Angeles Forest

Re the article (May 24), “Nature Seekers Bring Problems of Urban Life to Angeles Forest”:

Please know that there are many responsible adults who deplore the conduct mentioned in the article. As both a four-wheel driver and a shooter, I resent the tone of the story in that it presents only such negative examples as the clown with the .44 Magnum and the alcoholic beverage (they don’t mix, pal) and the jerks who pollute the river with their off-road vehicles.

Unfortunately, I also have to agree that many of the examples are all too true. The people who bring stereos into national forests betray their level of maturity by the kind of music they intrude with, don’t they? (How often have the rangers received a complaint that a Mozart divertimento was being played too loudly?) And yes, too many shooting areas are littered with empty ammunition boxes and broken glass.

It is incumbent upon everyone who knows how to use a gun and a four-wheel drive to admit that these kinds of broad-brush stories are too often reinforced by the irresponsible yahoos who are seen as our “peers.” Speak up, don’t tolerate it when you see it, or the shrinking land access that will surely result will be partially our own fault. “All that’s necessary is for a few good people to do nothing,” you know.

TOM BURNE

Acton