Midcoast Community Council member Geoff Davis has resigned, sending in his letter of resignation on Wednesday, June 11.

The Council will have to decide how to fill the empty seat, whose term ends in 2009.

Thanks to all Coastsiders for your support for the Puente de la Costa Sur bicycle drive last weekend at the farmers’ market.  Special thanks to Erin Tormey for creating a space to Puente at the market; to the many coastsiders that brought bikes, clothes, and toys; and to Coastsider for getting out the word. If you have a bicycle that is ready to roll and you’d like us to find a good home, call me at 650.879.1691 or drop me a line at [email protected]

Thanks!
Kerry Lobel
Puente executive Director

I am visiting a relative here and read the article about bad behavior at a football game. How can adult citizens of Half Moon Bay allow naked people and egg & rock throwers etc to exhibit unacceptable behavior at a football game?

Has the excessively ostentatious ball fields gone to the communities head? Are your sports youths overindulged?

Where is the communities conscience? No public outcry and no suspension of ball games for a season after such behavior!

And, how can grown adults cheer when naked children run around the field? Shame on you!

I can only hope the grand jury’s investigation and hopeful indictments will teach what parents haven’t.

I remain,

Michael Sherman
West Palm Beach, Florida

Correction: An earlier version of this story said there was also a meeting on Monday, based on incorrect information from the county.

The county’s Local Area Formation Committee (LAFCo) will meet Wednesday, June 18, to review determinations from the final Municipal Services Review at 2:30 in Board of Supervisors Chambers in Redwood City.

Last year there was a very long, loud display that caused injuries to several horses.

I’m concerned that the person in charge of this year’s is aware of the potential danger to all animals. Many places have banned these displays due to this reason. Anyone knowing the person in charge hopefully will give him a "heads up" about this.

Fun for kids; not for other species, including our wildlife.

Free in Peace,

Susan Webb

Lanny Davis is not a stupid man, but he plays one on TV. Convincingly.

His job is to stick to whatever message his clients have paid him to disseminate, regardless of how boneheaded that message is. Such as the message that Hillary was not dead yet after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. Or the smear that it was antisemitic to say Joe “Vote McCain” Lieberman shouldn’t be Connecticut’s Democratic senate candidate. Or that AB1991 won’t set a precedent.

Half Moon Bay is paying Lanny Davis (probably thousands of dollars an hour) to lead its disinformation campaign around AB1991. Lanny Davis is the man behind the city’s Truth Squid.

Wednesday, Half Moon Bay’s Truth Squid shot a cloud of inky obfuscation in Coastsider’s direction over AB212 – a bill designed to overturn Los Angeles zoning regulations in order to turn a big swath of LA’s precious open space into yet another subdivision. So, let’s examine the Squid’s assertions one at a time and understand the truth behind the ink.

• Yes, AB1991 was introduced after AB212. But Half Moon Bay’s ticking stinkbomb has left the Assembly, and AB212 was waiting in the wings. AB1991 would have been a precedent for passing a bill just like AB212.

• Yes, AB1991 is supported by the Half Moon Bay City Council, while AB212 is opposed by the LA City Council. However, AB1991 is designed to overturn the authority of the Coastal Commission, which adamantly opposes it – just as AB212 was designed to overturn the authority of the LA City Council, which adamantly opposed it.

• Yes, AB1991 is narrowly tailored to fit a special set of circumstances. But, so was AB212. That’s the nature of special-interest legislation. It is designed to benefit a single, narrow interest by overturning the law at the expense of the public good.

• Yes, AB1991 is not a “precedent” in the way that attorneys use that word. It’s a precedent in the way that 99% of the public uses that word: a justification for future behavior. As I pointed out in another context, if you have sex for money, you don’t create a legal obligation to do so in the future. But you do increase the likelihood that you’ll be offered money for sex in the future. That is called a “pre • ce • dent”. You can look it up. Go ahead. I’ll wait while you do it.

The city needs to make their best possible case, and that requires disputing the facts and interpretations with their opponents. But they crossed a line two weeks ago when they accused their opponents of lying to the legislature and to the public.

Lanny Davis has no stake in the damage his disinformation campaign is creating. He doesn’t have to live in our bitterly divided community. He has no stake in whether the city wrecks its relationship with Coastal Commission. And he has no stake in the integrity of the Coastal Act. But the Half Moon Bay City Council will have to live in the wreckage this divisive campaign is leaving in its wake.

Surfrider San Mateo chapter’s next summer beach cleanups is at Surfers’ Beach by Highway 1 in El Granada.

This event starts at 10:00 AM on Saturday 6 June 2008 and will conclude at 12:00 PM. The chapter will provide trash bags and gloves, however we encourage participants to bring them. Volunteers from the Surfrider chapter will be there to answer questions about our coastal environment protection projects, our water quality monitoring lab status as well as accepting donations for funding the lab supplies.

Family and children are welcome as we hope to spread the words of the importance of our environmental awareness to all ages of people.

In the event of rain - the beach cleanup is cancelled. Check our website for the latest updates. For more information, please visit the web site of the Surfrider San Mateo County Chapter at http://www.SurfriderSMC.org.

The Visionary Edge will host a screening of the award winning documentary Paper Clips at the Johnson House Depot, a 7:30pm on Saturday June 14th.

Something amazing happened in the town of Whitwell, Tennessee; a town where the population peaks at about 2,000 people and where the word “skyline” is epitomized in breathtaking views of the rustic Smoky Mountains.

The citizens of this rural Tennessee community are almost exclusively white and Christian; the town was not accustomed to cultural diversity. But in 1998 that all changed with a classroom project at Whitwell Middle School. The “Paper Clips” project sparked one of the most inspirational and profound lessons in tolerance, in one of the least likely places.

Linda Hooper, the school’s principal, created the project out of her desire to help students open their eyes to the diversity of the world beyond their insulated valley. What ultimately happened changed the lives of the students, their teachers, their families and the entire town forever, and by the end, they had a new goal: to open the eyes and hearts of people around the world.

Paper Clips is a moving documentary about these students and their emotional journey as they learn about the horrors and tragedies of the Holocaust.

Get ready for Father’s Day.  Stop by the HMB Library on Saturday, June 14th, at 10:00AM for some Father’s Day stories in English and Spanish, get your picture taken, and make a Father’s Day card.