It was Westward …. er… Northward Ho as the kids from Webster Elementary’s room 3 boarded a plane at LAX last month and headed for California’s gold country. Fourth grade teacher Bea Poole and aide Susan Cooley say hands-on experience is the best way to learn so they decided to give their students a closer look at the pioneer life they’d been studying in class.

Instead of the usual tour of Sutter’s Fort, students roamed the grounds, searching for answers to a list of questions given by Poole and Cooley. Afterward, they camped in tents at Earthtreck-American River camp in Coloma.

For 2 days, they watched and learned as instructors, using character costumes and props, taught lessons of earlier days. A Native American Pnaci brought to life tales of days gone by. A mountain man, dressed like Daniel Boone, talked about day to day life, like how the pioneers tended open wounds by filling them with gunpowder and lighting them on fire. “It felt like a book,” said 9-year-old Sean O, who is augmenting his lessons by reading the book Brian’s Winter. “When the mountain man talked, it was just like in my book,” he said.

Butter churning, leather tooling and ice cream making were on the agenda. Students also got to try their hands at musical instruments and, the personal favorite of 10-year-old Brook D., tin smithing. “It’s really fun,” said Brooke. “We hammered on tin and made little designs. Just to do that all day would be really fun.” Had she been a pioneer, Brooke says tin smithing would have been her chosen profession. “I think people would buy them because they look really good,” she added. “I think it would be a good way to make a living because it’s not hard.”

But students quickly learned that other ways of making a living were not so easy, like panning for gold on the river bank. “We had these plastic pans with ripples,” explained Sean O. “We’d just scoop up a bunch of sand and dirt and slurp it around. First, you just see the sand. Finally, you see the gold. We would just yell “Eureka, Eureka!'”

“The first time it wasn’t fun because I couldn’t find anything,” said 10-year- old Anthony G. “The water was freezing,” added 10 year old Sean A. “It’s hard because you only find little specks, not big nuggets.”

But pioneer life wasn’t all work and no play. To see the lighter side of life, students were treated to a stop at the Old Coloma Theater. The kids watched and chuckled as their teachers and some of their peers took part in an old fashioned melodrama complete with hero and villain. “It was a story of how James Marshall found the gold,” said Brooke who noted that she and her classmates still tease Cooley, who played the part of a miner.

Cooley knows the ribbing is all in fun. “We are like family,” said Poole, who has watched the class grow together for the past two years. Poole taught the same students in the 3rd grade last year and says she and Cooley will move with them next fall to the 5th grade.

Despite the seemingly hectic pace, there were quiet times. Some students say their best memories came from just relaxing with their friends. Ten-year-old Louie G. says the best part of his trip was staying in a Sacramento hotel, after the lessons and stories were finished. “You could just watch TV,” Louie said. “You didn’t do much. You could just talk and stuff.”

Poole and Cooley said they knew the trip would be educational but they hadn’t counted on the extent. “We got on the plane and looked around and realized some of these kids had never been on a plane before,” said Cooley.

For 9 year old Berta P. it wasn’t just her first plane trip, it was her first time away from home. “I was a long way from home,” said Berta. “It was a little bit scary and fun,” she said adding that she would do it again.

For Berta and the others, the next chance will come next year when Poole and Cooley take the kids to Yosemite National Park, Washington D.C. and Boston. “We’re going to learn so much more about history, like the Revolutionary War,” said Sean O. “It’s going to be great.”

Only one sentence in the letter from “Rosie” interested me. It was the question that she asked regarding breeding of dogs. I’ll tell you why I don’t think that it is OK for either mutts or purebred dogs and cats to have babies.

One hundred and seventy thousand.

170,000 dogs, puppies, cats and kittens were euthanized in 1996 alone in Los Angeles city and county shelters. 70 percent of the animals that come in, do not come back out.

170,000 loving animals killed.

Take a moment to comprehend that number. Then multiply it for each year.

It is time that we learn as a society to have mercy on the defenseless and stop the killing.

If you want a puppy, dog, cat or kitten do the right thing. Be a true animal lover and save a life. Adopt from an animal shelter. Until we can bring that number down to zero, please be a responsible pet owner and spay and neuter your pets. For every new puppy or kitten brought into this world another one loses its life.

170,000 dead pets a year is a number to be ashamed of.

Janet Flora Katz

Although I enjoyed the talented writing skills of “Rosie” the dog, I feel I must speak up about a few things.

In no way do I agree with the way the vigilante handled the finding, and kidnapping of Rosie, and I feel the foul language and ridiculous comments by the person who “rescued” Rosie were out of line, and immature. I do however get tired of people who let their dog continuously escape their yards. (Rosie mentioned this has happened on more than one occasion). A responsible pet owner takes all action to keep their pet safe. Rosie is lucky she has not been hit by a car on one of her occasional escapes. If she was nursing puppies she especially should have been kept in. I take it she was wearing no pet identification tag either.

Rosie also wondered what is wrong with letting her have babies. She says family, friends, and neighbors wanted puppies from Rosie. I volunteer at the Agoura Animal shelter, and every month we get hundreds of puppies, and grown dogs who desperately need homes. Those same family, friends, and neighbors could go down to the shelter any day, and give a loving home to an unwanted animal.

Please get Rosie spayed, so animals who are less fortunate can have a chance at a new home.

Name withheld on request

Thank you for your wonderful article on Prescott Niles. He is hugely talented, creative and generous. One thing about him that you did not mention is that each Sunday at St. Aidan’s, he plays bass with our 8:30 Worship Band. I know he sees this gift to the church as a part of what makes him who he is, a faithful and committed Christian.

I wanted to share this with your readers, not only because Prescott is modest, but also because his many fans can hear him each Sunday when they worship with us at 8:30. They don’t have to go all the way to the Viper Room. (Of course, the atmosphere is slightly different.) I also wanted to publicly thank him for all he does for St. Aidan’s.

The Rev. Susan W. Klein

Re Katie Cooper’s article [“Ball-field expansion out of the park,” May 14] , what do you mean the state is currently building trails on Bluffs Park to facilitate beach access along Malibu Road.

Are they also planning on hiring lifeguards and rangers for those beaches? will the state be responsible for educating the public? Will the state erect signs re the seals, re no dogs on beach, re don’t litter, take your trash with you, re don’t urinate on the beach, re private beach not for public use?

The state has made a mess of its present public access in West Malibu. The so-called “pocket beaches” are very much ignored and because they are out of view the public is very ignorant and irresponsible when using them.

El Matador and El Pescador sit between private beach on both sides of their access. There is still private beach in Malibu. As long as the state can’t condemn your property, you can own the sand in lot form. No thanks to the Coastal Commission or the state; some people have the beach as their front yard.

People who live anywhere near El Matador know that in one of the private beach coves, nudists, mostly men, like to cavort. It is obnoxious, and even though the sheriffs fly their helicopter over this beach they never land or use their loudspeaker.

There are no lifeguards or rangers on the beach all year long, with the exception of maybe two months in the summer. In the summer there is one lifeguard for two miles of beach.

The state cannot be allowed to continue opening accesses until it can guaranty long-term responsibility. They push hard to open accesses which affect the local community and then become invisible. If the state doesn’t have the money to hire people to maintain the beach then they should stop purchasing and stop opening them.

C. Ellis

Re: “Tobacco tax stinks” [May 25 issue]

When people kill other people, they have to pay. When your cigarette industry kills people, like my husband, and so many dear friends, it has to pay.

Maybe now, with the new cigarette tax, fewer kids will become addicted and Medicare won’t go broke.

Canada figured it out years ago. At least, we’re getting smart.

Julie May