrive. Thousands are suffering. It's time hospitals offer effective treatment clinics for this devastating disorder.

Kim Oakley

Valley Center

Everyone cares about children

Dan Shapiro (Aug.7) claims to be defending marriage when in fact he, with those who join in his view, are simply trying to deny marriage to a group of people whose sexual orientation does not accord with Mr. Shapiro's religious beliefs. He claims that those of his persuasion are concerned about children. In support of this, he cites the existence of "nonpartisan social science research," which shows that children raised without both a mom and a dad are more likely to "engage in self-destructive behavior." Is this the research that deals exclusively with single-parent homes, thus having nothing whatever to do with parenting by same-sex couples?

For anyone who cares to learn about the outcome of same-sex parenting, I recommend that they consult the book "Love Makes a Family," published in 1999 by the University of Massachusetts Press. There they will find brief stories of 43 same-sex families with children, told through excellent pictures and text. There is also an extensive bibliography dealing with the subject and with much collateral material.

I say to one and all: Open your mind. If you find this impossible, at least open your heart.

David Horwitz

Vista

Tax-hike plans swamp residents

I love this country and have been a law-abiding natural-born citizen for 63 years. I live in Vista and we just had a sales tax increase in our city. Now, the state wants to increase sales tax by 1 percent. Prop. A wants to unfairly tax me on my property tax, but does not tax non-property owners (vote no).

In addition, the fire people also want to increase my property taxes (tax on the parcel) but again unfairly. Lots of different sizes should be assessed according to size.

We will also be having a rise in water costs and very high sewer rate increases.

Pretty soon, we will have to move out of California. We are being taxed out at a time when the economy is rotten. Enough is enough.

I believe that most of this mess is due to the benefits that illegal aliens are receiving. No wonder city, state and national budgets are in debt.

Lorraine Sharron

Vista

Funnies, letters enlightened this Sunday

On Aug. 3, we were treated to the Sunday funnies and letters from Murel Fisk, Bettie Heldring and Junious Montgomery. "Doonesbury" was great. Murel, Bettie and Junious were better.

Ronald Reagan, in uniform selling war bonds, doesn't quite measure up to the same loyalty Wesley Clark's service showed. Tim Russert was a journalist. How this shows loyalty is beyond me. Tony Snow showed loyalty to the Republican Party, not the country.

Bettie was a riot. Even after this administration admitted Valerie Plame was a covert agent, outed by them, she claims to know better, because her son worked at Langley. Doesn't Bettie understand that the only successful attack on our soil accrued because of the Bush administration? Had they paid attention to the information given them, the attack could have been stopped.

Junious has always shown his disdain for Democrats, but now is bordering on the same political posturing that the late Jesse Helms showed. Junious, North Carolina is looking for a replacement. If I had a dime for every time any Murel, Bettie or Junious were right, I would be broke.

Thomas Cowan Jr.

Escondido

Bilbray abusing mailing privileges

I recently read an article about the practice called "franking." It refers to a privilege afforded (literally) our members of Congress, and allows them to spend taxpayer money to send mailings to their constituents. The total bill for these mass mailings last year was $20.3 million!

Congressman Brian Bilbray has taken advantage of this opportunity â€"â€" not once or twice, but four times in the past couple of months. I consider this to be a tremendous abuse of taxpayer money, particularly at a time when budgets are thin and services are being cut. How many thousands of taxpayer dollars has Bilbray spent to promote himself? And where is the outrage from the members of our community?

Marilee McLean

Solana Beach

Desalination best option around

I am all for desalinating ocean water into drinking water. I'm sorry if those who feel that fish are higher up on the list than us humans, but we are desperately in need of another water source. So, until all the animal rights proponents understand the grave situation we are in, they won't relent and refuse to understand that California is drying up.

I challenge them to come up with a better way to get water to us.

Shari Land

Escondido

McCain's surge obsession

Actually, the Republicans have overemphasized the surge. If it were just the surge, the violence would be back up again, because the surge is over. There are some underlying factors. We have 100,000 Sunni militia on the American payroll â€"â€" people who killed our boys are enjoying your taxes as payroll dollars, and Sadr has kept his army leashed for our departure. It's possible the surge was one aspect of it. But to say that the surge caused all these changes is, I think, simply very simplistic essentially.

