Letters to the editor

How to save lives on the river

Re "Water danger lurks / With two river drownings in one weekend and a holiday approaching, area emergency teams push parents and children to play it safe," May 19: Why doesn't someone create a lagoon for families to play in?

You can run clear American River water from upstream into it without pumping and let it flow back downstream into the Sacramento River. You could put it in Discovery Park, and close the "drowning only" area. The bottom could be lined with white gravel or sand, or concrete for that matter, and nature can scrub it clean every year.

People have been drowning there forever, it seems. I'm really tired of reading about it. Are we just too stuck on stupid to fix the little things that save lives?

- Chuck Cole, Antelope

Of mice and men

Re "Rodents shouldn't trump humans in disaster recovery," May 19: David Stirling's commentary is a poignant reminder that we really do need to begin to restore some balance between our shared concern to protect the environment and private property rights, as it has gotten too far out of balance.

The creation of rights for animals is a form of environmental stewardship most people can support, but using those rights to pursue government actions that outweigh the property rights of human beings is going to an extreme few people will support.

We can have both, the protection of property rights and the protection of animal rights, but we need to remember that the balance has to lean toward human beings.

This is an issue similar to what is playing out in the ongoing discussions around the American River Parkway and how much space should be devoted to natural preserve vs. how much to developed recreation.

While both are crucial, the need for more developed recreation to address the needs of all parkway users, including the frail elderly and the disabled, has to become a higher priority.

- David H. Lukenbill, Sacramento

Senior Policy Director,

American River Parkway Preservation Society

Obesity: Follow the money

Re "Lasting damage feared in kids' obesity," May 18: This article, like many, describes the symptoms of a disease – in this case growing childhood obesity – with no mention of or allusion to the causes.

Consider the life of the average American child, teenager or adult. Up in the morning to school, college or work. A Coke or its equivalent with breakfast. Another at school or work with lunch. Home from school in the afternoon, another carbonated drink.

Same during afternoon break for adults. And, of course, the same with the evening meal.

No mention in all this of the deadly role of advertising and public relations 24/7 in developing this pattern of increasing the deadly intake of all this unnecessary sugar that carbonated drinks mostly consist of.

So if you're looking for the causes, not just the symptoms, check out the annual profit statements of Coca-Cola and its fellow culprits.

- Leon Lefson, Sacramento

Airport's on the right flight path

Re "Think big, says airport director," May 17: As a former associate administrator for airports with the Federal Aviation Administration, I think Hardy Acree and his staff are doing a great job running the Sacramento International Airport. Their ability to plan and develop sound aviation policy and ensure an excellent vision for the airport is appreciated by so many in the Sacramento Valley.

- William F. Shea, Woodland