Surers

After more than an hour of surfing in the chilly water Sunday morning, Lorrin (Whitey) Harrison caught a last wave and beached his board among a crowd of folks waiting to celebrate his 80th birthday. Not a typical day for an octogenarian, but to Harrison, who has been surfing for almost seven decades and is one of the sport's patriarchs, it was just another glorious day at the beach.

In a office decorated with Chinese art and diagrams of body parts, Dr. George Ma cares for more than 4,000 patients. Nearly three-quarters are covered by Medi-Cal, the state's public insurance program for low-income Californians, and Ma said he receives $10 a month to treat most of them. This summer, when California makes a controversial 10% cut to Medi-Cal rates, he could get paid less. Ma said he didn't go into safety net medicine for the money, but he worries that the reductions will make it even harder for his patients to get medication, medical equipment and appointments with specialists.

Re "Speeches Aren't Enough," editorial, May 25: As a Los Angeles resident currently living in Baghdad, let me tell you the following: In Iraq, the U.S. should focus more on building roads, infrastructure and setting up private businesses through international joint ventures rather than rushing to hand over power to an international body of bureaucrats. Iraq has a highly educated population; the people are smart enough to realize that we have done them good by getting rid of their evil dictator.

WASHINGTON - Before he took his campaign for the Republican nomination to the next primary battleground in Pennsylvania, Mitt Romney used the same Washington stage where President Obama had spoken a day before to accuse his likely general election rival of plans to wage a "hide-and-seek campaign" in the fall. The former Massachusetts governor, one day after winning a set of primaries that all but ensured he would be his party's nominee, used a "hot mic" incident involving the president and his Russian counterpart to cast doubt about what Obama would do if he won a second term.

President Bush said Friday that he is more convinced than ever that Judge Clarence Thomas is the right choice for the Supreme Court despite widespread opposition to the nomination, which comes before Congress next week. The Senate Judiciary Committee opens confirmation hearings Tuesday on the selection of Thomas, a black conservative whom Bush nominated to succeed retiring liberal Thurgood Marshall. Marshall is the first black to sit on the high court.

Twenty-four hours after the event, the press seemed even firmer Thursday in declaring Democrat Lloyd Bentsen the victor in the vice presidential debate against Republican Dan Quayle, a consensus pinned largely on instant polls showing a lopsided Bentsen victory. And, in the absence of a major gaffe by either side, the image played and replayed on television--the moment that already is becoming in a sense the emblem of the debate--was of Sen. Bentsen of Texas telling Sen. Quayle of Indiana, " . .

A long-lost herd of bighorn sheep, given up for dead in the towering cliff country north of Fillmore, has suddenly reappeared in seeming good health, raising hope that the animals will become a permanent fixture in Ventura County's environment.

Success in the classroom and on the playing field hasn't come easily for Marilyn Huschka, a Cal State Northridge soccer player who quit the sport three years ago and dropped out of college a year later. "I've learned everything the hard way," she said. "No doubt." In an odyssey that sent her from California to Montana and back and to three colleges, Huschka has discovered an overriding truth. "I learned that in the real world no one really cares," Huschka said.

Even before a Los Angeles parks bond issue failed at the ballot box Tuesday, park officials had turned to the state Legislature to get around a roadblock to purchasing open space in areas such as the Santa Monica Mountains. Under current law, efforts to raise taxes to buy new parkland and upgrade existing parks have been stymied because tax increases must win support from two-thirds of the voters.

I recently returned from a three-night stay in Yosemite National Park, which I reached after a pleasant 5 1/2-hour drive in a rented car from San Francisco International Airport. I went there in late April -- still chilly and off-season. There were few other visitors. The experience was memorable. The great national parks of the United States -- especially Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon -- are among the crowning glories of our country.

Book publishing has always had its cutthroat qualities, though by comparison to other businesses ? say, Wall Street or the film industry ? it is positively lamb-like. But what's become a more common refrain is that when a book's release trails months of hype ? and if its sales don't live up to that hype ? it can be a long time before the author returns with a book ready to overcome the perceived deficit of a disappointing BookScan sales number. The emphasis on one and out is increasingly familiar in crime fiction, and there are several solutions, obvious or ingenious, to choose from.

Re "Speeches Aren't Enough," editorial, May 25: As a Los Angeles resident currently living in Baghdad, let me tell you the following: In Iraq, the U.S. should focus more on building roads, infrastructure and setting up private businesses through international joint ventures rather than rushing to hand over power to an international body of bureaucrats. Iraq has a highly educated population; the people are smart enough to realize that we have done them good by getting rid of their evil dictator.

I recently returned from a three-night stay in Yosemite National Park, which I reached after a pleasant 5 1/2-hour drive in a rented car from San Francisco International Airport. I went there in late April -- still chilly and off-season. There were few other visitors. The experience was memorable. The great national parks of the United States -- especially Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon -- are among the crowning glories of our country.

Residents of Uwajima, a town in western Japan that saw nine of its own killed when a U.S. submarine surfaced under a fishing school vessel in February, reacted with anger Friday as it became increasingly clear that the warship's commander will not face criminal charges under U.S. military law. "People here feel that without a court-martial we're never going to know who was really responsible," said Kayoko Yoneda, head of the Uwajima Victims Support Group. "That's why there's such frustration."

Five years ago, Bridget Ellis didn't think she could sink any lower. She was jobless, on welfare and had a 2-year-old daughter to support. Today she works in the accounting branch of a bank. Her daughter is thriving. And Ellis, 29, is planning a summer wedding to a man she met after she began working. She has been off welfare completely now for three years.

A long-lost herd of bighorn sheep, given up for dead in the towering cliff country north of Fillmore, has suddenly reappeared in seeming good health, raising hope that the animals will become a permanent fixture in Ventura County's environment.

Five years ago, Bridget Ellis didn't think she could sink any lower. She was jobless, on welfare and had a 2-year-old daughter to support. Today she works in the accounting branch of a bank. Her daughter is thriving. And Ellis, 29, is planning a summer wedding to a man she met after she began working. She has been off welfare completely now for three years.

WASHINGTON - Before he took his campaign for the Republican nomination to the next primary battleground in Pennsylvania, Mitt Romney used the same Washington stage where President Obama had spoken a day before to accuse his likely general election rival of plans to wage a "hide-and-seek campaign" in the fall. The former Massachusetts governor, one day after winning a set of primaries that all but ensured he would be his party's nominee, used a "hot mic" incident involving the president and his Russian counterpart to cast doubt about what Obama would do if he won a second term.

Success in the classroom and on the playing field hasn't come easily for Marilyn Huschka, a Cal State Northridge soccer player who quit the sport three years ago and dropped out of college a year later. "I've learned everything the hard way," she said. "No doubt." In an odyssey that sent her from California to Montana and back and to three colleges, Huschka has discovered an overriding truth. "I learned that in the real world no one really cares," Huschka said.

After more than an hour of surfing in the chilly water Sunday morning, Lorrin (Whitey) Harrison caught a last wave and beached his board among a crowd of folks waiting to celebrate his 80th birthday. Not a typical day for an octogenarian, but to Harrison, who has been surfing for almost seven decades and is one of the sport's patriarchs, it was just another glorious day at the beach.