The biologists that make up the "well-orchestrated contingent from the local scientific community" that Mr. Willoughby referred to ("Letters," 5/20) are to be commended for coming before the Pacific Grove City Council and speaking up. They bring reason and balance to an issue that has unfortunately been misrepresented to the public.

The biologists are working scientists from Hopkins Marine Station, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing: three local institutions that have been leaders in scientific research and habitat preservation in our area. Why their opinions that support the preservation and use of the tide pool and coastal areas for research should make Mr. Willoughby squirm makes me wonder just what his real agenda is.

To totally prohibit everyone, including valid researchers and scientists from doing their job, or to deny access to students who will eventually become the researchers and caretakers of our future tide pools and beaches would be a foolish and costly mistake. We should be thankful that we have a scientific community that cares enough to come forward and speak out. I have sent my letter to Assemblyman Fred Keeley in support of our scientific community. Please join me.

CARLA BENEJAM

SALINAS

Unfulfilled Dream

This letter is in response to the letter titled "Ghost Town" ("Letters," May 13). I am inclined to agree with Ms. Herron that hardworking LOCAL families cannot afford to find housing. I too was born and raised here and find it very sad that finding even affordable rentals are so hard.

Homes that rented for hundreds of dollars less only a few years ago have skyrocketed in price today, even though nothing has been done on the property to improve it.

When my husband and I attend functions put on by the cities, it's astounding that we hardly see anyone we know or knew as children They've all moved away. Reason being housing is still affordable in other states, even in some parts of California where people can afford to purchase a home and fulfill the American Dream, but that certainly cannot happen for those of us BORN AND RAISED on the Monterey Peninsula.

CAROLYN DIMAGGIO-CAMPBELL

SEASIDE

Elite Streets

Jennifer Herron's letter, "Ghost Town," could not have more accurately echoed my own sentiments about the housing and real estate market in our community. A Pacific Grove native, I have long since abandoned the dream of owning a home in my own hometown. Not only is it impossible for local working people with decent incomes to purchase real estate in our community, but even renting a home for a decent price has long since ceased to be a reality. When people refer to Pacific Grove as the "Last Hometown," I have to laugh. The people who made Pacific Grove what it is can't remain here if they wish to have something as basic as a home for their families. As Jennifer pointed out, they have been replaced by the elite out-of-towners who take advantage of what we created.

JUDITH SWARTZ

PACIFIC GROVE

Dirty Politics

My many years of voluntary service has not seasoned me for the shock and dismay I encounter in this special [Seaside] council election campaign. A friend disclosed that a sign, legally posted on her property, had been knocked down for the third time. The last time, the sturdy wooden stick was broken in half.

Proudly, by my amended rights, I replaced it. Five other calls told me of similar acts of vandalism to Steve Bloomer signs. The last election's brutal practices are again haunting Seaside's image.

I suggest citizens report such violence to the Seaside Police Department. Public trust must decree and expect that integrity return to our voting practices. Only community commitment will turn the tide from such dirty underhanded dealings. It is your city.

MARGARET M. OSBORNE

SEASIDE

Pebbleganda?

I recently received a high-gloss mailing on unrecycled paper touting a supposed "environmentally superior" plan by the Pebble Beach Co. They ask for our communities' permission to destroy tens of thousands of Monterey Pines in one of the three small genetic core foundation stands where Monterey Pines evolved from, in order to build 300 more houses for the overly wealthy to have yet another second home.

This obscene propaganda flies in the face of anything remotely environmentally sound. The Monterey Pine is one of the main lumber producing trees in the world, particularly in Australia and New Zealand where it grows as much as 10 feet a year. Due to the large scale plantings, the genetic lines of these trees have grown weaker and thus susceptible to diseases such as pine pitch canker.

The stands in our area represent a long unbroken lineage of these trees co-evolving with the elements in their native habitat and thus imbuing them with a strong resistance. It is and would be an environmental disaster to cut down any of these trees at a time when the canker threatens to decimate not only our overly spread-out planted stands but the stands abroad that figure so significantly in the economies of our neighbor countries.

This plan by Pebble Beach Co. is just another example of short-term profit for a few versus the long-term economic and ecological destruction for the many touted by large corporations with little social conscience except the bottom line. Do we want more traffic? Less clean air? More pollution? More absentee landowners in their gated community? Or are we ready as a community and a society to turn away from the manifest destiny mentality of corporate elite rule that has brought us to the brink of ecological collapse, and embrace a vision of a sustainable community where we don't bulldoze what is irreplaceable for a few more mansions?

Please everyone, take a stand for the stands! And yes, Pebble Beach, please take me off your mailing list. I DISAGREE.

JOHN SELMO

CARMEL

Corrections

Due to some transposed numbers, the math didn't add up in an article that went along with last week's cover story. The Carmel Unified School District contributes $219,628 per year to sports programs in the district's middle and high school, not $291,628 as was published. The per student dollar figure--$169--was correct.

The Weekly incorrectly reported last week that the Pebble Beach Company forbids the reproduction of their trademark, the Lone Cypress. Artists and photographers are allowed to reproduce the tree. Pebble Beach only considers it a trademark infringement if images of the Lone Cypress are sold without permission from the company.

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