Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/o OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.
KEEP IT COMING, NICK
I would like to thank the OC Weekly, especially Nick Schou, for taking an interest in what has happened to my daughter Andrea Nelson [“Girl On Film,” March 8]. It's shocking to me that the police and Orange County authorities have not taken the same interest as your magazine has.
Linda Cator
Via e-mail
The tragic epic that is Andrea Nelson's life and death just got a hard tweak on the nipple. Bahktar is back! This is at least as good a Schou investigation as Colonel Sabow's so-called suicide or El Toro Marine Base drug-running. Keep up the outstanding reporting, Nick, because I can't friggin' wait to find out how these stories end.
Alex Brant-Zawadzki
Via e-mail
ARE YOU PASSIONATE?
Kudos on the review [Oliver Hall's “CD Review: Neil Young, Live At Massey Hall,” March 8]. You obviously know a lot about Neil. I've heard the album and agree with your astute observations. Thanks.
Rich
Via e-mail
BOOM! ZAP! POW!
[In Gustavo Arellano's March 8 “Ask a Mexican!” column, he asks readers for their opinion on the column's logo, a clichd cartoon of a revolutionary Mexican male, complete with mustache, sombrero and gold teeth.]
Let me tell you, the logo of your stereotypical father is priceless! I say go ahead and appear to be a stereotype—you know, like a blond cheerleader, a nerd, an idiot or lo que sea, and then like BAM! You act up and kill the icon with your actions and intellect and whim. I once had a teacher who taught feminist women's history and literature and she looked like a Latina Betty Boop. BAM!
Maricha
Via e-mail
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WEEKLY
[The following letter concerns the week-long hiatus “Trendzilla!” went on during the March 1 issue.]
Dear Vickie Chang: I freaked out this Thursday. I did. I realized a month ago when Schoenkopf/Swaim/Ziegler left that things at the Weekly have gone Vesuvius. And I'm sorry, but you're not leaving the Weekly. “Trendzilla” and my happiness are more important than your career aspirations. I hope you enjoyed your vacation this week.
Kelly
Via e-mail
NEVER TALK ABOUT RELIGION, POLITICS OR QUOTE SWITCHFOOT
Your “Godsmack” article [Matt Coker, March 1] has succeeded where many other such articles have failed—I've actually pre-ordered the book instead of mumbling “looks interesting” and moving on. Perhaps it was the tiny bit of self-disclosure, mentioning Arellano's contribution, that has me forking over twenty bucks I don't really have for a book on a subject I'm already pretty well-versed in.
Jonathan Yates
Via e-mail
I am living a post-evangelical Christian life because of my own search which revealed the very things this man covers in his book, but I realized something he hasn't—it's up to everyone to search for these things on their own. If a [Newport Beach author Tim] Leedom-type had come at me with a book like this 20 years ago, I could only have gone on the defensive. And the book's title screams “infomercial.” How horribly remiss [Leedom] is in not dealing gently with the highly emotional nature of religious experience. He just exposes academic/historical errors rather blatantly.
David D.
Via e-mail
Shake my head? Laugh? I did both while reading the “Godsmack” article reviewing The Book Your Church Does Not Want You to Read II by Tim Leedom. The tipping point came while reading William Edelen's excerpt regarding the Comparative Religion course proposed as an academic discipline in schools. No offense, Mr. Edelen, but your Master's degree in theology isn't worth the paper it's printed on. You need to take a long look in the mirror before grabbing stones. In the article Tim Leedom stated: “You owe it to yourself to be educated. If you are not educated, you can be easily led.” These two are the poster boys for the Switchfoot lyric: “The blind leading the lied to.” Mr. Edelen, before you pop off and contribute more heretical commentary to another book I suggest you take the time to heed the advice of your cohort Leedom and actually take the time to read the book of John. Allow me to shed some light on the situation: Jesus never said the words you so conveniently stuff into his mouth. John 14:6 states, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE.” Not Light, Mr. Edelen, LIFE. Set the double latte down, hang up the cell phone and take seven seconds to read the verse you so aptly misquote.
And Mr. Leedom, I suggest you have a look at secular history, I think when you do you will find the Jesus story differs from other myths as it is based on an actual historical figure. To quote Leedom, “The thing is, most people are completely ignorant of the tenants of their own religion, let alone anyone else's.”
As an aspiring author I am dumbfounded by these pots calling the kettle black, their lack of biblical knowledge, the poor editing at Cambridge House Books and how tools like this get airtime anywhere.
Mr. Edelen, allow the mirror of your words to reflect: “this is a mark of [your] own religious illiteracy.”
Next time you may as well say: “There are no absolutes and I am certain there are no English sentences.”
Josh Cox
Via e-mail
SPACKLE™™™™™™
[The following letter pertains to Gustavo Arellano's March 1 “This Hole-in-the-Wall-Life” on restaurant Union Jack Fish N Chips in which Arellano states Cadbury chocolate makes Hershey seem as “bland as spackle.”]
Please note that Spackle is a registered trademark of the Muralo company. Please note this in future articles when referring to Spackle.
James Norton, worker
Muralo Company
…AND THEN WE'LL LET HIM GO!
Sad story this week about the Mexican guy getting the crap beaten out of him for no reason [Nick Schou's “'We Love Hunting Wetbacks,'” Feb. 22]—but [it was] also a little slanted. My only comment: The Minuteman Project is fighting against ILLEGAL immigrants. Not all immigrants. And no, I'm not a member, don't go to their rallies. I'm just a regular person who really has feelings for both sides. But don't skew the story please. It makes me wonder about the validity of other things you write about.
Betty
Via e-mail
This is fucking bullshit. Someone needs to do something about the fucking racist white cops!
Lina
Via e-mail
I used to be in law enforcement and worked internal affairs for several years. It sounds like B.S. to me. No physical evidence and with all the traffic on the 55 freeway, no witnesses? Sounds like someone has an ax to grind with the OC Sheriff's Department and two willing sympathizers along with an ambulance-chasing attorney! GOOD LUCK!
John Allen
Via e-mail
BABYSHAMBLES
[The following letters are in regards to R. Scott Moxley's Feb. 28 follow-up article, “Chilly Specter of An Accused Pervert,” which chronicles the trial of accused child molester and Republican activist Jeff Nielsen.]
What else is new? I have to agree with one thing: that “bumbling police detectives” probably caused this disgusting person to remain free to walk around amongst the public, endangering other young lives—of course, the fact that he has money certainly was a plus. As for [defense lawyer Paul] Meyer, does that pig have a family? Does he have children . . .? As for a family image of an elderly gentlemen/attorney with dandruff on his shoulders, old men with dandruff hardly make a family image—maybe a “sick family image.” Actually, it indicates how Meyer thinks— he is nothing but a dirty old man, much like his client!
Joyce Miller
Via e-mail
What happened to reporting the news in an unbiased manner? Or reporting only facts and not opinion? This reporter must really, really have a personal vendetta against Jeff Nielsen or maybe an obsession with him in some weird way? Otherwise, how do you explain his constant “he must be guilty” opinions? I hope he's not ever on any jury! The person would be thrown in jail before the trial even began! Sad state of affairs we're in these days because of reporting like this. If the DA's office had any REAL actual physical evidence this trial would not have taken 4 years to begin, would it? But then again, [Moxley's] reporting of the “facts” is non-existent. He simply states his “opinion” without giving the reader the “facts” of the case.
Anonymous
Via e-mail
