We suffer so south state can play

Lawn watering in east Sacramento, plant propagation in Natomas – suddenly these activities make you a neighborhood nuisance?

The laws that give Southern California rights to Northern California water need to be re-examined. We pay for levees and flood insurance, endure heavy rain and hot summers, and now meters and water fees so that people who live in the Southern California desert can have swimming pools and golf courses.

Gardens are what make Sacramento beautiful and livable in the summer. The next politician who runs for office on the platform of changing this dynamic has my vote.

– Kim Hanks, Sacramento

State parks must be kept open

Re "Schism widens in budget review" (Capitol & California, June 16): I have been asked to show some European visitors the sights in Northern California when they visit here this fall, sights that include state parks. What will I tell them? That 200 state parks have been closed and, as a result, some of the most unique and beautiful places in California are no long accessible to them?

A legislative budget committee has voted for creating a $15 surcharge on vehicle license fees. In exchange, California residents would have free day-use access to state parks, and the money would go directly to support the state park system.

This measure makes sense in terms of supporting the businesses and concessions that depend on state parks, as well as protecting these natural and cultural treasures from potential vandalism as a result of their closure. The only way the state park system can operate with efficiency is with a reliable income.

We need to keep our parks open and maintained in order to perpetuate California's enduring image as a Golden State and a desirable destination.

– Mary Patricia Morris, Sacramento

Exit exams are big news? Really?

OMG! You have got to be joking! High school exit exams as a headliner? Is this the best you guys can come up with in the face of the state's budget crisis? Please.

Let's get on with flaming the governor and the legislators. Aren't these people supposed to be leading us? Let's not fret about the future of the high schoolers whom the state has so let down and has no place to employ. Think about stabilizing the present and then about a place for these eager and deserving young people to have hope, and then get on with it.

Get real, all of you!

– Greg Poseley, Orangevale

Reflections on her trip to Iran

I was in Iran from May 15 to June 5. I witnessed a spontaneous rally for opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi in Tehran and watched as young men and women celebrated in the streets with music and laughter. The city police (not the military police) would stay on the sidelines and only step in if an altercation occurred between supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mousavi supporters.

During my trip, many men and women would approach and ask if I was American. How were Iranians treating me? To a person, they would say, "I don't like this president/government; I like/love the American people." On one occasion, a taxicab driver would not accept my money for the fare, as he wanted to "symbolize the good will of the Iranian people to you as an American."

These different people, in their 20s to 50s, were very earnest and sincere in conveying their sentiment to me in their feeling for the American people and their dislike for their president/government. In retrospect, what I had taken as hospitality and warmth may also have been a deeper need to be understood as a society and a people separate from their government's anti-American doctrine.

– Jean Coffee, Elk Grove

Health care costs need attention

If anyone needs evidence that President Barack Obama is on the right track in his quest to reduce health care costs, here it is: the high cost of dying in Sacramento.

My 86-year-old husband, having lived for two months at a "board and care" facility, collapsed at breakfast. An ambulance took him to the nearest emergency room, at Sutter General. At my request, according to his documented wishes, a breathing tube was removed by noon. He was moved to a Sutter room and stopped breathing at 11 p.m.

At Sutter, we were treated well, professionally, with respect and caring. But Sutter's bill for this less-than-24-hour stay was $27,032.33. The ambulance cost was $1,419.67. I paid nothing. Fortunately, insurance covered it.

Something is dreadfully wrong here. Obama has brought this health cost issue and the problem of the uninsured to the nation's attention. We must find a solution.

– Janet Vandre, Sacramento