Mailbag: Fire-ring smoke makes it hard to breathe

As a resident of Huntington Street, I live with the smoke and soot caused by the incessant daily beach fires.

It’s horrible; the air quality is being adversely affected. My window sills are black with the soot from the fires. My screens are black, my house is black, and I have to hose the house down weekly.

I live in Huntington Beach, so I can get some nice ocean air. The people who come here burn anything they can get their hands on — railroad ties, plastic, contaminated wood products, anything that is free and can burn. The smell is horrid.

An inky cloak fills the sky, especially on the weekends and every night in the summer. I have to close all my windows — I am not kidding.

I hope authorities ban the fire rings in Huntington Beach and everywhere. They are a severe health hazard.

Ted Rhoads

Huntington Beach

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Graduation traffic

I hope the companies working on the streets here in town and in Newport (the Dover Drive project) have been given the dates and times for graduation ceremonies. If not, traffic and parking will be a problem.

Jack Perkins

Costa Mesa

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Why not serve?

Rep. Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) has at times referred to himself as a “freedom fighter.” My question to him would be, if you are a “freedom fighter,” where were you during Vietnam?

George Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and, yes, Rep. Rohrabacher — plus a host of others from the hard right — all elected to sit out this opportunity to actually fight for freedom. They all had their convenient excuses.

Perhaps it is time for those on the right to take a hard look at themselves and maybe even admit that they are not the only patriots.

Kevin Walsh

Laguna Beach

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Meat causes warming

Although we’re unlikely to reverse climate change, we can mitigate its effects by reducing our driving, energy use and meat consumption. Yes, meat consumption.

A 2006 U.N. report estimated that meat consumption accounts for 18% of man-made greenhouse gases.

Carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, is generated by burning forests to create animal pastures and by combustion of fossil fuels to confine, feed, transport and slaughter animals. The much more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are discharged from digestive tracts of cattle and from animal waste cesspools, respectively.

Each of us has the power to reduce the devastating effects of climate change every time we eat. Our local supermarket offers a rich variety of soy-based lunch meats, hot dogs, veggie burgers and soy- and nut-based dairy products, as well as an ample selection of vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts.

Harold Undell

Huntington Beach