Coast Report staff deserves many thanks Hooray...

Coast Report staff deserves many thanks

Hooray for Mike Billings, Matt Ballinger and the mighty Coast

Report (“OCC agrees to abide by Brown Act,” June 5).

The residents of Costa Mesa and the surrounding communities should

extend a heartfelt “thanks” to student Editor Billings, student Copy

Editor Ballinger and the faculty adviser, Cathy Werblin, of the

“mighty” Coast Report newspaper. What a terrific job of investigative

reporting, sticking to the facts and following leads. For more than

29 years (as long as I have been a professor at Orange Coast

College), I watched, wondered and worried as the student body’s

budget committees allocated hundreds of thousands of dollars at

meetings, closed to the public and the student paper, the Coast

Report. It was always an “obvious” violation of the Brown Act.

Every excuse for this imaginable has been floated by members of

the administration, publicly, over the last three decades, to justify

these closed budget meetings. None of these excuses were plausible,

and since we are supposed to lead by example, I could only wonder

what kind of example we were setting for the students involved in

student government. Several times, I spoke out against this and urged

previous student members of the Coast Report staff to pursue this

horrible skeleton in our college closet. Mike and Matt, nice going

guys. What courage. Cathy Werblin -- you’re my personal faculty

member of the year. I’m very impressed and proud of you all.

DENNIS L. KELLY

Professor, Marine Science Department

Orange Coast College

Stealing shopping carts ought to be treated like stealing

Who should pay? It’s the age-old question about the shopping cart

dilemma.

Did I miss something growing up? I was told it was wrong to steal

another person’s property. Yes, I said steal, as in take away

something that doesn’t belong to you.

If your friend lets you use his bike, or car or whatever to run an

errand, when you’re done, you return it . You don’t keep it or dump

it down the street .

If you just take whatever you want of someone else’s property and

walk off down the street, you are stealing. You’re subject to arrest

and fines and/or jail.

Then what is the difference when a shopping cart is removed from

the property of a store or business area? Is it not stealing? At the

price of shopping carts, you could almost make the argument that it

is borderline grand theft.

The people that are “The Powers that Be” seem to forget this small

fact, as well as some of the loudest protesters in favor of fines to

the store owners. You all might as well be ready to pay a fine

anytime your car or bike is stolen and dumped in the other side of

town. What is the difference?

The last time I suggested that the people that do the stealing be

arrested, jailed and/or fined. Maybe even made to go collect shopping

carts, as community service. Some bleeding heart wrote in and stated

the most of the carts are being taken and used by the poor and

homeless. It would be cruel to make these people pay in any way for

stealing.

Stealing is what it is. It is not OK, no matter what your race or

social status .

When it happens, we all pay. Do you think the shopkeeper is going

to eat those fines? No. He just had his property stolen and now he

has to pay a fine for it.

The city’s going to fund some of the pickup (your money at work).

We, the consumers, pay, as always. All because no one is responsible

for the crime. No one that commits the crime is made to pay.

Taking a shopping cart away from the property of a shop or store

is still stealing. You are a thief.

I guess my parents taught me wrong. It’s OK to steal. Someone else

will pay for it.

I am not a store owner. I just don’t understand why they are made

out to be the bad guy in this whole argument.

JEFF BRACEY

Newport Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer has worked on the Westside since 1975.