LUMINARIES’ TOP TEN LISTS FOCUSED ON FLUFF

Live music has been illegal in the City of Carmel since the mid 1930s. The ban is now lifted and The Cypress Inn has presented live jazz three nights a week through all of 2006. It seems a newsworthy change after almost three quarters of a century, yet no mention was made in your Top Ten issue [Jan. 4-10, 2007].

I love the Weekly, but I must say that a lot of your Top Ten listings were just so much fluff. And, sorry, but if I never hear Brubeck’s Cannery Row Suite again, it will still be too soon. —Marilyn Ross | Big Sur

SUPES CAN’T BE TRUSTED WITH GENERAL PLAN UPDATE

What’s so difficult about letting Monterey County voters decide their own future? LandWatch Monterey County supports the constitutional right of California voters to petition their government when it fails them. Clearly that is the case with GPU 4.

If the Monterey County Board of Supervisors had put the Community General Plan Initiative on the ballot, GPU4 would be moot. Now that the Board has approved a terrible General Plan that promises 20 more years of sprawl, traffic and groundwater overdraft, community groups have no choice but to overturn their decision at the ballot box.  

The Board’s motion to adopt GPU 4 included only a vague statement about a possible “repeal” vote. This Board showed with Butterfly Village that it is not troubled with making a promise to put a measure on the ballot, only to suddenly remove it when it’s clear that it is going to be defeated.

GPU 4 is more of the same San Jose-style junkyard development we’ve seen blight our county. Out-of-county developers and their attorneys get rich while you and I sit in traffic, pay more taxes, and pray there’s enough money left for libraries and police.

For seven years, the Board of Supervisors has failed to govern. It’s time to let the people decide. Sign the GPU 4 referendum petition today! —Michael DeLapa | Monterey

THE PRESIDENT MUST BE DRINKING AGAIN

For those interested in the effects of long-term binge drinking on the brain and the personality, you may wish to log on to Katherine von Wormer’s site, and click on “Dry Drunk Syndrome and George W. Bush.”

This clinical view of how alcohol has impacted the personality of the president explains his present mindset and the portents for his remaining tenure.

Rumors have begun from a number of reliable sources that the president has begun drinking again. If true, it can only reinforce the many negative aspects of his character as they impact his performance in the  current imbroglio in Iraq. —William D. Cox, Ph.D. | Marina

CARMEL VALLEY MUST BE ALLOWED TO TAKE CARE OF ITSELF

It is our identities and our lives that matter, not some vague notions about Carmel Valley’s identity. Carmel Valley cannot be run over and killed in a crosswalk, but my friend Chrissy was.  

When one of us is injured or killed in the road, a couple of new signs and some paint are an insult, not a solution. Carmel Valley has outgrown its roads and the County is in no rush to fix them. Those who are focused on Carmel Valley’s identity seem to have business motives. Incorporation proponents are concerned with safety, accountability, and autonomy.  

In the January issue of Carmel Valley magazine, Mr. Sinotte, who opposes incorporation, wrote, “Many incorporation proponents have become virulent in their writing and speech.  As a result, some of their concerns have been lost in a fury of ugly comments.” I’ve been reading the many letters about incorporation and saw nothing “virulent” in them. If Mr. Sinotte dislikes ugly comments, he should choose his own words more carefully. —Kelita Smith | Carmel Valley

WAR CRIMINALS SHOULD BE HANGED

Don’t impeach them. Prosecute Bush/Cheney and the neo-cons. These international war criminals must be held accountable for their crimes, sentenced and hanged. They are directly responsible for the deaths of up to 1 million innocent Iraqi men, women and children these past three years. This is not war, this is genocide.

Let us not impeach these criminals; they deserve to be forcibly arrested and brought before the International Criminal Court at the Hague, sentenced and executed. Its time to exterminate this vermin permanently from off the face of this planet.

International terrorists deserve no less. Let the punishment fit the crime. —Chad Smith | via email