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My brother gave up the Reader crossword

Encinitas cliff collapse victims not so virtuous

Dr. Pat Davis, one of the survivors who has fought hard to avenge the deaths of three women in his family, posed in front of their memorial bench for my camera.
Dr. Pat Davis, one of the survivors who has fought hard to avenge the deaths of three women in his family, posed in front of their memorial bench for my camera.

Bluff battle continues

It may be a tired topic by now but, I want to respond to the two-issue feature story writer Thomas Larsen chastising readers for their comments about the bluffs collapse civil suit (“Reader writer fends off attacks on Encinitas cliff story”, Letters, Dec. 12, 2024). Larsen objects to the idea that Davis is looking for a payout, that didn’t he file the suit for the money. The problem is, the settlement is substantial and I have not read that he was donating the funds to a reputable charity. That would convince me that it was indeed “about beach safety.”

I didn’t read that Davis was using every penny of the money to promote “beach safety,” like an endowment set up to fund swimming lessons and junior lifeguard programs for youth in underserved, poor communities.

Larsen also used the language “...that the lifeguard told them to set up where they did,” meaning in the spot where the three women were buried alive. How dare he not at least insert the word “allegedly” regarding the lifeguard? I think that’s the part that I find most implausible, as well as offensive. Asking a lifeguard on any beach where would be a good place to put down their stuff is absurd. Reasonable beachgoers shouldn’t even be engaging lifeguards in any form of conversation, as it distracts them from their focus of watching the water!

I knew that even when I was a young person, and long before my own kids trained to be beach guards. Even mentioning that in a legal filing is preposterous. The lifeguard’s role isn’t to recommend a place to set down your beach blanket! Even if he did tell them that, so what? They chose to set up where they did. Yes, it was a tragedy and lives were lost.

Blaming the lifeguard was, for me, where Davis and Larsen both lost any residual shred of sympathy or support. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They picked the wrong spot. Nobody, not even next of kin, should be cashing in on a lawsuit for a “struck-by-lightning” type disaster. It doesn’t bring anyone back and it encourages a litigious public to follow suit by filing suits. Look for the deep pockets and go for it.

Laurie K

Otay Ranch


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My brother gave up Reader crossword

Please dump Matt Jones as your crossword puzzle contributor. I realize the likes of a David Levinson Wilk, who could create clever, engaging puzzles with fun, bright, entertaining word play, don’t grow on trees. But anyone would be better than Matt Jones. Heck, no one would be better. Just a blank spot where the puzzle goes would be an improvement.

My brother and I have done the Reader puzzles for as long as I can remember. And since replacing Wilk with Jones, I’m constantly telling my brother he should have used this clue or answer or added this or that. I don’t know anything about puzzles but my brother always agrees my ideas land better. In fact, my brother gave up doing them in the last few weeks. I’ve tried to continue. But no more.

Jones’ puzzles are just a slog to get through and add little to no enjoyment to life. And if all that weren’t enough reason to dump him — and it is — his sad, whiny anti-Trump puzzle put him over the top — or to be more accurate, at the bottom of the bottom. And I would say the same thing had he used the letters in Biden or Harris for his anti-Trump rage of a trick, replacing the letters T.R.U.M.P. with “F.U.”

I’m sure Mr Jones thought he was the most clever constructor of all time, gleefully rubbing his hands together and thoroughly enjoying this piece of excrement of a puzzle that probably no one else was able to solve. But just because he enjoys wallowing in such excrement doesn’t mean anyone else should have to.

The world has enough negativity and hatred already.

Crossword puzzles should be an escape from all of the vile, ugly, nasty pettiness of the world, not add to it.

David Manzi

Talmadge

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Dr. Pat Davis, one of the survivors who has fought hard to avenge the deaths of three women in his family, posed in front of their memorial bench for my camera.
Dr. Pat Davis, one of the survivors who has fought hard to avenge the deaths of three women in his family, posed in front of their memorial bench for my camera.

Bluff battle continues

It may be a tired topic by now but, I want to respond to the two-issue feature story writer Thomas Larsen chastising readers for their comments about the bluffs collapse civil suit (“Reader writer fends off attacks on Encinitas cliff story”, Letters, Dec. 12, 2024). Larsen objects to the idea that Davis is looking for a payout, that didn’t he file the suit for the money. The problem is, the settlement is substantial and I have not read that he was donating the funds to a reputable charity. That would convince me that it was indeed “about beach safety.”

I didn’t read that Davis was using every penny of the money to promote “beach safety,” like an endowment set up to fund swimming lessons and junior lifeguard programs for youth in underserved, poor communities.

Larsen also used the language “...that the lifeguard told them to set up where they did,” meaning in the spot where the three women were buried alive. How dare he not at least insert the word “allegedly” regarding the lifeguard? I think that’s the part that I find most implausible, as well as offensive. Asking a lifeguard on any beach where would be a good place to put down their stuff is absurd. Reasonable beachgoers shouldn’t even be engaging lifeguards in any form of conversation, as it distracts them from their focus of watching the water!

I knew that even when I was a young person, and long before my own kids trained to be beach guards. Even mentioning that in a legal filing is preposterous. The lifeguard’s role isn’t to recommend a place to set down your beach blanket! Even if he did tell them that, so what? They chose to set up where they did. Yes, it was a tragedy and lives were lost.

Blaming the lifeguard was, for me, where Davis and Larsen both lost any residual shred of sympathy or support. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They picked the wrong spot. Nobody, not even next of kin, should be cashing in on a lawsuit for a “struck-by-lightning” type disaster. It doesn’t bring anyone back and it encourages a litigious public to follow suit by filing suits. Look for the deep pockets and go for it.

Laurie K

Otay Ranch


Sponsored
Sponsored

My brother gave up Reader crossword

Please dump Matt Jones as your crossword puzzle contributor. I realize the likes of a David Levinson Wilk, who could create clever, engaging puzzles with fun, bright, entertaining word play, don’t grow on trees. But anyone would be better than Matt Jones. Heck, no one would be better. Just a blank spot where the puzzle goes would be an improvement.

My brother and I have done the Reader puzzles for as long as I can remember. And since replacing Wilk with Jones, I’m constantly telling my brother he should have used this clue or answer or added this or that. I don’t know anything about puzzles but my brother always agrees my ideas land better. In fact, my brother gave up doing them in the last few weeks. I’ve tried to continue. But no more.

Jones’ puzzles are just a slog to get through and add little to no enjoyment to life. And if all that weren’t enough reason to dump him — and it is — his sad, whiny anti-Trump puzzle put him over the top — or to be more accurate, at the bottom of the bottom. And I would say the same thing had he used the letters in Biden or Harris for his anti-Trump rage of a trick, replacing the letters T.R.U.M.P. with “F.U.”

I’m sure Mr Jones thought he was the most clever constructor of all time, gleefully rubbing his hands together and thoroughly enjoying this piece of excrement of a puzzle that probably no one else was able to solve. But just because he enjoys wallowing in such excrement doesn’t mean anyone else should have to.

The world has enough negativity and hatred already.

Crossword puzzles should be an escape from all of the vile, ugly, nasty pettiness of the world, not add to it.

David Manzi

Talmadge

Comments
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The latest copy of the Reader

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