Who elected the valley air board members?

Dear air board: Who elected you to tell us who can have a fire in their home to stay warm or to freeze?

You don't even know that most of the pollution in the valley comes from San Francisco and the airport there. One large jet airliner equals 300,000 cars' pollution every time a plane takes off; every four minutes a plane takes off.

Also, San Francisco's and Silicon Valley's pollution blows over to our valley every day, so our pollution cannot be controlled by you or us, because it is not our pollution, so do not tell all the people in Modesto, who struggle to pay our outrageous utility bills. We need our heat from our fireplaces. Do not try to take away our freedom to choose.

A lot of us are retirees; we are Americans.

LEE OGLE

Modesto

Editor's note: The 15-member board of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is made up of an elected supervisor from each of the eight counties within the district, five elected city council members from within the area and two members appointed by the governor. More information about its studies and proposals is available at www.valleyair.org.