Mailbag:

Regarding the [June 4] article titled, “Official’s son suspected of battery”: Let’s see, you have made a banner headline with the article above the fold to speak of an incident. Your reporter took one of your own to throw under the bus and roll back and forth a couple of times, right?

[Councilwoman] Wendy Leece is a former Orange County Register reporter and a child of newspaper owners in Arizona. She grew up folding newspapers and living through all phases of their family business.

She has raised five children, and some children are just harder to raise than others.

Your reporter has treated Leece as if her son Stephen Leece was 16 or 17 and a minor, instead of a 28-year-old man. She is a remarkable woman who is now single, and the father of her children is deceased. She has been a wonderful parent.

Your reporter treated Stephen Leece in a very prejudicial manner. The article did not use the term “alleged” until the end of the story. There are various extenuating circumstances that might precipitate this event, like being an unfaithful girlfriend, drinking or rough sex. Who knows? This is his girlfriend, and your reporter wasn’t there.

But all this is still not any item to be put in headlines! You owe Leece an apology. She did nothing improper and never has to my knowledge.

ELOISE OTT

Costa Mesa

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Governor comments on illegal immigrants

Gov. Schwarzenegger says he’s “happy” illegal immigrants get state services and says they’re not to blame for California’s $24.3-billion budget gap. Schwarzenegger, an immigrant himself, says the estimated $4 billion to $5 billion spent on illegal immigrants annually is a “small percentage” of the deficit.

The governor told the Sacramento Bee’s editorial board Friday that it’s easy to “scapegoat” illegal immigrants. But he says the state budget has a much deeper spending imbalance. He noted the federal government requires California to provide emergency health care and education to illegal immigrants. And he says illegal immigrants often help pick the state’s crops and construct its buildings.

JIM GILCHRIST