Mailbag:

I’m glad our city representatives are heading to Washington to try to secure some funds for dredging Newport Harbor (“Daigle, Kiff head to Washington,” March 12). I have read countless articles on how important the bay is to the community and, just last year, Congress gave us more than $17 million for the upper bay area. It’s always stressed how important this is to preserve the natural habitat for many birds, fish, plants and other wildlife.

I live in Newport Shores, and my house backs up to the Seminuk Slough. This area, much like the upper bay, is rich in plants and wildlife and is in dire need of being dredged. I have been told the cost to get this done is just a fraction of what the upper bay costs. We are running out of time. If you take a look at our estuary at low tide you can hardly even paddle a kayak around parts of it because of the sediment buildup.

Are we waiting for this wetland to turn into a meadow? I found it ironic that, in the last couple of days, my representative, Steve Rosansky, makes headlines about taking six years to fix up his run-down house. Yet I have not heard one peep from him in representing our bay over here.

Terry Johnston

Newport Beach

O.C. traffic court a hassle

I am writing from Chico, a healthy 500 miles to the north, about my Orange County experience. Forgive me, I have no other outlet to vent my frustration with your own bastion of inefficiency — the Orange County traffic court.

I cannot speak to the ins and outs of the O.C. lifestyle, but, oh, how I can describe the mind-numbing inefficiency of your fine court.

After being cited in Huntington Beach while visiting in August, I sent in my $25 fine, clearly marked as such on the citation. In November, I then received a bill for $350, less the “$25 already received.”

After attempting to call into a clearly overburdened system on eight different occasions, but never speaking to anything resembling a non-recorded human voice in the 30 minutes I was put on hold, I then received a threat to revoke my license. I take from this that it is my duty to drive the nine hours from Chico to Santa Ana to discuss a $25 moving citation.

To make a long story short, I sent in an appeal fulfilling everything the court directed me to do (during my ninth call).