Letters

And as for my “unseemly” speech about our victory in the presence of our guest Jack Valenti, I assure Ms. Taylor that when I invited Mr. Valenti to participate in our onstage skit at the Awards, I cautioned him that there would be talk about the MPAA screener ban. He is indeed a good sport.

—Dawn Hudson Executive Director, IFP/L.A. Beverly Hills

FLIMFLAM MARATHON MAN

William J. Kelly’s article on William Burke [“Lord of the Race,” March 5–11] contains a glaring technical error, and omits another example of Burke’s possible malfeasance.

Steven Kirsch’s statement that “The [E.V.] standard was overturned just as the electric vehicle was poised to gain commercial success because of a breakthrough that had occurred in battery technology” is just plain wrong. If such a battery breakthrough had occurred, suppliers of cell-phone and laptop batteries would have brought it to market. Instead, my cell phone dies after just a few hours, and I can’t yet use my laptop for an entire cross-country flight. Compared with powering an automobile, these are lightweight uses. If a pharmaceutical company had a cure for cancer, they’d bring it to market; if the auto companies could sell an E.V., they would. The technology isn’t there.

Note that I am in no way defending William Burke. Kelly omitted mention of another of Burke’s ventures, the L.A. Street Race, which ran in the late ’90s. The street race was supposed to do for Los Angeles what the Long Beach Grand Prix did for the shoreline city. Instead, Burke left behind unhappy vendors and a record of grossly exaggerated attendance. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Burke’s street race had the same kind of financing shenanigans Kelly reported for the L.A. Marathon.

—Pete Robe Redondo Beach

STONEY BALONEY

As a successful Los Angeles businessman, lifelong pot smoker and devotee of High Times magazine since its inception, I was dismayed at the superficial, self-indulgent tone of Michael Hoinski’s commentary [A Considerable Town, “High Aspirations,” March 5–11]. I applaud the efforts of pioneers like Richard Stratton, but Mr. Hoinski’s description of Stratton’s dalliances with prostitutes, smuggling convictions and brutal eight-year prison sentence as “living the American Dream” will hardly win any converts to our cause. Further, the unmitigated name- dropping came across as starstruck and infantile for a paper of your fine standing. I hardly think glorifying the appearance of the Hilton sisters, among others, is something Mr. Stratton, a true intellectual, would endorse as “cultural.”

—Allen Bartak Redondo Beach