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Lack of Smell

The situation regarding the intervention at Valley View Ranch was, among other things, a waste of resources and emotion.

PETA and the Humane Society both do an amazing amount of good in the animal community, but in this case they were duped. Anyone who knows proper handling and maintenance of pet market chinchillas would know that the conditions at Mrs. Adams’s ranch were above reproach.

I speak from experience. I purchased a pet chinch some years ago from the ranch and visited every few months to purchase food. Never was there any odor of the animals upon entry, or when in the cage area. That, in itself, was amazing to me since I learned I should have named my chinch Mr. Peebody.

Chinchillas pee a lot, and it’s musky. Yet, I never detected any odor [at the ranch]. Cleanliness was evident! Each of the breeding cages had data sheets recording breeding lines — as it was explained to me, “like they do for race horses.” I remember the exact words because I was so surprised by the science applied here. They breed for color, gentleness, health, and more, I’m sure.

Frankly, I don’t know what to make of the animals noted to be ill because that did not seem to be the norm. I, for one, would stand for Mrs. Adams in the lawsuit — at least as the situation has been explained in the press — and it has been very poorly explained, I might add.

• Jean Mason
• Oceanside

Meaningful Tile Art

Re: “Terminal Art”

Constance White should try to take a look outside of her box and discover the incredible creativity, diversity and meaningful content in the work of many quality artists that might be in the category of mosaics — ceramic or otherwise. She spoke demeaningly of many artists when she said, “If you want a mosaic on those restrooms, then you should find an interior designer” to pick one out, as she doesn’t do that; it “dumbs down” her program.

The bathrooms are one place where you don’t have to look up to see the art on the ceiling, and a beautiful ceramic composition would be virtually maintenance free, and would need no energy to run it, as the video images do.

Just because it is digital it is cool? Beach carnival scenes aren’t decorative because they are digital? I guess she doesn’t understand all materials. The immense variety of work being created in the tile art category in this country and beyond is amazing and gorgeous.

• Deirdre Lee
• Hillcrest

Rehab Needed

I’m calling in response to the article, “Not the Israel My Parents Fought For.”

If one Googles or YouTubes Victor Mordecai and the Koran (or Quran), he or she might get some insight into why these Jihad terrorists think and act the way they do. I’ve seen presidents’ policies sympathetic to Islam. The U.S. and the whole world needs to rehabilitate its character integrity, including our politicians.

• Name Withheld
• La Mesa

Head Count

Your article on downtown toilets failed to mention that six new toilets were promised four years ago, when we had eleven existing ones. That would make the total 17.

Now we have only two of those eleven toilets left, and instead of six more as promised, we are getting only two more. That makes a total of four.

I want to thank the City and the Girls Think Tank for finally getting something going on this but, unfortunately, we poor folks still have to sue for more toilets.

More pressing needs include an expanded storage program. Belongings are again accumulating on the sidewalks, which is unsightly and expensive for the City to legally deal with. We also need a third winter shelter in Ocean Beach. But you probably already knew that.

The big issue, though, is civil rights. We are entitled to 20-percent occupancy of the buildings built with redevelopment money, but all we got is a slush fund to pay for inferior housing in a ghetto neighborhood, miles away. “Separate but equal” got outlawed in the 1960s!

We also demand the right to stay in our home neighborhoods when our “blighted” slum hotels are torn down, and we need a fair definition of what affordable housing really is.

• John Kitchin, homeless, Publisher of San Diego Homeless News

Cuff Request

I’ve been meaning to call you guys for awhile to tell you that I’ve been missing Off the Cuff forever. I loved that section of your paper. I don’t know why you can’t bring it back. It was so cool!

• Deborah Reeves
• El Cajon

Off the Cuff will soon resume in print, and will be based on questions asked on our Facebook page (Facebook.com/sdreader). — Editor