Mailbag: Good times with family spent on Balboa carousel

After receiving my grandparents’ letter about the four women taking a last spin on the Balboa carousel, I had to collect my tears and start to laugh about all the fun I have had on that wonderful carousel. It breaks my heart to think that they are going to take apart a piece of so many families’ traditions to have a patio.

I spent so many summers standing in line watching it go round and round to pick out my favorite horse to ride. As soon as they took my token, I would run as fast as I could and jump on for the two-minute ride. That two-minute ride meant so much more than the token I gave to ride it.

As I remember, one of my grandparents was always next to my side, just to make sure I wouldn’t fall off, as the other stood on the edge watching and waving while taking so many pictures. I’ll always remember our midnight sneak-outs so we could go to the Fun Zone one last time.

It’s funny that as a 22-year-old, there is nothing I would enjoy more than to ride that wonderful carousel one last time. That carousel will always be a part of Balboa, even if it is not physically there anymore. If you get the chance, please go hug that black pony on the outside edge that was the last one I think I rode.

Rabecca Rhone

Alabaster, Ala.

The writer spent many summers with her grandparents, Dick and Gail Rhone, on Balboa Island.

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Verdict not out on climate change

“Washing away our revenue” (Editorial, Sept. 18) left one with the impression that there are virtually no responsible scientists who disagree with the proposition that global warming is caused by human activity. To the contrary, there are literally thousands of scientists who are skeptics.

The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine has had an ongoing research project on global warming for years. They have the signatures of more than 30,000 scientists who are on record supporting the following statement:

“There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.”

Wikipedia lists the name and background of several prominent scientists who are in this camp. One such person is Will Happer of Princeton University.

“The earth’s climate really is strongly affected by the greenhouse effect, although the physics is not the same as that which makes real, glassed-in greenhouses work,” he said in testimony before Congress. “Without greenhouse warming, the earth would be much too cold to sustain its current abundance of life. However, at least 90% of greenhouse warming is due to water vapor and clouds. Carbon dioxide is a bit player.”

In conclusion, I do not think it is wise to assign, to the scrapheap of fools, those who question the proposition that man’s burning of fossil fuel is causing the planet to warm, dangerously.

Preston Zillgitt

Corona del Mar