FIGHT FIRES, NOT FLOWERS

Where are the black helicopters when you need them? I live on Magnolia
Road, in an area that was under preparations to evacuate because of
the Walker Ranch/Eldorado fire. Over 1,000 acres burned, and the fire
headed directly for my house. Yet two days after the fire started,
there were only two helicopters hauling water from Gross Reservoir to
dump on the fire.

Since the beginning of August, there have been several unmarked black
helicopters flying around the area searching for cannabis to eradicate
("Black helicopter invasion," Wayne's Word, Sept. 7-13). They've been
unmarked and loud, and they've been terrorizing and traumatizing my
neighbors, and their kids and animals. But where were they during the
fires when we needed them?

Instead of focusing on eradicating the only well-watered soil in these
tinder dry forests (the small patches of tended cannabis), these DEA
helicopters should have been carrying water to help extinguish the
forest fire. Instead of "protecting" us from somebody smoking a joint
in their living room, they should be out helping against real threats
to life and property.

Kathleen Chippi,
Nederland