The job of good journalists is to report the biggest news issue of the moment. When I covered the opening of the general plan debate, the big news was definitely that the vast majority of those who showed up blasted the plan. Several speakers made not-so-veiled threats to sue the county.

How I feel personally about throwing more than two years worth of the county''s work into the courts is immaterial. It was-and continues to be-my job to tell people about the news of their community, just as it was when I was the Weekly''s news editor from 1992 to 1999.

Reporting on those who represent developers does not equate to being pro-development any more than reporting on a rape trial makes journalists sexual assailants.

The big news about the general plan on the day that I wrote my story was definitely about the ire of attorneys and developers. That story may or may not be the dominant one if and when Weekly does a broader overview. If it is, I have full confidence that the skilled journalists at the Weekly will include that in their coverage.

JILL DUMAN/SALINAS

Save the Carousel

I think it is so sad the antique carousel that so many people (including myself) have grown up with and loved has to be uprooted from its home at Edgewater Packing Co. ["The Last Ride," April 17-24]. I have ridden on that beautiful carousel for as long as I can remember. Every time I pass by and hear the organ playing and see those beautiful wooden horses spin I smile.

Obviously it is all about dollars and cents. If I wanted to go play laser tag or ride a mechanical bull (which I don''t) I could go to a pizzeria or to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Where will people go to see a beautiful old carousel still delighting kids today?

Where will adults go to enjoy a piece of our history that comes from a kinder and gentler time? I don''t know of another antique carousel anywhere near here, which is all the more reason to save it! Cannery Row has been overrun with tourists. I think it is about time that something is done on Cannery Row for the locals, instead of the mindset of what more can we do to satiate the tourists?

I think it is laughable for anyone who remembers Cannery Row twenty years ago to buy into Bruce Kibby''s diatribe about preserving Cannery Row. Take a look around down there and see the absence of true history for yourself. I am going to go ride the carousel today, while I still have the chance.

TIFFANY HORN/PACIFIC GROVE

Burger Joint Should Have Chickens

Yesterday, Sunday, I woke up longing for the charm of San Juan Bautista. I had fond memories of a previous visit to the little village, especially for sitting outdoors at a hamburger restaurant there. I remembered feeling the warm sun on my shoulders, and watching magnificent roosters and hens mingling with passers-by, confident no one would harm them.

Well, I did end up going to S.J.B., and sitting at that cafe''s outdoor patio. To my great pleasure a rooster invited himself and started pecking on the patio ground.

The owner or manager intervened rather abruptly, with a look of utter disgust toward the animal, and added that tomorrow she would have local authorities "remove" the birds. It did not dawn on me immediately that she probably meant "killed."

I only want to say that if SJB becomes the kind of place where roosters and hens are not allowed to wander freely, it will take away the most of its charm, and half of my incentive to drive over there. It has certainly taken away my motivation to return to that burger cafe.