Letters to the editor

Italy respected handicap placard

Regarding “Blue-Zone Blues” by Catharine Hamm [On the Spot, Nov. 21]: My wife and I traveled by car in Italy this April. We used her handicap card to park within the walls of Siena, San Gimignano and across the street from our small hotel in the Cinque Terre region. She talked with a police officer in Siena (our first stop) about the card and was told where we could park (in addition to handicap-marked spaces) in Italy. We placed a copy of the California DMV document for her card on the dash along with the card itself. We never had a problem.

Charles Hunter, Sierra Madre

Captivated by the Lost Coast

I enjoyed reading the article on the Lost Coast [“Where to Get Lost,” by Erin Van Rheenen, Nov. 21]. In 1977, my then-wife and I were wandering around Northern California and spent the night in an old motel near Petrolia in Humboldt County. The elderly owner told me about a stretch of coastline due west called the Lost Coast. The next morning we drove to Shelter Cove and looked at the coastline fading away into the mist. I vowed to explore it someday.

A couple of years later a buddy and I drove there from L.A. and hiked in. I was unaware of any guidebooks or articles published on the Lost Coast, so all we had to guide us were topographic maps showing streams, etc.

We were amazingly lucky. Just as we started our hike, a Santa Ana developed. The hike in the soft sand was brutal, but we had the Lost Coast all to ourselves. We had a pristine beach with waterfalls spilling onto the sand, in 80-degree weather. Pure paradise.

Harley A. Feinstein, Encinitas

A painful path to caviar?

I was disappointed by Heidi Fuller-Love’s article [“Fresh Off the Farm,” Nov. 21] regarding the gentleman farming sturgeon for caviar. It left out what I believe to be important facts about the acquisition of the sturgeon’s roe. The most common method for “harvest” (her word) is to cut open the belly of the female sturgeon while she is still alive and scrape out the eggs. While I have no knowledge about a fish’s ability to feel pain, I cannot believe that knifing open a creature’s stomach is a pleasant experience for the animal.

Kendra Schussel, Malibu

Pullman, Wash., is worth the trip

Why does everyone always slam Pullman and Washington State University [“Welcome to the Pac,” by Robyn Norwood, Nov. 14]? As a longtime Pac-10 fan and graduate, I was introduced to the area several years back by my wife, who is a WSU graduate. It takes only a couple of hours to get there from Spokane, it’s an easy drive, and if you have an eagle eye like my brother-in-law, you can see an abundance of wildlife. In my opinion, long live the Palouse.

Rodney K. Boswell, Thousand Oaks