Recently, I had an experience that weighed heavily on my heart. As I waited to pick up my prescription at the pharmacy, a slightly disheveled man wearing a black shoulder bag and low-slung pants walked past me and disappeared down the aisle. Something went wrong, so I looked around the corner and saw him taking an item off the shelf and putting it in his bag. I walked down another aisle to the front of the store to see if he would pay for the item. When he didn’t show up, I looked into another aisle and saw him putting other things in his bag. He came out of the store and I followed him and called 911. Fifteen minutes later, he was arrested by Costa Mesa police.
What struck me was that this person thought this crime could go completely unpunished. I’m sure this isn’t his first “shopping” visit to Walgreens and perhaps other stores. And I’m sure he’s not the only one. It is very likely that he is homeless or at least indigent, economically disadvantaged, and possibly mentally or drug-use impaired. I didn’t think he was a veteran.
I think a lot of it, but not all of it, is rooted in the homelessness problem that plagues us. I can think of no other issue that negatively impacts our society more than the scourge of homelessness. We must demand from our elected officials a city, county, and state solution: a public-private partnership. I’m not saying this is easy.
Seeing it firsthand, the indifference of the store staff (as they were instructed not to do anything) had a deep impact on me. I will look for ways to get involved and seek solutions to homelessness.
Mark Herstahl
costa mesa
He would be a good speaker, but unfortunately
I found the March 3rd Daily Pilot & TimesOC article “Monthly OC Group’s commitment to its passion for sports” very interesting. It told of a group of sports officials who meet once a month at the OASIS Senior Center in Corona del Mar. This group is open to the public and there are only three rules. There are no membership fees, political opinions are prohibited, and anyone who wants to hear their opinion will be heard. The meeting will feature guest speakers covering various aspects of the sport. Upcoming guest speakers include Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Julie Jacobs.
Two statements in the article caught my attention. I know some people. ” These two lines of his relate to me in a very subtle way. I went to high school with a guy named “Joe” and graduated in 1959. He loved sports and played quarterback on the football team, the baseball and basketball teams, and of course all on the varsity team. This guy named Joe was also known for his modified and fast cars, and he drove them all through our high school years. Anyway, we all graduated and went our separate ways, and Joe remained in the sports world, eventually becoming the head coach of the then-Washington Redskins, winning three of their four Super Bowl appearances. They each had a different quarterback. Yes, his name is Joe Gibbs. After spending about 12 years as the coach of the Washington team, Joe moved on to another career and became a NASCAR owner who races four cars every weekend.
Again, “We’d love to have a race car driver here. I know some people,” and it would be great if I was close to Joe. Ask him if he could be a guest speaker in the future. But sadly, I met him once after he graduated in 1991, when the Rams were still in OC, when the team now called the Washington Commanders played in a game against the Rams. remembered me. It was a very fulfilling day thanks to my 14 year old son. , Ryan, I got to meet him. But after all these years, I probably wouldn’t ask him to be a guest speaker at a tackling sports meeting just because we went to the same high school in Santa Fe Springs. But he signed two of my high school senior year papers, which I still have.
Bill Spitalnick
newport beach
HB election is a cynical ploy
It is unfortunate that the conservative Huntington Beach City Council majority is taking advantage of the low turnout of 23.5% in Wednesday’s primary to force a harmful charter amendment down the throats of Surf City residents. The attempts were mostly failures. success. Rather than wait until November, the ruse of spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to strangle the will of the community has paid off at our expense. A lot of money was spent on the “Yes on A, B, and C” campaign, but most of it was partisan and pandering. It was a power grab of epic proportions. Well, we’ll see what our autocratic leaders do with it. If they stay true to form, they will only be catering to their MAGA base rather than using it to better serve and represent the citizens of Huntington Beach. They will seek further restrictions and insults to our social, cultural, and civic norms. The candidates they have hand-picked for November’s city council elections are not only cut from the same ranks, but are also perhaps more extreme and unhinged. This is an existential crisis that our city’s voters must now grapple with. Further negative effects and fallout from the election may befall us in the future. Let’s see what the county and state are thinking. In short, Huntington Beach is moving backwards, not forwards. We move further into the darkness. It is important that our people understand the transition from democracy to dictatorship. Only when this is clear can we revise our vision and pursue a positive and productive path for the future.
Tim Geddes
huntington beach
Hope after turnout
I was initially disappointed by the low turnout in the primary and believed that was the reason for passing the charter change. But by Wednesday afternoon, when thousands of mail-in ballots were still uncounted and the difference between A and B non-votes remained at just 273 votes, I felt much better about the election as a whole and the community as a whole. became much better. After all, why do we require voter ID when presenting ID at registration, and why discriminate by refusing to fly the flag of a minority group?
I know mail-in ballots will take longer to count because of the longer verification process, but overall the pass/fail margin is much closer and my confidence in the city’s progress has been restored. His Daily Pilot coverage is trusted and much appreciated by locals in understanding what’s going on in our city.
Richard C. Armendariz
huntington beach