Letters in VIEW : Burned in Yuba City

Ann Japenga’s article, “Worst-Rated Town--How Bad Is It?” (March 11), was truly eye-opening . . . about the dastardly cruel deed of Rand McNally, to have the nerve to list Yuba City dead last in its “Places Rated Almanac.”

After all, if a town’s entire population can all come together for an evening’s map-burning festivities, this might just develop into an annual event. Now wouldn’t that be fun? Why not burn a map, anyway? I mean who wants to know where they’re going when life can start and end in the quaint confines of “Little America--Yuba City, circa 1985?”

I was extremely touched by the civic pride shown by its residents as they attended the fairgrounds for their big “Go Yuba City” rally. What a loyal show of unity those people exhibited, even wearing those cute “Go Yuba” T-shirts proudly. And I fully agree with their enthusiastic motto. By all means, “Go Yuba.” Go, as far as you want in any direction. Just remember though, you’ve burned all your maps.

JOHN J. FLECHAS

Azusa

Open letter to the City of Angels from the worst of the worst cities, Yuba City:

We the residents in the city and county of Yuba City, Sutter County, Calif., consider our plight to be the biggest joke of the century, and frankly we love it. The majority of our citizenry figure a few million dollars worth of publicity hasn’t hurt one little bit.

I’ll bet most of you folks never knew we existed before. Now you know where a great deal of your fruits and vegetables come from, and a large variety of nuts are grown here. The kind you eat, not the kind that walk.

We do get low marks for culture; we don’t have an opera house, sports stadium or a metropolitan airport, only a few small airports; 747s don’t stop here. Sacramento, Reno and San Francisco are all within (easy) driving distance. If we need a particular brand of culture, we can get to it.

Two rivers meet here, and there are lots of large lakes for water sports and mountains close by for snow sports, fishing and hunting seasonally.

I suppose we lack a lot of things that cities like Pittsburgh and Los Angeles have to offer, but we manage to live without those “advantages.”

We don’t have any wealthy sheiks and no statues to paint. We do have a potpourri of nationalities--citizens who are proud of their strong work ethic and are not likely to change.

It’s so bad here that nobody needs iron bars on their windows and doors. Maybe we’re missing a strong ingredient for good living.

Neighbors watch out for each other. Out of concern, not out of need.

There are about 20,000 more or less satisfied souls in and out of the city proper who wouldn’t trade their troubles for your troubles.

JoANNE AITKIN DIHEL

Yuba City

Thanks for the Memories

Such a wonderfully nostalgic walk down old Hollywood Boulevard in Jim Moore’s story (“Reliving Hollywood Blvd.’s Silver Age,” March 28).

While the Pantages and Grauman’s are still there, who can remember the Hitching Post, with its all-Western bill? It was all such a marvelous time for all of Los Angeles, when a high-rise was 13 stories tall and there were still lima bean fields in Westchester. It’s an era now gone forever, but it’s nice to bring back the memories through these stories.

PATRICK F. FLYNN

Yorba Linda

Human Interest Plus

Virginia Escalante’s article, “Old Warrior Now on Road to Nicaragua” (March 28), is something considerably more than a human-interest article about a social activist. It is a highly sympathetic political piece about a man who has spent a lifetime in support of Marxist causes, including having been a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade--the American unit of the international communist volunteer brigades that fought in Spain during the Civil War on the side of the communist-dominated Republican Popular Front government.

Abe Osheroff says he and his fellow communists fought “to defend the right of a people to self-determination which was threatened by Hitler and Mussolini.” Nothing about Stalin’s military, political and technical support for the cause of establishing Spain’s first communist regime! Nothing about Soviet military involvement in Spain’s Civil War.

Now Osheroff is going to Nicaragua to aid the Sandinistas by building inexpensive houses, no doubt many of which will be used to house the forcibly uprooted farmers whom the Sandinistas are placing in special villages where they can be controlled and not aid the Contras.

Just to answer Escalante, Osheroff, et al about Franco versus the communist brigades, Stalin’s Madrid stooges, etc., Franco was a monarchist who freed Spain from both communist and Nazi influence, enabling great socio-economic development and a restoration of the monarchy leading up to today’s constitutional parliamentarian kingdom. During World War II Franco denied Hitler the route through Spain he sought for the purpose of attacking the British at Gibraltar.

J. P. LOTT

Los Angeles

Tip to Avoid Poisoning

“Accidental Poisoning Declining” by Judy Rosenfeld (March 19) was an excellent overview on the subject.

Because I am a responsible parent, registered nurse and a writer who specializes in health-related topics, I find I must share another tip with your readers on preventing child poisoning. I agree that people should “discard unused and out-of-date medications by flushing them down the toilet.” However, one must follow this policy by labeling the container with a marking pen and in bold large letters printing the word EMPTY across the container. This is crucial because kids do rummage through trash and find these small cute containers fascinating to play with. When the parent finds the child “playing” with this medicine container, fears will be allayed knowing that the empty medicine container was indeed EMPTY.

SYLVIA T. JOSEPH, RN

Kaiser Medical Center

Panorama City

More Theater ‘Boos’

Being a theatergoer from way back, I naturally enjoyed reading Leo F. Buscaglia’s article, “Boo to Theater Latecomers and Talkers” ( March 17). I would add one or two other things that irritate the heck out of me. I’m thinking of those idiots (there are always a few in every audience) who think that every other line in a play is funny. You can hear their delighted shrieks of laughter from any seat in the house. I know I’m in for a rough time when a minute after the curtain goes up a line like “I think I’ll have a cup of coffee” brings on an outburst from some moron (and especially if that person happens to be sitting close by). One more thing. Those who know they have bronchial problems: please bring a pocketful of cough drops. It will make the cougher more comfortable, as it will those around the poor guy or gal.

BERNARD SIEGEL

Los Angeles