Mailbag: Old pools ‘a sad commentary’

The recent article about the deplorable condition of our high school pools was an eye-opener for most of us who don’t still have kids in education.

I was stunned to hear that the pools are so unsuitable that water polo teams’ home games have to be played in other cities. One of the pools has even been condemned.

These pools are used by kids with special needs and, during the summer, for many recreational programs sponsored by the city. They also provide aerobic exercise for students and lessons for non-swimmers, an ideal boon to a city with “Beach” in its name.

It is a sad commentary that these pools have been neglected by the school board and the city. Hopefully with a new principal at Edison and new supervisor at the school district, funding sources will be more actively pursued.

Alan Walls
Huntington Beach

Police officers are our heroes

The devastating news about the killing of five police officers in Dallas has most of the community reeling, reflecting, and realizing the truth: society is turning chaotic.

I, like many of us, have gone through a flood of emotions over the incident in Dallas. Every inch of me supports our officers. These are the people who risk their lives each time they put on their uniforms. Most people know that our officers are out on the field enforcing the laws, writing tickets, arresting criminals, and taking reports, but do they know the heart behind the badge?

Do they know the helpful hand reaching out to care for the homeless population?

Do they know that an officer serves as a shoulder to cry on?

Do they know the officers feel the pain of a family’s loss when they have to deliver tragic, life-changing news?

Do they know the sacrifice officers make to keep our community safe, while most of us are fast asleep?

Officers are people, it’s time we humanize the men and women who serve our community and stop lumping them together with the few bad seeds that exist. These are our heroes, let’s honor them the way they deserve.

Our thin blue line is all that stands between us and those with ill intent. More now than ever we need to let our officers know that they do not stand alone, we stand with them.

Jenn Torres
Huntington Beach

Make fireworks illegal again

There’s nothing positive about firing deafening explosives into the air.

My head is still throbbing and my ears are still ringing.

But dogs suffer the most. Their hearing is more acute than that humans’.

Every July 4th dogs are lost, or killed by cars as they run in fear.

My 10-year-old dog survived many illnesses, and attacks by coyotes and humans, but a few years ago she succumbed to a heart attack on July 4th. There was nothing I could do to help her.

Come on H.B. City Council, it’s a war zone.

Fireworks need to be made illegal again.

There’s no such thing as safe and sane fireworks. Adolescent men who get a thrill from the explosions will continue to do so. Give these lunatics an inch, they surely will take a mile. So let’s not fuel the fire. If made illegal again it would help greatly as it did previously.

There surely must be another way of raising funds than the sale of fireworks.

Lynn Copeland
Huntington Beach