A slippery slope It’s not whether the seals stay or go. Politicians shouldn’t rewrite contracts without consent of the parties. It’s a slippery slope! If you were fortunate enough to dedicate an affordable housing project and later politicians decided there was value in gentrifying it for luxury villas, wouldn’t you be troubled that your contract wasn’t respected? Ellen Browning Scripps, distressed after a child drowned in the ocean, dedicated Children’s Pool so children could learn to swim in the ocean without being in open water. The City agreed to the Trust. Rewriting the Trust is a slap in the face to philanthropists. The public should be educated on contractual law, responsibility and respect. I live across from Children’s Pool, and we love seals, but what is right is right. Sometimes personal gratification is secondary. If I want to see seals I support the great work of SeaWorld and pay the admission. Greg Thomas, La Jolla Everybody’s having dewy daydreams This is about the debate between Children’s Pool and seal beach: I have three generations in this town, swam at the Children’s Pool, took my children there and I can tell you…. swimming WAS and IS not a good thing there. Do you remember the rocks the waves crashed you on? It’s a running joke in San Diego history that a strip of beach named The Children’s Pool has the most dangerous areas to swim. Since records have been kept, there have been more shark attacks there than anywhere else in San Diego. My mother told me in the ’50s a diver was bit in half by a shark. This was before the time of seal beach, so that is not an excuse. Is everyone having dewy daydream memories and don’t remember how dangerous it was to swim there? I hated going to the Children’s Pool as a kid. You couldn’t go past your ankles without some riptide taking you out to smash you against the rocks. My sister was dragged out by a riptide and almost drowned. We used to joke to my mother that she kept dragging us back there to get rid of us. Finally she heard us and started taking us to Torrey Pines State Beach, a much nicer beach for children. San Diego has miles and miles of beautiful shoreline to enjoy. This is a natural place for the seals to relax from predators, bring their young to shore to rest and raise, and you want them gone because people selfishly want that strip of beach back. It was never ours to take. Shoreline is not human property. We are just there to enjoy it. Everyone who has come to visit my family in San Diego are always taken to enjoy watching the seals. Tourists love it. I hear people talking time and again on the Sea Wall, how awesome it is that we have a habitat outside SeaWorld to enjoy watching wildlife. Why is everyone being so selfish? Why is that piece of beach so important to you?  To be honest, there is not one argument anyone can share with me that makes sense. Memories? Will they swim there now or are [they] just fighting this on principle? Good people stun me with their “It’s all mine” attitude. Take your children to Torrey Pines to swim.  Danelle Parker, La Jolla Kids contaminate, too Proponents of the plan to chase the harbor seals from the La Jolla Children’s Pool argue that the animals despoil the water with their excrement. I wonder how often toddlers contaminate the Pool with their urine and feces. Elliot Schubert, Ph.D., San Diego Pop! goes the wee seals I cannot understand why human beings are so selfish and self-centered that they are unable to think beyond their needs and desires. We all are just a small part of the ecosystem that sustains us. Yet, we find it so difficult to share the world with all the other creatures that are integral parts of the ecosystem and the universe. The seals have been here long before us and long before the wall was ever built. Seal Rock and surrounding area has been their home long before we settled around them. And it is not like we are so desperate for beaches. There is abundance of beaches all over our town for sun bathing, diving or other recreational pursuits. It is a very tiny strip of land that the harbor seals use. They need the beach, not for recreational activities, but for resting and raising their young! They need the beach for survival! The city wishes to spend millions of taxpayers’ money to dredge up the sand, only to have it revert back to the present stage, again, in few years’ time. The city is willing to spend all this money just to satisfy a small group of people who are too small minded and unwilling to give this tiny piece of land to the seals. The money can be better spent elsewhere in the city. If Casa Beach is meant for kids, then by all means let it be for kids. It can serve as an educational site for children. By preserving the beach as it is, the city will be actually making millions from the visitors who come from all over the world, boosting the local economy. If the city wants to get rid of the seals so that the children can use the beach, why not ask the children to vote? Let the children decide. Ask the children whether they would prefer to use other beaches or use the Casa Beach at the expense of losing the seal colony. Ask the children whether they would rather watch the seals and seal pups at play or whether they would prefer to watch the horrendous scene of men trying to scare the seals and destroy the rookery by whatever means at their disposal. The scene of the seal colony being evicted would surely have a long lasting effect on all the children witnessing it! I am sure a majority of the children would want the seals to use the beach so that they have fun and learn, watching the harbor seals at play. There is an educational tool right here for teachers to use. We have a wonderful, unique and natural treasure right in our backyard that draws visitors from all over the world, yet we want to destroy it. Which other city can boast of a rare sight like we do? I used to work as a docent with La Jolla Friends of the Seals, and I have talked to many visitors, and their reaction is always the same. It is one of wonder with a hint of envy because we do not have to travel all over the world to capture such a rare scene. Mother seal teaching her pup to swim, carrying it on her back, or of seals slapping the water with their flippers to attract mates or of seals just relaxing on the beach. We have the brains, the intellect, more superior than all the other creatures on earth. Surely we have not become so self-serving and selfish that we would fight with a bunch of dumb defenseless seals for a small strip of land, trying to take away from them the only home they have ever known! Surely human beings can do better than this? Madhumathy Sugavanam, La Jolla Please help protect our harbor seals I am writing to you with the hope that you will encourage your readers to express their disgust at the possibility of evicting the harbor seals from Casa Beach in La Jolla.  First, concerned readers need to contact the State Assembly. Time is certainly of the essence: The State Assembly could be considering passage of SB-428 as soon as mid-month. If SB-428 is not passed in this legislative session, it will not go into effect in January 2010.  This will have serious negative repercussions for the seals. The San Diego City Council will be forced to go through with a dispersal plan, and it will also have to follow through with the State Court’s dredging order. SB-428 would add “marine mammal park for the enjoyment and educational benefit of children” as an additional and legal use to the original 1931 land grant language. Please ask your readers to call California Legislature Assembly (Natural Resources Committee) representatives and ask them to vote “yes” on SB-428: Nancy Skinner, chair, (916) 319-2014; Danny Gilmore, vice chair, (916) 319-2030;?Julia Brownley, (916) 319-2041;?Wesley Chesbro, (916) 319-2001; Kevin DeLeon, (916) 319-2045;?Jerry Hill, (916) 319-2019;?Jared Huffman, (916) 319-2006;?Steven Knight, (916) 319-2036;?Dan Logue, (916) 319-2003. Second, concerned readers need to write to the San Diego Council. Oftentimes the San Diego City Council makes decisions that not only impact the City of San Diego, but also reflect an image of the entire county. I, for one, do not wish to have such an image of poor judgment and selfishness reflected on me. Please empower them to make the right decision. Here is the link to their e-mail addresses: http://www.sandiego.gov/citycouncil/. Marlene Vircsik, La Mesa