Suggested Conference Is Not a Solution

* Be assured that if Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s mission in coming to Orange County had been to oppose building the El Toro commercial airport, Larry Agran and his South County colleagues would have welcomed him with open arms.

While there may not be an airport capacity crisis today, there will be one sooner than Agran states in his Jan. 17 Orange County Voices article.

It is today, not in two to five years, that Orange County is generously offered the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which presents a very viable solution. John Wayne Airport can never be an international airport for lack of acreage.

Agran’s suggestion that Gov. Gray Davis convene a conference to end the “airport wars” would certainly not solve anything in Orange County unless Agran and his South County anti-airport associates would commit to binding arbitration that might include an international airport at El Toro.

It is not only the “airport communities” that are affected by the outcome; the entire county should be represented. Also, it is hard to understand the benefits to be derived from bringing our two Northern California U.S. senators into the fray.

Because South County spokespersons have to date not agreed to sit down with their northern counterparts to hammer out an agreement that might include such an airport, one can only take Agran’s suggestion as an additional smoke screen to try to cover up their intransigence.

JOHN WALTER KRAUS

Newport Beach

* I have no confidence in suggestions made by Irvine’s Larry Agran regarding the El Toro airport issue.

He has never shown any evidence of being objective on the subject, and thus twists truths in order to squeeze out whatever benefits him and throws away valuable information he finds distasteful to his cause.

His Jan. 17 article is an example of his hypocrisy.

Not long ago he criticized Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan for coming into Orange County to state why he believed our citizens needed El Toro.

According to Agran then, the airport was our issue and outsiders should not interfere. Now he switches and claims a need for those who are not county government leaders, like Gov. Gray Davis and U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, to become involved in our airport process.

At least Riordan lives next door, while the people Agran wants to make decisions for us are in Washington or Sacramento.

I have complete confidence that we will do just fine without bringing in Agran’s troops to help us with our airport issues.

KATHLEEN KRAUSE

Huntington Beach