TERRORIZING MOM

My mother is 80 years old. My father, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, passed away in April of this year. My mother now travels on occasion to visit her children, some of whom live in states other than her own. She has never been arrested, she votes each election and attends church regularly. She raised five American children to adulthood.

One branch of my family has been in this country since 1621. The Native American branch of my family has been in this country since before it was a country. My mother was raised in Germany because her parents could not afford to feed her in the U.S. during the Depression, and she witnessed the oppressive actions of a paranoid government raging out of control from fright, addiction to power and stupidity.

My 80-year-old, law-abiding and loving, apple-pie baking mother recently was pulled out of the security line at an airport, X-rayed and physically body checked. She stated that she was stunned by the experience and will refuse to travel by air in the future if confronted again at an airport screening.

Do you believe it’s possible to stop terrorists by terrorizing Americans? - Alfred Brock | Wayne, MI

PLASTICLAND

Has anyone else noticed that we are drowning in an ever-expanding sea of plastic trash along our coastal scenic drives? If you drive from Castroville along Highways 156 and 183 into Monterey on Highway 1, you can’t help but notice the extraordinary amount of plastic trash strewn along both sides of all of our highways now. Clearly, Caltrans is unable to keep up with the workload and we need aggressive enforcement from the CHP, Monterey County Sheriff’s Department and each local police agency and miscellaneous governmental agencies along the highways to minimize this visual blight in our communities.

Perhaps a public-private campaign to identify the most serious, repetitive violators; using 911 to report crimes of illegal dumping and spreading trash along the highway when violations are seen by the public; along with increased fines; and probation sentences linked to weekend work assignments are needed.

Clearly, this problem is getting out of hand.I’m sure that many other people are wondering what is going on in this area of our community. - Arthur Farrar | Monterey

PHAT OPINING

I think Mr. Basso’s got a great idea for a franchise. (“A heart-attack hamburger and lard-cooked fry reply to healthy food trends finds traction,” Nov. 11-17). After all, nobody holds a gun to obese people forcing them to eat anything or anywhere. I found the idea totally hilarious and wish I had thought of it. I’m a 110-pound capitalist who loves a good idea – and I am still trying to understand what burgers have to do with politics. Lighten up['. - “S.” | Carmel Valley