Letters To Editor

For the last month, I kept receiving fliers advertising the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors' Bureau's "Supplies Party" for teachers. Rumor had it teachers were getting $100 plus a ton of school supplies just for showing up! I thought, this can't be real.

In regard to the Montara leash laws, I want to know if any of the people who are upset by the leash law donated money to the Peninsula Open Space Trust to help it secure the land as open space instead of housing? I'm thinking not. Bottom line is this is not our land.

Perhaps the recent dog walker/ranger incident on Montara Mountain could serve to settle this festering issue for good.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area isn't guarding our nuclear secrets to ensure terrorists don't get a hold of nukes. It is not guarding a jewelry store to make sure thieves don't walk off with millions of dollars in untraceable property. The GGNRA is not protecting children from sexual predators. It is not keeping you safer when you walk the streets at night. Simply put, its rangers are there to babysit land that hasn't needed a babysitter in the 15 years I've lived here.

As a physician, there is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing a patient with a disease that could have been treated or, in the case of cervical cancer, prevented. Too many women are unaware of the simple steps that can save their lives - annual pap tests and HPV vaccinations.

For once I completely agree with your editorial (Review, Jan. 11). The disaster waiting to happen (masquerading as "Utopian") that Blueseed represents is actually not even the short-term solution. As you said, those proposing these kinds of concepts never take into account sufficient understanding of the issues. What about waste management, water supply and reclamation, the oil and waste of fossil fuels used to ship supplies? Come on. There would not be sufficient area to have anything close to a sustainable model. (Remember, the consumption per person in America equates to about 20 acres per person.)

Last week, Review Publisher Bill Murray asked readers for their 2012 "wish list" - things they would like to see change for the better in the coming year. Murray suggested a painted line down the middle of the paved portions of the Coastal Trail to make it safer for bicyclists and walkers alike. The first letter came in via email, the second was submitted through Talkabout.

For safety reasons, we need cell phone coverage for key trail areas of the new Golden Gate National Recreation Area land and the adjacent Devil's Slide area. We need to have a way to get help in emergencies.

Fire Board Director Mike Alifano has a warped view of what's good for the Coastside if he really thinks that ending the CalFire contract would be a positive step. In his own private business, Alifano is welcome to consider hiring control to be more important than product or price. But what we taxpayers value is top-class fire protection at the best possible bang for our bucks, and cost is something Alifano never even appears to consider with his proposal.

On a perfectly lovely evening last Sunday, the power went out in Montara for approximately four hours. Anyone have an explanation?

The Talkabout commenter who was upset by the image of President Barack Obama with a Hitler mustache shouldn't blame the town (Review, Dec. 14). The source of the offensive displays - set up in front of the Moss Beach post office as well as in Half Moon Bay - was the LaRouche organization, a fringe political movement that goes back to the 1970s.

In this age of digital men, few Coastside residents knew this legend in their midst. Nat Johnson, or "Nat" as his fellow fishermen called him, was 95 when he sailed off on his final trip, but at 90, Nat still made his living on the sea.

What if you discovered a friendly couple was poisoning their children, themselves and everyone on the block? Glance at their chimney and you see smoke. Every evening, after dinner, they add powerful toxins to the community air supply. They burn wood in their fireplace. The smoke hovers over the house and slithers into the backyards and through the neighbors closed windows.

Mark Noack's Nov. 30 article about Pigeon Point Lighthouse states: "Cape Hatteras turned out to be the only lighthouse that was relit in the South over the course of the war." While doing research for our regional lighthouse maps, we found that the Union relit a good number of lighthouses in Confederate territory.

I think it should be underlined that the lawsuits against the city of Half Moon Bay (whether legitimate, honorable, on the side of right, or otherwise) are punitive actions against all the people in our community.

On behalf of the Pop Warner Coastside Cougar Midget Cheer Team, I would like to thank all the community members and businesses in town that supported our girls' travel to our national competition in Orlando, Fla.

President Barack Obama should veto the new National Defense Authorization Bill that is currently being considered by Congress.

I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial headlined, "Time for city to pay up and learn another expensive lesson" (Review, Nov. 16).

Once again, this year's Cunha Athletic Boosters annual Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser, held Nov. 3, was a roaring success, thanks to the dedication of many local businesses, parents and coaches.

On Oct. 15, my husband and I were in a serious car accident at Highway 1 and Poplar Street. We want to thank all the Half Moon Bay residents and the emergency services for their assistance.

The Half Moon Bay Review article of Nov. 2 was the first cogent media explanation of the "Occupy" issues. The "Tea Party" has been protesting these issues for more than two years. Both groups have identified taxes, health care and business regulation reform as critical to our futures. These are government controlled. "Greedy corporations" can only operate in compliance with the law. They are the symptom, not the cause of the injustice. Once they violate the law, the decisionmakers are held accountable. It is the laws that require alteration.

"To my fellow neighbors in Half Moon Bay who find the roads in front of their houses in various states of repair, I'd like to say I'm sure you are equally perturbed at the lack of communication either from the city, the contractor or, as I have discovered, the subcontractor. So I am sharing with you what I have learned in the hopes that it might be helpful. Evidently, there are two separate contracts, one with the county and one with the city. The county's was due on Halloween but was postponed by the county. For those of you, like me, who found signs appearing on Sunday, Oct. 30,, and roads covered with messy gravel in time for Halloween for our kids, that is all due to the city contract.

I would like to hear back from the city of Half Moon Bay as to how streets are chosen for repaving. Belleville Boulevard has been neglected by the city for over 20 years now. There are streets in town that have been repaved more than once in the last 20 years.

Thank you to all of the wonderful folks around Ocean View Park for welcoming the scores of costumed cuties on Halloween! We live outside of town and have no neighbors or neighborhood.