El Toro, Cont’d
Perhaps you might want to crack the latest issue of Forbes magazine, in which they rate OC seventh among all metropolitan areas in the U.S. for business prospects.
Funny, this, and no major airport. Yet LA and San Francisco, with their major airports, were not in the Forbes top 25. The only other California metro areas ranking higher than OC were San Diego and Santa Rosa, again, with no major airport.
How about a lot less spin and a lot more facts on El Toro from here on out?
Michael Smith
Mission Viejo
It is quite understandable that the people of Newport Beach are still holding out hope that the El Toro airport issue may still swing back in their direction. However, they should be cautioned about promoting a blatant disregard for what the rest of the county wants by filing lawsuits and continuing the brannigans to eliminate Measure F. Notwithstanding Superior Court Judge James Otero’s ruling to go ahead and spend more airport money, Measure F is the will of the people.
Someday soon when the county supervisors decide that their next project will be to expand John Wayne Airport, Newport is going to want to invoke Measure F to save the day,and their Orange County brethren are probably not going to be too anxious to lend a hand to their cause. Someone better tell George and the three stooges, AWG, Citizens for Jobs, et al., that their tenacity is going to hurt Newport’s future.
Dave Mulnard
Tustin
The endless debate on El Toro Airport continues and, as with most emotional issues, there has been some good information and some misinformation presented to the public. One of the legitimate concerns of homeowners has been the effect on property values.
A look at some fairly recent local history on this subject might be helpful. In the early ’80s, a group of homeowners filed lawsuits against the county of Orange claiming their property values had declined due to noise from John Wayne Airport. Approximately 130 land parcels were individually examined by a judge and jury. After a long trial, with expert advice on both sides, the jury’s verdict was that property values had not declined.
It should be remembered that the aircraft flown during that period were far noisier than the Stage 3 planes in operation today. It is also important to recall the large buffer zone available at El Toro that absorbs the sound.
The fact is, we need an airport at El Toro to meet our long-range needs and we should be able to develop an airport that all can live with despite current barriers.
Joseph E. Irvine
North Tustin
Kudos
Rick Reiff doesn’t seem old enough to “retire.” I liked his May 22 editor’s farewell column and want to congratulate him.
I’ve been in this county for 20 years and the OCBJ under him and Richard Reisman has gone from being a meaningless rag that no one read to being a meaningless rag that a lot of people read and quote.
Just kidding!
Rich Wordes
Wordes, Wilshin, Goren & Conner LLP
Aliso Viejo
Just wanted to thank Rick Reiff for his weekly column. When I was very involved in the OC scene during the ’70s and ’80s some of the people I knew now appear in the column from time to time. I hope he likes his new job and again, thanks.
R.D. “Major” Bowles
(Bowles, of Huntington Beach is a retired labor relations administrator at Southern California Edison and the dad of the OCBJ’s Kelly Brown.)
I think Sherri Cruz’s May 22 story on “saving soul” was terrific.
I hope that everyone who would like to feel better at work reads it, clips it and gives it to their boss! I especially liked reading about Paine & Associates. I’m sure professor Mark Maier and his OL troops appreciate her efforts, too.
Ruth Wardwell
Director of News Services
Chapman University
Orange
China Trade
I definitely oppose permanent trading relations with China. Until China changes its policies on human rights issues, I think we have a moral obligation to take a stand and do what’s right, not what’s best for our pocketbook.
This country used to stand for something, I hope it will again.
Rick Wolverton
Dana Point
BEST OF ARGUS
n The China trade bill drew fury from human rights advocates. They object to torture, abuse, and to the ruthless dictatorship. Still, no one is forcing China to send their best high school players to Indiana.
n Republicans can’t remember why they hate Bill Clinton after the China vote. He’s passed free trade, cut welfare and crime, tripled the Dow Jones and annexed Eastern Europe. He’s kept every promise Ronald Reagan ever made.
n Elian Gonzalez and entourage are moving from Wye Plantation, Md., to a new location by order of Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro. The boys were starting to spoil there. Young Pioneers aren’t supposed to have butlers.
n The Treasury Department released their new $5 and $10 bills. The idea is to make the new bills look stylish and hip. The heads of Lincoln and Hamilton are off-center and bigger and their baseball caps are on backwards.
n Hillary Clinton led a game of Bingo at a senior center in Mt. Vernon, New York. It was like old times in the Situation Room. The last time she called out B-52, poof went the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.
n “Sleepy Hollow” was released in video stores. It’s about a guy who rode around the country in the 1600s without a head on his shoulders. It’s the strongest evidence yet that the Bushes came over on the Mayflower.
n Red Bullet rode to victory in the Preakness at Pimlico. Rival horses Hugh Hefner and Impeachment made the race uncomfortable to watch for Republicans. They’re just lucky that Cigar was retired to stud in 1998.
n South African president Thabo Mbeki was entertained by classical music at a White House state dinner in his honor. The White House is very keen on opera. They’ve been staging Don Juan in Hell for two years now.
n The National Rifle Association convention in Charlotte was attended by 52,000 card-carrying members. It lasted 14 days. That’s 3 days for the convention and 11 days to get everybody through the airport metal detectors.
n Newt Gingrich will marry former staffer Calista Bisek Aug. 18th. She worked for him when he was House Speaker and they began an adulterous relationship. The bride and groom are registered in the Oval Office Study.
n Dame Barbara Cartland died at her London estate at the age of 98. She wrote 723 romance novels that sold one billion copies in 23 languages. She died trying to compete with the New York Senate race.
n Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts gave the international space station a lift into a higher orbit. It had been dropping at the rate of nearly two miles per week. Next, the shuttle will visit the Al Gore campaign.
n The Arkansas Bar Association panel recommended that President Clinton be disbarred. They say he lied, cheated and deliberately misled a court. It’s the same criteria they use for their Lawyer of the Year Award.
n The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn a law restricting the Playboy Channel. There are three problems with the Playboy Channel. It promotes lust, it reduces women to sex objects and it doesn’t come in clear enough.
n The NBC poll shows George W. Bush has widened his lead over Al Gore to nine points. Voters like his personality. The news put the Texas governor in such a great mood that he went the entire day without executing anybody.
n GOP Senate candidate Rick Lazio is courting New York’s ethnic vote. He said his wife, Patricia Ann Murphy Moriarty, is a native New Yorker. So are his children, Martin Luther King Goldberg and Suki Rodriguez.
n Chicago researchers say doctors aren’t telling terminally ill patients how much time they have left. It’s dicey. Some say they should leap out the window when Microsoft gets down to 30, others say wait until it hits 20.
n The Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station for a few hours to perform repairs. The shuttle locked bumpers with the craft and later sped away. It looked like parallel parking with Halle Berry.
n United Airlines announced it is buying U.S. Airways for $4.3 billion. However the Justice Department said the deal may be held up by anti-trust inquiries. It seems the flight reservation computers are running Windows 98.
Hamilton is the host comedian of the Comedy Store in Hollywood and writes a daily syndicated humor column. He can be reached for corporate performances at his web site, www.ArgusHamilton.com.
