Letters

Rumour Mates
I want to congratulate Gilbert Garcia on his excellent article ("Mac Daddies," October 16) I have just read on the Internet here in England. Finally, after many years and hundreds of articles about Fleetwood Mac, somebody has tried to get to grips with understanding the complex Buckingham/Nicks relationship.

Like Gilbert Garcia, I totally agree that Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were crucial to Fleetwood Mac's success and still are now. They are a kind of soap opera and are endlessly fascinating in their love/hate relationship.

"Silver Springs" should not leave anybody in doubt of their once strong passion for each other. Anyway, thanks for a brilliant read, and here's hoping that they may finally find their way back together . . . "the second time around for us."

Lynn Hargreaves
Cannock, Staffordshire, England

Wow! Gilbert Garcia has surely dissected the relationship of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. I thoroughly enjoyed the insightful way it was documented. I found myself hoping that Stevie and Lindsey would read it and continue to work together. The proof is there that any collaboration between the two raises their art to a higher level. Thanks, Gilbert Garcia, and keep up the good work.

Keven Y.
West Yarmouth, Massachusetts

Great article about Fleetwood Mac; my compliments to the writer. New Times seems to be one of the best alternative papers in the country according to what I've seen on the Internet (never actually been to Phoenix myself). Keep up the good work.

Deborah Hornstra
Valhalla, New York

Clearing the Air
For years, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has been in a downhill run ("A Fine Mess," Amy Silverman, October 9). The quality of our environment has gone from bad to worst.

Russell Rhodes, the director of DEQ, is too busy meeting, on a friendly note, with environmental polluters ever to meet with the public regarding its environmental concerns. If Governor Jane Hull is serious about improving DEQ, she will fire Rhodes and replace him with someone who will protect our environment.

Kory Avizu
Phoenix

Chemistry Class
I am totally disgusted to learn that the Paradise Valley Unified School District is crying about the financial injustice regarding its having to pay more for land than Sumitomo Sitix, one of the richest corporations in the world ("Education Secondary," Tony Ortega, October 16). Two years ago, the Coalition of Valley Citizens Opposed to Sumitomo contacted the superintendent's office and requested that this school district join the community to stop this toxic, chemical-emitting industrial complex from being built in the middle of an established residential neighborhood and within a half-mile of two elementary schools.

The coalition also contacted the principals and PTA/PTO presidents and requested that they at least become informed about the issue. Every last one of the parties contacted refused to get informed and, even worse, get involved. It is very sad that this school district's administration did not get involved. But now that it is being hurt financially, it is crying for action. What about the health and well-being of the students at Copper Canyon and Foothills Elementary? Furthermore, what about the students at Paradise Valley High School, which is adjacent to the chemical transportation route for the biweekly shipment of toxic chemicals to the Sitix plant?

What emergency evacuation plans has the Paradise Valley Unified School District put in place to protect the students when a transportation and/or plant accident occurs? Once again, when it comes to money, people get involved. Well, how about giving a damn about the students' health and well-being? Remember that people, especially children, are more important than the almighty greenback! (Please do not build the new schools under high-voltage power lines; it might be cheap land, but it is not the safe thing to do!)

C.M. Wilson
via Internet

Mo' Buddha Blues
Oh, for heaven's sake, Peter Rainer, lighten up ("Lama's Boy," October 9). For anyone who knows anything about Tibet or Tibetan Buddhism, Seven Years in Tibet was a great depiction of religion and beliefs, and of the particularly brutal takeover by the Chinese. This movie depicted human-rights violations in a country everyone seems to have forgotten.

The young Dalai Lama made it quite clear in the movie that the father-son relationship was not extant, and Brad Pitt's character responded with acknowledgment of that position. This is a movie without car chases or gratuitous bloodshed, slow-paced and thoughtful, not plodding.

Perhaps the reviewer would be happier with Rambo in the Himalayas. But there is a large contingency of viewers out here who happens to like a moving and thoughtful film interspersed with our violence pabulum. For me, the movie was about Tibet as seen through the eyes of two foreigners at a crucial time in that country's history. Too bad the reviewer didn't catch that part.

Mary Stuart
Glendale

Sky King
I want to thank New Times for a sensitive and poignant story ("Sky Writer," Tony Ortega, September 25) about the author and astronomer Robert Burnham Jr. I worked at the Fleet Space Theater at that time. I don't recall ever being given his name, but I certainly knew the books. It saddens me that so many people have missed the opportunity to know this man, and that his efforts did not earn him the appreciation he deserved.