The Salt in the Soup

I’ve been waiting to tell you this for a long time. . . . When Al Martinez was away on vacation, your Valley section was as flat and savorless as an unadorned taco. Now that he is back it is worth paging through that uninspired section just to read his observations. The man has OPINIONS! Somehow or other, you haven’t managed to homogenize him; he is the salt in your soup! It seems to me that Al Martinez is what Jack Smith used to be, but with a Southern California, rather than a WASP flavor. I don’t agree with him all the time, and I sometimes don’t even like what he is talking about; but he is never dull.

While I am about it I’d like to include a word of praise for your photographer Bob Carey. His pictures are good . . . fine, interesting photographs . . . and even occasionally a picture from out here in what The Times must consider No-Where Land. One would think that Southern California dropped off into the Pacific at the Los Angeles County line; as though Ventura County was remote and unknown. It is galling to have so much fuss made of Orange County and even San Diego County, while we here, much closer and the fastest growing section of the state, are ignored. No wonder alternate newspapers do so well out here!

Still, the Times is worth reading . . . and Al Martinez and Bob Carey are assets to it.

LEE RADECKI

Newbury Park