Geography lesson

I get my municipal, state, national and international news from the L.A. Times, but I live in Westlake Village, and the Acorn's letters, often amusing, give me just about all the purely local news I need.

The Aug. 9 issue is a case in point: some issues are trivial, if meaningful to some (e.g., curb plaques), some emotional (how many dogs does it take to [offend] a homeowners association?), and some quite significant (laws against smoking in public- - good idea; Home Depot on Hampshire Road- - a terrible idea).

But writers do need to check their facts before sending their letters. It particularly bothers me when the letter writer is in favor of something with which I agree.

I'm referring to (Norman Pul's) letter headlined "Hydrogen is the future in transportation." Although I didn't know that all cars in Iceland run on hydrogen (a great idea!), I do know that Iceland is not owned by Denmark. It's an entirely independent country, although its language is certainly Scandinavian and thus related to Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and even Faeroese. Perhaps the writer is thinking about Greenland, which is owned by Denmark. Robert Chauls Westlake Village