Lest we forget
On Veterans Day, November 11, 2006, I had the privilege of being allowed to participate in the downtown San Diego Veterans Parade as a volunteer.
That day I had the honor or displaying a giant portrait of General Dwight D. Eisenhower of World War II fame and later President of the United States (picture in the Nov. 9 issue of the Village News, page 6).
Many members of our young generation are unfortunately unaware of this national hero and founder of Sister Cities International, comprising 900 cities in the U.S. with sister cities in 120 countries dedicated to the promotion of international friendship and understanding.
As an historian and educator, it behooves me to do my bit in acquainting the above with the public legacy of this great President and thank the editor of the La Jolla Village News for its cooperation, wishing her and staff a happy Thanksgiving.
Alfonso de Borbón, La Jolla

Hateful response is shocking
The following is an open letter to Mayor Jerry Sanders and the San Diego community.
Where is the Thanksgiving Spirit? Hate and fear rule the roost. Fanned by a jingoistic media and a mayor who thinks the Minutemen have the answers to immigration policies, San Diego once again lives up to its reputation as a reactionary backwater.
It is truly shocking to hear the hateful response to farm workers who are forced to live unprotected in the woods in North County shantytowns. Why are employers and the county not providing housing for farm workers? How can affluent communities not find even the basic resources to house men who provide an essential service to the people in San Diego?
The arrogant indifference to these hard-working men is shocking. A sympathetic ear would be more useful. Has anyone ever listened to their stories? Residents complain about the unwashed masses. How neat, clean and friendly would you remain after months of being harassed and treated as a criminal, doing backbreaking labor with no housing, showers, healthcare, cooking or any other daily necessities.
This state of affairs must not continue. Winter is here. It’s time for cities and the county of San Diego to pass legislation to protect the workers and demand that proper living facilities be provided. We need to repudiate this inhumane and evil state of affairs. Now!
Tanja Winter, La Jolla

May have to deter harbor seals
On Nov. 15, 2006, the Natural Resources and Culture Committee of the San Diego City Council voted the advisory rope for pupping season be placed at the Children’s Pool between Dec. 15, 2006 and May 15, 2007 (“Children’s Pool: Give ’em more rope time,” Village News, Nov. 23, page 1). The divers and swimmers I know who will be using the Children’s Pool during the pupping season will be sensitive to the message of the advisory rope and will use caution when moving about the harbor seals on the beach.
I am concerned with further reports of people on the seawall feeding the harbor seals and, what wild behavior these animals have left, will be lost if they depend on people for food.
The National Marine Fisheries Service may find it necessary to deter the harbor seals from the Children’s Pool. A man I met several weeks ago at the Children’s Pool told me that high pitch audio devices, which deter large mammals such as deer, will also work on pinnipeds which are found at the Children’s Pool. He said a test was done at the Children’s Pool in the past using these devices and they were successful in flushing harbor seals and California sea lions off the beach.
Kent Trego, La Jolla

Category of questionable
I enjoyed your recent articles on recycling (“So full of it: Miramar Landfill littered with many recyclables gong to waste,” Village News, Nov. 16, page B·1), and am not surprised that many people are not recycling as much as they could.
In my own home there is an important reason for this: I’m not entirely sure of what qualifies. I know the obvious things such as plastic bottles, newspapers, aluminum cans, cardboard boxes; but there are many other things that I put in the category of questionable.
In going through my own trash in just one day, I found several things that fit this description. Examples of which I see in my own trash (none of which say they are recyclable on the packaging) include used paper plates and napkins, Halloween candy wrappers, soup cans, dry cleaning plastic bags and wire hangers, catalogues on glossy paper, plastic yogurt containers and paper with dried paint on it.
Karen Coutts, Ocean Beach

Congressman Hunter missing in action
Duncan Hunter is the most powerful congressman on the House defense appropriations committee, and professes to be a great lover of the military and the Navy. He’s overseen the appropriation of more than $3 trillion in spending on our military since 2001.
The Navy now needs $160 million to build a new regional headquarters building here in San Diego, but the game has been rigged so that to get one new building, the City of San Diego would be forced to sacrifice the rest of its unique 14-acre site on downtown’s waterfront to commercial development ” and Congressman Hunter appears to be missing in action.
This is a very successful politician who has gotten multi-billion-dollar aircraft carriers funded with no problems.
So why won’t Hunter help his good friends in the Navy fund one HQ building in his own hometown?
For less than the price of a few new joint-strike fighter airplanes, the Navy could get its new local regional HQ building here and downtown San Diego could get a new 14-acre park on its waterfront. But so far, Hunter has been ducking this issue, even though as chair of the House military appropriations committee he’s overseeing a pending multi-trillion-dollar defense spending bill. The cost of a new local Naval HQ building would get lost in the rounding of the pending appropriations bill.

Don Wood, Former Member
Bayfront Complex Coordinating Group Public Advisory Board
La Mesa