The Council and the Columnist
Dana Parsons’ April 24 column deserves an award for gross misrepresentation of facts, muddying issues and witlessness. Parsons complains that after spending a whole evening at a City Council meeting, he found the action boring. Little wonder. His reporter’s “nose” for the news keeps blocking his view, using it as he does to look down on the Lilliputians so far beneath his regal eminence.
Parsons tries to be irreverent but is merely irrelevant. He could clarify past news events. Instead he chooses to largely ignore political issues that divide the town. His derisive musings are a lazy attempt to capitalize on public disdain for “politicians” at the expense of the City Council.
He says the council engages in jeering and name-calling. Untrue. The council is always formally courteous with one another, despite their differences. It is the audience reaction that is sometimes justifiably heated. Parsons wonders how people can sit through these meetings, so boring to him, the bemused columnist. It is because they care about their future and the welfare of their city, an emotion that he seems utterly incapable of understanding.
ROD BRIGGS & LOIS BRIGGS, Seal Beach
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