Roar

While I'm sure Will Rogers thinks it's a corny concept, it's hardly an act of "cowardice" for our City Council to aver to the "will of the people" in upholding the terms and conditions of Measure A. In fact, it's absurd for Rogers to infer that there's something brave and heroic about our council spending taxpayer funds to defeat a voter initiative designed to constrain the power of that very same governing body;...

Our new state Sen. Jack Scott (D-Burbank) sent a questionnaire to his constituents last year asking about the issues that concern them. In regard to the airport issue, 44% were in favor of expansion with the strict safeguards for surrounding neighborhoods. Another 18% favor expansion no matter what. That means 62% favor expansion, some wanting controls, others not. That doesn't sound like overwhelming support for Restore Our Airport Right's position.

Giving muscular dystrophy the boot On behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. and the many families we serve, I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena firefighters who raised $2,000 in a recent "Fill the Boot" drive for MDA. On Aug. 25 and 26, they volunteered to stand at a Pasadena intersection and fill their boots with contributions from passersby. MDA relies on the efforts of dedicated people such as these amazing firefighters, and on the contributions of the kindhearted, such as those who helped fill the firefighters' boots with donations.

Although it's no surprise to me that Will Rogers has a tendency to pick and choose the various "facts" he uses to make a point, someone really has to rebut his selective omissions in today's column (Feb. 6). Since Will has implicated a letter of mine in his recent musings, I suppose it's up to me, even though there are better things to do than wade through his foamy prose again. Ted McConkey has responded reasonably to the various twistings and turnings of the Measure A lawsuit.

PERC isn't doing as designed, and that's OK Apparently there's a lynch mob in the distance coming after me for a recent letter I wrote making fun of the PERC Committee and its reliance on ROAR members for valued input. But before they do too much damage, I have to plead guilty here in the Leader. It was a joke, guys. Clearly, I was making fun of the fact that this PERC Committee is not doing what it was designed to do, which was to validate the official desire for an expanded airport operation.

Writer just doesn't get that this is a democracy In his letter, Jim Carlile mentions that he is truly amazed at the PERC members who are studying airport expansion issues. The assertions made by Carlile in his letter go beyond amazing, somewhere in the realm of ridiculous. Carlile rants about the committee having the temerity to even listen to those of us who were involved in the passage of the ROAR initiative, and states that ROAR supporters were not invited to be members of PERC.

Will Rogers City Council candidate Marsha Ramos finished second in the primary election last month behind incumbent Stacey Murphy, who was reelected. Ramos, along with incumbent Dave Golonski and first-time candidates Howard Rothenbach and Gary Olson, will chase the two seats to be filled in the April 10 general election. In my last column, I looked at the candidacies of Golonski and Rothenbach, so today I'll jump right into what many tell me is their biggest gripe against Ramos.

Will Rogers ROAR is not just an acronym for Restore Our Airport Rights, the group pushing an airport-related ballot measure. Some readers tell me that, when they visit ROAR's Web site at www.roar.netthis.com, they get a roar in response. I confess to vicarious giggles reading the e-mail messages copied to me as locals correspond with ROAR. Unlike many presentations ROARers offer at council meetings, ROAR's claims in e-mail get rebuttals. And when ROAR's agent responds with the same demeanor unleashed on city officials, cyber-citizens don't tolerate it. They roar right back.

Karen S. Kim BURBANK -- Burbank most likely is on its way to a special election on airport issues. After spending 30 days verifying 10,865 signatures, officials in the the Los Angeles County clerk's office determined Tuesday that the Restore Our Airport Rights committee collected initiative petition signatures from more than 15% of Burbank's registered voters. As a result, Burbank might need to host a special election. According to state law, ROAR needed to collect at least 7,663 acceptable signatures, or 15% of Burbank's 51,085 voters.