Going quiet at Fairpark

This letter is in response to the handful of motocross enthusiasts who have loudly criticized the residents adjacent to the Santa Maria Fairpark.

Motocross events are wonderful activities that bring families together and keep kids healthy and involved. I applaud your dedication and commitment to your sport. The problem is that this type of event violates the rights of Santa Maria city residents by bombarding their neighborhoods with loud, obnoxious engine noise.

There are 14 of these events every year and each event has lasted from Thursday through Sunday. Although they are supposed to close down at 10 p.m., several of the events have lasted until 10:30 or 10:45. In the still of a beautiful Central Coast night, it is not a pretty sound. It is unfortunate that these people believe that their right to ride motocross - in the middle of a city - should override the residents' rights of enjoying their homes and back yards with their families.

There were 353 residents who signed a petition that asked the City Council to do something about the motocross noise. Many of the people who signed represented whole families. I think this represents more than "a few well-heard people ..." as was indicated in a recent letter.

Tom Maloney

Santa Maria

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What is plan for this area?

Watching the televised disaster this weekend, I began to wonder about the planning for this area. Since disaster planning begins with local planning, I am asking the Santa Maria Times to run a series of articles regarding the planning for this area.

Some suggested areas to inform readers include questions about updating planning to take into account the growth in the area? How will the county respond to those in their areas? What other agencies are involved? What is needed to get other agencies to respond to this area? What are citizens to do if there is an accident at Diablo, for instance. How about the planning for this areas response to a dirty bomb, or other such event? Other situations include an earthquake, dam failure or fires.What planning has been done to assist the dependent population of the area?

We were able to witness what happens when "plans" are not followed. Who is responsible? How are citizens to evacuate southward considering the roadway bottleneck in the Santa Barbara/Montecito area? Are there still talks going on about the situation? Is there a planned, ongoing effort to inform our Spanish-speaking population of the plans? Is there an effort to get that population to assist in a disaster situation? Whose voice should citizens expect to listen to when informed of events and action needed?

There is a Santa Maria Chapter of the American Red Cross, which offers classes in first aid, disaster responses classes for various situations and responsibilities. Practice is offered through drills, mock situations and the like.

Jan Johnson

Orcutt

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Read fine print on drug props

Drug companies have been advertising on television to push the proposition that will most benefit drug companies. Before you cast a vote for propositions 78 or 79, be aware of some facts about these two initiatives.

Proposition 78 was put on the ballot by the big drug companies as a decoy to keep voters from passing real relief for consumers from soaring costs of prescription drugs. This measure only says that drug companies can enter a "voluntary" program to reduce prices with no real incentive for them to do so.

Proposition 79 provides real relief for consumers from soaring costs of prescription drugs. This initiative creates a drug discount program that requires participation of drug manufacturers or they will lose the ability to sell drugs to the Medi-Cal program.

It promises steep discounts for seniors, families, small businesses and the state by harnessing the purchasing power of Medi-Cal. This initiative will allow the state to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for millions of citizens, just as the state of Maine does. Californians in need will get cheaper prescription drugs and taxpayers will save hundreds of millions of dollars.

It's important to vote for one proposition and against the other because the initiative with the most votes will become the law. And when doing so, remember that Propostion 78 does absolutely nothing.

Andrea Bonnett

Santa Maria

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Enough blame to go around

When I read your recent editorial, I wondered why you were in such a hurry to foist the majority of the blame on the federal response to the Katrina disaster. The editorial was simply a compilation of the liberal criticism that had appeared since the disaster occurred.

You failed to mention that the first response is the response of the individual. In case of an earthquake, I have enough food water and meds to survive for at least a week, two or more if needed. These poor people have been deluded by 20 years of Democratic leadership at the local and state level to believe that their government would be there immmediately to help them. Someone forgot to tell them they, too, are the government.

You mention the buses. Now we know there were buses. We can see them in the pictures under water and in the bus yards. There was a plan for the city to use them to evacuate. The mayor of New Orleans failed to implement his city's own plan.

The government system has a chain of command, and the next level is the governor's office. Other than crying and trying to move blame off her shoulders, she failed at every step of the way. Why did she not authorize, immediately, the use of the National Guard or call to other states for help. But we can excuse her because she's a Democrat.

This alone should provide enough of an answer to your question: Shouldn't the federal government have been helping evacuate the refugees? The answer is no, this was the job of the mayor and governor.

You also couldn't help playing into the race issue. Why do you have to constantly cow-tow to the Armani-suited, Rolex-wearing mouthpieces who see race in every issue? If there is a racist in this story, her name is Katrina!

You should have used the caption for John Lankford's column for your editorial, which is, in my opinion, truly "A Rush of baloney to the head."

Stephen Powers

Santa Maria