Visitor Fees Raised at National Parks

Re “National Parks a Bargain Even With the Higher Fees,” editorial, Nov. 28:

I do not see the logic behind the comparison of our national parks to a Lakers game. Our national parks are not a game and to liken them to a privatized profiteering enterprise is utterly ridiculous. These priceless areas should be seen by everyone, even those who cannot afford to go to a Lakers game. There are certain things that should come at no cost to people, like our roads, freeways, police and fire protection and our national parks. After all, this land is our land.

DAVID A. ALEXANDER

El Toro

* Breaking free from the chains of high school, a friend and I took off in an old ’56 Ford with a couple of sleeping bags. We circled the West, hopping from one national park to another for mountain climbing and backpacking. If you total the entrance fees planned next year for each park we stopped at, you would find it pays for our two-month trip.

JOHN WARREN

Los Angeles

* When will the U.S. get its priorities straight? Generals and congressmen fly around in luxury jets at taxpayer expense, while schools and libraries host tea parties with Bill Gates in hopes of squeezing out a little extra money for basic needs. And now the Park Service plans to charge $20 to view the spectacular beauty of the Grand Canyon or the splendors of Yosemite.

No wonder the Pentagon received even more than the inflated budget officials asked for. Librarians and schoolteachers have been doing it all wrong. They should fly politicians around the world with the proceeds from their bake sales.

We have been hoodwinked by the prospect that lotteries and philanthropists will finance education and libraries. Meanwhile, we maintain a bloated military against imagined enemies. Our civilization, like Sparta’s, is surely doomed.

GEORGE M. MOOD

Los Angeles

* Your otherwise fine editorial Nov. 20 on air tour noise over Grand Canyon National Park repeats a facile argument of the air tour companies, who claim they provide “availability” and “accessibility” for those unable to hike trails or reach its outlooks.

Nearly all air tour passengers are able-bodied enough to quietly enjoy more than 100 automobile-accessible lookouts in the park. The real draw of the air tours is convenience--affluent or impatient tourists can buy a 15- or 30-minute tour and be whisked back to Las Vegas in time for dinner.

If air tours were limited to the truly impaired, there would be no need for air tour regulations.

DICK HINGSON

Conservation Coordinator

Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club