Mailbag: Laguna needs more letters, not fewer

Stunewslaguna.com is apparently a well-read Laguna Beach news source, but in a recent email, publisher Stu Saffer indicated he is not getting many letters to the editor and therefore has been printing only a few recently.

Debbie Zucco, copy chief for the Coastline Pilot, said in a column on the Feb. 28 Forum page, “You become the writers, and you are often impassioned. We truly appreciate hearing from you ... but we editors must still maintain our allegiance to truth and fairness. This is why we reserve the right to edit submitted pieces.”

Though the column said nothing about reducing the number of letters and commentaries that would be published in the Coastline Pilot, I still found it hard to read.

The Thursday News Post, Laguna’s oldest newspaper — since 1919 — prints very few letters. Thank goodness for the Laguna Beach Independent. It still prints lots of letters to the editor and rarely edits or cuts them.

Letters to the editor are important. They reflect what’s really going on in Laguna Beach. Let’s hope they don’t get lost in the gentrification of our town.

Roger Carter

Laguna Beach

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Public was patient with parade cancellation

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On behalf of the Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade Assn., I want to thank the public for its support of our parade and for understanding our decision to cancel this year.

Mother Nature has been kind to us for many years by not raining on our parade. The last cancellation was in 1985. Unfortunately this year many of our entries decided that the weather was too unstable for them to attend.

We made the decision to cancel on Friday morning during very strong winds and heavy rain. Because of the permits and insurance involved, it was not possible to reschedule the parade.

The volunteer members of our parade committee worked diligently for six months to organize this event and rely mainly on financial support from our program advertisers and donors. We are a very small group of local residents, and many of us have been on the committee for 40 years or more.

Judging from the comments we have received during our travels around town, many of you consider our Patriots Day Parade a special event in your lives. We are always looking for volunteers to join our committee or help on parade day. Duties include marshaling along the parade route or simply passing out programs.

For more information, contact Entry Chair Sandi Werthe at (949) 494-6016 or email shworthy@cox.net.

We look forward to better weather on March 7, 2015, for Patriots Day Parade No. 49.

Ed Hanke

president, Laguna Patriots Day Parade Assn.

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Thanks for the warm welcome, LBHS

Our congratulations to the Laguna Beach High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams. What an outstanding season they both had.

We’ve attended high school basketball games for years in Minnesota, so when we started to winter in California many years ago, we made Laguna Beach High our team away from home.

We came out a couple of days early this year so we could make it to the first conference games. Our thanks to the school’s administration staff, Coach Bret Fleming, Coach Mark Lewis and their staffs for always welcoming us back.

And a very special thanks to the parents and boosters for the incredible greetings we receive. We are humbled and grateful for the wonderful friends we’ve made over the years who treat us as members of the LBHS family.

Sue and Farmer Marschall

The Minnesota Connection