HERE’S HOW IT WORKS

Since I’m a volunteer and director of the Carmel Red Cross response efforts to the Basin Complex Fire, Squid’s comments [July 10-16] caught my eye.

Yes, the Red Cross is bound by many national guidelines when responding to disasters. These guidelines have been developed based on experience; the American Red Cross responds to over 70,000 disasters a year. A new volunteer who hasn’t gone through Red Cross training may not understand what is behind all the rules and regulations, but when one knows the reasons, the guidelines make sense.

Food we serve must come from a county health-approved facility or be commercially prepared. The county health department inspected our mobile kitchen within hours of its arrival. On several nights we served dinner to over 250 people. To ensure food safety, snacks also must be commercially made and packaged.

Similar Red Cross guidelines apply to clothing, towels, blankets and other items. We understand our local residents are generous and want to donate. When they give money, it can be used for what a disaster client needs.

During the Basin Complex Fire, our previously trained volunteers were scrambling to set up the shelter and to respond to the hundreds of phone calls. We had volunteers working 16-hour days and doing all-nighters to meet the needs of the evacuees. Mr. or Ms. Squid, thank you for recognizing the truly inspiring leaders that make up our cadre of volunteers.  –Sandy Monza | disaster relief director, Carmel Area Chapter American Red Cross

VISION STOPPED SHORT

The proposed Institute for Canine Studies University [“Horses and dogs compete for space in Marina,” June 5-11] would replace and eliminate the existing equestrian center on the site.

The old Fort Ord stables date to 1910 and have provided public recreation for 50 years. The location offers low-cost boarding to 70 horses and back-door access to 8,200 acres of trails in the BLM wilderness and new State Beach. The addition of dog parks to the existing park layout is both possible and desirable.

The city of Marina is asking the National Park Service to change the historical recreational uses of this deeded park site to accommodate the campus of a private university. As public servants, the city’s charge is to preserve and protect recreational diversity for all. Their astonishing shortsightedness would cause irreparable harm to our community. –Margaret Davis | Marina

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Congratulations on Stuart Thornton’s “Fighting for Home” [July 10-16]. Thornton captured the problem of a how long-honored institutions can become out of touch and heavy-handed. We all know that citizens have the right to protect their own property during a wildfire. Drawing guns and arresting citizens for trying to fight a wildfire on one’s own property serves no useful purpose.

Ideally, government officials should work hand in hand with the locals to remedy a crisis. The behavior of the Monterey County Sheriff’s Department and Cal Fire officials can only stifle future responses to emergencies by citizens.

Usually, good government only works in theory. That is why it is up to citizen participation and vigilance to keep political systems from getting out of control. Sometimes I wonder which power is more devastating in the long run, wildfires or the government’s determination to make citizens dependent. –L.K. Samuels | Carmel