"Mixed Reviews?" Your title (Cover U.S. Open story 6/26/06) should have read "Smashing Hit!"
The U.S. Open was a stunning success for our area. Besides being an exciting event and one that set record viewership, especially during prime time back east, it was also an outstanding investment in our area's future. The promotional value was "priceless" and something we all will benefit from for years to come. We all performed flawlessly during a week that is typically average, at best. We showed that we can do it as well as anyone and have set the bar for future U.S. Opens to shoot for.
Believe me, the USGA would like to return a lot sooner than 10 years from now. I wish it could be an annual event just based on its marketing value alone.
Kudos to everyone that secured, planned and executed the event. It will be talked about for many years to come. Dave Gerdes Regional Director of Sales and Marketing Estancia La Jolla Hotel & Spa
Setting the record straight on Children's Pool I read the online article about seals (Appellate Court overturns Children's Pool decision). You wrote a paragraph that reads as follows:
"The latest court ruling also upholds the legal rationale presented by attorney Paul Kennerson, representing La Jolla swimmer Valerie O'Sullivan, who has contended the pool's trust status is inviolate. The courts have found in favor of O'Sullivan's suit against the city of San Diego and has mandated that Children's Pool must now be sand dredged to return it to the condition it was in in 1941 when it was a safe wading area for children."
There is no mention of dredging in the decision. See page 31 which contains the court order. Here is the language:
". . . the city, as trustee of the Children's Pool, is hereby ordered to employ all reasonable means to restore the Pool to its 1941 condition by removing sand build-up and further to reduce the level of water contamination in the Pool to levels certified by the County of San Diego as being safe for humans."
Dredging is one reasonable approach the city could take to reduce water contamination. Others are deterring the animals to a small area of the beach or away from the beach, and opening the sluiceways for the purpose of a feasibility study. These actions are probably exempt from state and federal permit processes. Tom Sauer La Jolla
Unsafe Children's Pool In your June 26 issue I read with concern Richard Guarasciio's account of a woman who nearly drowned at the Children's Pool.
A few years ago David Pierce and three other swimmers had to be rescued on this same beach. So this beach has proven to be hazardous, which is no surprise when the configuration of the surrounding rock structures are taken into account. This in turn suggests that the O'Sullivan decision is, in reality, the sanctification of a failed engineering project.
My suggestion to Mr. Guaraiso is that he and his compatriots stay away from the Children's Pool until adequate life guarding can be provided. G. Thom Hahn La Jolla
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