Mailbag: Rich history for Persian new year

I enjoyed Mona Shadia’s article “Celebrating the Persian new year” (Unveiled: A Muslim Girl in O.C., March 15). Being a ethnic Parsi (Persian) Zarathushti (Zoroastrian) myself, I was happy that she was educating readers about this event, which was celebrated by Zoroastrian emperors and subjects throughout the vast Persian empires (559 B.C. to 652 A.D.)

Even after the Arab occupation of Persia and forcible conversion of the masses to Islam, the Iranian people refused to give up their ancient Zoroastrian festivals and their Persian language in spite of the Mullahs trying to discourage them.

Today, the Persian new year is also celebrated by several countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, and by Zoroastrians of India whose ancestors migrated there to preserve their monotheistic religion and culture among the peaceful Hindu populace who welcomed them.

By the way, for the information of your readers, the original word “Parsi” meaning Persian was pronounced by Arabs as “Farsi” because they don’t have the letter “P” in the Arabic alphabet.

Maneck Bhujwala

Huntington Beach

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Bolsa Chica is not Dog Beach

It is unfortunate that there is a handful of unthinking people in Huntington Beach who think the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is their private dog run (“The O’Reilly factor is at Bolsa Chica,” In the Pipeline, Feb. 23).

To make things worse, many of these dog owners become abusive when reminded of their thoughtlessness. They are either unwilling or incapable of understanding that Bolsa Chica is a wildlife preserve and we humans are just visitors.

The wildlife, particularly game birds, are not stupid. They associate dogs with hunters, and even at a distance, the birds feel in danger and flee. This disrupts feeding and nesting behavior and ultimately destroys the whole purpose of Bolsa Chica as a haven for wildlife. Please keep your dogs out of Bolsa Chica.

David Carlberg

Huntington Beach

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A caution about coyotes

On Sunday, my dog was almost taken from us by a coyote from our front sidewalk at 5:30 a.m. Fortunately, my wife was on the porch and the coyote dropped our dog. The coyote then followed my wife and dog to the front porch before my wife hit it with the nozzle portion of the hose.

As I arrived home, the coyote stood a few houses down in the middle of the street waiting to come back. I live directly behind Eader Elementary School. Neighbors, beware!

Tom Gentile

Huntington Beach