Mailbag: Smaller fire rings could spark a compromise

Speaking as someone who loves fires at the beach with family and friends, yet who also appreciates the concerns about pollution, I think the most sensible solution would be to have fire pits that are half the size of the current ones and have stricter enforcement of how large the fires can get.

And maybe have one or two community fire pits, where everyone could gather.

I’m sure many people will complain that they still want to have huge, roaring fires, but eventually people will learn that a fire that’s a third the size of the current ones is still a pleasant experience and sufficient to cook food over with no problems.

I hope a spirit of compromise and moderation will prevail at the next California Coastal Commission meeting regarding this controversy.

Ray Rothrock

Costa Mesa

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Moorlach puzzles with vote against vaccinations

While state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) seems to portray a logical, disciplined and conservative person, his no vote on Senate Bill 277 suggests otherwise.

SB 277 would finally close the loophole that allows parents to send their children to school without having been vaccinated, endangering the lives of others.

He has sided with a small minority of parents who believe in debunked reports that vaccinations cause autism. Why would he fight to represent this small discredited fringe group at the peril of the majority of his constituents?

I thought the anti-climate-change belief of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) was enough looniness for our area. Now we need to keep an eye on Moorlach as well, it seems.

Maybe Moorlach’s seemingly logical side can be brought out if enough people contact his office and ask him to join the vast majority of Californians and vote in support of SB 277.

Kirby Piazza

Costa Mesa

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What to do about John Hinckley Jr.?

John Hinckley Jr. is poised to be released soon from prison, which would make him the only person in U.S. history to shoot a president and become a free man.

At trial, he was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and has been confined to a mental institution ever since. Well, not completely. He was granted temporary furloughs to spend time with his aging mother under strict guidelines.

This is a far cry from the precedents set in the cases of the four other people who have shot presidents. John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald, the men accused of killing presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, respectively, never went to trial because they were slain.

Charles Guiteau and Leon Czolgosz, the men who shot presidents Garfield and McKinley, respectively, were put on trial. Both were found guilty and were quickly, by today’s standards, executed.

When President Reagan was shot by Hinckley, he was quickly rushed to the hospital, where a team of doctors used their modern medical expertise to save his life. Had Reagan had the medical care available to his unfortunate predecessors, he may well have died. Had Garfield and McKinley had Reagan’s team of specialists, the two presidents might well have lived.

Hinckley has indicated that he would like to pursue becoming a musician and entertainer. Maybe he can play himself in a Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Assassins.” I mean, today anything is possible in America.

Lenard Davis

Newport Beach