Letters To The Editor

The Nipomo City Council should be more worried about gangs from L.A. that have invaded than someone from L.A who wants to bring relief to the infirm through a pot dispensary. Living on the Central Coast for the last 30 years has shown me Santa Maria and Nipomo are crime magnets, period—marijuana dispensary or not.

The devastation in Haiti is horrific. Our country and many other nations have come to the rescue. My only question is who is coming to the rescue for our local poverty-stricken areas of Oceano, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, and other communities? We have corporate jets from our area sending nurses and supplies to areas […]

Stop the presses: Oil has been leaking out of fissures in the ocean floor (“Resume drilling,” Feb. 4) for thousands of years! The drill-baby-drill fan club loves to cite the stats for oil seeps (250 barrels a day in the Santa Barbara Channel! An Exxon Valdez every six months in the Gulf of Mexico!), based, […]

As I sit and watch the images of the humanitarian horror unfold in Haiti, I am simply amazed at the response of the ugly voice emerging from the giant megaphone that is Rush Limbaugh. As the people of the globe literally rush to save the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of suffering humans from […]

There was a time when I would have agreed with many concerns about offshore oil drilling and collection, but that was long ago. The attacks of 9/11 require re-evaluating the subject. I once worked for commercial fishermen who had their gear run over by seismic survey boats, who could not fish due to displacement, and […]

I don’t understand the arguments against a local medical marijuana dispensary. Allow me to paraphrase what I hear: “It’s not that I deny medical marijuana’s validity; it’s that I don’t want it sold in my town,” or “I understand it’s real medicine but I think a storefront will breed crime.” How is that any different […]

Lately I’ve been reading comments by uninformed offroaders claiming that the particulate problem downwind of the off-highway vehicles is not caused by their activities on the dunes, but that it’s a natural occurrence of sand that would become airborne anyway, any time the wind blows. Apparently they are unaware of the biology of these dunes, […]

While the gentrified, upper-middle-class residents of San Luis Obispo are arranging to ban loud parties and smoking on the sidewalks, and those of Pismo Beach have already banned smoking on its beach, the residents of Oceano Beach are forced to tolerate the hideous noise and ghastly pollution brought on by the Off Road “Recreational” State […]

Regarding Nell Langford’s letter on the particulates at the Oceano Dunes OHV Park (“Stand against health-threatening particulates,” Jan. 21): Come on, Nell, you’re certainly reaching on this one. Do you mean the exhaust from the off-road vehicles, or do you mean the sand that is kicked up out there? Regarding the pollutants coming from the […]

I know California is in a deep financial crisis, but the solution will only be found by smart public voters who recognize the real problems and elect people who will honestly serve in a bipartisan way. Our elected representatives have to do what is best for California. Not the other way around. It’s time to […]

The dangerous particulate matter downwind of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation is most critically affecting the Nipomo Mesa, which includes both Nipomo and Arroyo Grande. Nipomo Mesa citizens who live in both Nipomo and Arroyo Grande are urged to attend the Jan. 25 meeting of the South County Advisory Council (SCAC) to speak during […]

It was interesting to read Amy’s article on the local Muslims in your Christmas Eve publication (“Holy days,” Dec. 17). She has a nice writing style, but seems to have violated some basic journalism rules. Amy reported the Muslim view of Abraham in Genesis as historical fact rather than “Muslims believe.” I request that Amy […]