Former program director made a difference As a graduate of the Executive Program for Scientists and Engineers (EPSE) at University of California, San Diego a number of years ago, I was proud to learn in Natasha Josefowitz\u2019s column (“My husband Herman: 38 years on the same page,” Aug. 13, page 11) that her husband, Herman Gadon, was the program\u2019s original, award-winning director in 1983. While I understand her “limp” for the rest of her life without Herman by her side, she needs to know that his program helped me to walk a little taller and with greater purpose during my 30-plus-year career in local manufacturing. Edward J. Zell, Point Loma Seal cove: magical place I was in two minds about the La Jolla seals. I remember the fun I had snorkeling with my son at Kids Cove, and it seemed to me that the seal lovers might be getting a little overenthusiastic. I was wrong. Today I visited the little cove where I used to swim and which has now been given over to the seals, and I found it a magical place. It now seems to me that children will benefit far more from learning how to share the planet and value their fellow creatures than swimming in this one small spot. There are plenty of places to swim. Where else in the heart of the city can you get up close to wild seals living in their natural habitat? Pandra Selivanov, San Diego Seals \u2014 a new twist The enemies of the harbor seals are trying to chase them from the Children\u2019s Pool, a beach area in La Jolla. It would be sheer stupidity if humans tried to stop the whales from getting to their bay in Baja. The same might apply to the attempt to drive the seals from the Children\u2019s Pool. The whales and the seals are motivated by irreversible instincts. In La Jolla\u2019s early years, there was a need for a safe place for swimming lessons. Now hundreds of swimming pools provide adequate facility. Years ago a vote was taken by the local children to relinquish the beach to the seals. Let\u2019s go back to 1931 when the sea wall was built around the area. Ellen Browning Scripps was in her 90s when she funded the project, which was purportedly managed by her foreman. Miss Scripps lived near the Children\u2019s Pool and had good reason to know that it was home to the harbor seals. It\u2019s not likely that there was any intention to eliminate the pinnipeds. The sea wall was initially expertly designed. The builders inserted two vents that allowed the waves to flush the beach clean. The vents were cemented later when two children were sucked through the openings by the backwash and drowned. If the vents had been screened and fenced, the present problem might not exist. Why not replace the vents that were wisely designed by the builder? Or we could tear down the wall (no joke intended). It is old and may be hazardous soon. Reportedly, two people have been washed off the wall in a storm and drowned. The city should be concerned about liability. Visitors can see the seals very well from the cliff above, or use the stairs to the sand for a closer look. Is there any other place in the world where humans can swim with seals? Is La Jolla unique in that respect? Any decision to chase away the seals forever reflect on the selfish, ill-advised, politically motivated individuals who want to take away this priceless treasure. Patricia Weber, La Jolla \u2014 Editor\u2019s note: According to the City of San Diego\u2019s 2006 report called “La Jolla Children\u2019s Pool Joint Use Feasibility Study,” Ellen Browning Scripps donated the funds to build the breakwater at Children\u2019s Pool in 1931 following the drowning deaths of two children. The Village News has not been able to verify the rumor that a child drowned in the sea wall\u2019s sluice gates, nor is there any official verification we could find of two people drowning after being washed off the wall in a storm.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former program director made a difference As a graduate of the Executive Program for Scientists and Engineers (EPSE) at University of California, San Diego a number of years ago, I was proud to learn in Natasha Josefowitz\u2019s column (“My husband Herman: 38 years on the same page,” Aug. 13, page 11) that her husband, Herman […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Letters to the editor","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11593,11552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-no-images","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}