Letters

Yet another way to distract drivers

In the “Handier Navigation” item in the Dec. 23 “Need to Know” column, writer Judi Dash reported on a new device called the ST-TP01 by Satechi. This device is for the car and is solely used to hold and display cellphones, GPS devices and tablets. It can be mounted on the dashboard for easy access and “hogs neither the view nor the cup holder.”

What it appears to be hogging, however, will be the attention of the driver, unless, of course, he or she uses the item only when the car is not moving. That’s probably not the case.

Drivers are still using their cellphones — illegally — to text while driving or to talk without a hands-free device. This item encourages further use of something that adds to an already dangerous situation.

We don’t need more distractions than we currently have on the road, especially something that can result in more accidents and loss of life.

Bill Spitalnick

Newport Beach

In re: “Check Out What a Makeover Can Do,” by Terry Gardner, Dec. 23: Perhaps your writers and editors should be required to take a geometry course before writing about shapes.

My 14-year-old daughter, Clara, and my wife and I were quite amused to find that neither your writer nor editor was aware that the Hotel im Wasserturm in Cologne, Germany, is actually shaped like a cylinder instead of the cited sphere.

Alan Rosenberg

Dana Point

The winter review of Mammoth Lakes [“Looking Good,” Dec. 9, by Christopher Reynolds] was well done and had a familiarity that comes with time, including Whoa Nellie Deli in the Tioga Gas Mart in Lee Vining, the fickle winter and more.

The mountain itself can have gear deals, especially when it turns over rental inventory, though I’ve never seen that same value on mountain bike rentals. Reynolds said the prices on the mountain were high for concessions, and they are, but there can be deals.

Dave Stefanides

Aliso Viejo

I read with great interest and personal involvement the article “Courage and Legacy” [Dec. 2, by Catharine Hamm] and have filed it with my other World War II memorabilia.

I was a radioman second class on the USS Obstructor (ACM-7) departing from Guam to the Philippines in 1945 when the war ended. We spent some time in Manila. The USS Obstructor was made the flagship of a mine sweep squadron and continued into Hong Kong, sweeping the China coast for mines for a year before returning home in 1946, flying our victory flag.

In 1993, my wife and I returned to Manila and went to Corregidor, which is just the way it was the day the war ended, the bombed-out buildings, the Big Berthas still in place. As we toured Corregidor we saw where Gen. Douglas MacArthur departed for Australia and Malinta Tunnel, where officers and troops hid from the Japanese. Today the entire island is a monument.

Carl J. Anderson

Simi Valley