Teach Bureaucrats About Business

As a small-business owner in Ventura County, I read with interest your recent article on the county wanting to get a state grant to teach small businesses about business. Say it isn’t so.

Do I understand correctly, that the government wants $300,000 to help reach small business? I would prefer that small businesses get the grant, to help teach government bureaucrats about business, just the opposite of what is being requested.

The end goal is worthy and well-intentioned, I concede: to provide educational opportunity for those wanting to create or grow small businesses. However, government cannot do everything, nor should it try. Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Councils would be in a better position, in my opinion, to provide this type of guidance.

Maybe the $300,000 should be better spent to reduce burdensome regulations that the county imposes, or to reduce unnecessary paperwork they require, or to keep libraries open a little longer, or for business classes for government employees on the challenges of meeting a payroll and making a profit.

ROBERT K. HAMMER, Newbury Park. Robert Hammer is chairman and chief executive officer of R.K. Hammer, Investment Bankers.

Unsigned Letter Not Conducive to Peace

Recently, we have seen attempts at tolerance between differing religious communities. Certainly if the world is to know a future of peace, religious people will need to develop models for living together in mutual respect. As the Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Assn., we are asking ways to affirm our religious diversity. In this endeavor we feel compelled to point out an incident that deeply concerns us.

In September, the Jewish community celebrated two of its highest holy days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is a time of reflection, repentance and renewal, sacred moments. Upon returning to their cars after one evening celebration, worshipers discovered a flyer which trampled on this holy occasion.

The unsigned letter purported to be from a friend, but instead belittled the adequacy of their faith. Such an action demonstrates a religious insensitivity, marring the dignity and significance of another tradition. Even if well-intended, such “notices” reflect a self-righteousness not conducive to building a community of peace.

Instead of demeaning another’s religious tradition, it would be better to offer prayers of encouragement for a meaningful religious experience, and extend signs of thanksgiving. For those who are sincerely interested in exploring differences in religious perspectives, better channels exist for initiating dialogue than anonymous tracts left on cars in the dark. Conversation of the caring kind is most illuminating in the light of day, face to face.

REV. MARK ULRICKSON, Ventura. Rev. Ulrickson, pastor of College United Methodist Church in Ventura, was among 13 members of the Ventura Interfaith Ministerial Assn. signing this letter.

Radar Dehumanizes Law Enforcement

The Oxnard Peace Officers Assn. opposes the purchase and use of photo-radar in the city of Oxnard. We believe this machine dehumanizes law enforcement and is a negative tool in continuing efforts to better provide good community relations.

The association does not support speeding by motorists, as speeding is a major cause of traffic accidents. But it recognizes the exceptions as provided by law and human nature of which a photo-radar machine is not capable.

Basically, when an officer observes a speeding violation and stops the individual driver, a brief investigation occurs as the officer attempts to determine the cause of the violation. An officer then either issues a citation or a verbal warning. A photo-radar machine does not issue warnings.

Advocates of photo-radar are photo-radar salesmen. Photo-radar is considered to be a “money-making machine,” not a traffic enforcement deterrent. Photo-radar does not deter speeding; it only cites the violators. And the speeding continues after the photo is taken which then endangers the public and further increases the chances of a traffic accident. The presence of uniformed officers in police cars or on motorcycles deters speeding and traffic accidents.

The city recently approved two additional motorcycle officers to enforce traffic laws and should consider additional personnel in lieu of a photo-radar machine.

We realize the city of Oxnard needs additional revenue and the Police Department can absolutely use extra funding. But we also strongly believe the negative aspects of photo-radar are not worth the extra revenue nor negative relations it can create within our community. Police work is people work . . . we should keep it that way.

BILL LEWIS II, Oxnard. Bill Lewis is president of the Oxnard Peace Officers Assn.

3 More ZIP Codes Are Needed Here

Oak Park certainly deserves its own ZIP code, as do the Los Angeles County portions of the greater Thousand Oaks ZIP codes 91361 and 91362. ZIP codes started out as a convenience for the U.S. Postal Service, which still controls their assignment, but they now determine insurance rates and sales tax rates--regardless of their validity for these two purposes.

The sales tax rate of Los Angeles County is higher than that of Ventura County, but the state Board of Equalization publishes a list of sales tax rates according to ZIP code. Almost all of 91362 is in Ventura County, but the sales tax table assigns it the Los Angeles rate because it straddles the county line and, presumably, they can get more tax revenue that way from mail order companies. Similarly, 91361 and 91301 straddle the line and are assigned the Los Angeles rate.

The solution when Ventura County people in these three areas order merchandise or subscriptions is to give 91360 as the ZIP code. That may delay receipt of the item but probably not significantly. At least the sales tax charged will probably be correct.

If that practice becomes prevalent, maybe the Postal Service will decide that three more ZIP codes are needed.

MICHAEL PERSHING, Thousand Oaks

Taking Aim at the Annual Coot Shoot

Golf as a blood sport? Who would have thought? On the surface it appears to be a rather pleasant and harmless endeavor, at once relaxing and challenging to its participants, offering a chance to spend time with friends or conduct business in the great outdoors.

But, darn the luck, we live on a planet that is literally infested, still, with a variety of other life forms--several of whom have adapted, for tens of millions of years, to living in this part of the world. The last gasping remnants of biodiversity have reared their collective, ugly, non-human heads on the lush greens of Oxnard’s River Ridge Golf Course and all hell has broken loose.

Forgive my sarcasm, but Oxnard’s Annual Coot Shoot is merely an indication of how this embarrassingly inept confederacy of dunces, known collectively as the Oxnard City Council, is attempting to stumble its way into the 21st Century. Its uncontrolled growth and urban blight would put a cancer tumor to shame.

The clash between golfers and people opposed to a never-ending slaughter of animals for highly questionable reasons was inevitable. Perhaps it’s time for a different approach.

Rather than engaging city officials in useless debate, opponents of the annual blood bath for the sake of convenience would be better advised to direct their complaints and/or concerns to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issues the permits to Oxnard in the first place. It stands to reason that without a permit to shoot these otherwise federally protected birds, our nearsighted city fathers would have to contemplate the real ecological and economical cost of operating an artificial environment like an energy-wasting, water-consuming golf course.

DANIEL HAYES PEARSON, Port Hueneme

A Bird Behavioral Expert Might Help

Killer Ridge would be a more accurate name for Oxnard’s River Ridge golf course, since the bureaucrat’s yearly solution to the migratory coot problem is to shoot them.

About 10,000 coots stop at River Ridge during their winter migration, according to officials--an over-estimation some residents claim. The U.S. Department of Wildlife has issued a permit to kill up to 400 this year. How do the city’s leaders plan to get word to the surviving 9,600 coots who may not have witnessed the shootings that River Ridge exists for golfers only? Where can they go? We have left waterfowl few choices since most of our country’s wetlands have been destroyed (and Oxnard wants to destroy more by developing Ormond Beach).

Why doesn’t the City Council do what it does best--get us a consultant? A bird behavioral expert may have a civilized solution.

In the meantime, golfers, don’t forget to wipe the blood off your cleats. And have a good game.

MARIA WOLF, Oxnard