The United States didn't wage war on Iraq for the officially stated reasons. It is time, then, to set aside the sterile discussions about "intelligence failures" and to consider a deeper reason for the conflict. This letter will argue that the war was primarily a "war for oil" in which large, multinational oil companies and their two host governments acted in secret concert to gain control of Iraq's fabulous oil reserves and to gain leverage over other national oil producers. The lies will begin to unravel after Bush/Cheney leave, but leaving oil companies behind will be an impossibility for Bush â€"â€" thus more of our blood and treasure will spill, should McCain win.

Gloria Towers

Oceanside

We need a public economic sector

Here's a few reasons why it is good to have a Public Economic Sector: 1. Everybody can have access to essential resources, not only those who can afford such resources when sold by private providers. 2. With essential resources provided at little or no cost, and with PES employment available, people won't be forced to work in the private sector. 3. If essential resources were guaranteed, the general population would be in a better position to take risk in the private sector, because they will have a more secure foundation to build upon. We need to first establish and/or maintain a PES that includes essential resources such as water, health care, housing, agricultural land, mass transit, roads, waste management, police and fire departments, postal services, education, media and energy.

Next, we should open the doors of these PESs to voluntary resource contributions, both in labor and materials. Finally, we need a mechanism which lowers or raises taxes commensurate with increases or decreases in voluntary contributions towards the PES, thus ensuring that the necessary PESs will remain solvent while keeping our eyes on the prize of libertarianism.

Brian Williams

Oceanside

Hemet nearly lost hospital

Good for Linda Sheldone (Letters, August 7) for pointing out how the bond burden will be shouldered by property owners. Measure A probably should have been promoted through a sales tax or perhaps a hybrid tax (sales and property tax), as the need is probably real. Recently, Hemet and its surrounding area almost lost their community hospital to a ballot proposition that would sell their community hospital to a private partnership. Prior to the "sale" ballot measure, the hospital district promoted bond elections similar to Tri-City's, but those were defeated. Now, after getting bankruptcy court-appointed management, the Hemet Hospital is back in the black.

I would advise the Tri-City electorate and board to think wisely about how to keep Tri-City strong without overburdening property owners.

G. Lance Johannsen

Carlsbad

Have checkpoints at special events

Having read the article ("Escondido's checkpoints big business," Aug. 11) regarding the amount of money derived from impounding vehicles (airport parking is cheaper than storage in a tow yard) and the amount the tow companies must pay the city, I have the perfect solution to pay for the local police to patrol the Christmas parade and any other special events that take place during the year. Set up a checkpoint at the beginning of the parade or special event. As vehicles are impounded and towed, have the tow trucks enter in the parade and charge them an entry fee as they drive down the parade route. They can be decorated and listed as Escondido's own "Santa's helpers" while getting a lot of exposure for their company. I am surprised that all you council members did not think of this. (Smile, smile, smile.)

Bob Shuster

Escondido

Bond cost is modest

What makes our community such a great place to live and work? It's quality of life â€"â€" a feeling of safety, excellent schools, nice weather, community amenities â€"â€" and for many of us, access to quality health care. Today we have the opportunity to invest in our future by voting yes on Prop. A for Tri-City Hospital. We should step up and do it! The cost of this bond is modest â€"â€" only $21.98 per $100,000 of assessed value, not market value. The cost of the bond is tax-deductible.

As the North County Times stated in a recent editorial, "It's a small price to pay" for quality medical facilities close to home. Be an informed voter. Study your ballot, read what we will get with this new bond, and please: Vote yes on Proposition A, Tri-City Hospital.

Ellen Stotmeister

Oceanside

Vote yes on Prop A

I would like to once again encourage any undecided Tri-City Hospital District residents to vote yes on Proposition A. One concern that seems to continue as a theme for those who do not support the bond is that the tax is not fairly distributed among property owners and renters. All property would be taxed; either the owner will pay the tax, or they may choose to pass that cost on to the renter in the form of a small rent increase.

Either way, each piece of property will share in the cost. Rental property will not receive a free ride on the backs of the district homeowners, as some in the vote-no camp seem to be fixated on. Renters also share in county property taxes through the rental fees they pay each month. They don't get a free ride now, much less if the bond passes.

Jim Greenlaw

Oceanside

American media purveys Chinese propaganda

As China begins an enormous public relations farce â€"â€" the Olympics â€"â€" a few comments on the American media's complicity with the Chinese seem in order. Thomas L. Friedman, Fareed Zakaria and other members of the journalistic elite seem to have become little more than shills for the Chinese government and a cancerous "free-trade" policy. Chinese fascism and the dismantling of our industrial base are both clearly inimical to the interests of average Americans.

