Oct 25, 2007

Letters

Trick-or-treat problem

Dear Editor: Last Halloween I had the unpleasant experience of visits from teenaged trick-or-treaters - that is, teenaged trick-or-treaters who did not bother to costume. I have no problem with trick-or-treaters of somewhat advanced age, but if one is not going to bother with a costume, I think it cannot be rightly called trick-or-treating. Last year I was too startled to do anything but hand over the goods. However, now I have had a long year to think about it.
If anyone trick-or-treats at my house without a costume this year, they will be presented with a sampling of interesting candies from our local 99 Ranch Market: cream prune drops, haw flakes, Wah Mei candies and a variety of herbal gummies. Everyone else gets Snickers, my favorite. Got that?

Dawn Pillsbury,
El Cerrito

Pollution concerns
Dear Editor: Recent articles about Pacific Steel Casting are misleading and inaccurate, and have failed to highlight the ongoing toxic emissions problems created by the notorious East Bay polluter Pacific Steel Casting.

What your article didn't say:
1. The report was prepared after PSC added equipment that concealed emissions.
2. The report's questionable results are based on poor and outdated data, including some from 1989.
3. PSC conducted no tests of the air and toxic fallout in the neighborhood, and has refused to collect actual health data from residents.
4. Every day PSC releases arsenic, benzene, cadmium, chromium, copper, formaldehyde, flourine, mercury, nickel, manganese, phenol, and toluene. (p. 22 HRA)
5. PSC failed to do any community health survey, even though residents in Albany and Berkeley have reported health problems caused by the emissions and more than 1,000 documented air-quality complaints traced directly to PSC.
6. Recent independent air quality tests have shown unhealthy levels of nickel and manganese in the neighborhood.
Andrew Galpern,
Berkeley

Gasoline prices

Dear Editor: Standing in the post office line, I overheard a woman confidently tell a friend, "Oh yes, gas prices will be $4 or $5 by Christmas." How did she know, and why was she so blase? My guess is that she heard this speculation on some talk shows or propaganda-posing-as-news programs. How did this idea get planted? My guess is that the oil companies are using slick public relations techniques to "inoculate" the public from a feeling of outrage as the prices go up, up and up.
Me? I am outraged at the high prices and even more so at the craven profits these oil companies gouge out of our paychecks.
Gasoline is needed for transportation. As such, it should be regulated as a public utility, just as bus service and subways are regulated, to control their prices and profits.

Bruce Joffe,
Piedmont