Concerns regarding flight plans

(Editor’s note: This was directed toward Escalon city officials but the writer also requested it be used as a letter in The Times.)

Dear City of Escalon Manager,

I am excited that the Stockton Airport is expanding as I hope we will have more travel options and won’t need to travel to Sacramento or the Bay Area airports. On the other hand, I am very concerned for the health and well-being of the people living in Escalon. Since the approval of the Stockton Airport expansion many of us have noticed a great increase in the number of planes that fly over our small town. A study published by the Cornell Chronicle found, “The health problems resulting from chronic airport noise, including higher blood pressure and boosted levels of stress hormones, the researchers say, may have lifelong effects (https://news.cornell.edu/stories/1998/03/airport-noise-harms-children-effects-endure).” Although this article focuses on jet noise, other smaller airports have found that ignoring small aircraft flying over their towns eventually led to increased jet traffic. A case in point is the long-fought legal battle between the City of Santa Monica and the FAA, and this is happening not only in Santa Monica but in locations throughout the United States and many countries worldwide. The City of Escalon cannot afford the legal costs involved if it were to escalate to the level it did in Santa Monica and many other locations. Escalon is surrounded by miles of airspace over open fields and it would take little effort for pilots to navigate around our town rather than over it. Although individual citizens must convey their concerns, it is far more important and will have a greater impact if The City of Escalon, our City Manager, and our City Council address this issue with local airports, flight training schools, and the FAA before it becomes a major issue. By stopping this noise incursion now I feel that we will avert larger issues in the future.

Thank you,

Lynda Griblin

Illegal fireworks are unpatriotic

Dear Editor,

You’ve all heard pleas from vets with PTSD, pet owners and firefighters to not use illegal fireworks.

Nobody apparently cares. Where I live sounded like a war zone Thursday night. Maybe this will give someone some thought.

With illegal fireworks, 99.9 percent of the profits go to Mexican cartels and the Chinese manufacturers. It’s the cartels that use the money to bring fentanyl into the country to potentially kill your young relatives like my nephew Leon, who only drank beer, was slipped a pill into a beer as a joke. They didn’t know it was laced with fentanyl. He died at age 33.

That two-second boom you spent $50 on will help kill someone else’s niece or nephew. It will help sex trafficking so the next time you see a 14-year-old girl on a poster know you might have helped get her transported overseas where she is being drugged and sex trafficked.

Fireworks are supposed to be to celebrate independence but in 2024 illegal fireworks support things that you would never help if asked. They have become decidedly UNpatriotic.

Art Rossetti