Mailbag: No action will be taken on noise

A new public relations campaign is beginning to make it appear that there is activity to obtain noise reduction (“Airport officials still eyeing light curfew,” March 17). It cannot be relied upon to have any substance leading to practical results.

As in the past, all pretenses to make this happen will take place in private meetings. Those involved have no intention to speak publicly about their respective objectives.

The strongest opposition in the Part 161 application for a mandatory curfew came from scheduled airlines and general aviation. These factions will not come around advocating or authorizing mandatory restrictions this time or any other time.

As fleeting time passes, no action will be reported. Instead, the airports will continue their steady march toward obtaining official approval to expand their facilities and number of flights without interference.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

DON ELSMORE

Burbank

Columnist is just all over the place

Who is this Richard J. Tafilaw, and where are all the interesting and insightful columnists being kept?

I just read two of his columns online after being prompted by a letter to the editor regarding Tafilaw’s column by reader Pamela Lang (“Columnist should work harder at his craft,” March 6). Thank you, Lang, I agree!

Any piece of editorial or newspaper writing should have some type of structure.

The writer should have a strong thesis statement with supporting points. There should be supporting paragraphs to support the thesis statement and points with good transitions between paragraphs. A good conclusion should summarize the argument or thesis and the supporting paragraphs.

Tafilaw’s columns seem like long, ranting letters to the editor with no purpose other than to sound off about what is going on in his head at any given moment. Maybe Tafilaw could narrow down the diatribe to one or two points and then expand on those with more thoughtfulness and clarity.

SEAN C. HARKESS

Burbank