Don't take down Frank Bogert monument — just put someone else's statue on top of it

Bogert statue solution: Just put another statue on top

The controversy surrounding the Frank Bogert statue has a simple solution:

1. Leave it unharmed at its present location.

2. Build a decorative opaque structure around it.

3. Put a commemorative statue of someone else on top of the structure.

In the future, when an opposition group wants that statue removed — by which time Frank Bogert will have been rehabilitated — the old statue will be rediscovered and there will peace among all.

Darrell Mead, Palm Springs

Golf course or surf park can't be our only choice

Four large surf parks are planned for the desert, extracting Colorado River water and groundwater already severely impacted by massive urban growth in the hottest, driest years on California record.

The logic is: "We'll use less water than a golf course!" Fields of green, watered grass or pumped, machined waves in the middle of a desert — these are our choices. Or are they? Where are the adults in the room?

Kathryn Jordan, Borrego Springs

Once you're pregnant, it's not just 'your body' any more

I found Amanda Miller’s column (May 12) titled "Undoing Roe V. Wade would affect men, too" interesting.

She approached abortion from the angle of how it affects men. That having unsafe, irresponsible, uncommitted sex might impinge on their wallet, affect their approach to manhood/responsibility and disrupt their single status. A Pew Research study indicates that ⅔ of men support abortion. Could it possibly be they feel it is a solution to their problem of impending fatherhood?

Since 1973, 63 million babies have been aborted. The fact that a human life depends on how much money the father has, or his age/intelligence/maturity, etc., is barbaric. If two people feel mature enough to have sex, and irresponsible enough to have unsafe sex, they should bear that child and provide a loving couple, who are not able to have a child, a baby.

“My body, my choice” is a falsehood.  Once pregnant, a woman’s body is not hers; it’s theirs. The life of an innocent baby is in the balance, and the choice is easy.

Take responsibility for your actions. Abortion is murder; creation is a miracle; God blessed you.

Maggie Lockridge, Rancho Mirage

Joshua Tree rentals causing problems

Short-term rentals are a major problem not being properly addressed. They are of questionable cleanliness, enable money laundering, cause neighborhood disturbances and contribute to the housing problem.

Google "vacation rentals Joshua Tree." More than 100 sites pop up. Not just major sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, but also multiple smaller dealers spread across a number of states. Add the number of listings from all of the sites and compare them to the number of residences listed for the area by the Census Bureau.

It seems about 30% of the residences in the area have been turned into short term rentals. This has driven the price of housing out of the reach of many people, resulting in an increase in homelessness.

That 30% is much greater than the number of homes listed as licensed STRs by the county, which means that they are effectively illegal hotels operating in residential areas.

The STRs should be held accountable if they're breaking the law and forced to follow the same rules and regulations as historical hotels.

Clay Elam, Joshua Tree

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: How to fix Palm Springs' Frank Bogert statue controversy | Letters