Mailbag

Checking the paper, the final score is …Sid Soffer 1, city hall 0.

GRANVILLE KIRKUP

Newport Beach

Farewell to a friend and a good man, Sid SofferTo all good citizens of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa: A great man has died and must be honored accordingly ("He could fight city hall," Jan. 31). This is not your average Newport billionaire or millionaire, or greedy, money-loving landowner out to destroy the heritage and memories of the years by demolition and rebuilding to sell. This was a man who truly cared. This was a man who gave a hoot about the past and its very relevant connection to the future.

He did not care whom you were as long as your moral and ethical compass was set straight. He loved the common, hardworking man who put in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. He despised some of the lawmakers and council members whom he felt were fraudulent and deceiving and only out for self-notice. He used to say to me (about 1984) that "most council members couldn't give a hoot about anything more than their own self-interest and will one day watch this city tear down and rebuild itself." How true that has been, particularly in Newport Beach?

He was a man who cared that the treasures of today will still be around for the children of tomorrow. He was against anyone telling him what to do with his legally obtained property that he earned from the sweat off his brow, and he was always prepared to fight to the end for his convictions.

Thank God for people like Sid Soffer. He will be greatly missed. I am proud to call him my friend.

Mike Palitz

Newport Beach

Mike Palitz owns La Cave restaurant in Costa Mesa.

According to DeVore's website, he evidently likes to read the state statutes occasionally and in doing so found the anti-communist provision. Perhaps instead of reading thousands of pages of code to come up with new legislation, a look outside his office might identify some other problems — failing schools, overcrowded freeways, healthcare, global warming, lack of affordable housing, and immigration reform. And in the terrorism area, lack of port security and airport security, which is often more form than substance.