Letters to the Editor 04.04.19

Going, Going, Gone

We really need affordable housing, not $3 million condos (“Pacific Grove library may find temporary home with pricey Holman Building condos by summer,” March 29-April 3). Brittney Vaughn | via Facebook

Absolutely ridiculous. Jennifer Elisee Gobbell | via Facebook

I’m really surprised anyone wants to pay top dollar in Pacific Grove for a fancy apartment. It’s not the city. I’d want a yard. Ashley Marie Hernandez | via Facebook

At some point, they really need to just stop building. The roadways can’t support more traffic. And weekends, I don’t come near these towns. This doesn’t do anything good for locals living here. And wait until the hotel [is built] in Sand City, and then there is Campus Town [in Seaside]. It goes on and on. Janis Spencer | via Facebook

Best of the Best

Great list!! Congrats to Yeast of Eden, Alvarado Street Brewery and El Charrito! (“Best Of Monterey County Readers’ Poll,” March 28-April 3.) Cheryl Robinson | via Facebook

Thank you for noticing and acknowledging the Monterey County East West Wing in this years Editors’ Picks. The building has not looked this good since 1937. As a believer in credit where credit is due, Jo Mora did design the decorative elements on the building, but former Pebble Beach resident Robert Stanton should be acknowledged as the buildings designer/architect.

As of today, the snack shop in the building – called Jo’s Cafe, named after Mr. Mora – is open and full of examples of art by Mora along with a display of the buildings history in the east lobby area. Peter Hiller | Carmel

Editor’s note: Hiller is the curator of the Jo Mora Trust Collection.

The list is the same every year. I wonder what correlation could be between the Weekly receiving advertising revenue and the “winners.” I noticed this coincidence years ago. So does this list really have any meaning anymore? In my opinion, no. Tiffany Sheele | via Facebook

Just a Joke?

This isn’t a funny joke… if it is a joke! If it’s not, we will definitely be protesting this one! (“Squid wonders whether Squid’s jalopy will qualify as exempt from a proposed toll road on Highway 1,” posted April 1.) Maria Chaty Tate | via Facebook

This had better be an April Fool’s Day joke. Yasmine Bagatov | via Facebook

Squid, well played. You got me for a moment… but meeting up at Hog’s Breath Inn was a stretch. [Supervisors] Mary Adams and John Phillips agreeing… then it was clear! Celeste Williams | Carmel

Hot Springs Eternal

Money, money, money (“Paraiso Springs Resort heads for a vote, 20 years after the land was purchased,” March 14-20). Us regular folks used to be able to go down to the hot springs for the day. Just hang out in the spring bunker. Now it will probably be more expensive than the Refuge. Barry Kilzer | via Facebook

Gag Reflex

In reference to your article (“The Trump administration is trying to block some health providers from sharing abortion information,” March 21-27), thank your mother for not having an abortion. Thomas Gowing | Salinas

Drink Up

I took exception to Dave Faires’ misleading article on absinthe (“Burning Question: Why was absinthe legal then illegal and now legal again?,” posted March 29). Had Mr. Faires bothered to check the scientific literature he would have found plenty of studies that indicate thujone, the active ingredient in absinthe, is toxic and associated with psychosis.

He completely ignored the studies done in the 50-year period leading up to the French ban in the early 1900s and the studies done after the ban had been enacted. Prior to the ban, French civil service statisticians noticed a correlation between the per-capita psychosis rate and per-capita absinthe consumption. Research done in the years after the ban continued to bear out that thujone is not something you should ingest. A layman’s guide to the literature can be found in a 1989 Scientific American article titled “Absinthe.”

You can find plenty of articles like Mr. Faires’ that extol the virtues of absinthe. Many, like his article, have references to medicinal benefits but are light on citations. The Weekly should be embarrassed by having published the article. Michael Greene | Salinas

You know, every time I look at one of these types of articles on absinthe, I do it with the hope that it is well informed and reasonable. And almost always, I am disappointed. And the funny thing is that you seem to be reasonably well researched. Now don’t get me wrong here. I actually agree with your answer that “none of this ever should have happened.” What I don’t agree with is that you have fallen into the same trap most other writers do in trying to come up with some other explanation of what is so uniquely dangerous about absinthe. And frequently, as in your piece, the answer is the amount of alcohol.

But here’s the real deal. The alcohol percentage is relatively irrelevant. Why? Because it was never intended to be consumed undiluted. It is a concentrated drink. Properly portioned, a glass of absinthe contains no more alcohol than an average glass of wine, and less than a 12-ounce pour of an average IPA beer. The trouble with absinthe is the potential for abuse because this message isn’t getting out. Michael Meyers | via web