Mailbag: Dogs are soiling Balboa Island beaches

I cannot understand the reason for letting dogs on Balboa Island beaches.

Very often I see dogs on the beaches before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. (and after 9 and before 5) on leashes (or not), peeing and pooping in the same sand that, a short time later, unaware children will be sitting in, digging in and using to build castles.

Parents, too, seem unaware. Isn’t this just plain nuts?

I am trying to understand why this health hazard exists and how it might be remedied.

Dariela Wilson

Balboa Island

*

Going to press doesn’t help

As a resident of Costa Mesa, I am having some difficulty understanding where we are heading with regard to our local militia, or Police Department, and our city’s governing body.

I would have used staffing level recommendations, police logistical insufficiencies and the outflow of tactical command insight to my advantage, and if I am able to do that, so is the criminal waiting in the wings.

I would like to see our residents quit calling for the heads of our elected leaders and let the system take care of that, and the former command officers of the Costa Mesa Police Department to stop going to the media with our deficiencies as a city, thus helping others gain valuable insight into the department’s methods of operation. Loose lips sink ships.

Ken Nyquist

Costa Mesa

*

Climate change is real and costly

It disturbs me that global warming is still being denied because unsupported opinions prevent viable solutions from being considered.

The human effect on climate change must be taken seriously. As Dr. Charles Keeling shows with his Keeling Curve, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is clearly driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

Although 2012 marked the hottest year on record, it looks as though 2013 will be even hotter. Extreme weather conditions and higher temperatures are not only affecting the environment but also costing taxpayers money.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that an increase in serious hurricanes will accompany the rising temperatures in 2014.

Superstorm Sandy, wildfires on the West Coast and a drought in the Midwest cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion last year. Yet some politicians continue to deny the existence of climate change.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa), a member of the congressional science committee, described global warming as a fraud and a plot by liberals to create global government to control our lives.

Science proves Rohrabacher wrong. Ninety-seven percent of top climate scientists have come to the same conclusion: Man-made pollution is warming our planet. Plenty of good information is available on the web, including at RealityDrop.org.

Linda M. Newton

Fountain Valley