In one of the articles on April 23 regarding the two San Mateo County sheriff’s officers who (by mistake) visited a Nevada brothel, I read that Jackie Speier, Anna Eshoo, Michael Murphy, Jerry Hill and Mark Church want to start a committee to investigate the matter. I think this is a waste of taxpayer money and a waste of time. Their time and energy, and our tax money should be spent on looking into the crisis we are now in. We have an economy crisis, an education crisis, gas prices, food prices, Iraq, mortgage crisis and a health care crisis.

I would truly love to see our politicians bring a solution to one or all of these issues. Please!

Esther Chacon

South San Francisco

Gun Club should stay

Recently I read many articles relating to the future of the Pacific Rod and Gun Club. Though I have never stepped foot in the club, my curiosity caused me to attend last night’s community hearing to discuss the PUC’s plans for the area.

Based on the articles, I expected to see a few wealthy male club members significantly outnumbered by the local residents. Instead, what I did see was a gathering of hundreds of passionate club supporters, members and nonmembers, dominating the standing-room-only meeting.

I was very impressed with the sense of community exhibited by the speaking supporters which included preteen girls, disabled people, women, schoolteachers and others from all walks of life. The club has served the community for decades including making its clubhouse and parking lot available to others.

Based on what I learned last night, the club deserves to continue to serve the diverse community of San Francisco.

John Brunello

San Francisco

Who’s directing traffic?

This morning I drove to work on a two-lanes-in-both-directions 25th Avenue between Fulton and Lincoln.

This evening, I drove home in the opposite direction, and it had changed to a one-lane-in-both-directions avenue. Instantly, we had a traffic jam where before there was none.

Who is making these decisions? I picture elderly people in a closed-door room thinking they are taking us back to the horse and buggy days.

Shouldn’t these decisions — which affect the public on a grand scale — be decided with public input?

Kathy Suhy

San Francisco

Plastics should be bagged

Regarding the letter to the editor by Chris Stahr, published April 24, leaves me wondering if Mr. Stahr is employed in the plastics industry. There is apparently no view of our quality of life that is too small for some. With a twice-Texas-sized swirl of the toxic plastic material in the middle of the Pacific and more in our landfills, I suppose it’s just too much to ask Mr. Stahr’s hypothetical family of six to invest in reusable, durable and washable cloth bags, which cost about $2 each, to use for shopping.

Further, one key role of government is overseeing and managing the interests of the community it represents. Self-interested consumers complaining about expensive plastic bags should be so managed by tax increases that will alter societal behavior in positive ways. This country needs to change the ugly habit of throwing everything in the trash and must do so sooner than most people realize.

Robert Lind

San Francisco

Fists are better than guns

Letter writer John Kelly says SFPD’s rep has been diminished nationwide because most of the charges against the Baker’s Dozen fist-fighters have been dismissed due to lack of evidence. This is truly a nearsighted notion.

While I deplore all violence, I see a huge difference between a fistfight among upper-middle-class young men and, say, the 32 shootings and seven deaths over two days in Chicago recently. I grew up in N.Y. in the ’40s, and anyone bringing a weapon (almost always a knife) to a dispute was mocked and sanctioned.

Would that happen if fists returned as the weapon of choice for young men in their petty testosterone disputes?

Ed Gleason

San Francisco

State deficit troubling

“Governor forecasts deficit of $10 billion” (April 25) is as unfathomable as reading that the Iraq war will cost this nation trillions. Although the governor “hates making those kinds of cuts,” he says “You cannot tax your way out of that.” Huh?

Doesn’t this economic crisis compel California to tax the oil companies at the source? We are one of the only states not to do so at a time of record corporate profits, yet we pay more than $4 at the pump. I don’t get it.

Add in the fact that all of the Alzheimer’s programs will be cut to a minimum, and I really don’t get it. Program cuts that decimate the thin thread of survival for many families are cruel.

Sherrie Matza

San Francisco

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