Setting Priorities

* Crude but effective is what I thought as I watched helicopters scoop up water from the lake in Laguna Niguel Regional Park (Aug. 24) to douse a nearby brush fire.

As a number of us gathered at the lake’s edge to observe a job well done and no doubt to feel a little less insecure at the prospect of losing life or home to the ravages of nature, I also noted a fighter jet from El Toro flying by and thought how ironic that so much more of the public trust has been spent on high-tech national defense projects than in saving lives and property here at home.

BILL HONIGMAN

Laguna Hills