Robb Hamilton

Robb Hamilton hears the raspy-throated screech of a baby scrub jay and jumps out of his chair. The 32-year-old birder and field biologist lives off a dirt and gravel road in a small cabin nestled in an oak-filled forest in Trabuco Canyon. But the anxious cries of the little bird are coming from his bathroom, which he has converted into a temporary sanctuary for the homeless fledgling. It's mealtime. Hamilton is rearing the month-old bird on mealworms and elderberries.

Robb Hamilton hears the raspy-throated screech of a baby scrub jay and jumps out of his chair. The 32-year-old birder and field biologist lives off a dirt and gravel road in a small cabin nestled in an oak-filled forest in Trabuco Canyon. But the anxious cries of the little bird are coming from his bathroom, which he has converted into a temporary sanctuary for the homeless fledgling. It's mealtime. Hamilton is rearing the month-old bird on mealworms and elderberries.

A portion of Fairview Park will soon be blooming with native California plants--all at a cost of $1,500. The City Council allocated the money to the Fairview Park Committee at a recent council meeting. The committee requested the money after Robb Hamilton, chairman of the Orange County chapter of the California Native Plant Society, showed the committee a plan last month for rejuvenating the park on Placentia Avenue.

Gee--another lecture from Hilburn on which rock 'n' roll is really important and worth listening to. Why does anyone insist on trying to force something as varied, subjective and personal as popular music into a Top 10 format? Weeding through more than 30 years of art created by musicians as diverse and talented as Pink Floyd, REM, the Police, the Beatles, Talking Heads, the Sex Pistols, U2, et al., in search of only the 10 "best" albums is not only idiotic and self-indulgent, but impossible.

As a biologist working with California gnatcatchers and other species associated with coastal sage scrub, I have been generally pleased with The Times' technical accuracy in covering scrub-related news. However, you dealt your credibility a blow in printing Ted M. Doniguian's confused ramblings (Letters, Jan. 31) about swimming pools, crows and gnatcatchers. Simply stated, California gnatcatchers require large expanses of coastal sage scrub in order to survive. Period. It would be nice if gnatcatchers could be drawn into yards with pools or feeders, but unless most of us commit to planting coastal sage scrub in our back yards and parks, the idea of having a "local resident family of gnatcatchers meticulously plucking ample numbers of (bugs)

Citizens Against Uncontrolled San Juan Expansion has hired a team of experts to evaluate the environmental report for the proposed 356-acre Whispering Hills development. Mark Nielson, president of the citizens group, said residents believe the report, completed by city-contracted consultants and paid for by developer Whispering Hills LLC, is biased in favor of the project.

What happened to reporters who went out and got a story--a new one--every day? One the interested golf fan wants to hear about, not some rantings about how Doug Tewell couldn't carry Hogan's bag, or how Byron Nelson wouldn't allow himself to be seen on the same course as Larry Mize. Well, The Times has this guy--I forget his name--and in my day they'd be showing him the door, giving him a clue, doing something to keep him from embarrassing himself and his readers by trying to pass off the same annoying story every other day as new material.

Michael and William Randall have been brought up, like most American children, it seems, to regard God as "sort of . . . a make-believe figure." Now, in order to advance in rank through the Cub Scouts, they must lie about believing in the old man with the white beard who molded our vast universe with his bare hands. I believe that I can help Michael and William to make it through the scouting program without feeling like hypocrites and save some scarce tax money to boot by offering up an alternative view of "God," which even these hardened cynics might find believable.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies have run ads indicating that one's drive to the snow resorts from South County by using the toll road would be "uninterrupted" and that you'd "be going uphill almost as fast as you'll be coming down." I have tried that route on weekend getaways only to find that traffic backs up to a standstill on the northbound toll road as the road merges with the eastbound Riverside Freeway. Recently, I decided to give the toll road another try, figuring that the last time had been an anomaly.

Trabuco Canyon residents were jubilant Monday after the county ordered grading halted at a youth detention camp after learning that probation officials had bulldozed at least four acres of oaks and coastal sage without state and federal permits. "We're very pleased," said Richard Gomez, a spokesman for the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy. "The work order stopped the destruction of the environment. But we don't know what will happen next."

I am amazed that a panel of appeals court justices would advise (Orange) County attorneys to settle the multimillion-dollar suit against the county for the mauling of Laura Small at Caspers Wilderness Park. Does Associate Justice Henry T. Moore Jr. think that attorneys who have worked on this case for seven years have not considered the possibility that the county might "lose a great deal" in an appeals court decision? Ask the city of Newport Beach about the benefits of caving in to personal liability suits.