MAILBAG: Address our veterans’ problems

He told me that his movie reviews were replaced by book, restaurant and play reviews. I don’t have anything against those stories, but do we really need a breakdown of bowling alley food in Saturday’s paper?

The film business is a major employer in our city, and the downtown AMC Theater is always the center of activity on the weekends. Most people I know can’t afford to see plays or have the time to read a book, but they definitely see movies. Why did the paper have to kill off the “Reel Critic” section when motion pictures play such an important part of our daily lives?

I didn’t always agree with Bellner’s reviews, but his articles were entertaining and informative. In my opinion, film criticism is a dying art. I’d like to see it have a rebirth in our local paper.

JOSH CALLAN

Burbank

Scouts followed the water ordinances

I have to take issue with Linda Garrett’s Oct. 10 letter, “Ease up with that water hose, Scouts.”

My son is an alumnus of the troop at the Magnolia Park United Methodist Church. I do not know of anyone more socially responsible than the leadership of that troop, and sponsor of the troop. As far as I have researched, it is legal to wash cars in Burbank during daylight hours, as long as the provisions of the ordnance are met.

Car washes are a means for the boys to offset the cost of summer camp and other activities of significant cost to the boys and their parents. In these times of economic down turns, charitable contributions to the Boy Scouts, as well as most civic organizations, have been reduced significantly, and those resources are just not there. The boys need to find that funding in creative ways.

I applaud the troop leadership for engaging the boys in an activity that offers a service for a fair price. Although I was not there, I am sure that every effort was made to adhere with the spirit of water conservation practices. As far as the social responsibility of the Boy Scouts, look up the Scout Law on the Internet: that is what that group has been about since 1910.

MIKE ROGERS

Burbank