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Mailbag: Influx of Newport pets will overwhelm H.B. shelter

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Newport Beach Animal Control has contracted with the Orange County Humane Society shelter on Newland Street in Huntington Beach (“Newport OKs contract to use shelter,” April 28). With an already overcrowded shelter with Costa Mesa’s and Westminster’s unwanted dogs and cats, the Orange County Humane Society will likely be stepping up its kill rate.

Apparently, Newport Beach’s animals will be getting preferential treatment, with allocated cages and kennels, I believe. They have offered Samir Botros, the shelter’s owner, $7,000 a month to secure their animals.

Sadly, the abandoned cats and dogs from Westminster and Costa Mesa, cities who have contracted with this shelter from the beginning, will lose out to Newport Beach’s animals. As they say, money talks.

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The flip side of this is that perhaps now the Orange County Humane Society will become more “humane” with Newport on its back.

Lynn Beasley

Huntington Beach

Politics trumped free speech

Re.: (“Political tension cancels event,” May 14): Talk about eerie! For a moment as I read this story, it felt as if I was reading about yet another Mid-East dictator prohibiting the masses from gathering in town square for a peaceful demonstration.

The supreme irony of this sad story is that the downtrodden masses birthing the Arab Spring look to America as the model for free speech; they think America is the democratic republic, where ordinary citizens can say whatever they want, and can gather wherever they want without fear of being suppressed by the authorities.

Tom Egan

Costa Mesa

CM handled notices appropriately

I am proud of the way the city of Costa Mesa has tried to retain some sense of reality over the years as we continue to fight the problems we face in our day and age. In the matter of the “proposed” layoffs, I believe the City Council has brought up a brilliant approach. Now we will see if the city workers are willing to compromise in order to keep their jobs. I think that given a choice, many employees would be willing to look at alternatives in order to keep everyone employed and in order to keep your medical benefits, your accrued vacation and sick and holiday time and not to mention your personal time off, family leave and the list goes on – all benefits that many businesses have lost over the past five years.

However, I do suspect the unions will kick until all the workers lose their jobs – that is union mentality, don’t give an inch and take no prisoners. Hopefully, given the option of being responsible for someone else losing a job, the employees themselves may just reconsider their position – and maybe, just maybe, people will understand that they can live on a bit less and keep everyone employed and that benefits us all.

I have done so and so have thousands of other people. It is very, very tough out here and it is time for people to grow up.

Alexis Cavanaugh

Costa Mesa

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