Dear Ms Read

Regarding the letter by Eileen Read. I have never met her nor Bob Hazard. I don’t care if he’s a motel franchiser from Phoenix, or a right-wing political gadfly. I and my surf-rider friends, fishermen, ocean swimmers, and beachgoers ONLY care about the quality of effluent that enters the surf and that is only treated secondarily. Only tertiary treatment will do for us. So, if Ms. Read is correct in quoting him as favoring “recycling one hundred percent of wastewater,” then we won’t need water from the California aqueduct; we don’t care about his other politics. Barry Goldwater was a conservative senator from Arizona, but he supported conservation, family planning (i.e. planned parenthood) and restricting immigration. Teddy Roosevelt was a conservative, but he gave us the first national park. Richard Nixon was a conservative, but he created the Environmental Protection Agency, and appointed Bill Ruckelshaus as its first director.

We have no right to dump anything but potable water into our ocean, which just further contributes to sea level rise.

Leon “Lee” Juskalian

Letters are “All Wet”

Our community should better understand the value of our life-giving water. We have an immense responsibility to manage this resource and process effluent. But recent letters to this paper about the Montecito Sanitary District (MSD) contain more venom than fact.

Jeff Kerns began this series with intelligent questions. With his many years serving as a director of the MSD, Jeff has the knowledge and credentials to question.

Having served with him on the MSD board for two years, I know and respect his opinions. Jeff’s concluding statement; “Pursuing improvement is always a worthy goal, so why not pursue in the most logical manner?” Yes, I agree!

Currently, we have a well-run water and sanitation districts.

The letters following Mr. Kerns’ “Pursuing Improvement,” including “What a Waste” as well as “Commingling Water and Sewer,” attempt to make Mr. Kerns’ “Pursuing Improvement” a foregone conclusion.

If, Ms. Heal the Ocean had indeed authored an anonymous letter entitled “What a Waste,” that organization needs to be informed in any “Pursuit,” not just conjecture.

As for Ms. Read, I would hope the reader might question her credentials after having read two articles and attending one water board meeting.

Many items are being ignored.

1. The state of California will stop the discharge of treated effluent into the ocean.

2. Those 600,000 gallons of discharge need to be recycled for use by public entities.

3. Law states that only a water district can charge for water, any water!

These are only a few of the laws and regulations that our districts need to address.

I’m not here to endorse Mr. Hazard’s submissions to either water or sanitation Boards, but, having served on the Montecito Fire Protection District Board, I respect that Mr. Hazard has been engaged in Montecito and offers opinions on how “Pursuing Improvement” might be obtained.

Dana Newquist

(Publisher’s Note: Hillary Hauser’s name was accidentally dropped during production of the Letters section. We had no intention of running it anonymously and apologize for our mistake. ~ TLB) 

You Made My Day

A zillion thanks to the man who returned my wallet today, Monday, and left in my cart at ‘our’ Vons today. I’d love to thank him in person but hope he reads the ‘illustrious’ MJ, to quote Richard Mineards. You made my day and thanks to the wonderful, helpful staff at Vons for their interest and assistance.

Jean Von Wittenburg

It is Medicare for All! 

On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council voted to submit a resolution to Congress in support of the Medicare for All bill. This once again shows the far-left agenda of the council. 

These socialist liberals that propose “Medicare for All” do not know what Medicare is. All Americans are forced to contribute to Medicare when they start earning an income. Since it was thrust on the American public by liberal President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, your contribution is taken out of your paycheck along with payroll taxes to fund Social Security. You have no choice. It’s the law!  It is NOT insurance until you have paid into it for 40 years and then, when you turn 65 (if you live that long) Medicare pays part of your medical expenses, and you keep on paying for it until you die. There is nothing free about Medicare and no one gets anything until they turn 65.  In the meantime, while you work, you have to buy personal insurance. Medicare is the worst insurance ever invented by liberals; it’s even worse than Obamacare. It is going broke as we speak. 

Government insurance is always going to have problems and cost us more. Our private health insurance is the solution that works best, just like all other private, non- government insurances that we buy every year.   

Justin M. Ruhge

Calling Moya

It is time for Moya St Leger to go crawl under her rock (or bridge).

Yours sincerely,

Kathleen McCauley Laurain

Cut the Fat

I second Fran Davis’ suggestion to limit the length of letters. I would like to add my annoyance of having to constantly turn back and forth to finish articles in your publication. If anyone else shares my feeling, maybe you could let the MJ know.

I began reading the MJ during the debris disaster and continue today, even though I do not live in Montecito.

Lynda Van Patter

Dueling Letters from the U.K.

I would like to respond to the February 25 published letter entitled “The Brits Like Us!”

I was born in Scotland, came to the U.S. in 1966 when I was 14 and became a citizen of this country in 1972.

I take strong offense to the letter-writer calling Harry Meghan’s obedient lap dog. I would like to remind you that the then-Prince served his country. In 2006, he was sent to Iraq and the press followed him; Osama took a strong interest in either capturing or killing the Prince. It was decided that, for Harry’s safety as well as that of his fellow soldiers, he should be pulled out. In 2008, Harry deployed to Helmand Province to fight the Taliban. In 2012, Harry completed his training to fly Apache Helicopters.

I would like to point out that the members of the Royal family are NOT required to serve in the armed force of Great Britain, but Harry served for over a decade. So please show this gentleman some respect.

As far as Meghan is concerned, may I remind you that this young woman does not come from a royal family. She was not brought up with the day-to-day machinations of being a royal, and I must believe that anyone from the public would have trouble fitting into this situation.

Meghan, like some, has had a childhood that caused her to have family issues. Many people have had the same types of experiences. Again, she should not be judged for this as we do not know all the facts.

Unfortunately for her, she is a successful actress and part of the royals, which puts her in the spotlight. I, for one, would hate to be followed everywhere I went by the paparazzi, wouldn’t you?

I would like to welcome Meghan and Harry to Montecito. They came here to raise their children and have a somewhat normal life. The beautiful thing about living here in Montecito is that many of us don’t care about actors or royals. We are all just people.

As far as the $45 million spent on their wedding: Yep, that’s a lot of money. Remember that many Brits as well as Americans could not wait to see the event.

May I remind you that in this sanctuary state, we spend way more than $45 million every year on Illegals.

Welcome Meghan and Harry!

Col. Michael J. Maloco USAF