Bill Denneen

Civilization started on this planet about 10,000 years ago with 5 million Homo sapiens—about the number living in L.A. right now. In 1800, we managed to reach our first billion. At the time I was born (1925), we reached our second billion. The number of Homo sapiens since then has soared to 7 billion—5,000,000,000 more […]

Gary J. Freiberg has an excellent letter dealing with the Dana Adobe in Nipomo—compliments on printing it. Dana Adobe has a $2.3 million grant to complete restoration of the site. Everyone I know is in favor of this restoration. I do not understand why one person, Fred Collins, is not in favor. I suggest that […]

Many local residents are in favor of Diablo. Most residents around Fukushima felt the same way about their plant prior to the earthquake. If you are saying we need the electricity, does your roof look like mine—covered with photovoltaic and solar panels? Germany and Switzerland are phasing out all their nuclear power. Diablo is storing […]

Regarding “Support nuclear power” (2/2) by Justin Ruhge: He refers to the approval of the Yucca Mountain storage facility by the federal government. My question is when was or when will the federal government approve Yucca Mountain as a storage site for nuclear waste? As a responsible biologist, I was arrested in 1978 in front […]

I live on Nipomo Mesa. Like many other mesa residents, I have terrible lung congestion. Vehicles on Oceano Beach and Dunes disrupt the crust, releasing tiny (10 microns) particles, which are blown eastward. Rather than the Air Pollution Control District studying this for another four years, stop the dune “vehicle recreation” right now.

Your Sept. 30 issue carries a “paid advertisement” (page 4). It does not mention who paid for it. I assume Andy Caldwell. This “ad” is negative toward our excellent Congresswoman Lois Capps. The “ad” encourages phoning or e-mailing Lois to get her on Caldwell’s program, which he claims is the “only show” in the afternoon […]

Churches should pay taxes. As a tax-paying, responsible citizen, I was opposed to Proposition 8. I made up 10 crude signs against this proposition, which I put up around Nipomo Mesa. These were countered by 100 fancy “YES on Prop. 8” signs financed by a powerful distant organization: the Mormon Church. Why do we permit […]

Bill Denneen We had an expensive special election on June 22. It will be repeated Aug. 17 with the exact same candidates. Total cost? A million dollars. Like me, more than 60 percent of citizens will be voting by mail. Rather than hiring 650 people to cover polling places, voting should be by mail only. […]

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst man-caused disaster—ever. We never learn. The oil mess off Santa Barbara in 1969 woke us up locally—but not the rest of civilization. I had hoped we could control our technology, but apparently we can’t. Why do we call ourselves Homo sapiens—meaning “man wise”—when […]

Excellent pictures and coverage of the Cold Spring Canyon Bridge (“To barricade or not to barricade?” Feb. 18). Rather than wasting money trying to prevent folks from jumping off, select the best spot and put up a large sign: JUMP HERE. We have had 5 billion more people added to our fragile planet in just […]

California seized 4.4 million marijuana plants this year—a new record. The street value of this “crop” is estimated at $17.8 billion. The time has come to legalize and tax its sale. Let’s face it, the so-called expensive “War on Drugs” has failed with this ancient plant grown since the start of civilization.