Carmel’s football title

I read the recent article by John Devine about the critics of Carmel High School’s state football championship. I don’t know if any of it’s true but I do know I’m happy as heck and pleased as punch Carmel went undefeated, won 15 games and a state title. I grew up in Salinas and played football at SHS over 50 years ago. It’s true that Monterey, Soquel and Salinas High have produced great teams for many decades and Palma more recently. What Carmel did is so special. Those young men get to enjoy their accomplishment for the rest of their lives and a bond no one can take away. From the thousands of players from past and present who played football from King City to Santa Cruz congrats, you earned it.

— Barry Kinman, Paso Robles

Outstanding service

The day after the big storm and black-out in Monterey we weren’t yet sure of the food in the frig so we went over to get a meal at Islands in Del Monte Center. The Center was absolutely bursting with activity: parking lots full and families everywhere in and out of stores.

We took our lunch home to enjoy and discovered we were missing the milk shakes. When we called to get a credit, the manager insisted on delivering them to our house (a short distance away) and Abbas showed up in 15 minutes! Happy Holidays!

— Kip and Jay Hudson, Monterey

Water heist

California State Lands Commission came to Marina on Dec. 6 to engage with our communities for input on California American Water Company’s desalination project, Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP), as it is under commission application review for an industrial-use permit in Marina. Speakers magically covered all aspects of the decade-long relentless struggle to stop Cal Am’s insidious water heist of the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin’s critically over-drafted aquifers.

They exposed Cal Am’s “Big Lie” that it is only extracting ocean water and its malevolent goal to devastate Marina’s public water agency, Marina Coast Water District, as the sacrificial lamb in favor of its MPWSP. Increasing Cal Am’s political influence and damage, Mary Ann Leffel, Monterey Peninsula Airport District Board Chair, conducted a “hostile take-over” of Marina’s chamber of commerce to promote the MPWSP. Leffel volunteered to fill a temporary vacuum as president, but then refused to step aside; Leffel, along with new member allies, voted Cal Am in as a chamber of commerce member. Cal Am cost Marina $12.7 million to-date in litigation expenses defending Marina’s water supply. Leffel neither lives in Marina, nor operates a business there. Cal Am and Leffel must resign because they constitute an undesirable and unsustainable menace to Marina.

— Margaret-Anne Coppernoll, Marina

Storm preparation

Thank you to the Monterey County Public Works Department for the stellar job of clearing the bioswell/drainage trail on the north side of Rio Road between Oliver and Atherton. I am confident your efforts will go a long way in terms of directing this season’s, and future, rainwater to the pipe that runs under Rio Road and out to the Carmel River as intended.

— Peter Hiller, Carmel

PG DEI

Pacific Grove is the only Peninsula city with a DEI Task Force. What is the DEI Task Force? To promote social justice and community healing. How does the DEI accomplish this? With their newly published Pacific Grove Cultural Calendar which includes at least 85 cultural events we are supposed to celebrate through out the year. This Cultural Calendar does not include Easter or Veteran’s Day, but it does include “Transgender Day of Remembrance.” Also included Is “International non-Binary Peoples Day,” “International Pronoun Day,” and “International Day of Countering Hate Speech Day.” Oh, yes, the month of June is full of special celebrations, a flag-raising ceremony in honor of Gay Pride month followed by a Parade down Lighthouse Avenue. As a citizen of Pacific Grove, I know I am forbidden to utter anything resembling hate speech, but would it be admissible to say that the Pacific Grove DEI Task Force reminds me of a Marxist version of a Trojan Horse, with no Trojan soldiers inside.

— Carol Marquart, Pacific Grove