Village of Hope
Thank you for the nice feature on the Village of Hope (“Mixing Religion, Politics: Tustin’s Palmer Runs Rescue Mission, Pushes Streamlining on City Council,” July 23).
We did want to mention that we were a bit disappointed that the nonprofit that is actually responsible for building the Village of Hope, Homeaid Orange County, the charitable arm of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, was left out of the article.
The land on the former Tustin Marine base was dedicated to the Orange County Rescue Mission. They in turn reached out to Homeaid OC to build the village. The village itself is a Homeaid OC project, and the fully constructed facility will be turned over to the Rescue Mission when all the nails are hammered in.
Bryan M. Starr
Building Industry Association, Orange County Chapter
Senate Vote on Iraq
Democrats may have taken to their Senate mattresses two weeks ago, but it was the Republicans who proved they can stay up all night … and count.
I’m no genius. But going into the vote, the math seemed clear to me: In order to get the required 60 votes, GOP senators, not their Democratic counterparts, needed to convince their political brethren the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq was in America’s best interest and wouldn’t leave the country in a state of chaos.
That didn’t happen, so until respected lawmakers such as John Warner (R-Va.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) can successfully argue these points, the Senate should resist voting again on a similar resolution.
That’s right, it’s time to put this issue to rest for now.
Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach
