Landfill Threat

I would like to suggest that all those hysterical souls, who by rumor and innuendo are whipping themselves and the Ojai Valley into a fear-driven frenzy over the weather radar tower on Sulphur Mountain, direct their considerable energies toward battling a true and distinct danger that may again be threatening our relatively pristine valley.

Over the Easter holiday, the Weldon Canyon landfill rose from the dead to bedevil us once again. According to The Times, Taconic Resources of San Diego County plans to put a countywide initiative on the November ballot authorizing construction of the landfill. To get the initiative on the ballot, Taconic Resources must collect 18,000 valid signatures by June 8.

With 98.5% of potential voters living outside Ojai, we can expect little help and / or sympathy from other sections of the county, where residents see little to be lost by authorizing the dumping of their trash in our airshed. In truth, with more than a little justification, many in the county consider us elitists unwilling to share in the problems that confound the entire county.

The loud protests of those opposed to the weather radar installation do little to gain the support of the voters we will need to counter the rebirth of Weldon Canyon--a true and proven threat to life in the Ojai Valley as we know it.

CLARK B. GATHERCOLE

Ojai