Balboa resident heads for Florida to help...

Balboa resident heads for Florida to help rebuild

I very much enjoyed the Pilot’s article about Spencer Sausser’s

“Volunteering vacation,” Saturday.

I too, am going to fly to Florida to help out there. My sister

lost part of the roof on her condominium in new Smyrna Beach, Fla.,

at Mariners Cove and needs my support and help in getting her a home

again. I will help her with cleaning up, finding contractors and

electricians, restoring the air conditioning and, most importantly,

just being there for my younger sister, Louise.

My other sister, Susan, lives in Palm Beach and needs emotional

support for all she has gone through. Her 77-year-old neighbor died

during the hurricane due to post-surgery complications, as he could

not get post-surgery treatment. Even the medical vehicles are not

allowed on the highway when the winds are more than 59 mph. The winds

were above that speed for days. His body could not be picked up by

the funeral home for several additional days because they could not

get a doctor to come to the house and issue a death certificate.

Today, Susan still has plywood over her windows and glass slider

doors, no air conditioning, no electricity, no water.

I will be in Florida for three weeks to help out, with family,

with neighbors, and in the community, wherever I am needed. When I

return to my wonderful home on Balboa Island, I will have new skills,

and I will have first-hand experience to share in case of need right

here in Newport Beach.

FRANK VAIUSO

Balboa Island

Councilman more endorsable than some evidently think

I am writing in response to “Candidate tough to endorse, some

say,” in the Pilot, Oct. 1. In Newport Beach City Council meetings,

John Heffernan asks pertinent questions and listens to those

responses better than anyone on the council. If a councilman or any

politician can’t ask a question or correct himself when he’s wrong,

then he is not representing the people. He is simply representing

himself and pushing his own agenda.

I appreciate Heffernan’s candor, his honesty, and his humility to

state that he does not want to be beholden to any group and then to

realize that one can “accept endorsements without being bound by

them.” If a person can’t listen, then I certainly don’t want him or

her representing my interests.

KIT CURCI

Balboa Island