Not Just for Hippies Anymore

I ENJOYED the article on disc golf ("Hippie Olympics," Feature, Feb. 25), minus the misleading and confusing title and the second paragraph lead-in ("Hippie Olympics" and "the hippie weapon of choice, disc golf is flying high on the Central Coast"). Not sure if the article was meant to be "hippie bashing" or celebrating a "hippie lifestyle," but whichever the case, hippies tossing Frisbees in the '60s and disc golf today don't have much in common. The opening of a championship disc golf course will attract some of the world's top touring disc golf professionals as well as disc golfers from around the country.

Yes, it is true that the not-so-rare wild hippie can be seen playing disc golf, however not any more than you would find him or her surfing a wave, playing some hoops on a basketball court or participating in any other sport, for that matter.

The more I learn and find out about disc golf, the more I realize how articles like this can promote a misconception about the sport.

 Joshua Orzech,
Aromas

Zappalicious!

LOVE the Zappa article ("Keepin' It Greasy," Arts, March 4). Dweezil!!! I have read Matt Pamatmat in the past and love his down-to-earth writing. Keep it up!

Keith Nielzine,
Santa Rosa

Smokers Spend Money, Too

REGARDING "Trashing Butts" (Nu_z, Mar. 4), I'm a smoker with money to spend. I'm just saving it now because I don't go out much anymore. Friends come over often. Most of my friends don't eat out or go to our local bars anymore. We just buy a case of beer and sometimes order Chinese or pizza delivery. We're sorry to see neighborhood bars and small eateries closing one after the other but smoking is our personal choice. Banning smoking will only help big restaurants and bars. Don't believe the so-called scientific reports saying smoking bans don't kill business. Nonsmokers only go out about two nights a week whereas as a smoker, I used to stay home two nights a week.

Pat Dwyer,
Kearney, N.J.

Stop Influence-Peddling!

THE PRESENT financial collapse is devastating my family members (in construction) and billions around the world. Who's responsible? The wealthy anti-regulations free-marketeers, for sure, plus their right-wing media mouthpieces and the politicians who passed their laws.But we're responsible, too, for continuing to allow our democracy to be corrupted by special-interest money. It's apparently fine with us that our representatives depend on corporate money for their election campaigns, and for jobs when they leave office, so that instead of representing us, they represent the Big Money whom they depend upon. We allow corporate money to flood our elections and, through lobbyists, our government, and then wonder why the rich get richer, the rest of us poorer, and we get a wrecked economy to boot.

A new study, "Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," says, "The financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence-purchasing in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse." The report documents a dozen distinct deregulatory moves that, together, led to the financial meltdown, including prohibitions on regulating financial derivatives and federal refusal to stop predatory subprime lending.

As long as we allow Big Money to run our county, we are responsible for its crimes. To end this corruption, support these organizations: PublicCampaign.org, CommonCause.org, and CaClean.org (California Clean Money Campaign).

Tom Wodetzki,
Albion

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