MAILBAG - Aug. 1, 2008
Easy to walk past smoking outdoors
I am a lifetime nonsmoker and do appreciate the statewide smoking ban for most indoor businesses. I’d rather that there be no more smoking bans enacted (“Smoking ban still unsettled,” Thursday).
I don’t like tobacco smoke, but when I encounter it outdoors, I can easily keep right on walking.
There is so little smoke around us these days that it is becoming less of a problem.
It seems that the real goal of these bans is to make it harder for people to smoke, thus curtailing the health effects of smoking. This is the wrong way to address a public health issue.
It seems like bans are the new culture-modifying tool, and we need to be careful about how that tool is being used.
DAN METCALF
Glendale
Amazed at negative Griem comments
I am amazed at the letters in response to the Rev. Bryan Griem’s comments on the Faith page (“In Theorist invokes Bible selectively,” Mailbag, July 25).
Instead of being so negative, I think that these people should come to Montrose Community Church and hear what he has to say.
Not everyone believes what is going on in California is right or correct.
Griem may not speak for those that attack his views, but it is obvious that he has struck a nerve with these people.
Why not come to church and meet him in person. Talk to him. He would be very interested in what each of these people have to say.
DAVID WHITELAW
Los Angeles
Coyotes can adapt to surroundings
This is a response to Brian Cooper’s letter about coyotes (“Man is at fault for coyote issue,” Mailbag, Thursday). He wrote that the real coyote problem is because humans have been invading coyote territory.
On the contrary, coyotes are some of the most adaptable animals, alongside rats, pigeons and cockroaches.
Coyotes are in almost all 50 states in the United States and have an abundance of territory everywhere. They are a pest, not an endangered species.
Coyotes disrupt not only the balance of human lives by threatening pets and, in some rare cases, children, but also they disrupt the natural food chain.
So anyone claiming that we can’t do anything about the coyotes because we would be disrupting nature needs to educate themselves a little more.
Packs of coyotes have come through my yard many times, leaving body parts. I think we should do something about them.
One way to scare them off could be to play a recording of a mountain lion scream. Perhaps the city could set up some loudspeakers and blast the frightening sounds of a mountain lion.
CHRISTOPHER GLASS
Glendale
There are many benefits to plant life
Besides adding beauty and serenity to front yards, plant life also creates oxygen, improves air quality and helps to hold moisture in the soil.
These are benefits that carpeting will not provide (“Turf obtains council’s OK,” July 23).
Alone, one front yard may not make much difference in the city as a whole.
But there is no question that it is much more pleasant to walk down a tree-shaded street surrounded by living plants than to walk down a street surrounded by hardscape, dust and sweltering heat.
According to the March/April newsletter from Glendale Water & Power, it has joined with the Glendale Parks Department to create a California Friendly demonstration garden adjacent to Glorietta Park.
The park is said to be low-water use, is drought tolerant and has California-native trees and plants.
It is meant to be an example of the beauty that low-water-use plants can provide in a landscape.
People are used to watering lawns and need help in finding replacement plants that take less water but provide the practical benefits and pleasure that they are used to getting from their lawns.
Instead of advocating artificial turf, the City Council would serve Glendale better by helping homeowners find the best low-water-use plants to replace lawns.
The city could offer rebates for homeowners who replace lawns with low-water-use plantings.
Or the city may sponsor a contest to encourage homeowners to dig up their grass and get creative with low-water-use alternatives.
CATHY HRENDA AND STEPHEN MEEK
Glendale