Rank hypocrites, these writers have benefited greatly from America's First Amendment protections and overall affluence, but seem to hold freedom of expression and prosperity in low regard when extended to citizens of China or to the American middle class. One wonders if their beliefs will alter when China begins exporting cheap half-truths masquerading as journalism in addition to schlock manufacturing products.

These alleged reporters cravenly spew propaganda on behalf of one of the most monstrous regimes in world history, dishonoring the memory of the brave Chinese dissidents who stood in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square. History will show them to be little more than a disgraceful modern version of the German American Bund, their writing and philosophy owing more to Josef Goebbels than Thomas Jefferson.

Jeffrey Brownlee

Oceanside

What about McCain's affair?

I find it most curious to follow the press coverage of the extramarital affair that John Edwards had with a 42-year-old campaign worker. What I find curious is that John Edwards is no longer a candidate for the Democratic nomination, nor has he been on the national stage since withdrawing his candidacy. Even so, I find your paper covering this affair with no less than four articles, one of which rates front-page placement.

Does this mean that you will be covering John McCain's extramarital affair as well? Admittedly, it was 30 years ago when he left his first wife, who had recently been gravely injured in a car accident, to marry a rich heiress 18 years his junior less than one month after his divorce was finalized.

Regardless of how long ago that was, McCain is still the Republican presumptive nominee, whereas Edwards is, at most, a private citizen who once was a senator and who recently ran a failed presidential bid. I do not believe that private marital matters necessarily have a place in public discourse. However, if the press wishes to look into these matters, then does that mean they should look just as closely at current presidential candidates, like McCain? This state of affairs is indeed curious to me.

Randall Smith

San Marcos

Big Brother at the pier

I was out surfing on the north side of the pier the other day and I noticed another surfer catch a wave and, at the end of his ride, he must have been 50 feet from the pier. But then I heard yells coming from the pier, telling him to get away from the pier. I looked up and saw that two Oceanside police officers were the ones telling him to move away. The surfer was moving north away from the pier but failed to look up and acknowledge the officers. When he failed to do so, they told him to return to the beach and gave him a ticket.

I realized at that point how lucky we are to live in a city that we can afford to pay two officers to look out for our safety while out in the water and at the same time protect the rights of fishermen on the pier! Moral to the story: Better paddle faster, and when you hear the voice from above, better look up and smile â€"â€" Big Brother is watching. Keep surfing!

Gordon Stone

Oceanside

Support preservation group

In an effort to intimidate and stifle those who don't agree with their decisions, Oceanside Councilmen Jack Feller and Jerry Kern come off sounding like a couple of schoolyard bullies ("Environmental group appeals beach resort," Aug. 8). Though the right to question and dissent is a fundamental one in our form of government, Councilman Feller thinks environmental activists in our city "should be driven out of town" for resorting to it. Councilman Kern made the reckless charge that this group that concerns themselves with such environmental matters as adequate beach parking space is trying to "hurt Oceanside" … .

This volunteer group is owed a debt of gratitude for their dedication to protecting our beaches and parkland. They are the ones who exposed the flaws in the ill-advised Manchester project and were instrumental in stopping it from happening. This was while Feller and Kern were pushing nonstop for this project's approval while ridiculing those who opposed it. The City Council is eyeing our Goat Hill parkland property for possible development. Residents of Oceanside should be thankful that a group called Citizens for the Preservation of Parks and Beaches will be on hand, working to save this open space from being turned over to developers.

Harriett Bledsoe

Oceanside

Funds denied to firefighters

What did the San Diego County Board of Supervisors do with Proposition 172 funds? Approved by the California voters on Nov. 2, 1993, it created a permanent 1/2-cent sales tax for public safety purposes. It was intended to provide funding resources to qualifying public safety programs (for both law enforcement and fire protection). The immediate plan of Prop. 172 was to provide relief for locally funded public protection programs, since counties had been hit with the statewide property tax shift and would have been forced to make cuts in the absence of Prop. 172 revenues. The Board of Supervisors established the program allocation formula for San Diego County on Dec. 14, 1993, when the board approved a formula that allocated Prop. 172 revenue to the sheriff (72.4 percent), district attorney (20.4 percent), and probation department (7.2 percent).

The board has augmented these departments budgets utilizing 172 funds, as well as acted to reduce their net county costs. In San Diego County, as well as many other California counties, 0 percent went to augment fire protection. In California's 58 counties, only 18 counties have used any of the 172 funds to enhance fire protection, even though they portrayed funding for this in an effective media election campaign showing SoCal burning back in 1993.

Dennis Schwander

Oceanside