‘Patrols to Combat Lewd Conduct’

It would be unfortunate if a misstatement of fact in the Orange County section of The Times on May 10 were not corrected. Under the headline “Laguna Beach Police Step Up Patrols to Combat Lewd Conduct in City Parks,” the article says that the North Laguna Community Assn. was formed in 1983, “in part to fight the problem of public sex.”

Both parts of this statement are incorrect. As the first president of the association, I was there when it was organized in 1975. Its purpose was to provide a voice for the previously unorganized residents of Laguna Beach north of Broadway. The event that triggered its formation was the announcement of a plan to use residential streets of north Laguna for access to a rather large planned residential development on the Irvine Ranch adjoining our area.

The attention to lewd conduct in Heisler Park was initiated by several members in 1983, and the association board brought the problem to the attention of city authorities, who have actively attempted to find solutions.

I hope and believe that the association continues to have a much wider and more creative function than the limited reference in your story seems to imply.

LOUIS GARFIN

Laguna Beach