No Insult Intended and Telling the Truth

March 20, 2003

Dear Editor,

Greg Poirier reads far more weight into my comments in my letter than they can carry ("LETTERS: Absurd Statements," March 19).

I am aware of Mr. Poirier's history as a screenwriter.

Whether or not Mr. Poirier is involved in real estate (for example as a property owner, investor, small developer, or in some other capacity) is not, in my view, an insult as he seems to think.
My comments did not question Mr. Poirier's character, and no personal attack was launched.

Bea Nemlaha

March 20, 2003

Dear Editor,

Clyde Smith's letter requesting that The Lookout not use the term "gang" because it offends him, made me grin. ("Challenging 'Tired, Inaccurate, Racists Depictions,'" March 18, 2003) Perhaps Smith would like to use terms like "socially challenged" or other PC "touchy-feely" descriptions.

I want to know when someone gets shot in my neighborhood, and I want to know who did it. While it is true that the majority of gang members are Black & Latino, that is not the fault of the media that report on the actions of "gangs."

These gang members are not a group of misunderstood youth waiting for society to recognize their worth and bring them back into the fold of mainstream interaction. They will kill without any remorse or responsibility, for the slightest offense to the "gang" (i.e. painting over a name on a wall).

The Lookout is the ONLY source for local coverage of the shootings in Santa Monica and I want them to continue to report any and all activities of the ongoing gang problem we have in the Pico Neighborhood area.

The term "gang" is the correct reference to the men & women who join each other in the total defiance of laws and community norms. The fact of the racial makeup of the gangs and the reporting of such is telling the TRUTH.

To avoid the facts and distort the actions of gangs by renaming them a more "PC approved" term will not change their actions or racial makeup. That to me would be "racist".

Len LaBounty