FORTY ONE MANSIONS IS ALL THEY GET

Pebble Beach Company (winners of the 2005 Whopper Award for their claim “We are Not Developers”) continues force-feeding our community dramatically false and misleading information. Even they have to admit, if you can get them to answer directly, that they have, at most, only 41 legal lots of record – just as the Coastal Commission report revealed. (Wonder why county planners never disclosed this to the public during the past 15 years?)

Contrast the 41 lots with the giant number of 890 homes PBC keeps threatening us with. They claim their Measure A allowed less building so they can scare us into letting them bulldoze the forest for another golf course.

Only 41 lots means that PBC has a right to develop at most 41 mansions. Even better, wherever a lot has any imperiled species or wetlands (protected by law as Environmentally Sensitive Habitat), PBC cannot subdivide at all, or build a golf course. Because each of the lots hosts endangered species or wetlands, PBC can’t build more than 41 mansions.

PBC knew this in 1992 when they first foisted this golf course and subdivisions on us; and they knew it in 2000 when they put Measure A on the ballot.

When the Coastal Commission resoundingly rejected Measure A they provided landmark protection for this rare imperiled forest.

And next time someone advocates for PBC development [Letters, July 19-25], ask them how recently PBC paid for their consulting services. –David Dilworth | Pacific Grove

The writer is executive director of Helping Our Peninsula’s Environment.

STOP F@&%ING SWEARING

Please accept my assurance that I am not a prude and have been exposed to the word “fuck” multitudes of times. However, it is quite unsettling when I am in vacation mode with children to have them come across the term in a paper of general circulation.

I am referring to the “FUCK CANCER” photo on page six of your July 12-18 edition. If I thought that using the term would help cure cancer than I would endorse having every word in your paper be the “fuck” word. I would bet that using the “fuck” word to defeat cancer is counterproductive with lots of the population.

Regardless, I think that the lack of editorial oversight is sadly lacking. –DJ McCusker | Tracy

HANG UP AND HELP THE WORLD

As women from the ‘60s, we considered our generation one that really cared about what was happening to the world and in the world. Yet on our watch we are doing little to stop the horror, yes, the holocaust, in Darfur.

We need to turn off our cell phones, iPods and whatever else is disconnecting us from being the best we can be. We need to stand up and be counted now. We can’t wait for our leaders. We need to be the government of the people and by the people.

They are waiting for us in Darfur. They are counting on us. But they are dying to understand why we haven’t acted in any meaningful way to help them.

Start today. Boycott Chinese products; boycott McDonald’s, a major sponsor of the upcoming Olympics in China. Most important, contact as many of our national leaders as possible. Tell them to do something and do it now. No-fly zone, multi-national peace keepers and economic sanctions against China will all work but not if they remain talking points by talking heads. —Susan Goldbeck | Pacific Grove

RODEOS HURT ANIMALS

I am surprised that with all the media attention dedicated to the California Rodeo, nothing is being said about the agony that the animals who are forced to participate for our “entertainment” experience. Has no one seriously considered why bulls and broncos buck?

Hundreds of animals are injured and killed at rodeos across the country every year. Those who allow this treatment to take place are severely lacking in thoughtfulness and empathy. If “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way in which its animals are treated,” then it is little wonder that the US is no longer considered the leader among nations. —Virginia Jameson | Santa Cruz

CORRECTIONS

In “Barrel Role,” [July 12-18], the Weekly misreported the price of Greenberg Surf Lessons, which run $75 for a two-hour group lesson. The price includes all equipment.

In “The Price of Democracy,” the Weekly [July 19-25] wrote about “the recently-incorporated city of El Dorado Hills.” This is incorrect. The El Dorado Hills incorporation effort failed at the polls.

The Weekly regrets the errors.